Schools
April 10, 2008
Development Watch: Law High School in Order on Adams
Department of Education spokeswoman Melody Meyer said the courthouse renovation at 283 Adams St. in Downtown Brooklyn should be done by the September, just in time for students attending The Urban Assembly High School for Law and Justice and The Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women to start their next academic year. The High School for Law and Justice was created in 2004 and would have a capacity of 407 students, she said. The Institute of Math and Science, grades 6 - 12, was started in 2006 and would have 567 students at full capacity.
The Urban Assembly High School for Law and Justice[Insideschools.org]
The Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women[Insideschools.org]
April 9, 2008
PLG's Maple Street School in Talks With Glassy Tower
Children are an increasing population in Brooklyn, sometimes sparking a culture war that's feeling a bit stale, but more importantly putting a strain on pre-school programs. Prospect-Lefferts Gardens' Maple Street School, operating out of the Prospect Park B/Q/S station, is no exception, with a waiting list up to 100 children that's bound to grow if developer Henry Herbst builds his planned tower next door. But Maple Street board member Marc Dicus said he hopes the tower will also give the school a chance to expand. The two parties are in talks, said Herbst and Dicus, for Maple Street to lease the tower's 23,000-square-foot community facility. "We're in just very intial conversations with him about being interested in that space," said Dicus. "We're a nursery school and we may not be able to go on the second floor; we may only be allowed on a ground floor. But if it's feasible, we'd like to serve more kids." He said the school would keep its subway station space, leased until 2015. Maple Street School takes children aged 2 to 5, but it's licensed up to age 6. Director Wendy Cole said the additional space could give them room for a kindergarten program. Already, she said the co-operative school, started in 1978 by a group of parents, serves 80 families. The diverse group of kids can regularly be seen lined up, holding hands and wearing little matching vests, on their way to the zoo, Botanic Gardens, Audobon Center or Prospect Park. "There's a shortage of pre-k programs in general," said Dicus. "There's just been a huge explosion of children going to school in the borough." Do you think more new buildings should provide space for strained facilities?
There’s Not Enough Room in City's Kindergartens [NY Mag]
Glassy Tower Bad News For Birds, Says Expert [Brownstoner]
Common Area Dispute Erupts Into Culture War at BellTel[Brooklyn Eagle]
Park Slope Stroller Nazi Story Getting a Little Stale[Brownstoner]
April 1, 2008
What Will Become of the Remsen Wallflower?
Despite its prime location, 186 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights has been available for lease since its last tenant, an adoption agency, moved out more than five years ago. Locals say it's because "the building is a wreck" and is priced too high. Robert Oliver of the Joseph P. Day Realty Corporation said owner Larry Wohl is looking to lease the 35,000-square-foot, late-19th-Century building to a single tenant for $1 million annually. At $28 per square foot, that would place the building in the Class B market if it were well-maintained, but people who have been inside called it "raw space" and "garbage-looking." One real estate insider said 35,000 square feet is "stretching it," and that "the economics for renting it as office is very bad." Indeed, Property Shark said the building is 25,000 square feet.
The insider said neighboring St. Francis College unsuccessfully offered to buy the building. And another Heights resident thinks the building would be an ideal annex for P.S. 8, which recently cut its Pre-K program and is still overflowing with students. New condo development nearby such as One Brooklyn Bridge Park would only increase demand on the school, the worst-case scenario being trailers in the playground, said the resident. But the insider doubted bringing the building up to the strict elementary school code standards would be economically feasible at Day's price.
The Franklin Building [An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn]
186 Remsen Street [Joseph P. Day] GMAP
March 20, 2008
Parents Slam School Budget Cuts
Thousands showed up to a protest in front of City Hall yesterday to decry budget cuts to city schools, according to The Times. In January the city and state forced schools to slash 1.75 percent of their current budgets, and bigger cuts are expected next year. Last year, however, the Department of Education pledged to dramatically increase school funding, a promise it appears to be reneging on. “This is all parents talk about,” said Alicia Cortes, the parent coordinator at Intermediate School 302 in Cypress Hills, which had to reduce the scope of its after-school programs after it lost $107,000. “We have been getting better for a while, and we thought there was a way to progress, and then all of the sudden there’s these cuts. You can’t cut off people’s legs and then expect them to succeed.” The Bloomberg administration, however, is quick to point out that it has increased education spending 72 percent since 2002. Many Brooklynites are protesting the cuts, including The Windsor Terrace Alliance, which has put sample letters to elected officials on its website so parents can easily write to officeholders to express their displeasure with the funding measures.
Thousands Protest Budget Cuts Aimed at City Schools [NY Times]
Sample Protest Letters [Windsor Terrace Alliance]
Photo by wallyg.
