Sunset Park School Activists to Meet With City on Dec. 19

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Members of Community Board 7, Sunset Park Councilman Carlos Menchaca, and activists from Make Space for Quality Schools in Sunset Park will meet with officials from the School Construction Authority (SCA) on Dec. 19 to advocate for more schools in the neighborhood.

The meeting was discussed at Thursday's meeting of CB 7's education committee. CB 7 represents Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace. The SCA is a state-run agency that finds locations for, designs, and builds schools in New York City.

Cesar Zuniga, who chairs the education committee, said he hopes the meeting can start "to make a real ally out of the SCA," adding that he doesn't believe the organization understands how dire the need is for new school seats in School District 15, which includes Sunset Park.

The SCA recently announced that it was moving ahead with a public review of a former C-Town at 4525 8th Ave., in order to see if a new 300-seat elementary school could be built there.

And in an October letter to Menchaca and CB 7, the agency said it's exploring at least eight local sites that could host schools. The agency also said it will spend $325 million over the next five years adding 3,840 sets to District 15, including 1,096 seats in Sunset Park.

Zuniga said such steps are positive signs, but he and others at the meeting said they still want more information about how the SCA is evaluating potential school sites.

Those assembled also said they must convey a sense of urgency to the SCA, citing the community's past battles to get new schools built, including a nearly 40 year struggle to secure the construction of Sunset Park High School.

Zuniga stressed the need to "mobilize a community that will advocate for more school construction," one that includes a greater number of parents. (Thursday's meeting, held on a cold workday evening, was sparsely attended.)

To that end, Zuniga said he's looking to organize a town hall in January or February to educate more community members about the process by which schools are built in the district.

Another goal: to form coalitions with other community boards. For example, the proposed C-Town site, while within District 15, sits in Community Board 12.

And the attendees discussed the need to bring more school administrators into the advocacy process. Teachers and principals, Zuniga said, "can provide the best testimony for why this is such a crisis."

Pictured at top: Cesar Zuniga, left, at Thursday's meeting. Photo by John V. Santore.