New York City School Construction Authority

History

The School Construction Authority was created in 1988 as a New York State public-benefit corporation by the New York State Legislature, which removed control of capital projects from the city's Board of Education in an effort to end corruption. The School Construction Authority manages the Department of Education's Capital Plan and is solely accountable for planning, real estate, and budgeting, as well as the scoping, design and construction of new schools and additions, as well as capital improvements to existing schools.

Criticism

Criticism of construction noise and treatment of neighbors

The SCA has often been criticized due to the noise produced by school construction projects in residential neighborhoods. This often occurs during the day, but also at evening and night when people are typically home from work. Residents have criticized the SCA for making it hard to sleep at night. In addition it is common for the SCA to do construction on the weekends, also when people are home. As a result, neighbors who live near school construction sites complain about the quality of life and it becomes difficult to sell homes near a school as they often become construction sites. In addition, SCA has been criticized for obstructing traffic on residential streets. These controversies have led to heated arguments between residents and construction workers. In late 2022 at PS 41Q in Bayside, a heated fight broke out between a disabled neighbor and construction workers with the disabled neighbor being wrongfully arrested.

Criticism of spending

There has also been criticism in regard to the amount of money being spent by the SCA on school expansions. The Board of Ed argues this needs to be done to ensure smaller class sizes, yet there is not evidence of expanded schools or new schools improving the quality of education for pupils.

References

References

1. "About Us". New York City School Construction Authority.
2. Kolbert, Elizabeth. (1988-12-16). "Legislature Votes New York City School Construction Agency". [[The New York Times]].
3. Raab, Selwyn. (1989-10-18). "School-Building Agency Changes the Old Rules". [[The New York Times]].
4. "History".
5. Dey, Sneha. (July 9, 2018). "Unhealthy Levels of Noise Outside Some City Schools".
6. Barone, Vincent. (May 21, 2018). "How are noise complaints handled in NYC? NYCurious".