Planned Foundling Hospital school moves closer to reality

The elementary school long planned for the base of the Foundling Hospital in the Flatiron District released renderings of the forthcoming facility, which is set to include a dance studio, a rooftop playground and a two-story library, DNAinfo reported.

The school will take the bottom six floors of the Foundling Hospital at 590 Sixth Avenue Near 17th Street, and serve 518 pre-school through fifth grade students under the name P.S. 340. It will have a seperate entrance from the hospital offices set above it, and is expected to finally open in September 2014.

Residents of the Chelsea-Greenwich Village-Flatiron neighborhoods have long coveted a new school to alleviate overcrowded classrooms. A school had been planned for years in the building, but budget cuts threatened its existence.

Now, it is closer than ever to becoming a reality, but not before another debate is settled. According to DNAinfo, the local community board is urging the Department of Education to designate the school a “zoned” one, restricting access only to those students who live nearby. Meanwhile, the DOE is considering a massive rezoning of the public school system, which further calls into question who it will serve. [DNAinfo]