A lot of people wonder about the 14th floor, as it hasn’t ever really been used. However, it could be very useful to this school, because of the amount of space, and could fix the overcrowding problem in the school building.
For starters Millennium High School opened in 2002, 21 years ago. They started building floors to it gradually, it started off as a lower house school only, with 9th and 10th graders, only operating on one floor. But, after 21 years, they expanded and operated on three floors. With grades 9-12 in the building. Around 5 years ago, the school and DOE came up with an idea to expand Millennium 2500 feet, adding a fourth floor to the building.
Adding a fourth floor to the building-the14th floor. Starting with the eleventh floor, which holds the upper house. The 14th floor could hold a larger gymnasium, other arts rooms and even classrooms, which can expand the school’s academics in many ways.
According to the New York post, “While it exemplifies the type of exclusive Manhattan public school that Chancellor Richard Carranza rails against, Millennium’s roughly 675 students will be gifted with 5,000 fresh square feet of new gym space, five additional classrooms, and a security upgrade, among other amenities.”
The problem here is this hasn’t been talked about for five years, because of the pandemic and cost. For the past few years this hasn’t been a big issue. The 14th floor remains an empty space lurking above floor 13. However, it’s also a waste of space and know one has been up there often or at all. I’m writing this because it’s an issue that should be brought up again. If the DOE can make this renovation happen, then it could give this school the space, and amenities it’s been waiting for. Not only is this important because of the increasing academics, but, the school struggles with space.According to Silver who wrote to Klein,
“Over the past two years, I, and members of my School Overcrowding Task Force, have made it clear to DOE staff that much of the 26 Broadway space should be used to address the need for additional school seats for this fast-growing community,”
As a 10th grader, I feel like the crowds are a big problem especially by the stairways. Trying to start working on the fourteenth floor could spread the crowding out. However, this project will take years to build. I probably won’t have the experience of the 4 floors due to the fact that I’m graduating in three years. But the sooner it starts the sooner others will be able to have more space in their own schools.
