Success Academy cuts ribbon on Ozone Park school
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Success Academy parents,
students and educators were
gathered with Congressman
Gregory Meeks to celebrate the
opening of Success Academy
Ozone Park Middle School with
a ribbon-cutting ceremony on
Monday, Oct. 4.
The space for the new
school, which opened in August
and serves 250 Success Academy
Queens fifth- and sixthgrade
students, was provided
by the city in late May, after
years of tenacious advocacy by
thousands of parents and educators
who received support
from elected officials.
Representatives of Senator
James Sanders Jr., Assemblyman
Khaleel Anderson and
Councilwoman Adrienne Adams
were in attendance for the
event.
“Today we live in a global society.
Our young people no longer
compete within their block,
within their neighborhood,
within their city, state or nation,”
Meeks said. “They have
to be ready to compete with
people all around the world,
and we here in New York, especially
in Queens County, we
have to make sure we benefit
and include ourselves in this
global society. That’s a key issue
we have to deal with and
you have to have the education
to do that.”
Meeks added, “It takes a
team to make sure you are educated
in a facility that is also
conducive for that learning. It
also shows young people that
you care. You care about their
education. You care about their
environment. When they grow
up knowing that adults care
about who they are and where
they are, and how they learn
and what they do — it’s something
that is transformative.”
The city agreed to provide
the building, a former Catholic
school located at 109-55 128th
St., in May, when the students’
temporary co-location at I.S.
238 in Hollis was about to expire.
According to Success Academy,
the new building required
significant work. Due to the
Congressman Gregory Meeks, a student and Success Academy Founder Eva Moscowitz cut the ribbon at the new Success Academy
middle school in Ozone Park. Photos courtesy of Success Academy
last-minute timing of the offer
in late May, the SA renovations
team was tasked with a top-tobottom
renovation of the space
— including all new electrical
and plumbing systems, demolition,
rebuilding, painting, tiling
and flooring — in just over
two months.
Although Success Academy
had first requested space from
the city in 2017, school officials
said Mayor Bill de Blasio had
failed to act until 2019, when
parent advocacy groups kept
pushing demanding accountability
and a space for their
kids to learn.
In September of 2019, more
than 4,000 advocates gathered
to rally for education equity in
Roy Wilkins Park and began
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.30 COM |
OCT. 15 - OCT. 21, 2021
appealing for help.
Over the next 18 months,
they sent 19,000 emails and
made over 2,300 phone calls to
elected officials asking for their
support. This included multiple
press conferences, including
one with more than 200 southeast
Queens fourth-graders,
who would’ve been left without
seats for the next school year.
Before a tour of the new
school, sixth-grader Ayden
Brotherson said being in the
building gave him personal
satisfaction knowing that he
was part of the fight for a new
school.
“I would like to thank the
many people who have been
instrumental in the preparation
of this new building for
us, but also remind us that
currently our brothers and
sisters at Success Academy
Far Rockaway are in a space
fight of their own,” Brotherson
said. “Let us all use this
experience to be reminded
that if we stand together we
can accomplish what might
seem impossible.”
With help from NYC Division of School Facilities, Success Academy
Ozone Park MS was renovated in two months.
30 VOTE NOW!
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE BANDS, BARBERSHOPS,
BAGEL STORES & MUCH MORE THROUGH NOVEMBER 11TH AT
2022 BESTOF.QNS.COM
@bestoftheboro
/BESTOF.QNS.COM
