Golden State Warriors, come out to play!

As we mentioned last week, the basketball courts at Open Road Park adjacent to the East Side Community School on 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue were getting refurbished thanks to NBA star Kevin Durant (via his charity foundation, KDCF).

Durant was on-hand Monday for the official unveiling.

Thx so much 2 @KDTrey5 & Kevin Durant Charity Foundation 4 building our kids an amazing new court...they will ball! https://t.co/mdFw8bR3U6 pic.twitter.com/U2lPK2lnyA

— Mark Federman (@MarkEastSide) July 25, 2017

This was the eighth basketball court in the city to benefit from the KDCF program:

In 2015, NIKE, Inc., Kevin Durant, and the KDCF partnered to create the BUILD IT AND THEY WILL BALL Courts Renovation Initiative to increase the number of high quality basketball courts accessible to underprivileged youth across the United States and internationally. BUILD IT AND THEY WILL BALL will propel the mission of the KDCF to enrich the lives of youth from low-income backgrounds through various educational and athletic programs.

The court is now painted in the same colors of Durant's team, the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.



The refurbishment includes a KDCF mural by Bronx-based artist André Trenier

Headline H/T!

Basketball courts at Open Road Park getting refurbished thanks to NBA star Kevin Durant

Work is at roughly the halfway point at Open Road Park adjacent to the East Side Community School on 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

As the signs note, the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation (KDCF) is funding the refurbishment of the basketball courts.



Here's more about the program:

In 2015, NIKE, Inc., Kevin Durant, and the KDCF partnered to create the BUILD IT AND THEY WILL BALL Courts Renovation Initiative to increase the number of high quality basketball courts accessible to underprivileged youth across the United States and internationally. BUILD IT AND THEY WILL BALL will propel the mission of the KDCF to enrich the lives of youth from low-income backgrounds through various educational and athletic programs.

The refurbishment includes a KDCF mural by Bronx-based artist André Trenier (who does the monthly murals on the gate at Mikey Likes It on Avenue A)...





Perhaps this will entice Durant to come play for the Knicks. #Heh

Through art, East Side High students and faculty show the importance of community

From the EV Grieve inbox...

After being displaced from their building for 4 months, the students, staff and parents of East Side Community High School have come together in a show of strength to create and exhibit almost 1,000 pieces of art celebrating the importance of community.

East Side Community High School was evacuated in September after structural damage was found in the building. The 4 month-long evacuation created chaos and frustration, with hundreds of students and staff split up and relocated to other school sites in the city.

Upon returning to the school building in February, art teachers Leigh Klonsky and Desiree Borrero facilitated a massive school-wide art project around the themes of "home" and "community." Over the course of three weeks, students, parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, administration, and non-teaching staff participated in a series of art making workshops. Through writing and discussion, participants reflected on their individual experiences and relationship to the community. Their reflections inspired the creation of small mixed media artworks, using watercolor, colored pencil, marker and collage.

The artwork will be on display from April 24 – May 10 in the school's art gallery, the Loisaida Art Gallery, on East 11th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A. The opening reception is on Wednesday April 24 from 3:30 - 6:30 and is open to the public.

A selection from the exhibition will also be available online here.

-----

As a follow-up, we asked Leigh Klonsky a few questions about the exhibit.

What were you and Desiree hoping to accomplish with this project?

We had two major goals. One was to create an opportunity for everyone who was impacted by the evacuation to be able to reflect on their experience through visual art. Different classes and advisories did activities that helped us all reflect and share our experiences, but expressing yourself through visual art allows for other things to come up, things that might be hard to articulate in words. We wanted to provide an opportunity for people to visualize their experiences.

Another goal was to affirm the importance of every member of our community. By participating in one of the workshops, contributing a piece of art, or coming to the reception, you are affirming your place within our community. Although we are a small school, staff, students and families don't always interact or meet. It was a really special moment, for example, when our school psychologist, a parent and our custodian made art next to each other, after sharing their thoughts about community.

"Home" and "community" mean different things to different people. Did you see any common themes emerge from the artwork?

The workshops were structured to ask 6 questions:

• How does our East Side community represent home to you?
• What did you learn from being away from East Side?
• What does home, our community, the neighborhood, the Lower East Side look like to you?
• What did you miss about our East Side community when we were relocated?
• Is there a specific person or place in our East Side community that makes it home for you?
• What is your ideal vision of a school community?

Common responses discussed the loss of space, middle school students and high school students missing seeing each other, the cultural differences at the relocation sites (metal detectors, different commute, different neighborhood, lack of windows), but the most common response was how East Siders were able to create community wherever they were.

From the students you've talked with, what are some of the things that they took away from the experience of being displaced from their home school?

"Not taking things for granted" was a repeated phrase.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.

