More Info on Charter School Coming to Gowanus
Late last year there was word that Brooklyn Prospect Charter School, which is currently located in Sunset Park High School, would be building a new facility on Douglass Street between 3rd Avenue and Nevins, and that’s been confirmed by a lease agreement that was recently recorded in public records for the properties at 182 and…
Late last year there was word that Brooklyn Prospect Charter School, which is currently located in Sunset Park High School, would be building a new facility on Douglass Street between 3rd Avenue and Nevins, and that’s been confirmed by a lease agreement that was recently recorded in public records for the properties at 182 and 188 3rd Avenue and 267 Douglass Street. The school’s website, meanwhile, says that it’s in search of an interim location for next year. (Controversial plans to temporarily occupy space at P.S. 32 were recently withdrawn.) It seems to be the case that the warehouse on the corner of 3rd Avenue and Douglass is going to be torn down to make make way for the schohtol, since its owner just got a permit to demolish the building. As of Monday, though, there was no visible construction or demolition under way on the block.
Charter School Expanding to Gowanus [Brownstoner] GMAP
jessibaby – i didn’t read my link wrong. sorry i wasn’t clear. i understand that charters who pay for separate spaces don’t get public money for those separate spaces. the link says that the difference is about $2000 of “in kind” money. and i am fine with that. it’s up to the charter to make up the gap, and it’s up to the state/city (and, indirectly and eventually, voters) to decide whether the charter is able to provide adequate resources to the kids despite the extra budgetary expense. the point is that it costs more money to get exactly what you want exactly when you want it.
heather – huh? this whole discussion started with real estate, and if there was no problem with real estate i don’t think co-locations would be on the table. this is not to say that the broader issue of charters wouldn’t still be present, but you vastly misunderstand the PS9 situation if you think the issue was the right of the charter school to “exist.” that was not the question – the argument assumed its existence and concerned only where it should go. i’m not going to recapitulate the full debate for you.
to be perfectly clear, since my analogies seem to confuse you: as a society, we make decisions EVERY day about where to put buildings (and, therefore, where the people and services inside of those buildings), what resources to devote to certain programs, and how to balance competing societal needs. given that, it is not necessarily inconsistent or hypocritical to determine that one charter school proposal effects a good balance and another does not. it’s called subjectivity. and i would have objected to the placement of BECCS in PS9 even if i wanted my kid to go there.
i don’t disagree with you on many of the issues pertaining to charter schools. but i don’t understand this inclination to pigeonhole every viewpoint that isn’t clearly aligned for or against charters as “hypocritical.” why don’t you focus more on clarifying what disturbs you, and trying to convince people that it ought to disturb them, too, regardless of their own immediate self-interest? that’s how real dialogue works.
since 2000, I agree 100% about the incredible lack of foresight among DOE officials who decided to change Arts & Letters from a middle school to one beginning in K. If anything, they could have expanded the middle school, a popular choice for district kids, and simply made it larger.
Fortunately, Brooklyn Prospect has no plans to do the same, and the addition of another good middle school choice for parents in District 15 isn’t going to affect all the other good middle schools, since there are ever larger graduating classes from 5th grade in all the D. 15 middle schools.
Ironically, Brooklyn Prospect would have been serving a far more vital need had it set up in District 13, instead. There is a serious lack of middle school options for families and with Arts & Letters offering fewer spots, it’s only going to get worse in the future.
since 2000, I agree 100% about the incredible lack of foresight among DOE officials who decided to change Arts & Letters from a middle school to one beginning in K. If anything, they could have expanded the middle school, a popular choice for district kids, and simply made it larger.
Fortunately, Brooklyn Prospect has no plans to do the same, and the addition of another good middle school choice for parents in District 15 isn’t going to affect all the other good middle schools, since there are ever larger graduating classes from 5th grade in all the D. 15 middle schools.
Ironically, Brooklyn Prospect would have been serving a far more vital need had it set up in District 13, instead. There is a serious lack of middle school options for families and with Arts & Letters offering fewer spots, it’s only going to get worse in the future.
Famous, I’m with you. It has long been evident that Dist. 13 is a poor stepchild in comparison to Dist. 15 or 2. I was happy when CRCS and Arts & Letters middle school came into the neighborhood, the former too late for our family, but even so a welcome sign. Or so I thought. Since the start of the school year, however, we have witnessed three extraordinary ugly co-location fights, each on pitting a district school against a well-funded, DOE-backed, lottery school. In particular, the Arts & Letters situation is incredibly sad, as the numbers of kids who are leaving the local zoned schools to go there makes it far less likely that those schools will stabilize and become valued community assets the way PS 8 has or many schools in Dist. 15. I still can’t follow Arts & Letters’ logic in choosing to walk away from virtually the only reasonably well-performing middle school in district. Yes, I realize the middle school will still exist, but only half the size and likely open to very few children who did not go through the middle school. There is the makings of a terrible class war here at just the time when the local zoned schools are on the brink of true diversity, and it feels like, honestly, a slow-moving tragedy.
“Meanwhile, these parents congratulate themselves on “contributing” to the community by segregating the schools, all the while patting themselves on the back for sending their kid to a diverse school because it has kids with brown skin (most of whom have parents with PhDs and lifestyles very similar to their own).”
typical – when are these losers going to move to the suburbs? they really don’t like anything about living in a city, except the shorter commute and brunch.
Famous, do we already hang out? Cause, like, if not we should.
Here’s the link: . ADVOCATE.NYC.GOV/SAVEOURTEACHERS
For anyone who is concerned about the cuts to public schools, Bill deBlassio is organizing an action tomorrow and there is a petition that you can sign . And, no, I have no formal connection with his office or efforts.
Thanks for the clarification, CGfan. It’s true that many “public schools aren’t really equipped to serve most of those kids,” as you write. But that is different than getting a “state-subsidized” private school education, when a family can afford to pay the tuition. I know of at least a hand full of Park Slope families who can amply afford the tuition without breaking a sweat (then again, perhaps one family vacation will need to be more modest) but sue the city instead. I agree fully that every child should have access to the sort of education they need (for children at all points on the spectrum — from gifted to general ed to LD), but measuring that need should include assessing the parents’ ability to pay. At present, that is not a criterion, as far as I know. This is a shameful drain on a shrinking budget.