Community News
Construction begins on new building for
Academy of American Studies
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I DECEMBER 2018 23
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Construction has started
on the Academy of
American Studies’ new
home which will be right
across the street from
its current location at 28-04 41st Ave.,
Long Island City.
The Academy of American Studies
currently shares space with Newcom-ers
High School, located across the
street. The new building will be located
at 28-04 41st Avenue in what is cur-rently
the parking lot of Newcomers.
The new four-story building will house
969 students and include a visual art
room, music room, science labs and a
medical suite, according to the Depart-ment
of Education. Currently, there
are about 909 students enrolled at
Newcomers High School and 1,008
enrolled at the Academy of American
Studies.
“Since we opened the school we’ve
been looking for a new building,” said
Patricia McLoughlin, a school aid at the
Academy of American Studies.
Overcrowding has been a chronic
problem in New York City schools with
the problem projected to only worsen
in Long Island City with the arrival of
Amazon in 2019, according to report-ing
from Gotham Gazette. According
to the housing start data posted by the
School Construction Authority, it is esti-mated
between 2018-2024 that 19,703
residential units to be built in Queens’
School District 30, where the Academy
of American Studies and Newcomers
High School are both located.
According to the Department of
Education’s formula used to determine
how much school enrollment growth
this influx of residents will generate,
there will be a need for 4,000 additional
elementary and middle school seats.
The proposed five-year capital plan
for 2020-2024 includes only 1,012
for the district.
In the proposed five-year plan there
are fewer than 1,000 high school seats
for the borough. The housing start
data alone would generate the need
for about 5,000 additional high school
students.
“One of the greatest needs in our
community is having enough school
seats for our kids and today’s announce-ment
is good news on that front,” said
Senator Michael Gianaris, who attended
the new facility’s ground-breaking cer-emony
on Monday Dec. 3.
Others in attendance included State
Senator Jessica Ramos, Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer, Assemblywoman Cath-erine
Nolan, School Construction Authority
President Lorraine Grillo, Queens Commu-nity
Board 1 Chair Marie Torniali, Queens
Community Board 2 Chair Principal William
Bassell and a handful of students.
Construction is scheduled to be com-pleted
in 2021 with the new school’s
first student’s set to occupy the building
in September of that year.
Photo courtesy of Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan’s office.
/www.qns.com
