Sandy caused extensive damage to the Seaport area, flooding the first floor of school with four to five feet of water and forcing it to close for a week while repairs were made and electrical power was restored. In March 2014, Blue School announced that it had secured the adjacent building at 233 Water Street to provide expansion space as it adds a middle school program. The new building was renovated with classrooms, science and arts spaces, and a rooftop garden and play space, and opened for the 2015–16 school year. In December 2016, Blue School acquired additional space nearby, on William Street, which opened in September 2018, it would later shut down after the school suffered from significant financial losses. In media The association with the Blue Man Group has brought the school some national media attention, including stories in Time, on NBC's Today Show and National Public Radio. Local stories appeared in The Villager and the New York Post. The school attracted some controversy after a front-page article about the school in The New York Times called attention to the school's tuition rates. Although the school's tuition is "right in the middle" of what other private schools in New York City charge, some readers outside of the city were shocked by the cost. Blue School's media visibility has also made it a target for attacks by conservative educators, who are critical of its focus on creativity and the elements it takes from the Reggio Emilia approach to education. A June 2012 article in The New York Post criticized the school's approach and reported that parents removed their children from the school, claiming that the children weren't learning how to read. In April 2012, The New York Times published a feature on how Blue School integrates scientific research about child development in the classroom, writing that "the school has become a kind of national laboratory for integrating cognitive neuroscience and cutting-edge educational theory into curriculum, professional development and school design." Blue School was also featured on a March 18, 2012 episode of CNN's The Next List. In March 2014, New York magazine published school vaccination rates that reflected incomplete reporting for the 2012–13 school year due to damage of student medical records in the flooding from Hurricane Sandy. See also Education in New York City References External links TEDx Blue videos Private elementary schools in Manhattan