By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — A middle school located in the heart of Chelsea would be permanently moved to Union Square under a new proposal by the Department of Education.
The Clinton School for Writers and Artists, currently located at 320 West 21st St., would relocate to a permanent home at 10 East 15th St. by fall 2015 to alleviate school overcrowding, the DOE's new proposal said.
“I’m pleased with the new facility we will move into in four years,” said Susan Kramer, a parent and the chairwoman of Clinton School’s relocation committee. “It’s a central location. I just wish it were happening sooner.”
The latest proposal calls for the School Construction Authority to acquire the Union Square property, demolish the existing two-story structure there and design a new "state-of-the-art school facility" to be shared with “another small, high-quality high school organization," a DOE spokesman said on Friday.
The building is in its design phase and the DOE would not elaborate on what specific features or which school would share the space. Cost estimates have not yet been tallied.
The Union Square building is currently occupied by Local 810 — a union representative and health service for teamsters — which has occupied it for more than 40 years, according to an employee, who said the service would relocate.
Space has been an ongoing issue for the Clinton School.
Before it moves to a permanent home, the school will likely relocate to the American Sign Language School and English Lower School on East 23rd Street to free up overcrowded classrooms at P.S. 11 where the Clinton School is currently located.
The potential temporary move has already drawn the ire of parents who believe that the space that would be shared with special-needs students could set disadvantaged children back, and not provide Clinton School students with adequate space.
A hearing will take place later this month so the DOE can receive public feedback on Clinton School’s slated move to the American Sign Language and English Lower School.
The move means Clinton School would be the second middle school slated to permanently leave the west side of Manhattan by the next school year, following Greenwich Village Middle School’s departure from Hudson Street to the Financial District.
