CB 11 Hosts Public Hearing for Proposed School Site in Bayside

Bayside residents protested plans for a new school in the community, while principals called for the alleviation of overcrowding at their sites during a Community Board 11 public hearing on Monday.  

Representatives from the city’s School Construction Authority laid out a proposal for a 416-seat school for pre-K to fifth grade students on 48th Avenue between 210th and 211th Streets in Bayside. The school would be located at the Keil Brothers site.  

CB 11 voted 25-3 against the proposal with nine abstentions. But the City Council will have the final vote on whether the school will be constructed at the site.  

Christopher Persheff, a site selector for the School Construction Authority, said the new school was being considered for the site due to overcrowding at all area schools.  

“We’re going to be able to have a cellar if we build over there,” he said of the site. “It would allow us to cut a lot of the bulk for the storage and put it in the basement of the building and, therefore, reduce the overall height of the building.”  

Several principals of Bayside schools said they supported the project because their classrooms were extremely overcrowded.  

“In 2011, we had 681 students registered in September,” said Joan Casale, principal of P.S. 162. “By June, it was 685. In 2012, we had 618 registered by May and it went up to 691. This year, we had 700 register in September and it was up to 715 by the end of the year. We’ve had 10 new children register in the past month.”  

But most Bayside residents who spoke during CB 11’s public hearing said they were against the proposal.  

“This area is saturated with schools and we can’t stand anymore,” resident Mandingo Tshaka said. “You have homes abutting the property up and down the street. The school will be right in the bedrooms of homes along 210th and 211th Street. Hell no. That’s all I’m going to say.”  

Other residents said they were concerned about potential traffic problems at the site.  

“You can’t get onto 47th Avenue without risking your life, your limbs and your car,” resident Toby Pagano said. “If they open a school on the other side of the street, that will affect the traffic pattern even worse. It is really a disaster in the making. The quality of life is going to suffer.”  

Several residents said they would support a new school, but at a different locale.  

“I get the need for more schools,” resident Carol Schreiber said. “I love looking out the window and seeing children walking home from school. But this is wrong. It’s the wrong place to build this school. Look someplace else.”  

Persheff said the school day at the site would be the typical 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The School Construction Authority is analyzing the traffic patterns and volume near the proposed site to determine how a new school would affect the community, he said.