Fresh Meadows Elementary School To Add New Building Amid Overcrowding

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — A city agency broke ground Monday on an expansion for Rufus King School in Fresh Meadows, which is expected to add about 400 seats by 2025.

The New York City School Construction Authority started construction of a four-story building to increase capacity at P.S. 26 in Queens, which will include classrooms for students in pre-k through grade 5.

“This project is emblematic of our collaborative efforts and ongoing commitment to reduce overcrowding and provide students with world class educational facilities,” said Nina Kubota, president and CEO of SCA.

The building will have two pre-k and six kindergarten classrooms, eight standard classrooms, and four special education classrooms to add a total of 399 seats. The expansion will also include two reading and speech resource rooms and a science resource room.

Some classrooms in the existing building will be renovated to add 24 new District 75 seats, according to SCA.

“This addition will go a long way towards reducing overcrowding by providing much needed new seats for current and future students of P.S. 26,” said U.S. Rep. Grace Meng.

In District 26, the SCA is planning to add more than 2,300 seats. A 435-seat addition at P.S. 46 is expected to open later this year, while a 473-seat addition at P.S. 41 is slated to be finished in 2024.

A $59.9 million contract was awarded to Navillus Tile Inc. for the new building at the Fresh Meadows school.