August 24th, 2010
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.
August 13th, 2010
More on the Girls Prep situation/saga. The New York Times now has confirmation from the Department of Education that the LES charter school is delaying the first day of school, originally scheduled for this coming Monday. As we reported earlier today, Chancellor Joel Klein has decided against using his “emergency powers” to get around a state ruling blocking the DOE’s expansion plan. Excerpts from Jennifer Medina’s story, posted on the Times’ web site a short time ago:
…a spokeswoman for Mr. Klein said Friday that the city was reversing course and would search for another space for the charter school, pushing back the first day of school for the 125 Girls Prep students by as much as a month. The chancellor’s decision to use emergency powers provoked outrage from many parents and elected officials, including State Senator Daniel Squadron, who has been a reliable supporter of Mr. Klein’s…
Continue reading Education Department Confirms Girls Prep Reversal
August 13th, 2010
It appears there’s a deal in the works to resolve the long-running dispute surrounding the expansion of the Girls Prep Charter School on East Houston Street. As we’ve been reporting, the Department Education had intended to go ahead with a controversial plan to allow the school to take over more space in its current location. This — in spite of a ruling from the state education commissioner that found the DOE failed to consider the impact on P.S. 94, one of two schools sharing space with Girls Prep. Commissioner David Steiner invalidated the plan and ordered the DOE to conduct a new “Educational Impact” assessment.
But now, the DOE seems to have decided to delay the start of classes — which were supposed to begin Monday — and to possibly find an alternate location for 100 students enrolled in the Girls Prep Charter School this fall. Lisa Donlan, president of District 1′s Community Education Council, told us it’s a one-week delay.
We have emails/calls into the Department of Education, the Borough President’s office, Girls Prep and Advocates for Children (the organization that filed the state complaint). We’ll let you know when we have more details.
August 9th, 2010
We just returned from 1 Centre Street, where elected officials and education advocates rallied against the Education Department’s decision to proceed with its expansion of the Girls Prep Charter School. Today’s event was organized by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who denounced the DOE’s “tactic to bulldoze parent input.”
Continue reading Elected Officials Call on DOE to “Fix” Girls Prep Situation
August 9th, 2010
Summer will be over before you know it. New York City’s public schools resume classes September 9th. If you’re new to the neighborhood, or want to make a last minute switch here’s an important notice from the Neighborhood School on East 3rd Street: they have openings for 3rd and 4th graders for this coming academic year. If you’re interested in finding out more, contact the school’s placement coordinator, Dara Corn at daracorn@sprintmail.com or principal, Milo Novelo at milo.novelo@gmail.com.
August 9th, 2010
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
This afternoon, we’ll be headed over to 1 Centre Street where Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh will turn up the pressure on the Department of Education. Last week, there was a flurry of press statements from Stringer and Kavanagh, as well as Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senator Daniel Squadron and Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Rosie Mendez related to the never-ending Girls Prep controversy. As we have reported, the DOE decided to use its emergency powers to proceed with Girls Prep’s expansion program, in spite of a state ruling invalidating the plan. A press advisory from Stringer’s office says he will:
Continue reading Stringer Schedules Girls Prep News Conference
August 7th, 2010
State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh is now out with a statement on the Girls Prep matter:
Earlier this week the State ruled that the New York City Department of Education has failed to meet its legal obligations to consider the needs of the P94 school community and to publicly disclose its plans for addressing these needs before reducing the space allocated to P94 in order to accommodate the expansion of Girls Prep Charter School. The Department’s mishandling of this matter and its announcement that it will nonetheless proceed with its plans are troubling on a number of levels. Continue reading Kavanagh Weighs in on Girls Prep Situation
August 6th, 2010
We’ve already heard from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer on the DOE’s handling of the Girls Prep situation. They strongly criticized Chancellor Joel Klein’s decision to allow the LES charter school to expand, in spite of a ruling from the state education commissioner blocking the plan. Now State Senator Daniel Squadron, as well as Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Rosie Mendez are weighing in. First Squadron’s statement:
“I urge the Department of Education to heed Commissioner Steiner’s decision. The new NYC school governance law is clear. The ‘emergency exemption’ is not meant to be a loophole to drive a mack truck through. There is a process in place for the state commissioner to determine whether parents have been meaningfully consulted, and the Department must adhere to it.”
Chin and Mendez have sent a letter to Chancellor Klein. You can see the full text of that letter after the jump. Continue reading Squadron, Chin, Mendez Sharply Criticize DOE Handling of Girls Prep Situation
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