March 18, 2008
Brooklyn Becomes a College Town
With a crush of students already flocking to Downtown colleges like Brooklyn Law, a new dorm on tap from Brooklyn College in Flatbush, and a surge in International applications to attend Pratt, our borough is more popular than ever with the university set, says the Daily News. Around 55,000 students now attend institutions of higher learning in Kings, and that number is primed to rise. Applications to attend colleges in Brooklyn have risen almost across the board over the past five years, and a Pratt official says there was a 60 percent increase in international student applications to attend the school this year. Students interviewed for the article say Brooklyn is an appealing option. "I came here because I like New York, but don't like Manhattan," says a Pratt sophomore from Columbus, Ohio. "Manhattan is really crazy. There are so many insane people there. It's a lot cheaper here, too, and I really wanted a school with a campus." Pratt VP for enrollment Judith Aaron says the borough's escalating real estate values and overall better rep have lured more students, or at least stopped them from worrying about personal safety. "I never get a question any more about safety - one in the last two or three years," says Aaron. "Just as real estate has skyrocketed in Brooklyn, so has the borough's reputation for prospective college students." Next up: An increase in Brooklyn's head shop-per-capita ratio?
Brooklyn Becoming a Thriving Center of Higher Education [NY Daily News]
Violet Tide Coming to Downtown? [Brownstoner]
Closing Bell: Brooklyn College's New Dorm [Brownstoner]
Photo by Louis79.
February 13, 2008
Budget Cuts Threatening To Cramp P.S. 321's Style
The administration and PTA for P.S. 321 on 7th Avenue and 1st Street—widely considered one of the best and most progressive public elementary schools in Brooklyn, if not the entire city—are up in arms about the $125,000 in budget cuts the school is facing, and they’re calling on parents to march at the Department of Education offices tomorrow. (Principals all over the city have been slamming the slashed DOE budget.) P.S. 321's principal sent a note home to parents saying the cuts mean the school won’t be able to buy new classroom furniture and certain school supplies (including new math books), and that there will be less money available for the professional development of teachers. On Monday, the PTA co-presidents sent home another letter (see copy on jump) about how the loss of funding will hurt the school; this communication asks parents to show up for the 4:00 p.m. rally in Lower Manhattan tomorrow to protest the cuts. (The rally is distinct from the meeting about the budget cuts that Councilman de Blasio is holding at Borough Hall tonight.) So how does all this circle back to real estate? This is no doubt overly simplistic, but is it possible for the budget cuts to make some would-be Slope buyers (who often move to the neighborhood because of schools like P.S. 321) reconsider, or think about shelling out for private school instead? Or do the strong voices of parents at P.S. 321 affirm the lure of the school and neighborhood? GMAP
Continue reading "Budget Cuts Threatening To Cramp P.S. 321's Style"
January 31, 2008
Violet Tide Coming to Downtown?
Downtown Brooklyn might become something of a college town. According to a report in Washington Square News, NYU's new 25-year expansion plan includes taking around 1 million square feet of space in Downtown Brooklyn. While NYU hasn't released details about how it would expand across the East River, the plans are presumably tied to the school's merger with Polytechnic (though the school already snatched up some graduate housing at 67 Livingston on its own). It's unclear whether the university would build new facilities or whether it would merely use existing space. Think this is good news for the rapidly transforming area? From a supply-demand perspective, it seems like it could only bolster the market.
NYU plans expansion into Govs Isle, Brooklyn [Washington Sq. News]
Downtown Brooklyn in Transition [Brownstoner]
Photo of Downtown by chickitykd.
January 28, 2008
New Charter School Underway in Clinton Hill
Work on the future home of Achievement First Endeavor Charter School, a 5th to 8th grade program launched in 2006, is now underway at 510 Waverly Avenue in Clinton Hill (current photo on the jump); the school, which has been lodged in temporary quarters at 850 Kent Avenue for the last two years, will ultimately accommodate 700 students. The rendering on the architect's website looks promising to us, a tasteful melding of a modern addition and the existing ice cream factory. As far as we know, it's supposed to be ready for the 2008-2009 academic year. Perhaps the arrival of a school on that block will turn up the pressure on the methadone clinic a few doors down to clean up its act. GMAP P*Shark DOB
Continue reading "New Charter School Underway in Clinton Hill"
January 18, 2008
Brooklyn House of Detention Plans Falter
Ideas for adding new uses to the Brooklyn House of Detention seem to be going nowhere. After the Observer reported that the city was giving up on its plan to allow for retail and condos jail because of a lack of developer interest, the Brooklyn Paper followed up last week with an article saying there’s been talk of putting a new middle school in the jail at Atlantic and Smith. This week, though, the paper files a story saying city has officially abandoned the school-jail proposal. The condo plan was originally floated because the city wants to make the jail's 2012 reopening and expansion (it's supposed to go from 749 to 1,469 inmates) more palatable to the surrounding community. Last week Marty Markowitz told the Daily News that he's still searching for "creative ideas for the site."
Sorry Bids Shove Shiv in City's Plans to Expand Brooklyn Jail [NY Observer] GMAP
Jail Middle School is Sentenced to Death [Brooklyn Paper]
Lock 'Em Up [Brooklyn Paper]
No go for new Condominium Complex [NY Daily News]