Success Charter's Co-Location in District 15 Faces Hurdles

Success Charter Network founder and former Councilmember Eva Moskowitz faces multiple hurdles in her attempt to open a K-8 charter school in the Cobble Hill/ Boerum Hill area next fall.

One potential school where the Department of Education could suggest the charter co-locate, MS 447 on Dean Street, is home to a NEST program for autism and autism spectrum students. Parents there say there is no room for the additional kids (190 in the first year alone). What's more, Jim Devor, President of the Community Education Council in District 15, says the Charter received the DOE's approval to open a school in the District illegally.

But Moskowitz is no amateur when it comes to fighting for a school. Just this summer, her company, Success Charter Network, fought and won a battle to co-locate a Charter on the Upper West Side.

When the was first announced in early October, Devor was shocked.

According to Devor, Success Charter Network applied for charters in District 13 and 14, but were approved by the Department of Education for a charter in District 15. 

"There is no legal basis to put that charter in District 15,” he said. “I have a real problem with that. If they thought there was a reason to come to District 15, the appropriate thing for them to do was to make an application for District 15."

But Success Charter said their charter was approved for District 15 because it made sense.

“As time went on, we determined that for this year, the combination of need, space and parent desire aligned better around District 15," said Jenny Sedlis, Director of External Affairs at Success Charter.

What concerns Devor is that the typical public process of community input, done through the Community Education Council, appears to have been circumvented by Success Charter Network. He says by applying for charter approval in one district and getting it in another, Success Charters sets a precedent that suggests a charter applied for in the Bronx could be granted DOE approval for placement in Brooklyn or Manhattan; without community input.

Sedlis said it's not uncommon to find that one school district is better suited for a charter than another. 

"We're excited to work with the community and the DOE to find the best location for the school," she said.

But finding that location could prove difficult. News of the charter’s approval sent waves of anxiety through the public school system because a New York Times article implied that the buildings that house the Math and Science Exploratory school and Brooklyn High School of the Arts or the Brooklyn School for Global Studies and the School for International Studies could be possible co-location sites for the Charter.

Last week, the PTA board of the Math and Science Exploratory School (MS 447) responded to the news with a statement noting that they are one of just a few middle schools that have a Nest program, which incorporates children with autism and autism spectrum disorders into smaller classes to help them academically, behaviorally and socially. 

“If these students are forced to give up their classrooms, the Nest program as well as the other wonderful learning opportunities at our school will be significantly impacted by the overcrowding that will result. For this reason we believe, the placement of a charter school at MS 447 will be short sighted, ill thought out and completely disregard the unique requirements and needs of the MS 447 student community,” wrote the MS 447 PTA board. This spring the MS 447 community successfully blocked Brooklyn Prospect Charter School from relocating using a similar argument.

Jean Cabacungan-Jarvis, whose son attends MS 447, said there was no room at the school for the Charter.

"A co-location would definitely compromise the resources of the [Nest] program if class sizes had to change and rooms have to be shared," she said. "MS 447 is already co-located, sharing limited facilities with the . It would compromise the entire student body."

"We would have to share the lunchroom — the cafeteria is at full capacity all the time," she continued. "Last year my son's lunch was at 10:15 a.m."

This is not the first time a Charter has threatened a Nest program in the neighborhood. Last spring,  in Carroll Gardens. The school and the community  against that proposal, and 

These anxieties about the charter’s placement have been echoed by others who have call and emailed Councilmember Steve Levin’s office. 

“The lack of communication is concerning,” says Ashley Thompson, Chief of Staff for Levin, referring to the limited information their office has currently received from the DOE and Success Charter.

Councilmember Levin, who in Boerum Hill, said he has concerns about the Charter coming to District 15.

“While I’m willing to entertain a constructive dialogue with Success Charter Network, I have a number of concerns about Success Academy’s expansion into District 15," he said. "Co-locations are always complicated and I would have a problem with the proposal if the charter school would limit the expansion of vital programs, like the ASD Nest program at MS 447, or took needed space away from a district school.

"There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered before I could be supportive of the charter school’s proposal to come into District 15," he continued.

According to the October 4 publication of the Underutilized Space Memorandum (see PDF) from the Department of Education there are several other potential schools with more than 300 seats available in District 15 (including PS 32) that could be ideal for co-location with Success Charter:

• Red Hook Neighborhood School-primary and Summit Academy Charter School
• Samuels Mills Sprole (PS 32) and New Horizons School
• Peter Rouget JHS 088
• Brooklyn School for Global Studies and the School for International Studies
• The Math & Science Exploratory School and Brooklyn High School of the Arts

A September survey, paid for by Success Charter, surveyed 500 registered Cobble Hill voters suggested that 70 percent of residents believe “A tuition-free charter school in [their] neighborhood would benefit parents who want more affordable, high quality education options for [their] children.” 

62 percent of Cobble Hill residents specifically support “opening a new Success Academy charter school that will serve grades K through 8.” 

However, in the same survey just 5 percent of Cobble Hill residents would choose to send their children to a charter school if they had the choice. 47 percent would keep their child in the school they’re currently attending and 27 percent would prefer a private school.

But Sedlis claims the need in Cobble Hill is real.

“District 15 is home to many great schools," she said. "However, those great schools are overcrowded. We want to bring another great option into the neighborhood to help alleviate the overcrowding.”

Devor says opening charter schools is not the way to address the need for more seats at a school.

“If, in fact, there is overcrowding, what you do is build new physical capacity.  What you don’t do is put another school in the existing physical capacity,” he said, suggesting that an alternative way to deal with overcrowding in a district is to amend school zoning to help distribute the school population.

Communication between the DOE and the Community Education Council (CEC) has recently been tense. Devor said that the DOE Division of Portfolio Planning asked to schedule a meeting with the District 15 CEC on October 13. The afternoon of the meeting, the DOE declined to attend when they learned the meeting would be open to the public and press under New York State open meeting laws. The meeting went ahead without the DOE present, which is the body responsible for making the ultimate decision on the placement of the charter school. The DOE did not respond to a request for comment.

Sedlis says Success Charter plans to hold many meetings in the community about the incoming school.