Where schools are expanding

C M BTS page 7 Y K New school thinking in Queens

by Deirdre Bardolf

Associate Editor

With a new school year comes fresh new starts and in the Borough of Queens, that will include newly opened spaces that will offer up a total of 3,110 seats to students here.

A brand-new middle school, a new high school building, two new additions to elementary schools, a high school annex and a pre-K are all set to open this fall, according to the School Construction Authority.

Districts 24, 26, 28, 29 and 30 will be home to the establishments.

A new middle school, IS 419, is opening on Astoria Boulevard in East Elmhurst between 111th and 112th streets. The location, which is about 98,000 square feet according to the construction company EW Howell, will offer 646 seats from grades 6 to 8 in District 24.

PS 196, the Grand Central Parkway School in District 28 in Forest Hills, is getting a new addition, which will provide 250 more seats and addresses overutilization of the space. The school at 71-25 113 St. in Forest Hills includes students from pre-K to fifth grade.

An addition to PS 131 in Jamaica Hills will accommodate 384 students in District 29.

The Francis Lewis High School annex is opening and will offer 555 seats. The neighborhood school is notoriously one of the most overcrowded in the city and has operated at more than 200 percent capacity.

“In 1960, Francis Lewis opened to alleviate overcrowding at other Queens high schools,” First Deputy Mayor and former SCA President and CEO Lorraine Grillo said in a statement back in 2019 when construction started. “Now, it’s time to meet the increasing demand for seats as our communities continue to grow and prosper. This new annex will provide much needed relief for the students and staff at Francis Lewis and is a vital part of the SCA’s efforts to provide over 5,300 high school seats to Queens.” Queens high schools on average operated over at least 104 percent utilization rates in the 2019-2020 school year, according to Department of Education data.

At a recent town hall that focused on class sizes and cuts to the city’s education budget, Alysa O’Shea, a District 27 parents and the Queens representative for the Citywide Council for High Schools, cited original 2019-20 DOE Blue Book numbers that calculated Queens high schools were over capacity by 8,849 seats.

As of 2021, there were 89,000 high school students in Queens but only 77,240 seats here, according to Office of Student Enrollment data.

O’Shea said there is a need for far more seats than current plans account for and she fears a need for more trailers, or temporary classroom units.

Earlier this year, the new Academy of American Studies in Long Island City opened, with 969 seats. The school opened next to Newcomers High School and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held earlier this year.

The school offers four fully air-conditioned stories with 30 standard classrooms, two district special education classrooms and three resource rooms.

There is also a competition-sized gymnasium, two science demo labs, two science prep rooms, music and art classrooms, a technology lab, medical suite, guidance suite and library.

Outside are four handball courts, a half court for basketball and a reading area.

For the younger students, a new pre-K is opening at the New York Hall of Science. The school is a partnership between the DOE and

NYSCI and will offer a STEM Enrichment program. It was co-designed with District 24 More seats coming, Mosaic Pre-K school leaders and will include science, technology, engineering and math more needed curriculum development, professional learning and coaching for teachers, specialized class field trips, and STEM family days for over 300 families in Corona, according to NYSCI. The Universal Mosaic Curriculum is a “rigorous, inclusive, affirming, and standardsaligned K-12 English Language Arts and Math curricula by New York City educators for New York City public schools,” according to the DOE website. Q

An early rendering of the Francis Lewis High School annex, which is opening this year. IMAGE COURTESY SCA / FILE Page 7 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, August 25, 2022

TO KNOW. TO LOVE. TO SERVE.

Save the Date - Open House October 16, 2022 Educating the Hearts and Minds of

Young Men and Women

• 13:1 Student-to-teacher ratio • Over 45 Honors and AP Courses offered • 30 Athletic Teams • 50 + Clubs and Organizations • Over $1,000,000 dollars invested in our STREAM program • Every incoming freshman is provided with a Chromebook and full access to the Google Apps for Education • Class of 2022 earned over $50,000,000 in academic scholarships 100% graduation rate

For more information contact admissions at: 718-886-7250 x 524 or text 631-600-3346 Email admissions@holycrosshs.org

TACHS Prep Program

Holy Cross High School is proud to offer a rigorous 6-week program for boys and girls to best prepare for the TACHS exam. Over the span of 6 weeks students enrolled in our program will participate in face-to-face instruction and review mathematics and language skills that are assessed on the Test for Admission into Catholic High School (TACHS) exam. Historically, students that attend a prep-class are better prepared and score higher on the exam.