A new 440-seat school for kindergarten through eighth grade is being built to relieve overcrowding in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.
The project is part of a building program to speed up construction of schools on city-owned property, the mayor said.
The school, to open in September 2006, is the former site of Bishop Dubois HS. The vacant building, located at 152nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, is partially covered in scaffolding and still has a huge cross adorning the façade.
Five other school construction projects on city-owned land are being fast-tracked as well, the mayor said:
* PS 260, a 630-seat school in Corona, Queens.
* Metropolitan Avenue campus, a 2,300-seat school in Forest Hills, Queens.
* A new building for Frank Sinatra HS for the Arts in Astoria, Queens.
* PS-IS 89, a 900-seat school in The Bronx.
* IS 43, a 900-seat school on Staten Island.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein joined the mayor at the announcement at PS 28 in Washington Heights, which is at 112 percent capacity and is three blocks from the new building. Some of these projects were put on hold two years ago because of budget woes.
“We do have overcrowding in the city. We have to find a way to build more seats, and we will do that,” Bloomberg said.