Earlier this month, the Bay Ridge community came together as local leaders, educators and residents celebrated the renaming of P.S. 413 — now proudly known as the Joanne Seminara School of Law and Medicine.
The state-of-the-art elementary school, located on Senator Street, opened in fall 2024 and is designed to prepare students for future careers in law and medicine. The June 2 ceremony included a ribbon-cutting, with students and administrators in attendance.
Seminara, who died in 2022, was a beloved attorney, educator and public service advocate. She served on Community Board 10 — which represents Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton — for 26 years, chairing the board from 2010 to 2013. Throughout her career, she also served as New York State Democratic Committee chairwoman and as an executive committee member of the New York State Democratic Party.
Before her time in local government, Seminara worked as a biology and chemistry teacher. Her husband, Pierre A. Lehu, spoke about her passion for young people during the ceremony.
“She understood that educating young people isn’t easy,” he said. “She would be so proud to know that a brand new elementary school with every possible facility to encourage education, including classes in both Arabic and English and a dental program, right here in Bay Ridge, where she so loved. It’s such an honor.”
“This keeps her memory alive, not just in our hearts, but in the minds of these young students,” Lehu continued.
City Council Member Justin Brannan, who represents the 47th district and considered Seminara a close friend and mentor, spoke about her enduring influence on the Bay Ridge community.
“For Joanne, community always came first,” Brannan said. “She believed your job as a human being was to leave the world a little better than how you found it. Her little living room on 78th Street felt like the old parlors of old, where ideas were discussed, policies were debated and plans were hatched.”
“Joanne’s compass was always pointed toward equity, fairness and integrity. When it came to speaking truth to power, Joanne had no fear,” he continued. “She was truly an inspiration to us all.”
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes echoed that sentiment and spoke of the legacy she left behind.
“To sit in that living room of hers, to hash out problems and come up with ideas to make the community and world better, that was special,” he said. “I just can’t help but think about generations of students that will sit in this living room right here and draw that same inspiration from her name and her example and her integrity and their values.”
The school began with 25 kindergarten students and “plans to expand every year,” according to News 12 Brooklyn. The curriculum, based on law and medicine, will “help young students develop critical thinking, leadership and care for others.”
