Letter: A New Purpose for St. Agnes School

A reader raises the prospect of using an empty Catholic school to alleviate local overcrowding

By Betty Lynd

Upper West Side I appreciated the reporting on the Helen Rosenthal Town Hall in the West Side Spirit ("Town Hall in a Squall," May 8, 2014). I noticed that a suggestion at the meeting about the St. Agnes school was not covered in your article. The question at the meeting was if the St. Agnes school on West End Ave and 87th Street could be used to house some of the overcrowded schools in the area that several citizens and officials were concerned about. It has been vacant for nearly a year.

It has been recently reported that three vacated Catholic schools in the city will be used to house charter schools. Similarly, the St. Agnes school is already configured as a school. It is one block from a subway and one block from a cross town bus and the M104 bus. It would be great to keep a school in the area, particularly with the concerns about overcrowding at local schools and the need for space for the new pre-K initiative. It would be great if your paper could report on the St. Agnes school and what might be done to keep it a school for the West Side.