QUESTION
How is the NYC School Construction Authority addressing classroom and space constraints?
1:17:33
·
3 min
The NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) discusses various strategies to address classroom and space constraints in New York City schools, including capitalizing on already available space and constructing new facilities.
- The SCA has initiated surveys to identify schools with available space for immediate utilization.
- Approximately 100 schools have sufficient space on paper to absorb additional classrooms, making this the fastest and least costly method.
- For schools requiring significant space, the process of building new facilities is explored, with 27,000 new seats currently in development.
- The SCA also considers expanding existing schools and repurposing underutilized structures to add classroom space.
Gale Brewer
1:17:33
What about the class room?
1:17:36
How are you gonna find more space?
Nina Kubota
1:17:38
Right?
1:17:39
At Thank you for that question.
1:17:41
I think in my testimony, it talks about 4 different strategies.
1:17:44
And I will say that as you can hear this afternoon.
1:17:48
This is very complicated, and building is just one of the solutions.
1:17:52
So I think what we've started to do is to the tier 1, the sort of low hanging fruit.
1:17:58
We're looking at where and remember, there was a survey that was sent out to principals to say, Do you have space in your school and where our data aligns?
1:18:10
We we have a few dozen schools that we immediately have to look at.
1:18:13
That say we have a space.
1:18:16
We agree that they have space.
1:18:17
Let's get to those schools.
1:18:19
And if there's a renovation project that needs to happen, we can bang that out.
1:18:23
Pretty quickly.
1:18:24
And that's only if they need one classroom.
1:18:25
We're looking across the system, and there are probably about a 100 schools that that on paper have sufficient space to kind of absorb.
1:18:34
So that for for the school construction authority is the easiest and fastest and least costly method.
1:18:41
So that's what we're doing now as we're finishing, analyzing these principal surveys.
1:18:45
But those couple of dozen, we can get to pretty quickly, and we've already started to do that.
1:18:51
I think the other strategy is what do we do with the 27,000 seats that are in process?
1:18:57
And we talked about that again in our testimony to say, We have 3 schools coming online in District 20.
1:19:04
That's an area of need with without class size, but it's it compliance.
1:19:09
So we are working with district planning and other offices at New York City Public Schools so that we can use those seats that are in process to address.
1:19:18
The biggest thing is obviously how many new schools and where.
1:19:22
And as I mentioned, that is the most costly and also the toughest.
1:19:28
Right?
1:19:29
Where do we build these schools?
1:19:32
So and I think that's the process that we're going through right now.
1:19:36
To analyze where it's most impactful.
Gale Brewer
1:19:38
Okay.
1:19:39
Don't forget on 66th Street, you have a school that you didn't know about.
1:19:43
Right?
1:19:43
The school that you were like I told you about.
1:19:46
It's a brand new school that you're building that I you didn't know anything about.
1:19:51
So you could use that school to be one of your extra spaces.
1:19:56
Are you aware of that school?
1:19:57
Yes.
Nina Kubota
1:19:59
Yes.
1:19:59
And and and and w chancellor also mentioned, you know, we are also looking at where we can expand existing
Gale Brewer
1:20:07
So that'll be the place.
1:20:07
I'm just listening.
1:20:08
No.
Nina Kubota
1:20:09
Agreed.
1:20:10
Alright.
1:20:10
Thank you.
Emma Vadehra
1:20:10
Can I just can I speak to the expansion pizza?
Khalek Kirkland
1:20:13
Because
Gale Brewer
1:20:13
From my school or the in general.
1:20:15
THE SCHOOL ON Sixty six?
Emma Vadehra
1:20:16
I'M WORRIED TO TRY AND SPEAK ABOUT THAT, SO I'M GOING IN GENERAL.
1:20:19
I Just THINK 1 1 OF THE OTHER THINGS Just NEED A FLAG is, and this gets to your enrollment point.
1:20:25
It's not just building new schools anywhere, and it's not just building new schools in the most overcrowded districts, which is how obviously SEA's done its work.
1:20:34
It's building new classrooms close enough to those schools that are currently over enrolled.
1:20:39
It's just building out that same building, which is an additional level of that last category for.
Gale Brewer
1:20:43
I'm afraid to mention parochial school because I know when I'm up against, but they are all empty.
1:20:49
Thank you.