Shawdesh Desk:

New York City is opening more public schools in the fall.

The Department of Education released the list of new schools coming the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens on Thursday.

One will be Bard High School Early College – Brooklyn, an accelerated high school in East New York, according to Schools Chancellor David Banks. Students will be able to graduate high school with an Associate Degree and college credits.

“It’s an opportunity for students, while in high school, to engage in both a high school experience, but also an early college experience. And so they’re actually taking college level classes as part of the four-year program. It’s embedded within it,” said Dumaine Williams, Vice President and Dean at Bard Early Colleges.

“Since this pandemic, just saying that we got to do school differently. We can’t just return to doing it the way we’ve always done it. And these new schools are going to be a real reflection of the opportunity to reimagine how we’re even doing schools,” said Banks.

Banks said the new schools will be more responsive to parents’ and students’ needs.

The new schools are:

• M.S. 644 in the South Bronx (District 9, Grades 6-8)
• P.S. 482 in Downtown Brooklyn (District 13, Grades pre-K – 5)
• P.S. 456 in Downtown Brooklyn/DUMBO (District 15, Grades pre-K – 5)
• Bard High School Early College-Brooklyn in East New York (District 19, Grades 9-12)
• P.S. 331 in Bay Ridge (District 20, Grades K-5)
• P.S. 413 in Bay Ridge (District 20, Grades K-5)
• M.S. 407 in Bay Ridge (District 20, Grades 6-8)
• Motion Picture Technical High School in Northern Queens (District 30, Grades 9-12)

In Brooklyn’s District 20, which is located in Bay Ridge, parents will see the opening of three schools.

“District 20 is one of the highest rated, best school districts in the city. Therefore, it’s also one of the most overcrowded school districts in the city. So we desperately needed more public schools,” explains Councilmember Justin Brannan, who represents the community.

“They have different areas of focus, different specialties that make each of them unique. But they are a testament to a single core belief that there is something for everyone at New York City public schools,” Banks said.

Out of the nine new schools, five are newly constructed buildings. The rest will be revitalizing existing buildings.