NYC Schools? (New York, Brighton, York: neighborhoods, middle school, floor)

[frischee112]

This may seem like a stupid question but bear with me. Do schools in New York have playgrounds/open spaces? Are they built into skyscrapers and massive towers? Or are they usually smaller buildings? I come from a small town where schools are on large campuses composed of multiple sports facilities such as pools, football fields, and baseball diamonds. How does this work in the NYC? Do they not have sports for schools? Please explain.

[checkmatechamp13]

Originally Posted by frischee112

This may seem like a stupid question but bear with me. Do schools in New York have playgrounds/open spaces? Are they built into skyscrapers and massive towers? Or are they usually smaller buildings? I come from a small town where schools are on large campuses composed of multiple sports facilities such as pools, football fields, and baseball diamonds. How does this work in the NYC? Do they not have sports for schools? Please explain.

Well, my experiences might be different than other city residents but here goes...

My elementary school was in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, which I guess could represent the average NYC neighborhood in terms of density (amount of people per square mile). It was a K-8 school in a 4-story building, and it had a courtyard in the middle of the building (the courtyard was surrounded by the building on 3 sides), and kids also played in the teachers' parking lot.

When I moved to Staten Island, which is more suburban in character (which is why I said it's probably different from the average NYC school) it was a 2 story building that was more spread out (the schoolyard was seperate from the building). In middle school, it draw kids from a large swath of Staten Island, so it was a 4-story building, but the courtyards were still spread out.

In high school, the area was a bit more dense (Port Richmond), but still relatively suburban (again, this is compared to the rest of NYC. By the rest of the country's standards all of these neighborhoods are very urban) but we have a football field and track (the track surrounds the football field). We also have an oddball piece of land that we use as a baseball field. We don't have a pool, but Curtis High School does, and it's in a comparable area (on a hill if it matters)

I visited a high school in Manhattan (around 50th Street on the West Side) and it was in an 8-story building, with a small courtyard. I'm not quite sure if they had any places to play sports.

[DoomDan515]

In the outer boroughs, the schools are usually either 3 or 4 floor ugly red buildings with a sizable concrete playground.