Ribbon Cutting of P.S. 151 (Photo: Office of Council Member Constantinides)
June 13, 2019 By Meghan Sackman
Officials cut the ribbon Tuesday to mark the completion of a $7.5 million overhaul of P.S. 151’s playground.
The playground, which had been used to house 10 temporary classroom units, is now free of clutter and students at the 50-05 31st Ave. school now have a whole new play area.
The trailers had been used by students at P.S. Q255, which serves autistic children between the ages of 5 and 17, for more than a decade. The city was able to find permanent space for these students and then rebuild the playground.
“Two years after we began the process of removing these trailers, we can today proudly open a new schoolyard for generations to come,” said Council Member Costa Constantinides.
The playground includes two separate play areas– one for children ages 2 to 5 and another for children ages 5 to 12. There is new playground equipment, a turf soccer field, new fencing, two basketball courts, a track, and four concrete chess tables and chairs.
The temporary units previously occupying the site were removed from the playground space in 2017 after the P.S.Q255 students were re-sited permanently to the former Most Precious Blood Catholic School at 32-52 37th Street.
“We were able to remove 10 temporary classroom units from this site and relocate children attending PS Q255 to a new location that better suits their needs,” said a spokesperson from the SCA who also said that they share Constantinides’ goal of removing all of these temporary classrooms across the city.
“We have already removed 94 TCUs in Queens, and an additional 31 have been identified for removal,” the spokesperson said.
