New-school envy
Qns. parents want what SI is getting
Instead of wasting millions of dollars on a face-lift for a 116-yearold Queens building unfit for disabled children, the city should build a new state-of-the-art school like it’s doing for kids in Staten Island, a city councilman contends.
The School Construction Authority will break ground this summer on a $78 million building for the Richard H. Hungerford School in Sunnyside, with every amenity for children with special needs.
The bright new 300-seat building on the Michael J. Petrides campus, expected to open in September 2021, will boast Braille signage in every room, elevators, ramps and a high-tech sound system for the hearing-impaired.
The classrooms, most with their own restrooms, are designed for small groups. There will be physical- and speech-therapy rooms, and a nurse’s station on each floor.
In contrast, the dilapidated PS 9 Walter Reed in Maspeth is located in an industrial zone, surrounded by forklifts and trucks that kick up dust and spew diesel fumes.
It is not wheelchair accessible, has bad acoustics that makes noise painful for autistic kids, only one bathroom per floor and a gym doubling as the cafeteria.
After calling PS 9 “safe, clean and comfortable,” the city Department of Education last week admitted at least one kindergarten classroom had peeling or cracked lead paint, one of 900 citywide found with the toxic hazard.
Officials said repairs will be made before school starts.
Meanwhile, the city has spent $14 million in capital funds on exterior repairs — still underway — and inside improvements.
“This is a money pit,” said City Councilman Robert Holden, whose district includes PS 9. “It’s not worth it to keep pouring money into this building — in this location.”
Holden called it “an insult to Queens” not to give its specialneeds children equal treatment to those in Staten Island.
SCA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said a new site for PS 9 is not under consideration.
It took a lot of fighting to get the new Hungerford building, said Maritza Adorno-Sabato (pictured above), a PTA mom at the school.
“We’re very loud people and we’re adamant to get what we want,” Adorno-Sabato said.