<< Back
Budget, Education & City Services
Resolution against co-location of Success Academy Charter Schools with District 2 Schools
WHEREAS, Success Charter Network, Inc. has submitted two applications for K - 5 Success Charter Academy Schools in Community School District 2; and
WHEREAS, The Notice of Applications indicates the intent of the Success Charter Network, Inc. to seek District space for these schools; and
WHEREAS, According to the Notice of Applications, the schools - Success Charter Academy Manhattan 1 and Manhattan 2 - will each serve between 600 to 675 students when all grades are enrolled; and
WHEREAS, Overcrowding of elementary and middle schools in District 2 has led to the loss of cluster rooms, intervention rooms, resource rooms, and other spaces critical for providing a sound education to our students; and
WHEREAS, 88% of District 2 students are in classes that exceed Contract for Excellence class size targets and 78% are in classes that exceed the Department of Education's class size targets; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-one out of forty-two elementary and middle schools in District 2 have utilization level at 100% or higher according to the most recent Capacity, Utilization and Enrollment Report (the Blue Book), which often underestimates the extent of overcrowding in our schools; and
WHEREAS, Many of the District 2 schools whose utilization is below 100% in fact do not have capacity because they are start-up elementary schools without the full complement of the grades or have recently had a co-located school vacate the building to accommodate the increasing enrollment; and
WHEREAS, Multiple schools sharing a building makes necessary coordinating and scheduling of shared spaces and starting and ending time of school days and is highly challenging and time consuming for the administrators, teachers and students; and
WHEREAS, Co-location of schools has often pitted parents against parents, worsened overcrowding, and had negative impact on the student life in the co-located schools; and
WHEREAS, The challenges of sharing a building are often exacerbated when a district school is co-located with a charter school, which tends to have more resources; and
WHEREAS, Success Academy has not identified specific locations that are currently available that have additional capacity for an estimated 1,200 students; and
WHEREAS, Charter schools have resources and the means to find their own facilities outside of the Department of Education's building inventory; and
WHEREAS, Manhattan Community Board 5 disagrees with the DOE's assessment of underutilized public school space in our district; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that Manhattan Community Board 5 opposes the co-location of Success Academy Charter Schools Manhattan 1 and Manhattan 2 in DOE public school facilities, and be it further
RESOLVED, Community Board Five urges Success Academy Network Inc. to obtain its own buildings outside of the existing overcrowded public school infrastructure.
The above resolution passed by a vote of 34 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining and 1 present but not entitled to vote.