Point to PS 241/STEM Institute as evidence that charter schools are gobbling up public schools’ space
Parents, teachers teaming with community organizers to amplify complaints
Walk through Public School 241 and you’ll find contrasting spaces; one bathroom is gray and dingy, with urinals that overflow. The other is newly renovated and modern; adorned with bright blue tiles.
Differences such as these illustrate the inequities of public and charter school resources, say outraged teachers and parents, particularly when the two share space in the same building.
The anger over this forced marriage of charter and public schools — called co-
location — stems from what they say is a decided disparity of space.
At PS 241/STEM Institute on W. 113th St., a classroom built to hold 10 students holds 20, while the charter school co-located in the building, Harlem Success Academy 4, has freshly-painted rooms and dedicated spaces for extracurricular activities.
The outcry over past co-locations has encouraged parents and faculty members of soon-to-be co-located public schools in Harlem, as well as local pastors,elected officials and NAACP representatives, to voice their outrage.
“The potential for conflict is greater when communities feel decisions are being made out of the blue without them being at the table, and decisions are made quickly and by criteria that is obscure,” said Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University.
He added that minority neighborhoods such as Harlem do not trust charter schools because their expansion tends to fuel fears about gentrification.
In April, Councilman Robert Jackson, chairman of the Council’s education committee, held such a hearing to assuage the fears of parents who said they had been shut out of the process.
Groups like NY Communities for Change and The United Federation of Teachers are mobilizing parents and teachers, to mobilize their cause.
STEM Institute has had a tense relationship with the DOE and its co-located charter school, Harlem Success Academy 4, for four years. The school was slated for closure in 2008, due to poor performance, but won a reprieve thanks to a lawsuit filed by New York Civil Liberties Union and United Federation of Teachers.
A staff developer at the school, who requested that her name be withheld for fear of reprisal, said the Harlem Success Academy administrators inflate the number of students enrolled for the upcoming year, while the DOE routinely challenges the numbers submitted by public school principals.
“If they say 500 students next year, whether or not 500 students walk through that door, they maintain the space,” the faculty member said.
The DOE would not say whether there is an oversight process to determine whether charter schools’ enrollment numbers actually match their estimates.
Harlem Success Academy spokeswoman Kerri Lyon said that claims of public schools being overcrowded to make space for charters were inaccurate, and she referred further questions to the DOE.
In response to the claim that STEM classrooms are squeezed beyond capacity, DOE spokeswoman Deidrea Miller released this statement: “P.S. 241 is currently under-enrolled and the school has sufficient space to serve students with special needs.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/point-ps-241-stem-institute-evidence-charter-schools-gobbling-public-schools-space-article-1.1115653#ixzz20vpschZI