Junior High / High School Prospect Heights

Prospect Heights group wants input into new Atlantic Yards school

Hearing in Brooklyn on Wednesday

June 1, 2015 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A new school is going up on the corner lot in the Atlantic Yards area at Sixth Avenue and Dean Street, shown above. Photo: Map data ©2015 Google

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The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC) is urging residents to attend a joint hearing of Community Board 8 and Community Education Council 13 to demand input into a public school planned for the Atlantic Yards area.

The School Construction Authority recently announced that the new 616-seat school, serving elementary and intermediate school students, would be located in a residential tower on the northeast corner of Sixth Avenue and Dean Street. The school is one of the community benefits promised by the Atlantic Yards project.

PHNDC says that Prospect Heights has been shortchanged on public middle school options. “DOE facilities in our neighborhood that could house a public middle school for District 13 instead have been allocated to charter school networks and students from other districts,” the group said in a statement on Monday.

“Neighborhood children deserve a middle school that reflects the diversity of its school district and is accessible to all. Local residents must have the opportunity to participate in the design process in a meaningful way so that traffic and pedestrian safety at the site is ensured, and the operation of the school works for students, neighbors and nearby fire and police services,” the group said.

The proposed site of the school falls within District 13.

The hearing takes place on Wednesday, June 3, at 7 p.m., at the CNR-Center Light Health Care Center, 727 Classon Ave. (corner of Park Place).

According to PHNDC, development will begin in July 2016. A 45-day public comment period began May 15, according to DNA info.