In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, a number of schools in the Rockaways and Howard Beach have relocated due to destruction at school buildings and power outages.
One Rockaway public school hard-hit by the storm has been relocated by the city Department of Education to Long Island City, where damage paled in comparison to other areas in the borough.
IS 126/Albert Shanker School for Visual and Performing Arts will be housing Q333/Goldie Maple Academy, an impacted school from Far Rockaway that sustained structural damage and loss of power from last week’s superstorm, as of Wednesday.
Teachers from Q333 are scheduled to report to the new school as well.
“We’re going to give them space in the building,” said IS 126 Principal Alexander Angueira, who wasn’t involved in the selection process for becoming a new school for displaced students; his school was assigned by the DOE.
“We want to help people. It doesn’t matter, we’ll make room,” Angueira added, unconcerned with overcrowding as this point in the process.
“The teachers here — they’re good,” said Zoreen Arnold, a mother of an eighth grade daughter at IS 126 on Wednesday morning, when classes resumed after Election Day. She went on to speak highly of the school administration’s security measures for students and how she’s seen a change in the last few years.
“I’m glad I’m able to provide the kids a warm meal and a warm setting for them … I’m happy we’re available,” Angueira said.
While the bulk of the city’s public schools resumed classes Monday following a week of cancellations, many students in the hardest hit areas of the region were still affected.
Q333, which was slated as an Election Day polling site, had to also be reassigned by the Board of Elections as well and has not been open to students since Oct. 26.
“We are planning to relocate all students assigned to [structurally damaged schools] tomorrow,” Mayor Bloomberg said at a press conference from the Blue Room inside City Hall Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m happy to say we’ve reduced that number from 57 [schools] to 47; the other 10 will join the group of schools that open tomorrow and students will go to their regular schools,” Bloomberg added.
School buses are scheduled to pick up students outside the impacted school building at 7 a.m. to transport them to their new location, according to the DOE’s website. Buses will then return students to the same building at the end of the school day.
Additionally, if families of students pre-K through grade 8 choose to drop-off or pick-up their children at their new school location, they are eligible for travel reimbursement, with the criteria outlined on the DOE’s website.
“I understand the significant impact this storm has had on your lives,” NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a letter to families this week. “We are committed to working around the clock to help your children make a smooth transition back to school,” he added.
Outlined on the school relocation information section of the DOE’s website, disabled or special-need students with Individualized Education Program required transportation will continue to be picked up at their homes, even in impacted areas.
This information also states that if students have IEP-mandated transportation with a sibling assigned to the same new school, they too can ride on the bus if room is available.
Here is a list of schools that were relocated by the DOE:
PS 42 in Far Rockaway has been relocated to IS 59, located at 13255 Ridgedale Street in St. Albans.
PS 43 in Far Rockaway from pre-K through 4th grade is going to IS 226 in Forest Hills while grades 5 through 8 are in IS 292 Brooklyn.
PS 47 in Broad Channel is temporarily relocated to PS 181 in Laurelton.
PS 105 in Arverne students from grades Pre-K through 3 will be sent to PS 40 in Jamaica, while grades 4-8 will go to JHS 72 in Rochdale.
PS 106 in Far Rockaway students will be relocated to PS 223 in South Jamaica
Students from PS 114 in Belle Harbor will be relocated to three different schools depending on the grade. Kindergarten through second grade will go to IS 77 in Ridgewood, grades 3 and 4 will go to IS 119 in Glendale and grades 5 through 8 will go to IS 93 in Ridgewood.
Students from PS 183 in Arverne will go to IS 171 in Brooklyn.
PS 207 in Howard Beach is closed and students from pre-K through second grade will go to the Metropolitan Avenue Educational Campus in Forest Hills, while grades 3 through 8 will be relocated to IS 204 in Long Island City.
PS 356 is sending its students to a number of different schools; grades K through 2 to IS 77 in Ridgewood, grades 3 and 4 to IS 119 in Glendale, grades 5 through 8 to IS 91 in Ridgewood and the school’s special education students will go to either PS 273, PS 208, or PS 721, Occupational Training Center, all in Brooklyn.
The Channel View for Research has been located to Franklin K. Lane High School in Woodhaven.
The Waterside School for Leadership and Children’s Studio School are relocated temporarily to August Martin High School in South Jamaica.
Scholars Academy is sending students from sixth through eighth grades to PS 13 and grades 9 through 12 to William Maxwell CTE High School, both in Brooklyn.
The Rockaway Park High School for Environmental Sustainability is temporarily relocated to Maspeth High School.
Students from the Golden Maple Academy are being taught at IS 126 in Astoria.
Challenge Preparatory Charter School students are relocated to PS 190 in Brooklyn.
Rockaway Collegiate High School will attend the Far Rockaway High School campus.
Students from Beach Channel High School are attending classes at Franklin K. Lane High School.
PS 78 in LIC, which suffered damage from the East River storm surge, is temporarily relocated to PS 76, a few blocks away.
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