It looks like the Girls Prep Charter School has found space for its middle school. Earlier this month, the Department of Education backed away from a plan to allow the school to expand in a building on East Houston Street. DOE Chancellor Joel Klein is out tonight with the following statement:
“I am delighted that the young women from Girls Prep will be attending the school their families chose. I want to thank the school’s Board for coming up with a creative solution under enormous time pressure, and
State Senator Squadron, Assemblymember Kavanagh and Councilmembers Mendez and Chin for assisting in the process. Our number one goal has been making sure all of our students have the space and resources they need, and while we’ve always had a plan that allowed Girls Prep to serve their students on-site without displacing one single child with special needs, placing Girls Prep Middle School in private space this year accomplishes this same goal. We remain committed to finding a permanent home for Girls Prep students moving forward.”
We’re told the school has leased private space at 51 Astor Place, overlooking Cooper Square. For more than a year, parents from P.S. 188 and P.S. 94 (co-tenants of the Houston Street building) fought the Girls prep expansion plan. The threat of a lawsuit forced the DOE and Girls Prep to find an alternative.
