No Fresh Air for P.S. 39 Students

The glories of spring have finally arrived after a long, hard winter – but the children at PS 39 remain stuck inside the schoolhouse all day. 

Since April 29, the school has been hemmed in by a network of scaffolding that blocks all access to the school's playground and other outdoor spaces. The scaffolding will remain in place well into the next school year and likely beyond that, if the School Construction Authority sticks to the timeline it has proposed. 

The SCA began building the scaffolding in response to an assessment made over spring break that the cornices on the landmarked 1877 building were in danger of falling. The condition is of particular concern because a 16-year-old student at PS 131 was killed by a falling cornice in 1998.

While parents and administration at the school say they understand that the repairs are urgent, they are incensed by the proposed construction timeline. Anita de Paz, PS 39's principal, reported that the SCA told her the project would involve a 10-month period dedicated to research and design and then bidding before the repairs will even start. 

"They have to scope out the work, design it, and take bids," Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg told the Daily News. 

"I think that that's unacceptable," said de Paz, who hopes to convince the school authorities to expedite the process. "I think that whatever concessions can be legally and officially made in an emergency situation--which this is--should be done." 

"The prospect of potentially two years of no outdoor play for almost four hundred children, that's an emergency," she added.

Stacey Shapiro, the mother of a kindergartener at the school, expressed frustration with the situation.

"I feel strongly that children need fresh air," she said. "They need to let off their steam, and it's completely unfair not to let them do that." 

Susan Moesker, one of the school's PTA presidents, said that her second-grader son has been coming home from school in the afternoons in an "exceedingly grouchy" mood after being penned in all day. She likened the tunnel of scaffolding that the children must pass through to "cattle shoots." 

"It's very hard for kids to sit still in the classroom," said Moesker. "I'm hearing from teachers that it's making it hard in the classroom. I'm hearing from school aids that they want to tear their hair out and quit their jobs because the kids are unhappy, and the kids are unhappy directly at them, because they're the ones who supervise those periods."  

Facing the the possibility that the school will lack outdoor access for two years or even more, Principal de Paz is seeking other fresh air solutions. Access to nearby parks, however, is severely limited right now because of other ongoing construction projects. She is currently in talks with the Department of Transportation and the NYPD to see about closing down 8th Street during lunch periods to create a "playstreet" for the children. 

For the short term, she has been trying to ensure that the students get adequate exercise by requisitioning the music room, one of the few large rooms in a school with unique layout challenges.  During the lunch periods, de Paz says children would alternate between board games, coloring and watching education DVDs. 

On Wednesday, May 18th, SCA Senior Project Officer John Gentile will be coming to the school to meet with P.S. 39 faculty and parents. The meeting will take place at 6:30, and Principal de Paz encourages any interested members of the community to attend.