Scaffolding Down, Art Up at PS 107
A reader sent in this picture of the newly renovated PS 107 on 8th Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets. The facade was spruced up, and our tipster thinks new windows have been installed. They also add, “The pipes that run vertically up the eastern side of the building have some public art on them….
A reader sent in this picture of the newly renovated PS 107 on 8th Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets. The facade was spruced up, and our tipster thinks new windows have been installed. They also add, “The pipes that run vertically up the eastern side of the building have some public art on them. On one set of pipes, there is a large sculpture of a spider. On the other, a caterpillar.” Click through to see the oversized crawlers. GMAP
“PS 107 has a very powerful and active PTA. ”
Do you really think that’s the linchpin here? I mean, if a school in Brownsville had an active PTA, would the city give them a sparkly, new renovation? The City hooks up the rich people to keep them here, the PTAs just provide decoration.
“our taxes go to crap like this while schools in poor neighborhoods barely have decent updated textbooks and after school programs? f*ck that.”
Poor kids also need decent infrastructure so they don’t feel they are being shitted on (See Kozol).
ROB ,
First of all the giant spider has been up there for years. (I think less affluent schools only get bed bugs).
PS 107 has a very powerful and active PTA. Their book reading series attracts some of the best authors in the city and is consistently sold out. Also schools like PS107 and PS10 have the knowledge to secure significant grants from both private and public sources. I know PS 10 has pulled in close to a million dollars for a new science center and accessible playground in recent years.
Did you folks know that during this recent round of Summer renovations at PS107, somebody walked off with like 100 new Apple laptops right under the construction company’s nose?
I am made happy every time I look at this installation and delighted by the knowledge that there is more to come! As a PS107 parent I wanted to shed some light on its inception. It is the work of artist and 107 parent Marney Fuller who went from class to class with these sculptures until every student in the school had contributed. The spider first went up two years ago but was taken down when the scaffolding went up. It was replaced when it came down along with a caterpillar created this past year by Marney and the younger students (including one of mine), the next stage of which, as worked on by the older kids (again including one of mine), should be added soon. I feel proud every time I see it and blessed to be part of a school community that supports and encourages the arts to such a degree.
This public school public art has nothing to do with PS107 parents being wealthy, some are, I suppose, but most of us most certainly are far from it (as I can painfully attest). When my family and I moved to Park Slope we did so specifically so that our kids could attend PS107, a move that is not unique to our family. It is a truly outstanding school thanks to a fantastic administration and, as others have mentioned, heavy parent involvement. This installation is a result of that involvement and is a wonderful gift to the neighborhood, please enjoy it as such.
That spider has been on the school for about 2 years, it’s not new.
The physical plants of schools throughout the city are being improved. There are some great new buildings in the South Bronx. The (not so highly regarded) PS 56 around the corner is attractive and well-maintained in a 1950s kind of way. Recently had a beautiful mural painted on the side. So those who look at playful public art projects, or new windows in schools in Park Slope and think “aha rich folks just take care of their own” aren’t really speaking with any degree of knowledge. Stop being such knee-jerk haters.
That said, schools with wealthier parents do fundraise for new lunch tables, additional staffers, etc. But the real inequity of NYC school funding is not between rich NYC schools and poor NYC schools – it is the unfair state funding formula which sends disproportionate money to upstate and Long Island.
Rob/butterfly: what fuplease said. Give me a little something for my tax $ and I’m happy to keep paying high city taxes (check out the tax on your average 3m Manhattan bstone v. 3m Park Slope bstone). Take away my mite, and tell me my kids need to have the extras provided by our active PTA taken away because some kids do without toilet paper in East NYC – those are fightin’ words.
such misanthropes.
what should tax dollars go for if not for improving schools?
I had the same reaction to the bugs. Tax money spent on rennovating the school is all good but, hopefully the bugs were paid for by the fancy dog walking auction.