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New School Sites Identified in Sunset Park to Ease Overcrowding

By Leslie Albrecht | December 5, 2016 1:45pm | Updated on December 6, 2016 3:40pm
 The School Construction Authority is investigating 234-248 Seventh Ave. as the possible site of a new school.
The School Construction Authority is investigating 234-248 Seventh Ave. as the possible site of a new school.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

[Editor's Note: This story has been updated to fix an error made by the School Construction Authority, which originally told many elected officials and DNAinfo New York that one potential location was in Park Slope. See full details in our follow-up story: Typo Puts Park Slope Buildings on List of Possible Sunset Park School Sites]

PARK SLOPE — City officials are considering building new schools to ease overcrowding in Sunset Park, according to a recent letter from the School Construction Authority to Community Board 7.

The SCA is investigating eight properties in all as potential sites for new schools that could provide some of the 3,840 seats the DOE wants to add to District 15, the SCA wrote in an Oct. 17 letter to City Councilman Carlos Menchaca and Community Board 7 chair Daniel Murphy.

RELATED: 8 New Sunset Park School Sites Proposed to Relieve Overcrowding

In the letter, the SCA erroneously said it was looking at 234-248 Seventh Ave., the block of buildings between Fourth and Fifth streets that includes David's Tea, Konditori cafe and Just Salad. The property is right across the street from the John Jay Educational Campus, home to four high schools.

It wasn't immediately clear why SCA is eyeing the Park Slope property to address crowded schools miles away in Sunset Park, and DOE did not answer a question about whether the school would serve neighborhood students or students from Sunset Park.

A DOE spokeswoman said simply that the agency is committed to addressing overcrowding in Sunset Park and continues to look at sites.

Parents have long demanded new schools in Sunset Park, where some schools are so crowded that students get bussed to less-crowded schools outside the neighborhood.

SCA wrote in the letter, first reported by Patch, that building new schools in Sunset Park is "vital" and that the agency has been working to find and review possible sites with the help of Community Board 7. SCA even employs real estate brokers to cold call property owners in the quest to find properties, the agency said in the letter.

SCA said it had to rule out some possible sites because they weren't big enough or because of the property's history. SCA considered 243-245 Prospect Park West, a Windsor Terrace building that Holy Name Church owns, but found it was too small.

In Gowanus, SCA looked at 560-588 Degraw St. but ruled it out because of the site's history, according to the letter. SCA didn't specify what exactly made the property undesirable, but the site is near the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal and SCA mentioned in the letter that it eliminates properties with "environmental challenges."

Oct. 17 SCA Letter to Menchaca and CB7 by JVS Patch on Scribd

District 15 is a sprawling district that includes parts of Park Slope, Sunset Park, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace and Kensington. Other plans for new schools in the area include a 180-seat pre-K center on Ninth Street between Third and Fourth avenues in Gowanus.

DOE did not respond to a request for an update on that proposal, but it appears to be moving forward. A City Council subcommittee approved the proposal Dec. 1 and the Council's land use committee was scheduled to review it Monday.

Community Board 7's education committee is scheduled to discuss SCA's Oct. 17 letter at its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 15 at 4201 Fourth Ave.

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