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A middle school is planned at the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park tower at 664 Pacific Street. Rendering by Marvel Architects via DNA

Brooklyn’s school situation is ever-changing, with the education system shifting alongside borough demographics and sagging under the weight of incoming residents.

After years of wrangling, the School Construction Authority (SCA) — the agency charged with the construction of schools — has requested funding for four new public schools in the Downtown Brooklyn area, according to Downtown Brooklyn School Solutions, a group of concerned neighborhood parents.

The SCA recently increased the projected needed seats for Districts 13 and 15, which together encompass Downtown, by 3,879 seats, bringing the number to a total of 5,609. That’s a sharp departure from last year’s previously projected total of 1,730.

The schools will help Downtown Brooklyn’s educational institutions better meet the needs of the area’s exploding population.

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A middle school is planned at 60 Water Street, a new apartment building in Dumbo. Photo by LEESER Architecture via A As Architecture

Here is a quick, handy guide to some of the new schools in the works across Brooklyn, Downtown and beyond.

    • In District 13, which encompasses Downtown Brooklyn north of Fulton Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, and Fort Greene, three new elementary schools are being planned: one 572-seat school, set to open in September 2019; one 476-seater, set to open in September 2020; and a 572-seat school, to be complete by July 2021.
    • In District 15, which encompasses Downtown Brooklyn south of Fulton Street, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, and Boerum Hill, a new 824-seat elementary school is scheduled to be finished by 2021 at the latest.
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The middle school at Vinegar Hill’s P.S. 307 will move, freeing up space for newly rezoned elementary school students. Photo by Scott Bintner via PropertyShark
  • Vinegar Hill’s Middle School 313 is being relocated from its space in the controversy-entangled P.S. 307 to a new Dock Street facility within the recently constructed 60 Water Street residential building. This will open up the middle school’s former space, which had a capacity of 363 students but enrolled only 81, for recently rezoned elementary school students. The new middle school will be given as an option on this year’s new school applications.
  • In the sprawling Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park development, the 26-story market-rate residential tower known as B15, at 664 Pacific Street, will house a 616-seat middle school in addition to its 323 apartments.
  • On the border of Park Slope and Gowanus, in a vacant lot on 9th Street between 3rd and 4th avenues, a 180-seat pre-K center is planned and set to open in 2018.
  • In Sunset Park, where schools are bursting at the seams, the Department of Education has reserved funding for over 1,000 seats, but has been struggling for some time to locate any usable space on which to construct or convert a facility.

Know of a new school we didn’t include on this list? Tell us in the comments.

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This map shows planned new schools by district (not address). Map by Barbara Eldredge

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What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. LOLZ. As if any Brooklyn Heights or DUMBO parents will be sending their kids to that Jr. High. EVERYONE knows the moneyed send their kids off to private middle and high school… That’s why all the grammar schools are so good in their hoods. They demand it and then use those 6 years to save up!

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