CHARTER SCHOOL PLAN KO’D IN CITY
Pushback from parents, unions, students kills deal for Success Academy expansion
The NYC school system is reneging on plans to open three schools from the city’s largest charter network after pushback from unions, parents and elected officials, the Daily News has learned.
Officials Monday pulled the proposals from the agendas for Panel for Educational Policy meetings so the governing body will not vote — as was planned — on the plans to open Success Academy elementary schools in buildings operated by the education department in Queens and the Bronx.
Schools Chancellor David Banks said in a statement that the decision was made “after hearing from community members throughout this entire process that the proposals would create significant challenges for the new schools and the existing co-located schools.”
The city is required by law to provide charter schools with room in existing school buildings or pay for new space. No more charter schools can open in the city under the current cap, but existing networks are permitted to add grade levels at new sites.
But the proposals for buildings X113 in Williamsbridge, Q420 in Springfield Gardens, and Q072 in Jamaica had received intense pushback from families and teachers at the current schools, who organized protests and raised issues at public forums.
Hundreds of students walked out of class last month to challenge a Queens plan that would have placed a Success Academy elementary school with four high schools. Another protest had been organized by the United Federation of Teachers ahead of the vote Tuesday to push back against it, as well as a second proposal in the borough.
Two of the Queens schools — M.S. 72 Catherine & Count Basie Middle School and M.S. 332 Redwood Middle School — recently received grants conditional on increasing enrollment:
“How are they expected to do that, and have Success Academy co-located in it?” said Sheree Gibson, appointed to the Panel for Educational Policy by the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
“Once I walked the space, I just didn’t see it,” added Gibson — who reported special education students are going to gym class in a locker room. “If we’re already doing that with these three schools, how is that going to work with another school?”
Richards called the proposal a “non-starter” on Twitter, while City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams whose district includes the school said: “I emphatically reject this proposal.”
Thomas Sheppard, who represents Bronx
parents on the panel and served as vicechair last year, said the proposal to put a Success Academy on the Richard R. Green Campus rested on a disconnect between school utilization documents and the two existing middle schools’ resources.
“When you walk past an empty classroom to a classroom with 35 kids in it, on paper it looks like you have an empty room,” said Sheppard. “But the room is not empty because of students, but because they don’t have the teachers to break this into two classrooms. The way it looked on paper didn’t reflect the reality of what was happening in school.”
The schools recently enlisted a local organization to provide after-school programs and family services that Sheppard said has significantly improved school safety: “Now that they improved the climate, they want the space to provide the programming necessary to get the students on track.”
Influential Bronx officials including State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson joined families and educators to push back against the school.
“It can’t just be we have an obligation to Success Academy so we’re going to give up the space in our buildings,” said Sheppard. “You also have an obligation to our schools as they exist in our community already, and when we prioritize one obligation over another, someone loses.”
Last month, the panel approved plans to place a Success Academy elementary school in Sheepshead Bay alongside three high schools, including Professional Pathways, whose oldest transfer students are 21 years old. And the month before, members approved a co-location with Waterside School for Leadership, a middle school in the Rockaways.
Parents at Success Academy’s other locations, as well as administrators and teachers, praised the network’s curriculum and high standards during public comment for those proposals, and cited demand for the program in nearby areas.
It was not immediately clear Monday whether officials plan to propose other school sites or pay for new buildings, and whether the move will delay Success Academy’s plans to open locations this fall.
“We are committed to continue to work with Success Academies to find suitable facilities for their new schools, as we are required to do by law,” said Banks. “Being responsive to families, staff and community input is a core pillar of this administration, and we welcome all voices to take part in these discussions.”
Success Academy did not return a request for comment.