Shameful Lies on School Space

The city Department of Education claims it can’t give Success Academy the middle-school space it needs because it’s just too hard to say if half-empty public schools will stay that way. That’s nonsense.

Most of the buildings where Success wants to open new schools, in areas near its scholars’ primary schools, have had plenty of room for years, as the city’s own data show.

South Brooklyn’s William Grady Vocational HS, for example, has seen enrollment fall from 780 students in 2012-13 to 459 today. Empty seats have risen steadily to 1,041.

Enrollment at MS 113 in Fort Greene has dropped from 818 in 2012-13 to 308 this year. Even with another charter phasing in there, the building has 693 open seats.

Over in southeast Queens, MS 72 houses two district middle schools, and one of them is imploding: Catherine and Count Basie Middle School has dropped from 866 students in 2012-13 to 379 this year. The building still has 789 unused seats.

It’s no secret why these schools are shrinking: Their test scores are terrible, and the high schools among them have low graduation and college-readiness rates, so parents find better options.

Success tried to meet DOE halfway, dropping its request from an original 14 new schools to just six in order to accommodate its rising fifth-graders. Yet the city still made a ridiculous offer that would force children to make long commutes — and doesn’t accommodate what the Success middle schools will need as more kids move up.

DOE resistance has also forced other charters to scale back their growth plans. It’s a shameful showing for an administration that claims to want the best for New York’s kids.