Four schools that have their homes at 291 Broadway — Downtown Dance Factory, Ya Ya Preschool, My Little School and The Shirley Aninias School — are locked out of their spaces with no where to go while safety issues are resolved at the 19-story building on Reade.

On April 27, a 30-foot piece of the building’s decorative stone façade fell from between floors 15 and 16, with large pieces landing onto Reade Street below. (The building is under permit for façade repairs, hence the netting.) No injuries were reported, remarkably. Multiple parked vehicles sustained damage from the fallen debris, and as those pieces fell, they broke sections of the façade on the 5th floor and damaged the scaffold at multiple locations.

The NYC Department of Buildings vacated the building on the 27th, and the vacate order remains in effect due to imminent hazards above the building’s secondary means of egress on Reade.

Reade Street between Broadway and Church remains closed while the building owner’s contractors continue the emergency stabilization work on the façade. When this work is complete and the Reade Street entrance can been safe to access, the vacate order can be lifted. DOB said they will send me an update on that.

Meanwhile, the schools are scrambling. With recitals days away, Downtown Dance Factory is holding classes on Zoom, and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at BMCC, where they host the recitals for more than 1250 dancers, has rallied to provide them space in advance. “My team has been spectacular — they have been working around the clock,” said Melanie Zrihen, business director and co-founder of DDF. “The biggest priority is safety, of course. But we just keep saying, we’re going to make it all happen!”

Teachers at Ya Ya Preschool, My Little School and The Shirley Aninias School, which together serve 100 children, were locked out of their classrooms overnight and could not access laptops, medications for students or teaching supplies.

Parents and representatives were scheduled to meet this morning with Councilman Chris Marte, DOB, the city’s office of Emergency Management and building management to see if they can get a timeline for repairs.

In the meantime, they are seeking temporary space and emergency licensing waivers so schools can operate.

Comment if you have any suggestions. And I will update when I hear more from the DOB.