Water Leaks Cause Havoc At J.H.S. 67

Northeast Queens residents Syed and Ambareen Rizvi have a big decision to make.

In the coming weeks, the Rizvis will make a choice about whether or not to pull their 6th grader out of in Little Neck and enroll their child in a private school — even as the down economy leads more and more city parents to choose the public option.

According to the couple, what they do will largely hinge on whether the School Construction Authority, the agency responsible for repairs to city places of learning, keeps their promise to stop the flow of water into as many as five classrooms at J.H.S. 67.

School officials discovered the problem of water infiltrating J.H.S. 67's 1950s-era building as early as Nov. 11, 2008, according to principal Zoi McGrath.

Joining concerned parents at a meeting of the Community District Education Council at J.H.S. 67 Wednesday night, McGrath roundly criticized an SCA representative for the agency's failure to address the water leaks.

"It's been two years," she said. "Why has this taken so long?"

The classrooms, used for dance, band and jazz classes, are located in the school's basement underneath a covered outdoor walkway or "loggia" connecting J.H.S. 67's front entrance to the street.

According to J.H.S. 67 Parent Teacher Association president Ingrid Guapisaca, the problem stems from rain and snow melt trickling down cracks in the pavement onto the ceiling of the classrooms below.

Guapisaca said the water caused extensive damage to several classrooms.

"The ceiling is going down through our band, our jazz, our drama department," she said. "I have bronchitis, I'm the big one. But they come here everyday ... they can't breathe."

Tests of the air in the affected classrooms were to be conducted Thursday by the Department of Education.

The question of whether or not a fix to the water infiltration problem at J.H.S. 67 had been found appeared to be a matter of some debate.

At last night's meeting, McGrath and Guapisaca said work had not begun, while SCA's representative at the meeting, senior manager of external affairs Mary Leas, claimed an emergency contractor had been called to find a temporary solution to the problem.

Leas confirmed that $500,000 in school construction funds had been secured for the J.H.S. 67 loggia project to stop the leaks.

The concerns centering on the health and safety of J.H.S. 67 students came towards the end of a regular CDEC meeting that included details of other SCA projects, such as the painting of a metal-plated cupola at P.S. 31 in Bayside.

Word of these largely non-essential school construction efforts resulted in palpable frustration from Syed Rizvi, father of a child now complaining of asthma-like symptoms he worries could be the result of mold caused by the water leaks.

"If you have enough funds available to you, use them," Rizvi said. "Who cares about cosmetics?"