7
QUEENS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2019
New Jackson Heights school ready for fi rst classes
BY BILL PARRY
With more than 1.1
million students heading
back to public schools on
opening day on Thursday,
Sept. 5, the most excited
pupils can be found
along the Jackson
H e i g h t s /Wo o d s i d e
border — where P.S. 398
opens its doors for the
first time.
The $62 million
state-of-the-art, fivestory
building features
476 seats for pre-K
through fifth grade
in Community School
District 30, the secondmost
overcrowded school
district in Queens.
Councilman Daniel
Dromm, a former New
York City public school
teacher for more than
20 years at P.S. 199 in
Sunnyside, became an
advocate for class size
reduction after teaching
in one of the most
overcrowded schools in
the city, he said.
“They had to make
space in closets, locker
rooms, dressing rooms
and elsewhere,” Dromm
said. “Class size reduction
will help teachers
provide instructional
class lessons and the
city has never tried class
size reduction. With 34
kids in a classroom, they
can’t spend as much time
with each child. The
Department of Education
doesn’t take into account
new developments in
the city and the inf lux
of immigrants to the
community, such
as Jackson Heights,
Elmhurst and Astoria.”
The school is located
at 69-01 34th Ave. along
the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway, on what
was once White Castle’s
regional headquarters.
A developer once
planned to build an
apartment complex at
the location, but Dromm
was able to get the School
Construction Authority
to step in and by the
land for $6.3 million in
2015 in order to build
the 65,000-square-foot
school that includes a
rooftop playground.
Elsewhere, P.S. 303 in
Forest Hills will cut the
ribbon on its $66 million
addition that will allow
the school, known as the
Academy for Excellence
Through the Arts, to add
grades 4 and 5 to existing
grades pre-K through 3.
The new facility includes
a two-story gym, science
rooms, a reading
library and special
education rooms at
108-55 69th Ave.
Also in Forest Hills,
there is a $52.4 million
four-story addition set
to open at P.S. 144, the
Colonel Jeromus Remsen
elementary school. The
new construction added
26 new classrooms with
a new entrance lobby and
seats for 590 students.
P.S. 66, The Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis school
in Richmond Hill, which
first opened its doors
in 1893 at 85-11 102nd
St., also opens its new
addition with six new
classrooms for 124 news
seats with a cafeteria,
exercise room and new
office space for school
administrators.
The School
Construction Authority
is also opening four
new 3K for All centers
across the borough
including the District
27 Pre-K Center at 101-
49 Woodhaven Blvd. in
Ozone Park, the District
27 Pre-K Center at 100-02
Rockaway Blvd. in Ozone
Park, and the District
27 Pre-K Center at 160-
06 Cross Bay Blvd. in
Howard Beach.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by email at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
Worker puts some finishing touches on P.S. 398 in Jackson Heights, the borough’s newest
school opening Thursday, Sept. 5. Courtesy of School Construction Authority
Flushing’s St. Kevin’s gearing up for walkathon fundraiser
BY JENNA BAGCAL
A Flushing Catholic
school is gearing up for
its annual walkathon
this October.
According to Eliana
Space, a member of the
academy parent association
at St. Kevin Catholic
Academy, parents raise
money for the yearly event
to help out the school. But
now, they plan to broaden
their focus to include the
global community.
Parents ask local
businesses, family and
friends to donate money
that goes toward keeping
tuition costs low and this
year, purchasing outdoor
equipment for the students.
But Space shared that the
walkathon chairs Tara
Camisa, Stephanie Lelia
and Jocelyn Shafiroff
propose a service idea
that would also help the
less fortunate.
The chairs suggested
that the school purchase
UNICEF Kid Power bands
for the students to use
during the walkathon.
The bands track each
child’s movement, which
is converted into points
and add up to lifesaving
packets for food for severely
malnourished children.
Kid Power Up activities
are short videos that kids
do while wearing the
bracelet. Ten Kid Power
Up activities adds up to
one packet of food for a
child in need, according
to UNICEF.
Space said that SKCA
is currently trying to find
a sponsor to purchase the
$28.99 bands for their nearly
300 students. The bands
would cost about $5,500, but
procuring a sponsor has
been difficult.
“Unfortunately, it’s
been kind of hard since
many companies and
organizations don’t tend to
donate to Catholic schools,”
Space said.
SKCA’s new principal,
Allison Murphy, endorsed
the effort and said it was
important for the school
to promote Catholic tenets
like the Corporal Works
of Mercy.
“It’s important to live
them,” Murphy said. “The
students don’t usually
have firsthand experience
with poverty. The bands
will be a physical reminder
of the things they have and
the things that others do
not have.”
The principal’s
philosophy is that it’s the
school’s responsibility to
help its students become
contributing members
of society.
In addition to
incorporating the UNICEF
bands, Space said that
kids can participate in
a morning Zumba class
prior to completing
the walkathon around
the school.
Students will also
receive prizes and partake
in other fun activities
during the course of
the day.
To learn how to donate to
help the school get UNICEF
Kid Power bands, email
the APA at SKCA.APA@
gmail.com.
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by email at jbagcal@
qns.com or by phone at (718)
260-2583.
Students at the 2015 St. Kevin walkathon Photo courtesy of St. Kevin Catholic Academy
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