"Millions Budgeted to Soundproof New York-Area Schools Near Flight Paths"

Tuesday, April 1, 2003

Millions Budgeted to Soundproof New York-Area Schools Near Flight Paths
The New York (NY) Daily News


Readin', writin' -- and earplugs?

A record $44.5 million will be spent this year to soundproof 20 schools --
including 11 in Queens, six in the Bronx and three on Long Island -- that
are located near airport flight paths.

The funding was authorized by the Port Authority board of commissioners as
part of a 20-year joint program with the Federal Aviation Administration to
soundproof schools affected by aircraft noise.

"It's like a loud, rumbling sound. It disturbs the students," said Grady
Hill, assistant principal of John Bowne High School, a Flushing school in
the flight path of LaGuardia Airport. "Sometimes they land right over the
school."

John Bowne will get $8 million to help create a quieter, less distracting
environment.

"Some students study better with music banging in their ears, but for most
of the students who hear that [airplane] noise, it's got to be distracting,"
Hill said.

The schools -- plus 12 in New Jersey -- have been federally defined as being
in noise-affected areas and will receive acoustical windows and new
ventilation systems -- which, school administrators hope, will do the job as
well as earplugs could.

"After a while you become oblivious to it ... and you teach around it," said
George Giberti, principal at Public School 180 in Rockaway Park.

Giberti said that although the FAA has made an effort to divert air traffic
away from the Rockaways since 9/11 and the American Airlines crash in Belle
Harbor, he's fearful the flight patterns could be changed.

In the Bronx, six schools will be soundproofed, including Samuel Gompers
Vocational High School, which will receive $5.5 million. "When a plane takes
off, my teachers have to stop teaching," said Principal Mary Ann Hawthorne.
"You can't hear because of the noise. Learning stops."

Although the Port Authority -- which operates Kennedy, LaGuardia and
Newark-Liberty airports -- hopes to become better neighbors with the
communities that surround its airports, about 90 percent of the funding
comes from the FAA's Airport Improvement Program.

The Port Authority has committed $226.2 million to date to soundproof 78
schools in New York and New Jersey since the program began in 1983.

"The federal government requires a report before and after, so if you don't
achieve your noise reduction goals, you don't get the funding," said Ralph
Tragale, manager of government and community relations for the Port
Authority.

Tragale hopes all the schools will be soundproofed by 2007.

The largest amount for any school this year -- $12.1 million -- will go to
Beach Channel High School in Rockaway Park.

"Anything that can be done to improve the physical plan of the school is
worth any amount of money," said Beach Channel Principal John Marcus.


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