By Bret Nolan Collazzi
The Department of Education has no immediate plans to open a high school in a factory building at Bronxdale and Van Nest avenues, although the city has not ruled out the site for future schools, community leaders reported at a meeting of the Morris Park Community Association on Wednesday, February 8.
Region 2 superintendent Laura Rodriguez told Councilman Jimmy Vacca and Community Board 11 district manager John Fratta during a Monday, February 6, meeting that the city cannot afford to construct a new school in Morris Park, and that plans for 1640 Bronxdale Avenue are now on hold indefinitely, the two leaders said.
The Department of Education press office could not confirm that report by deadline, and Vacca and Fratta are awaiting a written statement from Rodriguez reaffirming their conversation, but they said a representative from the School Construction Authority who spoke to them on speakerphone at the Region 2 meeting also said plans have been halted.
News that a high school will apparently not be opening on Bronxdale Avenue instigated vigorous applause from the 70 residents gathered at the MPCA meeting, where Senator Jeff Klein and aides to Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera and Congressman Joe Crowley also vowed to fight the school plan.
Officials and residents argued that while local schools are overcrowded, another school in Morris Park is not the answer, especially when the city did not consult the community first. Echoing that sentiment, Fratta lambasted the Department of Education for what he described as a misguided strategy to reduce class sizes by shuffling students from district to district.
