BROOKLYN — The city is hoping to build a roughly 400-seat elementary school to alleviate overcrowding in Sunset Park, and the district’s Community Education Council is inviting the public to comment on the project at a Tuesday meeting.
The school would rise on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 36th Street, across the street from Green-Wood Cemetery and a couple of avenues away from the thriving Industry City.
The space, now occupied by a two-story church and community outreach center, is on the same block that recently saw a townhouse sell for more than $2 million, setting a record in the area.
Families have long called for more schools in Sunset Park, where two schools had kindergarten waitlists for neighborhood kids in the coming school year — P.S. 94 and P.S. 169 — and many buildings are crammed with students.
Roughly 2,610 new seats in the area are needed, according to the capital plan amendment.
Other schools are also being planned for the area, including one that would either preserve or demolish the landmark former 68th Precinct home, known as the “Castle,” on Fourth Avenue and 43rd Street, across from P.S. 516.
The city also announced plans to build a new 300-seat elementary school on the corner of Eighth Avenue and 46th Street and a 676-seat, K-8 school underway on Third Avenue between 59th and 60th streets.
The neighborhood is seeing "real progress," for the first time in decades, City Councilman Carlos Menchaca said in a statement.
But there's more needed, he added.
“Finding new school sites in Sunset Park is an urgent priority," Menchaca said. "Recent progress is encouraging, but we have a lot more work to do. Parents, students, educators and local school advocates can count on my full support as we continue our work to relieve our area’s school crowding emergency."
Because of overcrowding in the area’s schools, students often have no music, art or gym because there's not enough space to host them, Javier Salamanca of Quality Schools for Sunset Park told DNAinfo previously.
At P.S. 169, for instance, to ensure that all 1,600 kids get a lunch period, the cafeteria starts serving meals at 10:30 a.m. until 2:20 p.m., he added.
The District 15 CEC hearing on the proposed school site takes place Tuesday, June 20, at 6:30 p.m., 4201 Fourth Ave., entrance on 43rd Street.
