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  1. A REAL flea market in Brooklyn?!. 26th Street is sorely missed. This is a brilliant idea. The one in Park Slope just doesn’t cut it. If I got to 26th St at dawn, I always found treasures. The only disappointment is that April is a long way away.

  2. Actually, Amy, it wasn’t a “debate” about the merits of public v. private school. It was in response to someone questioning WHY the flea market would support a Catholic school versus a public one in its quest for space. And that is not the issue here. So I think Mr. Brownstoner’s clarification and the ensuing replies are relevant.

  3. Wow, there’s really no reason for this to be a Catholic School vs. Public School issue. I’m just glad BrooklynFlea is in my neighborhood.

    A note about the events at local public schools: if an event is under the auspices of the PTA, the money completely bypasses the city’s bureaucracy and can be spent how the PTA sees fit. The money from SalvageFest and other PS11 events went directly towards our in school enrichment programs and after school programs.

    Amy

  4. Ditto–my parents couldn’t afford the expensive private schools and the public schools in my Queens neighborhood sucked. They could only afford the local Catholic school, and it was just fine. There were lots of non-Catholic kids in the school, all there for the same reason. They all got to hang out in the library or rec room during the 1 religious class we had per week. This was in the 1980s.

    Catholic school has ALWAYS been the inexpensive alternative to out-of-reach private schools when public school just doesn’t cut it.

  5. Thank you, thank you, thank you “Brenda from Flatbush”… I couldn’t agree more!

    My son attended Catholic school from kindergarten through high school, and I can’t say enough for the value, and solid education that Catholic school provide…
    and mainly for poor and working class families.

  6. This is off topic, but the problem with NYC public schools is not one of funding. The school system itself is extremely well funded. The schools suck for a multitude of other reasons totally unrelated cash flow.

    However, schools like BL offer an alternative to working class and middle class citizens that would like their children to have an education not offered in the public schools. BL or the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has no where near the budget of the NYC Public schools – so contrary to 10:18’s statements, they are more in needed of funding than PS 11 or PS 20.

    Say what you want about Catholics, but for centuries the Catholic church has taken it upon itself to provide quality education to working and middle class families.

    – Clintonhillhoya (as the name sugests, I am clearly biased by a strong Jesuit tradition in education)

  7. The public schools have one gazillion dollars and a host of celebrity supporters like Caroline Kennedy. The Catholic schools have a ton of dedication to values-centered education for city kids and…a frayed shoestring. The money from this little project would buy a few inches of red tape for some educrats at the Board of Ed, versus a life-giving infusion for Loughlin. And every child educated there or at any other Catholic school represents a seat freed up in our crowded public schools–one still subsidized by the Catholic schoolkids’ parents, who pay tuition PLUS taxes. So I wouldn’t worry about our “struggling” public schools getting stiffed by a few flea market vendors, darlin’; they are “struggling” on a per-pupil expenditure that the Catholic schools would die for, and not because of any lack of “community support.”