Help the School get the facilities it Needs- reach out the Mayor
Parents, students, alumni, and anyone who cares about the future of Harbor School!
Last April 2021 Harbor School acquired the promise of a new building (515, the beautiful Hospital adjacent to the school).
Sadly, 15 months on, we still have NO LEASE!
Equally troubling – the School Construction Authority (SCA) revealed they are only providing Harbor an elementary-school sized gym and a short pool.
This is NOT the infrastructure we have been advocating for since 2017 – and NOT what the school community expected.
The SEA Committee have been fighting ever since for a high-school sized gym and longer pool.
To get the right-sized facilities, the Trust for Governors Island must agree to give us the land next to the school to build on.
But they are saying no to ANY land around the building (where do they think 1000 kids will go then?)
So we need the Mayor’s help (he appoints the Trust board and President.)
To get his attention, we need a HUGE shout out from you, our community, who understand why our kids need adequate space to play and learn.
We need the Mayor to hear all our voices, RIGHT NOW! We have less than a week before
an extremely important meeting with SCA on June 17 — one that that will be decisive, and very likely determine the next 75 years ahead for the school.
DO THIS, PLEASE!
- Message the Mayor here: https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/mayor-contact.page
- Cut and paste the below (or write your own version) in the box provided in the link( it will fit perfectly.)
- OR Call 311 and leave a voice message (You can READ THE MESSAGE BELOW)
Suggested text:
Dear Mayor Adams:
I am a [parent of a student, student]
at the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School and my child and the entire school community need your help urgently.
Please tell the Trust for Governor Island (Clare Newman, President and Alicia Glen, Board Chairperson ) to give Harbor School a 90’ x 65’ plot of land to build a gym on. Please also ask the SCA to give us 5 more yards needed to make the pool inside Building 515 exponentially more useful for the school’s marine /maritime teaching. A swimming pool IS A CLASSROOM for Harbor School and needs to be 75’ long.
You are aware that in April 2021 Harbor School acquired the promise of a new building (Building 515 on Governors Island).
YET here we are 15 months later, still with NO LEASE.
Not only that – the School Construction Authority (SCA) revealed they are only providing Harbor School an elementary-school sized gym (42’ x 65’) and a too-small swimming pool (5 yards short of the expected, and far more useful length of 75’)
This is NOT what was promised to the school – and NOT what is needed.
We have been fighting ever since, asking for a standard high school gym (84 x 50) and a pool that is just 5 yards longer.
We are also urging the Trust to give us the land next to the school to build on.
PLEASE, PLEASE we need your help, Mr. Mayor! Our High School kids need a space to play and do sports.
This is a health concern, and as we learned in Covid, a mental health concern.
It’s also an EQUITY issue.
With only four full-sized gyms in 13 high schools in Downtown, Manhattan, three are in elite schools.
We understand Downtown has expensive and limited space, but that is the one thing we do have on the 172-acre Governors Island!
So a gym built here — for our 70% minority school —could actually be a shared facility for the thousands of students in underserved schools downtown,.
ALL our elected officials support us and have co-signed a letter, from Congressman Nadler to Manhattan Borough President Levine, Council Member Marte to State Senator Kavanagh, Assembly Members Nioh and Fall, and many others.
Will you call the Trust and the SCA and make this a WIN for equity in education?
Please please help!!