Local Moms Share Vision for ROCK School

By Katie McFadden

If you want something done, do it yourself. Unsatisfied with current local school options, three local mothers are taking initiative to propose a plan for a new school. At a meeting at RISE and on Zoom on Wednesday, February 26, those behind ROCK School presented their vision in hopes of gaining community support and feedback as they go through the motions to possibly make their idea a reality.

Rockaplay Social Club co-owner, Corinne Sommer, who has a background in construction management and renewable energy, Vanessa Cocks, a clinical social worker, and CC Esguerra, a branding strategist for nonprofits, the organizers behind ROCK School are all local residents who, like many parents, want the best options for their children, and others in the place they call home. “We all live in the Rockaways because we love it here. But a key thing is still missing—more high-quality education options for Rockaway kids that truly reflect and serve our community,” Sommer said.

Last year, the ladies started to put into a motion an idea of bringing a new school to Rockaway. Back in September, they started collecting data and attending meetings with schools. The data they found noted an 8% population increase in Rockaway from 2010-2020, with the biggest increase in Far Rockaway and Arverne, areas that happen to have the highest populations of kids under 5, numbers that continue to increase with more development. When it comes to schools between Beach 40th and Beach 95th, they found that the three public schools in the area perform below city standards.

“When we get to conversations with other parents about schools, we hear ‘you shouldn’t go to that school,’ ‘we use another address to go to a different school,’ ‘we don’t have enough IEPs,’ ‘when considering public schools, we’re not zoned for them and when we move, we can’t get into those schools.’ What’s overwhelmingly clear is that we are needing to make a choice between living where we love and a safe, high-quality education,” Sommer said.

The realization comes at a time when it’s become clear that Rockaway is largely neglected when it comes to discussions on educational improvements. “The mayor added 11,000 new seats for kids in NY last year with 24 new schools with innovative programs like School Without Walls and Elizabeth Jennings School for Bold Explorers. These schools offer things like outdoor learning, dual language study, modern phys ed facilities, swimming pools, learning gardens with focus on health and nutrition and support for special needs. The new capital plan includes plans for over 33,000 new seats. Rockaway is allocated just 400 of those in Far Rockaway which will presumably serve the new developments, but that doesn’t solve all the needs of the remaining underserved school zones in the Rockaways,” Esguerra said. “How are there dozens of beautiful new schools, expansions, upgrades, and swimming pools planned in New York City, yet our unique, yet underserved peninsula is largely overlooked?”

So, with data they collected in surveys and feedback from other parents, they began to create a vision for what Rockaway could use in a school. “Conversations with local educators and parents have revealed high need for special education, behavioral support, and school safety. And so far, our community survey has shown highest interest in dual-language, outdoor education and social emotional learning,” Sommer said. With that, they created three core values that drive their vision for a school curriculum. 1) Dual language Spanish immersion: “Studies have shown up to 10% higher ELA test scores compared to English only schools. We visited a Spanish immersion school where 95% of the kids came from English speaking homes and what we saw were 5, 6 ,7, 8-year-olds learning and speaking confidently and enthusiastically in a second language,” Esguerra said. 2) Environmental Education and Sustainability: “Not only will kids grow up to understand consumption and our environmental impact, but they will have plenty of time outside with nature-based education that has been shown to improve focus and lower behavioral issues,” Esguerra said. And 3) Emotional intelligence through the arts: “The arts has a huge impact on academic performance and by using things like theater and painting for kids to express and understand feelings, it’s also a powerful tool for building emotional intelligence,” Esguerra said. Outside of those three, they’ve found a desire for programs in financial literacy to understand money management and budgeting, and water-safety training.

So, their idea is to build it from scratch, with a brand new sustainable building, with guidance from Penn State when it comes to sustainability. They’d also want the school to have a pool accessible to everyone in the community to promote water safety. Working with Penn State, they’ve identified a possible location for said building, across the street from the Rockaway Freeway Dog Park on Beach 80th Street, mainly because it’s available New York State property, however, “it’s not set in stone” and they’re open to other possibilities. To a question asked by Eugene Falik on Zoom, Esguerra said, “It’s a public school and we’re hoping for an unzoned public school so we can provide a lottery system so it’s open to everyone on the peninsula.” In another audience question about the age group, they said, “K through 5, starting the K and First and building from there.”

As far as funding goes, the ladies say they don’t have an official funding source at the moment, but they’re “developing it.” They’re in the process of reaching out to people and making connections, in the hopes of attracting donors and people who have resources. As the building would be sustainable, they’re also hoping to receive grants towards the building.

As they continue the process, the ladies will continue collecting feedback to help shape their proposal. They already met with the Community Education Council on Monday, February 24, and said they had “a very good response.” They plan on submitting their proposal to local politicians and organizations to garner support, and then they’ll submit everything to a contact at the Department of Education and other key contacts by March 7. While knowing it may not be realistic, the ladies envision opening the school by Fall 2027.

To help with their case, they’re seeking letters of support from the community. A template is available on their website, Rockschool.nyc, which also has the full presentation from last week, and options to leave feedback. They are particularly interested in receiving feedback from educators and other experts in the field.