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Read the press release here.

10 UES Schools to Get $1M From Councilman's Budget

By Shaye Weaver | April 19, 2016 3:21pm
 Students and staff at P.S./I.S. 217 will again receive funding for its new green roof.
Students and staff at P.S./I.S. 217 will again receive funding for its new green roof.
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217PTA.com/Olyaphoto

UPPER EAST SIDE — Local schools are set to get $1 million for more laptops and new green roofs, thanks to votes from their neighbors.

The funds have been earmarked for 10 local schools, after about 2,000 residents voted on how they believe $1 million from City Councilman Ben Kallos' participatory budgeting program should be spent.

The Manhattan New School/P.S. 290, at 311 E. 82nd St., will get $500,000 to finish its green roof, which school officials call a "desperately needed playspace." The school won $500,000 for the $1 million project last spring.

"I am very excited that our students will have a chance to explore nature and play in the sunshine on the rooftop of their school in the heart of New York City," P.S. 290 Principal Doreen Esposito said. "Thank you to Ben Kallos for working so closely with our school community to secure the funding needed for us to finally move forward with our dream of a rooftop science center and play space."

In addition, Roosevelt Island's P.S. 217 will get $150,000 for its own green roof. The project won $500,000 in last year's participatory budgeting process, and this latest boost will help the school finish the project.

The remaining $350,000 will be distributed among ten schools —  including P.S. 290, P.S./I.S. 217, P.S. 77, P.S. 198, M.S. 225, Eleanor Roosevelt, Urban Academy, Vanguard, Manhattan International School and Life Sciences Secondary School — to use toward new laptops.

Click through to see a list of the other contenders.