City Sends $3M To UES Public School Complex

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A Upper East Side public school complex for more than 2,000 students is set to receive $3 million from the City Council to upgrade physical education spaces, some of which will be open to the public.

The Julia Richman Education Complex — a six-school facility on East 67th Street between First and Second avenues — will get a renovation to its pool locker room and a new exercise space, lawmakers said.

"These funds will allow us to open our pool to our students and the local community while additionally providing space for other school needs," said Ella Baker School principal Joshua Satin. "This is truly great news."

Council Member Julie Menin and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced the funding Wednesday night.

Both lawmakers visited the school together on Wednesday, presenting a large novelty check.

Last year, Menin had asked for the funds in the city's 2023 budget, which have now been allocated, allowing for the School Construction Authority to start planning work.

"I'm ecstatic to bring back critical funds to improve our schools and the Julia Richman Education Complex," Menin said in a statement, where she also thanked Speaker Adams for the allocation of school dollars.

The East 67th Street building is home to several schools, including four high schools (Urban Academy, Talent Unlimited, Manhattan International and Vanguard Academy), a special education District 75 school (P226), a pre-k to eighth grade school (Ella Baker) and a daycare for children of teen parents (LYFE).

The $3 million project represents nearly half of all school-related funding allocated for Menin's Upper East Side district in the 2023 budget, where each school in District Five received at least $50,000 in funding.

In total, Menin said she delivered over $21 million in discretionary funding to her district in her first year.

The next largest education capital project in the district earmarked in last year's city Council funding was $1.5 million for the much-delayed rooftop gym at P.S. 290, a project projected to cost $8 million in total.