By Adam Kramer
Residents living in the confines of School District 29 were ecstatic when they learned that the district, which is severely overcrowded, was to get three new schools.
But in recent weeks, the excitement and expectation has been somewhat dampened since the district was told that it was getting only two of the three schools because of cost overruns.
Construction on PS 270 at 234th Street and Merrick Boulevard in Laurelton and PS 268 at 175-02 Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica began last year. But the plans for PS 263 at 222-21 Jamaica Ave. in Queens Village, the site of the old Best Ford car dealership, has been put on hold.
“The school is especially needed on that side of the district,” said Nathaniel Washington, president of SB 29. “We are very unhappy construction will be deferred. It pushed back the possibility of getting the school another 10 years.”
He said the district believes it is being “held hostage.” The money in the capital budget was allocated for the school years ago, Washington said.
“We are bursting at the seams,” Washington said. “It is a low-down, dirty shame they are maneuvering with the money.”
The school would have taken some pressure off PS 33 and PS 34 in Queens Village as well as the rest of the district.
“I think it is a slap in the face for Queens Village,” said Nagassar Ramgarib, president of the Queens Village Civic Association and member of Community Board 13. “The School Construction Authority is not treating us as fairly and equitably as other areas in the borough.”
He said at PS 33 and IS 109, also in Queens Village, there are not enough seats to accommodate all of the existing children and the student population in the area is growing. Even though the SCA has decided to stop the construction of the Jamaica Avenue school, Ramgarib said, no alternative plan has been offered.
Deborah Wetzel, a spokeswoman for the SCA, said the school has not been funded by the Board of Education and her agency will not begin building until the funding is in place. She said the construction at PS 268 is 18 percent complete and 13 percent complete at PS 270.
The land for PS 263 has already been purchased and there is still the possibility of a school being built there in the future.
The two new schools should be ready by September 2003 and will house 704 students each from prekindergarten through fifth grade.
The new schools and additions on two existing schools for School District 29, which covers Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, Rosedale, Laurelton and parts of Jamaica and Fresh Meadows, will create 1,938 new classroom seats by 2003.
District 29’s 23 elementary schools and five middle schools, which provide classroom seats for 27,000 students, are operating at a utilization rate of 130 percent.
The new elementary schools will be magnet schools, drawing students from all over the district. The curriculum will be based on the multiple intelligence theory. This method of teaching will offer the schools’ students additional means of learning beyond the traditional verbal and mathematical-oriented curriculum.
Some of the accessories to be built in the new schools are a dance studio, music rehearsal room and state-of-the art science lab. In addition, computers will be installed in the classrooms and libraries for all of the students.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
