Hearing Tuesday for Success Charter School - Where Do You Stand?

The Department of Education will hold a public hearing tomorrow evening on the proposed Success Academy Cobble Hill charter school at 284 Baltic Street, and both supporters and opponents are making sure their voices are heard.

that charter school network Success Academy, led by former Councilmember Eva Moskowitz, set its sights on a new Cobble Hill location for grades K through 8. Success Academy Cobble Hill planned to move into the Baltic Street building, which and the School for International Studies, but was met with resistance from parents who believe the location will be overcrowded.

According to DOE standards, the building at 284 Baltic Street is underutilized. The capacity is listed as 1,615 and there are currently 924 students enrolled there, according to the DOE. Success Academy plans to enroll 190 kindergarten and first-grade students, with 600 students across all grade levels. 

Moskowitz published an op-ed in the New York Post today, stressing that Brooklyn parents need more public education choices for their children, lest they enroll their children in expensive private schools, or move to the suburbs. According to Moskowitz, the United Federation of Teacher’s alternative plan, which is a pre-K and kindergarten program, will leave parents with the same lack of options when their children reach first grade. 

Addressing fears of overcrowding with co-location, Moskowitz only says there is “plenty of space in several of the district’s school buildings.” 

An information session about Success Academy, held last month at the Cobble Hill library, and public school teachers, and was abruptly shut down.

"[Charter schools] do not accept as many English as second language students and often don't participate in free lunch programs,” said Mollie Bruhn, a public school teacher in Bushwick, who was opposed to co-location and public funding for charter schools.

Earlier this month, about the Baltic Street co-location.

“This particular proposal for the charter co-location…is not going to work out in this building without really damaging what we have here already," said building librarian Judy O’Brien at the meeting. "We don’t want any charter school in public school space in District 15.”

And the latest development was the news that Assemblywoman Joan Millman and former Deputy Schools Chancellor and President of District 15 Carmen Farina were proposing another option:

The public hearing is scheduled for tomorrow (November 29) at 5:30 p.m., at 284 Baltic Street.