Build it now

The northwest Bronx has long prided itself on its outstanding schools. With some exceptions, dedicated teachers, caring communities and earnest students have been a winning formula for excellence for generations.

But years of overcrowding have stretched school resources too thin. The Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) has had to hold class for fifth graders off campus, though Department of Education incompetence means the institution is about to lose its much-needed annex. The Robert J. Christen School (P.S. 81) is reported to be about 30 percent over capacity. Earlier this year, institutions including the New School for Leadership and the Arts, P.S./M.S. 37, the Sheila Mencher School (P.S. 95), P.S. 360 and the Milton Fein School (P.S. 7) had to turn prospective students away.

Having too many students at our schools affects every aspect of education: teachers cannot give their pupils as much attention as they used to, drop-offs and pick-ups are a nightmare and aging buildings are taxed to the utmost limit.

Since 2008, the city has acknowledged the need for 456 new seats for elementary school students in the northwest Bronx, either at an expansion of an existing school or at an entirely new building. But the DOE has done nothing to acquire the necessary land, while developers snatch up lot after lot in the neighborhood.

Whenever asked for a plan of action, DOE officials have haplessly evaded the question, telling residents to send suggestions for possible school locations their way.

In the meantime, a new charter school has gone up on West 231st Street. The International Leadership Charter School could build in large part because the CEO was able to negotiate on behalf of her institution. While public school principals are not similarly empowered, local elected officials can and should work with the Department of Education to secure a location for a new school.

There are still a number of sites where one could be built. For instance, the site of the closed Koo-Koo’s on Broadway has the benefit of being close to public transportation. A study of Bailey Avenue could turn up potential locations. Or the DOE and other agencies could try to think more creatively, and work with a developer to include a school in one of the many new apartment buildings going up.

There is no excuse to keep cramming more students into our overburdened schools. Parents should tell elected officials to work with the DOE to create concrete proposals for the community’s next institute of learning.