CORONA — A new five-story addition to replace trailers at one of the city's most overcrowded schools will include room for 980 students, science labs and art studios, according to designs released to parents and staff on Thursday.
The renderings for the building at P.S. 143, at 113th Street and 34th Avenue depict a 98,000-square-foot building — which includes new science labs, art and music rooms in addition to multiple new classrooms.
The building will accommodate 980 students, and will be built on adjacent Parks Department-owned land, the Department of Education said.
The designs come after the DOE announced last year that the school would finally have a permanent space to address overcrowding, which has persisted at the school for years. The school was built for 900 students but currently enrolls twice the number of students, forcing hundreds of students to sit in "temporary" trailers that were installed decades ago.
State Sen. Jose Peralta, who has worked for years with the Parent Teacher Association at the school, said he hopes the new building will make overcrowding at the school "a chapter in its history."
"Almost one thousand new seats to replace the mini building and the run-down trailers will help our students learn in the environment they deserve. It will give them a better opportunity to succeed," Peralta said in a statement.
School Construction Authority president Lorraine Grillo said the new building is part of a "continued collaboration with local leaders" to address overcrowding in District 24.
The building should be completed by September 2020, officials said.
