By Flor Cabrera

As a child, I always heard my mother call herself the lioness and her children were her cubs. I am now a parent and see myself in the same light as she did. So now, as a parent leader of the Education Committee of the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), I fight for my children’s right to the best education and for the rights of kids in my community.
School District 10 is the third most overcrowded district in New York City. The recent report from the city comptroller, “Underprepared for Overcrowding,” lets us know just how much we need new schools — Bronx primary schools are 112 percent over-capacity.  Yet 1,703 seats were slashed from the previous capital plan, and the current plans to build new schools fall short of the number of seats needed.

I am the parent of a fifth grader at PS 79, and a pre-kindergartner at PS 386, and in my search for a great middle school for my older child, I became aware of just how severely overcrowded our schools are. I also learned that possible solutions have been presented to our leaders but they have not been met with the same interest, or not prioritized as they need to be.

It might seem inconsequential that many of our children do not have access to art and music rooms and science labs in their schools because these have been transformed into classrooms.

However, by not exposing our children to these areas of learning, we are failing to provide our children with the stimulation and knowledge they deserve and need in order to grow up to be the well-rounded individuals we strive for them to be.

Members of our community have come up with a viable solution to help ease overcrowding in school District 10, involving buildings on West 195th Street beside the Kingsbridge Armory.

This location could provide the surrounding communities with 2,000 school seats, which will alleviate the severe overcrowding. However, before we can do that, the current occupants, the National Guard, must move out.  What’s more, the National Guard is ready to move — and has submitted a proposal for the unoccupied Muller Army Reserve Center at 555 Nereid Ave. in Community District 12.

However, now that Bloomberg’s plan for a mall at the Armory was shot down, it seems that his administration has lost interest in fulfilling their commitment to build schools on 195th Street (a commitment made in the Armory request for proposals), by making excuses about why they may not be able to move the National Guard. 

It is imperative that our leaders, city agencies, and politicians give importance to the construction of new schools at the site. The Local Redevelopment Authority, comprised of Borough President Diaz’s office, Deputy Mayor Robert Leiber’s office, and the Economic Development Corporation must release a recommendation on the reuse of the Muller ARC center by March 23. We need to ensure that our children are put first — not punished because we defeated a bad development plan. The new schools behind the Armory need to happen now.

In the past, we have come together as a community. Just a few months ago, our community felt that the Related Companies’ development at the Kingsbridge Armory was not beneficial to us all. At that time, the community’s voice was loud enough that it was heard and the development was not approved. So it is time for us all to put all of our strength and effort into getting the National Guard to their new home and let us build our new schools at West 195th Street. We owe it to our children and our leaders owe it to us all.

Flor Cabrera is a parent leader in the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition.