Opposition Continues to Mount Against Success Academy Cobble Hill

In preparation for the November 29 public hearing with the Department of Education about the , parents, teachers and even some drowsy students gathered Monday for a District 15 wide PTA meeting to discuss a course of action and voice concerns.

Time is short to organize against the proposal, which would co-locate Success Academy Cobble Hill with three public schools: the School for International Studies, the Brooklyn School for Global Studies and PS 368, a special-education program.

Community concerns have been building for weeks against the school, which is part of former Councilmber Eva Moskowitz's Success Charter Network.

Roughly 30 people from schools across the district attended the PTA meeting Monday, but there were no representatives present from Success Charter Network. Many voiced their frustration with a system they see as serving charter schools at the expense of public schools. Some said they weren't opposed to charter schools in general, but did take issue with charter schools co-locating within public school buildings. 

“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. "We don’t want any charter school in public school space in District 15.”

It was also announced by Fred Walsh, principle of the School for International Studies, that some individuals were working on a counter proposal to establish a public pre-kindergarten and kindergarten program in place of the proposed Success Charter Cobble Hill school - a service they feel the community has a much greater need for. But just who is leading this counter proposal was not revealed. 

The building at 284 Baltic St. is underutilized by DOE standards. The capacity is listed as 1,615 and there are currently 924 students enrolled there, according to the DOE.

But O'Brien said the School for International Studies currently occupies 35 classrooms with an average class size of roughly 25 students. The current proposal suggests that if co-location were approved there would be 20 classrooms for the roughly 520 students. The DOE proposal also notes that if Success Academy Cobble Hill reaches its full capacity, 600 students, the building will then be at 108 percent capacity.

Pamphlets were distributed with ways to get involved as well as a link to an online petition.

Teachers were clear in how they perceived co-location would negatively impact their ability to teach:

• Currently, most teachers have their own classrooms, but if they were to co-locate with Success Academy Cobble Hill, they would have to operate roving classrooms.
• A marked increase in class size.
• The special education school services high-school aged students with autism, and their are no provisions in the plan for the unique space needs of these children.
• The gym would serve up to 110 students at a time.
• The lunch room would have to be occupied by all four schools.
• Co-location threatens a culinary program that requires basement facilities to meet fire-safety regulations.
• It also threatens a recently purchased Apple computer lab.

This is not the first meeting in which parents, teachers and education activists gathered in opposition to the proposed co-location. A recent information session with Moskowitz was highlighted by vocal protests that resulted in the termination of . The tone of this meeting was also critical, especially of co-location and the tactics of Moskowitz.

"One of the things that we all talk about as teachers with our students is we don't like bullies," said one teacher. "Eva Moskowitz is a bully. She bulldozes her way through things, she cuts corners, she doesn't have to follow the same rules that everybody else does. She has a lot of money and political influence behind her. And I think our duty as teachers, community members and advocates for our students and our children that we stand up. You can't do this here. It's not fair and it not okay."

Julie Cavanagh, a kindergarten teacher at PS 15 in Red Hook and a vocal opponent of charter schools, reflected on her experiences with them.

"Co-locations are destructive and divisive; they create winners and losers in our school buildings and siphon off valuable resources from our public schools," she said. "Co-locations discriminate against our neediest children, particularly students with special needs."

Success Charter Cobble Hill is scheduled to open next September, but the deal is not set in stone. A public hearing with the Department of Education, the Community Education Council and SUNY Charter School Institute is at 6 p.m. on November 29 at 284 Baltic Street. Community members will be permitted to speak. The Panel for Education Policy will vote on the charter December 14.

Legal action on the part of the District 15 Community Education Council has not been ruled out.

But the prospects for blocking the approval of the charter are slim. 

“The PP [Panel for Education Policy] has a 100 percent approval rate of any proposal the mayor has ever proposed,” said Julian Vinocur from the Alliance for Quality Education. Of the 13 voting members 8 are appointed directly by the mayor and 5 are appointed by each of the borough presidents. 

“Just being outraged isn’t going to be enough," he said. "We’re going to have to be a little bit more on our toes and trying to think about what else we can be doing."