I May Have Walked A Mile To School In The Snow, But At Least I Wasn’t Distracted By 80 Flights An Hour

A school just a mile away from LaGuardia Airport in East Elmhurst finally will be soundproofed:

This time next year, “takeoff” and “landing” will no longer be dirty words at Msgr. McClancy Memorial High School.

The East Elmhurst school, located about a mile from LaGuardia Airport, is being soundproofed by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Port Authority as part of their joint Noise Abatement Program. School officials expect the $7.2 million project, including the installation of a state-of-the-art heating and air-conditioning system, to be completed in December.

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On sunny days, students and teachers are often annoyed by the sounds of airplanes flying overhead. But Melito explained that when the skies get cloudy, planes fly even lower than usual and pass by every three to five minutes.

The situation is nothing new at McClancy, which has been coping with the noise ever since it was first opened by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in 1956.

“You would have to stop the class, wait until the plane finished and then restart the class,” remembered Brother James O’Grady, the school’s principal from 1979 to 1984.