The Impact Statement produced and cited by the DOE to prove that there is room to implant a charter school into the building currently occupied by PS 9 and MS 571 says that PS 9 currently has three kindergarten classes when in fact there are six. Given the current demographic of the neighborhood, I would be willing to bet that most of those kindergarteners are dropped off each morning by parents pushing strollers containing younger siblings. Last year 237 families applied for the 54 pre-k seats available at PS 9.
The Parent Teacher Organization has worked hard to revitalize PS 9 including the development and completion of the Book Hive, a brand new state of the art library funded by school parents, the office of Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President and the office of Letitia James, New York City Council. It was designed by PS 9 parent Kiki Dennis.
A reception to celebrate the opening of the beautiful new school library was held on November 17, 2010
Unfortunately, after the party, the library was closed because, due to budget cuts, the school does not have enough money to hire a librarian.
The DOE’s plans for the new charter school in the same building call for limiting PS 9’s access to the brand new library that the parents built, to four and a half hours per week for 29 classes. The charter school with a quarter as many students will have access to the library two thirds of the time.
As reported on the blog Brooklyn Ink:
“Here we truly came together…with a common cause … and created this for our youngsters,” said Sandra D’Avilar, Principal of the elementary school that renovated the library, but whose tightened budget no longer had room for a librarian. “And it’s still not enough to make someone from the Board of Education call and say, ‘hey, we found some money. We‘re going to send someone you can interview, and we’re going to find you a librarian.’”
Instead, the DOE has decided to insert a charter school into the “underutilized” building.
The DOE has plans to close MS 571 which opened in in 2004 under the leadership of the former PS 9 principal who was familiar with the building and known to local families. The first 6th grade class at MS 571 was immediately filled with high performing graduates of PS 9. When the founding principal retired in 2006 she was replaced by a woman who had been principal of Intermediate School 33 from 2006 until it was declared an “underperforming school” and closed by the DOE in 2007. This new principal was a graduate of the NYC Leadership Academy for aspiring principals. (I don’t know what is taught in the 14-month training program, but the organization has a CEO and Board of Directors which implies some sort of profit-making motive.) By 2008 this woman was replaced another new principal. In 2009 MS 571 finally got the middle school accessories, a science lab and new computer lab, that had been sorely lacking. AND in 2010 with the new labs in place and the joint community venture of the PS9/MS 571 library completed the DOE declared MS 571 a failing school and announced plans to phase it out and bring in a charter school of the strict reform school mold.
This is not a good fit for a school with a whole child philosophy as stated on the PS 9 website full of photos of smiling paint spattered children;
We believe in servicing the whole child—the physical, intellectual and emotional well being of every student—as we strive to teach students to be ready for the 21st Century. We foster a close bond between the school and the entire community as it is our goal to create a learning environment that is challenging, child-centered, diverse, and supportive of risk-takers. We believe in, and provide our children with, authentic and organic instruction everyday. Students are given the opportunity to seek, read, question, create and draw conclusions from the world around them as they are exposed to the urban world around them. Our classrooms are laboratories where our educators involve students in hands-on activities and closely observe them as they work in groups and individually. Our teachers are lifelong learners who share best practices through collaboration and team planning.
By contrast, the website Uncommon Schools, the parent organization of the Brooklyn Collegiate East Charter School is full of grey graphs indicating statistical percentages by which the students improve on standardized tests. It states;
Collegiate creates a calm, composed, and disciplined environment to maximize the amount of time on-task, including a strictly enforced school dress code, a merit and demerit system that defines clear expectations for and immediate responses to positive and negative behavior, a rubric system that provides constant feedback to classes, and a common Blackboard Configuration consisting of a Do Now, Focus, Agenda, and Homework.
Collegiate creates a calm, composed, and disciplined environment to maximize the amount of time on-task, including a strictly enforced school dress code, a merit and demerit system that defines clear expectations for and immediate responses to positive and negative behavior, a rubric system that provides constant feedback to classes, and a common Blackboard Configuration consisting of a Do Now, Focus, Agenda, and Homework.
Yikes!
Parents writing for the PS 9 PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) blog have an answer for other parents who might think the new charter school addition to the neighborhood will benefit their own children. Think again:
“Brooklyn East Collegiate is not a good fit for most P. S. 9 graduates. It runs a very strict program for under-performing students (for example, 5th graders who are reading at a 3rd-grade level). It’s young, idealistic teachers are doing a great job to help their students advance. But, otherwise, PS 9 parents who visited Brooklyn East Collegiate discovered an environment markedly different from P.S. 9’s. The labor-intensive work of bringing students up to grade-level performance leaves no room for art or music programs. In the hallways, children are seen and not heard. They stand in straight lines, and everyone wears a uniform. Discipline is based on a stringent system of merits and demerits. For example, a student may receive a demerit for falling off task. The school originally intended for the Brownsville neighborhood (in District 17) will accept children from all over Brooklyn. It will not be a viable option for most neighborhood children in District 13 where PS 9 is located.
Brooklyn East Collegiate has no PTA, nor does the charter leave room for one. It’s “Family Involvement Committee” is allowed to make suggestions. The board of trustees has much more say than the parents. By contrast, PS 9 is a barrier-free school that serves a wide range of students in our community including special needs and gifted & talented. Principal D’Avilar has worked hard to forge ties with the Prospect Heights community, which has welcomed her efforts. The narrow focus and rigid philosophy of Brooklyn East Collegiate is not inclusive enough to serve the broad needs of the baby boom in Prospect Heights.” (http://ps9pta.blogspot.com/2011/01/think-you-might-send-your-ps-9-student.html)
The DOE claims MS 571 lacks the capacity to turn around and is not allowing PS 9 to expand (even to become a K-8 school which is what local parents want). The DOE is misguided to think that the creative classes who find the cultural diversity of Brooklyn so appealing would consider a strict remedial program for “underperforming students” a viable option for their own kids.
No wonder Council Member Letitia James is so passionate about improving rather than closing MS 571.
NO WONDER THE PARENTS OF PS 9 HAVE MOUNTED A CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT PS 9 FROM THE DOE!