In August, The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Education (DOE) began an already-authorized but long-delayed construction project in the schoolyards of PS 9 Sarah Smith Garnet School in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The project is designed to reduce the volume of stormwater runoff entering the sewers, as mandated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

When work commenced, school administration was told of a planned September 27th completion date, which already would have interfered with the first few planned weeks of the new school year. In early September, they were advised of a delay until October 25th.

This week, the school was told that DOE's Division of School Facilities has put this project on hold until further notice. We have since learned that Mayor Bill de Blasio pulled funding for the project. The PS 9 schoolyard now has a very large hole in the middle of it with insufficient fencing and security around it, at a time when schools are preparing to open for in-person learning under massively challenging conditions and when young children will need to make use of this space. This poorly shielded construction site exists directly outside of PS 9's Pre-Kindergarten classrooms.

This has created unsafe conditions under which our Pre-K through 5th grade children will be attending school beginning in a matter of days.

We, the Parent-Teacher Organization of PS 9 Sarah Smith Garnet School and other concerned community members, insist that Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza re-authorize the continuation of this construction project and see it completed in an expedited manner.