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North Bronx leaders ask that new school be named for Al Tuitt

By Bret Nolan Collazzi

As I.S./H.S. 362, a middle-school/high-school under construction in Williamsbridge, slowly advances toward its expected 2008 opening, a growing chorus of community leaders is calling on the city to dub it the Albert V. Tuitt Educational Complex, honoring a local educational and civil rights leader who died earlier this year.

Workers began digging a foundation in October for the school, which will take up nearly a whole block between East 228th and 229th streets at Bronxdale Avenue, the site of the old Keystone Dyeing and Finishing factory. When it is completed, it will stand four stories tall and accommodate more than 1,600 students, Department of Education spokeswoman Alicia Maxey said.

But when the school accepts its first class more than two and a half years from now, advocates of the naming said, it could do more than just ease the overcrowding in Community School District 11; it could also memorialize a longtime Wakefield resident who counted improving local schools among his greatest passions.