New York City Gains Record Number Of School Seats For New Academic Year

Lindsey Christ NY1 09/01/2010 18:03

In anticipation of the school year ahead, the mayor and schools chancellor announced Wednesday a record number of new seats available across the city, as part of an attempt to ease overcrowding.

About 17,000 thousand students will walk into brand new classrooms next week, and city officials say it is the most new space the School Construction Authority has ever opened in a single year since it was created in 1988.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he could not be happier.

"There are colleagues of mine, they don't see 30 buildings in the course of a lifetime, and we are seeing that basically this year in New York City," said Klein.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the construction at the new Mott Haven Educational Campus Wednesday. It is the largest single project funded by the city's $13 billion school capital plan. The building covers nine acres of land, cost $250 million and will house 2,300 students in five different schools.

Bloomberg said it is the largest public school project in modern memory.

"Before we began construction here, this site, which had at one time been used as a commuter rail yard, had been vacant for close to 50 years," said Bloomberg. "So this striking new campus really symbolizes the revival of the South Bronx."