Browning New Campus

The class of 29 will be starting at the new Browning campus in grade 9 in 2025. The

new campus will be for high school students and is on E 64th street, between 1st and

2nd avenue. It is due to open in 2025. Currently the site is a very rundown building that

is mostly boarded up and has broken windows. Looking through a peephole in the

boards you can see lots of skips, old metal beams and lots of broken concrete pillars. It

is a big open space, with large windows. It is hard to imagine this site being full of

classrooms and students.

When the building is finished it will be spacious and modern and will allow the grade

sizes to grow from about 30 to 45. It will have 13 classrooms and a full-size gym.

Finding the site for the school wasn’t easy and took nearly 10 years. Mr Botti said that

many people didn’t want to live next to a school. Eventually he found a 105 year old

parking garage and applied for permission to convert it to a school. Permission was

granted in July 2022.

However not all has been easy, when renovating such buildings the architects have had

to work around several columns in the facility and arrange ways for it to have light and

air. This will require air ducts, electrical wiring and pipes to serve as a school and a lot

of that needs to be hidden in places where it can't be seen. However, while the new

building does give us more room, it is hard to designate a room for a particular type of

use when there are so many activities Browning students are interested in. Mr Botti said

“They’ve been very creative, and committed to helping and committed to helping us to

transform this facility into something that of which we can be proud.”

Mr Botti is excited about the new learning spaces which will allow for even more

creativity, collaboration, and performance; offering more room (and, literally, rooms) for

community members to come together for official or informal meetings; and providing a

full-sized gymnasium that we can use for athletics, student performances, and

community gatherings. He said “I love our current school building, but this additional

space will give our community members an even better opportunity to develop and

exhibit their talents.”