Parents Debate City's P.S. 9 Co-Location Plan Before Final Vote

Part pep rally, part high-octane open mic night, a Friday evening hearing at drew hundreds of parents, teachers and elected officials eager to debate the city’s plan to move a charter school into the building currently occupied by the Underhill Avenue elementary school.

Over 100 members of the public signed up to speak during the hearing’s comment session, which lasted close to three hours.  Speakers argued about the feasibility of to move the charter middle school, Brooklyn East Collegiate, into 80 Underhill Ave., gradually replacing a traditional middle school, M.S. 571 -- a grade a year until that school closes in 2013.

“It’s a horror show,” said State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, “that will bring nightmares to this community and to the children of P.S. 9.”

After it considers the public feedback, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy will cast its final vote on the proposal next Wednesday, at 6 p.m. at Long Island City High School.

During last night's hearing, P.S. 9 supporters asked the city to let their elementary school expand to include grades six through eight, rather than bring in a new middle school.

“You are trying to take a square peg and put it in a round hole and it just doesn’t fit,” said Prospect Heights Councilwoman Letitia James, addressing a representative from the Education Department.  “I urge you to let P.S. 9 grow and expand.”

Advocates for Brooklyn East Collegiate said the building at 80 Underhill Avenue, between St. Marks Avenue and Bergen Street, has enough space to temporarily house the three schools.  

They also noted that the city has issued high marks to several other charters in the network that Brooklyn East belongs to, Uncommon Schools.  And they added that moving Brooklyn East to District 13 would give parents there more choices.

“We’re here to provide an option,” Brooklyn East principal Eric Green said after the hearing.  “The fact that some families would not choose that option does not mean that no family should have that option.”

Last December, the city .  In its place, the city said,, from Crown Heights to 571’s current spot.

In March, a group of P.S. 9 parents appealed the city’s proposal, saying the city’s space-sharing plan was inequitable.  The state education commissioner agreed, and asked the city to file a new plan, .  Meanwhile, P.S. 9’s principal, Sandra D’Avilar, sent the city a letter of intent, which asked for permission to expand the school up to the eighth grade.

Last night's four-and-a-half-hour hearing centered on the city’s revised co-location plan.  The city has not yet responded to P.S. 9’s expansion proposal.

The revised space-sharing plan sets aside 35 full classrooms next year for P.S. 9, which enrolls around 580 students.  M.S. 571 and Brooklyn East, both with projected enrollments next year of about 100 and 160 students respectively, would get 7 rooms each.  The schools would share spaces such as the cafeteria, library and gym -- though P.S. 9, with the largest enrollment, would get more time in each space.

Some P.S. 9 parents still take issue with parts of the revised plan.  They point out, for instance, that 275 of P.S. 9’s weekly minutes for library use -- about 17 percent of the total -- occur in the morning, before the school is even open.

This raises the prospect that P.S. 9 supporters will file another legal challenge, should the city panel approve the co-location plan.

“I’ve got lawyers falling out of the sky that want to help us out,” said P.S. 9 parent Laura Jaffe.  She and other parents said P.S. supporters are currently mulling their legal options.

Brooklyn East Collegiate parents said they’re ready to leave their current, temporary space and settle into a permanent location.  They said they hope P.S. 9 families will eventually welcome them.

“If there’s someone who’s on the street homeless,” said Kevin Cummings, a Brooklyn East parent, “why not give them an opportunity to move into the space, as long as it’s not harming anybody?”

A fifth grader from P.S. 9, Conway McGrath, questioned whether it would be possible for the three schools to share the space.

“I think it’s a ridiculous idea to co-locate the schools,” she said, “because they’re not going to fit.”

After the hearing, a group of eight P.S. 9 parents lingered outside the school to plead their case to the city a final time.  The Department of Education representative, Paymon Rouhanifard, heard them out, then said, “I really do appreciate you guys staying out this late and talking to us.”

Michelle French, whose daughter is in a pre-Kindergarden class at P.S. 9, sighed. Then she said, “We just hope you’re really listening, and that your decision hasn’t already been made.”