Wall progress at East Side Community School

Speaking of flea markets...

There's one today at the East Side Community High School on East 11th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue ... 12:30-5 p.m.

East Side Community School students are back, repaired wall and all

As you'll likely remember, students and faculty had to evacuate East Side Community High School and Girls Prep Charter on East 12th Street back in September when a maintenance worker found part of the eastern wall separating from the rest of the structure.

Original estimates via NY1 put the students back in the building in late February.

[The repaired wall last Friday, via Bobby Williams]

However, as East Side Principal Mark Federman tweeted on Jan. 4, the students would be returning sooner... and today was their first day back for classes here between Avenue A and First Avenue... we heard from a few East Village parents who were quite pleased that their kids were in the neighborhood again for classes.

Meanwhile, here is the new wall ... photographed on Monday...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.

East Side students to return to repaired East Village school in 2 weeks

[From November, via Bobby Williams]

As you'll recall, students and faculty had to evacuate East Side Community School and Girls Prep Charter on East 12th Street back in September when a maintenance worker found part of the eastern wall separating from the rest of the structure.

In the last few months, workers have busy rebuilding the damaged wall. One estimate via NY1 put the students back in the building in late February.

However, East Side Principal Mark Federman just tweeted the following...

January 18 is our last day at NT and PS 1.Back at East Side in 2 weeks #fb

— Mark Federman (@MarkEastSide) January 4, 2013

So this likely puts the return date at Jan. 21 for the students who have attending other area schools ... more details as they become available...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.

Wall progress at East Side Community School

In the aftermath of Sandy, we hadn't checked in on the progress at the building that houses East Side Community School and Girls Prep Charter on East 12th Street ... as you know, students and faculty evacuated the building when a maintenance worker found part of the eastern wall separating from the rest of the structure.

Crews immediately moved in to tear down and rebuild the wall... the last estimate via NY1 put the return date at late February — at the earliest...

Bobby Williams passed along this photo from yesterday afternoon...

According to Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm in a letter (PDF) dated Oct. 15:

"The current plan is to build a new steel and masonry wall from inside of the east side of the building. This will allow the school to be reoccupied while we continue to work on a new brick facade to be completed after school hours and on weekends... while work continues on the new interior wall on the east side of the building, we will take that opportunity to secure the entire west wall as well."

Previously.

Report: East Side students may not be able to return until late February

[Bobby Williams]

On Sept. 24, students and faculty from East Side Community School and Girls Prep Charter on East 12th Street evacuated the building when a maintenance worker found part of the eastern wall separating from the rest of the structure.

Looks now as if the students and teachers will be away for some time. Per NY1 last night:

It's not just the eastern wall, which officials say needs to be completely rebuilt, starting with the steel. The western wall also needs to be secured. They hope to finish by late February, move students back in and then replace the brick exterior after hours and on the weekends.

You can see the extent of the work in Bobby's photo.

And I wonder what all this does to the timeline on the sale and development of the Mary Help of Christians property...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.

East Side faculty returning to vacated school for quick supplies grab tonight

On Sept. 24, students and faculty at the East Side Community School on East 12th Street had to evacuate when part of the building's eastern wall was found to be separating from the rest of the structure.

Since then, the some 650 displaced students have been relocated to other schools in the city... Students and faculty had to leave on the 24th before they could collect all their supplies, technology, etc. (Find out how you can help them with donations here.)

However, as DNAinfo's Serena Solomon reports, East Side Principal Mark Federman has arranged with city officials to return tonight with some of his teachers to collect as much instructional equipment as they can.

"We are only going to get a couple of hours," he told DNA. "We will tag and box everything, and then the movers will take it from here."

How you can help the displaced students from East Side Community High School

A parent from the East Side Community High School forwarded us this email yesterday... slightly edited for length...

Greetings from the East Side Community High School Diaspora! We're sure you've read about us in the news recently. We are temporarily locked out of our East Village location because of structural damage to our building.

As a result, we have no access to our building. We cannot get to any of our teaching, student or office supplies, technology, sports equipment, etc. While the building is being assessed and repaired, we are housed in different schools. We don't know when we can get back home.

This is a very difficult situation, but we've always been The Little School That Could — we are a community of about 650 students and teachers from some of the city's most disadvantaged populations. Yet, we have received an A on our progress report for all of the years the NYC DOE has issued them. Our students have a tremendous record of success in every realm.

We will survive our temporary situation, but it's tough. It's tough being locked out. It's tough to be a community when half of us are in Midtown and half in Chinatown. It's tough not to able to go to our library, to sit at our familiar desks ...

Our top priorities are to keep our kids' spirits high during a difficult and unsettling time and to maintain a supportive environment that is both educationally and creatively stimulating by replacing the books, materials and technology that are in the building, which is off limits until it is deemed safe.

