Waldorf School Moving to Bed Stuy Church
The blog A Child Grows in Brooklyn served up some big news yesterday: Apparently the Brooklyn Waldorf School, which has been located on St. Felix Street in Fort Greene for the last few years, has finally found a permanent home. The progressive K-8 program will take over the Claver Castle at 19 Claver Place between…
The blog A Child Grows in Brooklyn served up some big news yesterday: Apparently the Brooklyn Waldorf School, which has been located on St. Felix Street in Fort Greene for the last few years, has finally found a permanent home. The progressive K-8 program will take over the Claver Castle at 19 Claver Place between Franklin and Bedford Avenues in Bed Stuy. The castle is part of the St. Peter Claver Church across the street at 29 Claver Place. According to A Child Grows, the new space will enable the school to expand up to grade 8 and to offer a range of new programs including woodworking, athletics and farming. Rogers Marvel Architects is already working away on the master plan and the school hopes to open in September 2011.
Brooklyn Waldorf A New Home? [A Child Grows via TRD] GMAP
i’m gonna agree totally with Heather. it takes what seems like to me just a little effort from parents to snowball in to real results in public schools. people need to get involved if they are going to raise their kids in the city. i actually am a fan of diversity (believe it or not) and know that “liberalism” can’t just be about who you voted for, but actually contributing to the success of your own community. money where your mouth is, etc….
I taught in this school about 35 years ago. As I remember, it had a very limited number of classrooms, all on the top floor. (no need to use the stairmaster if you went to this school!). The cafeteria was in the basement and the largest part of the building was the gymnasium/auditorium. If the Waldorf school intends more than one classroom per grade, they would have to completely remake the gym/aud.
Heather, what are Waldorfian philosophies? Do they farm walnuts and apples together?
More to the point, am I too old to apply as a student in the farm program?
What a tremendous addition to the neighborhood this will be! The parochial school at St Peter Claver has been shut for more than 20 years, so this will be an event of rejuvenation rather than a takeover. From what I can see, Brooklyn Waldorf is a diverse school with a tiered tution system that is designed to encourage economic and social diversity, so it would seem to suit the neighborhood dynamics. It appears they have a progressive philosophy that focuses on developing the whole child — hence the emphasis on things like woodwork and the environment in addition to academics — take a look at http://www.brooklynwaldorf.org. Add this to the arrival of the food coop just around the corner and the area will be getting a nice boost.
Really happy this building will be put to good use and not torn down. It’s a great building. I’ll wait to form an opinion on the school but it sounds very interesting- I think offering shop programs like woodworking is a great plus too.
The closing of St Peter Claver is particularly sad given its status, if memory serves, as a cultural landmark of sorts for Brooklyn’s oft-neglected African-American Catholics. The silly stuff about corporal punishment (now as deep in history’s dustbin as nuns in old-timey habits) aside, Catholic schools were a critical opportunity for generations of poor and working-class urban families, and it’s a tragedy that they are folding their tents.
If I could get over my horror at Waldorfian philosophies I might get excited about this. Sadly, I sort of think a lot of progressive schools end up being the places people send their kids when they are afraid of their local publics. If the same time and energy…
Okay, okay. Enough. Objectively, this is a good thing, both for the Waldorf school and for the neighborhood.
I’m not sure why this building is referred to as the Claver Castle – it was their school. Regardless, it is a fantastic building and Rogers Marvel does very good work. Great to see these beautiful old schools kept in use!
Ditto, blackboard erasers went flying in my public elementary school, but they were all felt, not wood. Still, I had some teachers who showed great promise in baseball. They had to stop that soon enough, as well, when corporal punishment was banned. Small upstate NY public schools could be quite Dickensian.