About 100 students who would typically go to PS 94 in Norwood this fall will instead take buses to PS 23 and PS 159 in Tremont, while the city spends the next two school years building a new early childhood center adjacent to the elementary school.

On March 26, the City Council approved construction of the new school, which is expected to accommodate 515 students from pre-K to 2nd grade, and will contain 21 classrooms, a new library, a play yard, a cafeteria and a multi-purpose room.

The building will replace portable classrooms and a small building next to PS 94 that now hold 325 of the elementary school’s 1,050 students.  

The PS 94 annex on Gun Hill Road, which currently houses another 125 students, will remain in operation until construction is completed, at which time they, too, will move to the new school.

The project is part of a city Department of Education plan to alleviate overcrowding in a few District 10 schools.  

PS 94 Principal Diane DaProcida said the temporary classrooms must be cleared out by July 1 so that construction can begin. The center is slated for completion by September 2010.

PS 94, on Kings College Place  between Gun Hill Road and East 211th Street, serves children in grades kindergarten to 5th.  

While DaProcida said it is still unclear how students will be chosen for busing, City Councilman Oliver Koppell said in a statement that he expects bilingual students to be sent to PS 159, as it is a bilingual school. Each school is about 2.5 miles from PS 94.

DaProcida expressed regret that her students will have to travel to get to school. “I don’t think it’s right to penalize those students who live in the community,” she said. But, she added, overall the plan is “fine.”