QUEENS — A new elementary and new middle school will open in the Forest Hills district by 2019, the Department of Education announced.
The city is planning to add more than 1,000 new school seats in the Forest Hills area, including a 456-seat elementary school and a 640-seat middle school, though the locations and details are still tentative, a DOE spokesman said.
The new schools were included in the DOE's capital plan for 2015-2019, the agency said.
And last December, the plan for two new schools appeared in a New York City School Construction Authority's presentation to Community Education Council 28, detailing proposed amendments to its capital plan.
The proposal did not identify specific locations, but District 28 includes Rego Park, Kew Gardens and Jamaica.
Overcrowding has become a prominent issue in Forest Hills, especially as the neighborhood continues to draw families.
Earlier this month, dozens of families in the area were notified that their kindergartners would have to attend schools far from their zoned ones because there wasn't enough room for them.
Parents launched an online petition last week demanding the Department of Education finds a long-term plan to "better adapt to the growing need for kindergarten seats in [the] community without causing overcrowding in the future."
