Stuyvesant Gymnasiums Undergo Renovation

Since the start of the 2025 school year, a section of warped flooring has been blocked off with bright orange-red cones in the middle of the sixth-floor gym, room 680. As a result, physical education classes have been restricted to using only half of the gym. The sixth-floor dance studio, room 682, also closed earlier this year for a similar reason, leaving both major indoor spaces unavailable. The loss of these facilities has limited not only physical education classes, but also Public School Athletic League (PSAL) teams, which rely on the sixth-floor gyms for practice.

 This circumstance was due to an unprecedented ceiling leak. “The warped wooden floor was reported to the administration and the custodial staff as soon as the leak was detected. I believe it was in June,” physical education teacher Vasken Choubaralian said. Principal Seung Yu, however, noted that the administration only became aware of the issue in late August when staff members returned to the building.

There were rumors that the warped floor in 680 was caused by the relocation of an AC unit. While that was true for an earlier damaged corner, which has since been repaired, the current warped section in the center of the gym is the result of a ceiling leak. “The floor [in 680] is hardwood, so as the wood absorbs the water, the wood warps,” physical education teacher Rebecca Morel Wernham said.

The leaks appeared mainly due to updating the school’s heating and air conditioning systems and general maintenance. “The building has been under repair/renovation for building-wide upgrades from our HVAC system to our fire alarms,” Yu said in an e-mail interview. “Additionally, when we had testing for AP exams in May 2025, we had to bring in mobile air conditioners, which also contributed to some of the issues. All of the leaks are a result of some of the renovation projects with multiple contractors and challenges in maintaining a building of this size.”

Room 680’s floor was expected to be fixed around the second or third week of September. However, the repair date was repeatedly delayed. The repair is not under Stuyvesant’s control; custodian Chris Butler specified that the repair is under the jurisdiction of the Division of School Facilities (DSF). 

Yu added that the repair not only involves the DSF, but also other agencies, including the School Construction Authority and Battery Park City Authority. “Every agency/group either has a role or is impacted,” Yu said. “Stuy’s admin has been the initiator of the communication to work to keep everyone coordinated and on the same page.”

Meanwhile, the physical education department has continued to use 680 despite the warped flooring. “We have to block out the area and utilize a small space in the gymnasium,” Athletic Director and physical education teacher Peter Bologna said.

However, the ongoing issues don’t just affect Stuyvesant’s students and staff. The Battery Park Community Center, which provides the community with recreation, sports, swimming, and fitness facilities, has also listed the sixth-floor gym, a location used for various activities outside of school hours, as closed since the start of September.

Athletic teams, however, have experienced the greatest disruption. Many have avoided the half of the gym with the warped floor altogether for safety reasons, significantly reducing practice space. “The floor isn’t affecting PE classes as much as we thought, but it is really affecting the teams’ practices. It’s reduced the amount of practice time and space. The coaches are very frustrated,” Choubaralian said.

The change has also affected the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) gym rotation, due to the fact that only one full gym is available: the third-floor gym. “For PSAL, [680]’s closed,” said Bologna. While some teams have unofficially continued to use the undamaged half of the sixth-floor gym, scheduling with only one designated space has been difficult. 

Losing access to room 682 forced ballroom dancing and yoga physical education classes to relocate to 680. While neither elective requires significant equipment—ballroom having none and yoga only using mats—students expressed their preference for the original studio space. “Yoga is supposed to be a calm and relaxing class, but the vibes of the new gym are not as nice as the old one,” senior Madison Lee said. “You can’t turn the lights off, so it’s very bright.”

Additionally, because 682 was closed, the fencing team has shifted to practicing in 680, further tightening the already crowded schedule. The fencing team practices on a strip on the damaged half of 680, where other teams do not practice. 

Although they still get to practice, they “have to share the gym with volleyball or basketball, and it’s super distracting because balls are flying everywhere,” junior and fencing team member Junxi (Jesse) Zhu said. “I just want to apologize for taking up the entire space when we have a game and [the] volleyball [team] or basketball [team] can’t practice.”

Teachers had to adjust their curriculum to the changing gyms while the timeline for reconstruction remains unclear, as “for the first [few] days, we had free-play in the big gym where Freytag let us do whatever we wanted,” Lee said. “Then we started doing yoga again, which was basically the same as before.”

However, efforts are actively being made to expedite the repairs. “I am regularly contacting the various agencies to move as quickly as possible to repair the issues, as it has negatively impacted our classes, PSAL, and the Battery Park Community Center,” Yu said. “There is only so much the school can do to move other agencies; however, we have tried to get these repairs fixed as quickly as possible.”

On Friday, November 7, as The Spectator was investigating the story, the administration confirmed the dance studio was already repaired and the sixth-floor gym was scheduled to be fixed by next week. “[680]’s being fixed, starting this weekend. The dance studio is already fixed and we’re going to use it again as of Monday, [November 10],” Bologna said.