A new day begins at Richmond Hill High
Community leaders lay out plan to remove trailer classrooms by 2015
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A new day begins at Richmond Hill High 1
Vishnua Mahadeo, center, discusses plans for the removal of trailer classrooms in the playground area of Richmond Hill High School. The plan and recent improvements at the school were lauded by Barbara Sherman, left, deputy policy director for Public Advocate Letitia James, and Community Board 9 Education Committee Chairman Seth Wellins, right.
Posted: Thursday, November 13, 2014 10:30 am
Advocates and leaders of Richmond Hill High School last Thursday announced that the school’s much-maligned classroom trailers will be removed and replaced with a playground facility by spring 2015, and that seven additional classrooms will be constructed within the building to accommodate students.
“The school is returning to its former glory,” said Vishnu Mahadeo, president and executive director of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council, at a press conference in the school’s auditorium.
Mahadeo, flanked by Community Board 9 Education Committee Chairman Seth Welins and Barbara Sherman, deputy policy director for Public Advocate Letitia James, also announced that the school will be receiving three new computer labs, a refurbished swimming pool and other resources as part of an $8.7 million renovation project granted by the state.
“This came about because of the support of our elected officials,” Mahadeo said.
The playground, which for years has been inhabitated by classroom trailers, will be remodeled as a “state-of-the-art playground facility,” including a running track, community leaders at the press conference announced.
The trailers were placed at the high school years ago by the city Department of Education after RHHS began to take in more students than it had room for. The city also rented space at St. Benedict’s School, located a few blocks away, when the trailers also became overcrowded.
The de Blasio administration struck a deal to keep the annex open, after Bloomberg said the city would close it.
Sherman said the public advocate toured the trailers and was appalled at the conditions the teenagers were being taught in.
“No child should be taught in a trailer,” she told parents.
The seven classrooms that will be built with the $8.7 million from the state, Mahadeo said, will be more than enough to allow students to be taught in the main building.
“It looks like we will be able to accommodate all of them within the school,” he said.
Although three people stood at the front of the auditorium announcing the news of the trailers’ imminent removal, two of them said Mahadeo deserved all the credit.
“This has been a one-man crusade,” Sherman said of Mahadeo.
Community leaders also announced that the school was making internal improvements, with more teenagers completing their four-year program than in recent years.
Last year, the graduation rate at the school was 64 percent, up from 48 just a few years ago, officials announced.
The school also has an 88 percent attendance rate.
Leaders also praised de Blasio for adding the school to a list of 12 Queens institutions that will receive new funding for additional resources, in an attempt to improve test scores.
“I think it’s outstanding what this administration is doing,” Mahadeo said of the mayor’s initiative.
