By Rich Bockmann
The city has found a home in Rosedale for more than 100 charter school students who were told earlier this year that come fall the doors would not be open to them at the public school building in South Jamaica where they had previously been promised space.
The de Blasio administration over the weekend announced the Success Academy, which originally planned to open inside August Martin High School for the next school year, would now have a home in the Rosedale building that previously housed the St. Pius X Catholic School.
Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city Panel for Educational Policy last year approved nearly 20 charter school co-locations across the city, but soon after Mayor Bill de Blasio took over in January, he axed three of those proposals.
Success Academies in Manhattan and Queens found themselves without a home in late February. The move kicked off a high-profile battle between City Hall and charter school advocates that culminated in a state budget deal last month requiring the city to provide rent-free space to charters.
First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris released a statement Saturday explaining that the city Department of Education had found space for all three academies in former Catholic school buildings.
“It doesn’t matter whether a child attends a district school, a charter school or a parochial school — these are all our kids. We pledged to parents we would have a safe, high-quality environment for these students, and this outcome delivers on that promise,” Shorris said.
Back in February, the city said it reversed course on the co-location with August Martin HS because it thought the space-sharing agreement with the K-4 Success Academy was a poor fit.
Success Academy’s plan is to enroll somewhere between 150 and 210 kindergartners and first-graders beginning in September, adding a grade level each year until it levels out around some 500 students in 2018.
It will be one of two Success Academies in Queens, the other being a K-8 charter set to open in the fall inside IS 59’s building in Springfield Gardens.
As for August Martin’s building, the DOE has proposed co-locating a new district high school there in the fall.
The PEP will consider the proposal at its May 29 meeting in Manhattan.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