East Side has always been rooted in the community, and we are reaching out to our community now. We could use your help, and we invite you to make an investment in our community's future.

How can you help East Side students and teachers?

• Offer food (breakfast/lunch), snacks and/or water/juice to make our kids (and/or teachers) feel good.

• Provide school supplies for our students and teachers.

• Offer your venue for a class field trip (museum, film, play, pool, bowling, rock climbing...). Our students are working out of small, tight spaces with minimal space for recreation.

• Provide use of your space for activities, recreation, or meetings.

• Make a financial donation to help us purchase necessary items for our students and teachers and to cover travel expenses for activities and field trips.

• Donate a gift certificate or item to be auctioned/raffled off to raise money

• Supply gift cards (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Staples...) to help us with necessities.

• Help with technology — many of our staff and some students will be working in hallways and very tight spaces. Laptops would allow us to be more productive and make life a little easier.

To learn more about East Side, please go to our website. To speak to someone directly, contact Jodi Caplan, Director of Community & Family Partnerships, at jodic@eschs.org

And courtesy of Pumpkin Patch, here's the direct link to the donations page.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.

Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.

This past Tuesday, workers arrived at the Mary Help of Christians parking lot on Avenue A at East 11th Street to repair the eastern wall of the school at 420 E. 12th St. (We had photos here and here.)

According to the Department of Education, the structural defect, discovered Monday, "will require the immediate demolition and subsequent rebuilding of that wall." They expect the demolition work to take "several weeks."

Students from East Side Community High School (grades 6-12) and the Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School, who share the space at 420 E. 12th St., have been temporarily relocated to other schools.

We didn't have a chance to survey the scope of the project up close until this past weekend... and you can see in the following photos how extensive the work is...

Open Road Park next to the school is closed too, of course... so the skateboarders are also displaced ...

[Bobby Williams]

[Bobby Williams]

Meanwhile, parents of the displaced students are understandably concerned and upset... we spoke with a few parents, who commend East Side Principal Mark Federman for his leadership.

East Side students made it work last week... attending classes in hallways or the gym at PS 19 or holding study sessions at the Neptune on First Avenue...

[Images via @MarkEastSide]

On Monday, students had to leave the building quickly ... with the school sealed up, students don't have access to their supplies. East Side parent Jane Nina Buchanan wondered if any local business could help out with donating school supplies for the students. (Any queries should be directed to school officials via the East Side website.)

Meanwhile, some East Side parents have launched a website titled "No Way to Learn." The site's mission:

The school that we send our children to recently experienced a structural issue concerning the school building ... We don't know when our children will be allowed back into their school and we're not satisfied with how things are being handled in the meantime by the NYC Board of Education. We hope to share some of our stories, as well as essential information for the parents of East Side Community High School students, here.

Day 2 of the wall work at 420 E. 12th St.

Workers were back at 420 East 12th St. today... where they are taking care of a structural defect on the school's eastern wall...

Students from East Side Community School and the Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School, who share the space at 420 E. 12th St., have been temporarily relocated to other schools.

East Side officials held an informational meeting tonight for parents... perhaps we can get an update later about what transpired...

Also, NY1 has a report on the situation here.

Previously.

Wall work under way at 420 E. 12th St.

Workers arrived at the Mary Help of Christians playground early this morning to start work on the damaged wall of the school at 420 E. 12th St.

Here are photos from this afternoon via Bobby Williams on Avenue A and East 11th Street... You can see the workers on the school's roof ...

According to a notice from the Department of Education posted outside the school, the structural defect "will require the immediate demolition and subsequent rebuilding of that wall." They expect the demolition work to take "several weeks," and there will likely be evening hours as well.

Last evening, a worker said that they wouldn't really know the extent of the damage until they "get up in there."

Students from East Side Community School and the Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School, who share the space at 420 E. 12th St., have been temporarily relocated to other schools.

[Updated 9-26] Demo crews will remove part of the school wall at 420 E. 12th St.

Demolition crews rolled into the Mary Help of Christians parking lot on Avenue A at East 11th Street late this afternoon...

Workers on the scene said that they would be taking out part of the upper wall of the East Side Community High School. The wall, adjacent to Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church, was found to be separating from the rest of the structure yesterday.

A worker said that they wouldn't know the extent of the damage until they "get up in there."

We haven't heard an official comment just yet from East Side Principal Mark Federman. The address is also home to the Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School.

Updated:

A few more photos from late afternoon by Kimberly Fritschy via Facebook...

Updated: 8:19 p.m.

Updated 9/26:

According to this notice from the Department of Education posted outside the school ...

[EVG reader Steven Matthews]

The structural defect "will require the immediate demolition and subsequent rebuilding of that wall."

They expect the demolition work to take "several weeks," and there will likely be evening hours as well.