So Long Butler! PS 133 Shrouded and Ready To Go
Last year, the City Council voted 46-4 to approve the School Construction Authority’s plans for a new school building on the lot of P.S. 133, or the William A. Butler School, on Baltic Street and 4th Avenue in Park Slope. The 109 year old school is currently under asbestos remediation, shrouded and hidden from site.
"[The School Construction Authority] started pile driving for supports on this past Tuesday and they are doing excavation of the grounds where the new school will be," local resident and activist SJ Avery emailed. "So far, they seem to be pretty conscientious about watering down the area to minimize the highly contaminated soil going airborne. The old building is shrouded and demolition was supposed to be starting at the same time as excavation, but I haven't seen anything yet – the interiors appear to be gutted."
At a community meeting with the SCA on June 21, John Gentile, project leader, notified residents that the SCA was in the final stages of securing proper permits, and that soon site preparation, excavation and demolition would begin. Residents were also told approximately 100 workers will be on site, and this phase of work will last about 6 months. The pile driving phase of the project is expected to last 3 weeks, and nearby residents who fear their homes are being affected by the vibrations of construction are urged to call SCA community liaison Yvette Knight (718-472-8199).
The William A. Butler School, named for the Irish historian of philosophy, opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles B. Snyder, Superintendent of School Buildings from 1891 to 1923. Snyder is known for designing many of the city's landmarked school buildings, including the original Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, when the school celebrated it's 100th anniversary in 2001, "among the memorabilia collected for the occasion was the school record of Al Capone, a student there until he dropped out (or was expelled according to some accounts) after the sixth grade, when he was 14 years old." In Robert J. Schoenberg's 1993 biography, Mr. Capone, the author reveals more about the gangster's time at PS 133.
Little Al had started school at John Jay, P.S. 7, at 141 York, near the Navy Yard. After the move, he transferred to William A. Bulter, P.S. 133, at 355 Butler Street, seven blocks away from Garfield. Until he reached sixth grade, he maintained a B average, testament to his natural brightness, since he devoted much time and energy to his favorite extracurricular activity, playing hooky. In the sixth grade it caught up with him. One term he attended class only thirty-three days of the required ninety, falling so far behind in arithmetic and grammar he had to repeat the grade. He never did. A red-haze temper that would occasionally overmaster him all his life exploded one day and he hit a teacher who was lecturing him on some schoolroom misdemeanor. Sent to the principal, he got a whipping and quit school in chagrin. He was fourteen at the time, and about ready to quit anyway.
The planned demolition and new construction on the lot have an estimated completion date of 2012, and the school's 260 students just finished the year at the St. Thomas Aquinas School on 4th Avenue and 8th Street, their temporary home. There, religious artifacts are covered to prevent the Department of Education from endorsing any religion.
Controversy remains over the proposal to house two schools from different districts in one larger new building – a first for the Department of Education – and speculation persists that different entrances for the districts' schools will enforce a de facto separate but equal scenario, since the majority of incoming District 15 students are white and District 13's students mostly Black and Hispanic. The new building will seat almost 1,000 students – three times PS 133's current enrollment. According to GothamSchools.org:
PS 133 is located in District 13, which stretches from Brooklyn Heights to Crown Heights. The second school, slated to be twice the size of PS 133, will be part of District 15, which begins just blocks away, and is intended to reduce crowding at PS 321, which is 62 percent white and has only a small fraction of students eligible for free lunch. On average, students in District 15 perform better on state tests than students in District 13.
The only part of the plan that has been approved thus far is the design, including two separate entrances and a reduction of the Baltic Street Community Garden. School programming will be decided upon closer to the completion date.
Education content sponsored by FindOurSchool.com, your source for information on Brooklyn schools.
