As the city’s Department of Education begins crafting its next five-year capital plan, which will determine where new schools will be built and which schools will receive renovations, Council Member Oliver Koppell wants to make sure his district’s overcrowding issues are adequately addressed.

“I have repeatedly called for building additional schools in Norwood, and around the Kingsbridge Armory to relieve the chronic and painful overcrowding in my district,” Koppell said in a statement. “I am now insisting that DOE’s new Five-Year Capital Plan address this critical issue.”   

District 10, which encompasses Koppell’s constituency and all of the Norwood News coverage area (same as Community Board 7’s boundaries), is the third most crowded district in the city, according to the comptroller’s office.

In Norwood, Koppell pointed out that PS 56 has 593 students in a building with capacity of 475. He added that teachers are forced to hold intervention sessions in school hallways and the school nurse is sharing office space, compromising confidentiality.

Also in Norwood, PS 280 houses first graders in deteriorating portable classrooms. And in Bedford Park, PS 8, which has a capacity of 800, is currently housing 1,147 students, Koppell said.

Two years ago, in the middle of the current Five-Year Capital Plan (2005-2009), the DOE cut more than 1,700 seats that were supposed to be built for Bronx students, predicting a decline in enrollment.

The DOE has since acknowledged overcrowding problems in District 10 and says they will address them in the coming capital plan (2010-2014).

Koppell said the Council’s Bronx delegation has scheduled a meeting with Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, who oversees capital projects.