It’s old-school meets new-school.
The city filed permits to build a new four-floor public schoolhouse on 80-year-old PS 101’s parking lot and blacktop play area last week. The new building will help ease pressure on the Gravesend’s overcrowded classrooms, according to one local leader.
“As our population grows, we always need additional seats, so it’s welcoming news that we are receiving a new building at PS 101,” said Community Board 11 district manager Marnee Elias-Pavia.
The Department of Education would not specify how many students the new building will serve. District 21 elementary schools were at 110 percent capacity in 2014. There were 898 students packed into the existing 573-capacity PS 101 building that year — more than one-and-a-half times the building’s capacity, according to education department records.
The new school will occupy the 24th-Avenue side of the property — currently a parking lot and play area — according to education department officials. It will be slightly bigger than the existing schoolhouse there. The department refused comment on the fate of the Depression-era building.
A cafeteria, offices, and utility rooms will occupy the first floor of the new structure. Classrooms will make up much of the second, third, and fourth floors, according to permits. A library is slated for the third floor and rooftop playgrounds are planned on both the second and fourth floors.
The current PS 101 building has 10 outstanding Department of Buildings violations, mostly regarding water damage on different floors issued between 2011 and 2014. Inspectors noted water penetrating through the foundation and walls in 2012 and 2013.
Officials expect the building to open for students in September 2019.
