S. Bronx Classical
IV Charter School
breaks ground in
Concourse Village
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
South Bronx Classical IV
Charter School held a groundbreaking
ceremony on Thursday,
July 18 on a new building at
757 Concourse Village West that
will allow for the expansion of the
school to serve grades Kindergarten
through eighth grade.
The school is currently open
and housed in a temporary location
at East 167th Street and Third
Avenue, presently the home of another
school that’s part of Classical
Charter Schools, said Lestor
Long, executive director of the
school network.
Long said that the new building
will be 54,000 square feet with
a full-size gymnasium with a
basketball court and will be completely
wired for Wi-Fi and the internet.
The classrooms will be larger
than typical classrooms, at about
700 square feet each for a class
size of about 20 students each,
said Long, adding that there will
be a fully insulated music room
with a premiere sound system
and an art room.
As part of the classical (Greek
and Roman) theme of the school,
students will receive gym every
day, along with two and a half
units of both music and art each
week, said Long.
Student and parent demand
for Classical Charter Schools’
rigorous academic standards and
longer school days, which last
from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the
organization’s desire to expand
into more borough communities,
drove the decision to build in
Concourse Village.
“We have identifi ed seven
neighborhoods in the Bronx particularly
in need,” said Long.
“This will be our fourth school
and we hope in the next fi ve to ten
years to start three new schools.”
EVEN THE
KITCHENs I NKS!S!
TN home on pilings collapses into river - page 2
A house at 2708 Schurz Avenue was destroyed by Mother Nature. Photo by Edwin Soto
Throggs Neck continues to clash
with Miracle City’s drug proposal
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The Throggs Neck community
continues to clash over a proposed
drug rehabilitation and treatment
facility that would occupy 2800
Bruckner Boulevard, putting the
area’s residents at odds with the
local merchant association president.
In previous months, east Bronx
elected offi cials have formally opposed
Miracle City, the drug treatment
center’s operator, while
multiple protests in front of the
property have been held.
Residents are trying to block
Miracle City from obtaining a state
license to operate the facility.
As an ‘822’ program, regulated
by the NYS Offi ce of Alcohol and
Substance Abuse Services, Miracle
City would be providing counseling
services to clients affl icted
with eating and drinking disorders,
and drug addictions.
Assemblyman Michael Benedetto
and Councilman Mark
Gjonaj sent a joint letter to OASAS,
recommending that the agency
not approve the license for Miracle
City. State Senator Alessandra
Biaggi has also made her displeasure
known in a separate letter to
the state agency.
Even though a representative of
Miracle City indicated its current
business model will not include
dispensing any narcotics, it could
do so at a later date by fi ling additional
paperwork to the proper
regulatory governmental agencies,
community leaders learned.
Taking the words of the drug
treatment operators at face value,
that they do not intend to dispense
any narcotics from the location,
Bob Jaen, president of the Throggs
Neck Merchants Association, has
personally thrown his support behind
the Miracle City proposal.
“No drugs should be coming
out of that building,” Jaen said.
According to Jaen, the merchants
association is neither opposing
or in favor of, the drug
treatment facility at this time.
“The viewpoint of the (Throggs
Neck Merchants Association) is
Your Neighborhood — Your News® July 28, 2019
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