Parents and teachers at Boulevard Nursery School say if it were to close for good, East New York would be deprived of a critical resource.

"It's not about us, it's for the kids. Let's think about the children because this is their school too," assistant teacher Jacqueline Smith said.

What You Need To Know

  • According to a new report by Columbia University and the philanthropic Robin Hood Foundation, 23% of city residents were unable to afford basic household necessities in 2022

  • Experts say increased poverty rates are largely due to the ending of government programs from the COVID-19 pandemic

  • The Robin Hood Foundation is calling on elected leaders to permanently expand the federal child tax credit program and New York's Empire State Child Tax Credit

In June 2023, school leadership was notified that the school would undergo renovations to address plumbing and sewage issues, among other persistent problems. 

"We accepted that because we knew the issues that were plaguing this particular center," Brooklyn Councilman Chris Banks said.

Boulevard Nursery is located on the ground floor of the Boulevard Houses, which is a public housing complex but it's managed by a private management company called Boulevard Together.

The repairs were supposed to take two months to complete, but it took 10 months. 

"We had parents who came the first day because we couldn't contact them and their kids were in uniform and everything and we had to turn them away," lead teacher and parent Armeteshia Peterson said.

Despite repairs being complete, teachers say they've encountered a slew of additional problems. Staffers showed NY1 rooms in the school that are still unusable.

"We have leaks in the back, we have leaks in places where there [were] never leaks before," Peterson said.

School leadership says all construction-related issues have been resolved, but the shutdown furloughed employees, causing a fire drill failure and clerical errors related to staff background checks.

"To no fault of our own, we're in this predicament," Banks said.

Since 1953, Boulevard Nursery has served generations of East New Yorkers. But for now, 23 employees are out of a job and parents of 70 students had to find alternate schooling.

There are more than a dozen other Early Learning schools within a 3-mile radius of Boulevard Nursery. But some say there is still a need in the neighborhood.

"It wouldn't make sense to remove a day care that's already in the community as opposed to getting on a bus or a train and take them somewhere else," said parent and Boulevard alumna Keasha Johnson.

Banks said he is pleading with the city to reopen the school so that students can return to class and teachers can get back to work.

"Help us! Help us help East New York. Help us help these teachers that are standing to lose their jobs," he said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said in a statement, "Based on existing FDNY compliance issues that must be corrected and the level of family demand in the area will not be moving forward with reactivating the Boulevard Nursery School contract at this time."

The department says it's willing to revisit the contract when the compliance issues are addressed. It's unclear if the school will reopen in the fall.