Two Brooklyn parents are joining forces with Advocates for Children (AFC) to challenge the extension of PAVE Academy Charter School’s colocation with PS 15.

Despite public protest, the Panel for Educational Policy approved the extension during its January 26 meeting. In response, AFC filed a petition and request for stay — on behalf of PS 15 parents John Battis and Lydia Bellahcene — asking State Education Commissioner David Steiner to repeal the 8-4 decision. The petition argues that the Department of Education failed to properly assess the impact of PAVE’s colocation on PS 15, or provide an adequate period for public comment.

“The law requires a public process in which the DOE identifies the impact of their proposal on parents, students and the community, and allows for public comment,” stated Battis in a press release issued by AFC. “The DOE must comply with the law.” (more…)

Parents packed into the District 3 CEC meeting on Jan. 20 to hear Department of Education officials address the impact of charter schools moving into public schools in Harlem, and overcrowding in Upper West Side schools.

According to Robin Aronow, of School Search NYC, who attended the meeting, several proposals were presented by Elizabeth Rose, of the Department of Education Office of Portfolio Development, including a plan for a new elementary school on the Upper West Side.

Rose said that there are no new charter schools planned for District 3 next year. She reported that parents are joining school and public officials in walk-throughs of buildings where the amount of space allocated to a particular school– its “Instructional Footprint” — is under question due to space utilization or overcrowding. Presumably, the addition of parents could lend credibility to the process of siting charter schools or deciding how many children can successfully be educated in a given building. (more…)

January 21 Update: Red Hook community members gathered before last night’s public hearing at PS 15 to voice their discontent with the extension of PAVE Academy’s co-location within PS 15. They dispute the accuracy of PAVE’s Educational Impact Statement – a document outlining the charter school’s plans for development.

“Expanding PAVE within our school is unfair and detrimental. It does not promote “choice” or “reform,” stated John Battis, a PS 15 parent, at the hearing. “The EIS is a “cut and paste” job void of any meaningful information about the real impact on our community.”

A group of PS 15 parents released an open letter to Chancellor Klein, Mayor Bloomberg, and members of the PEP yesterday arguing that the EIS does not accurately reflect the school’s capacity. “This document simply does not represent the true educational impact of the change in utilization the document supports,” it stated. “Cutting our building in half will set back all of our efforts which have resulted in the only successful public school serving Red Hook.”

PAVE plans to move into a $26 million facility which is not slated for completion until 2015. PS 15 originally agreed to a two-year, co-location agreement with PAVE to end in 2010. The Panel for Educational Policy will vote on an extension of PAVE’s co-location on Jan. 26 at Brooklyn Tech High School at 6 p.m. A second rally is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., across the street from Brooklyn Tech.

Norm Scott of Education Notes Online captured the views of PS 15 parents and PAVE faculty at the January 19th hearing. (Correction: The video of Spencer Robertson speaking on behalf of PAVE Academy was captured at a September 2009 meeting at PS 15. Thank you to Jim Devor for setting us straight!) :

January 20: As the debate over increasing New York’s charter school cap enters its final hours in Albany, Brooklyn parents are protesting the sharing of public school space with charter schools in Red Hook.

The PAVE Academy charter school opened in the PS 15 building in 2008 with 44 kindergartners and 44 1st-graders. After initial protests, PS 15 agreed to incubate PAVE until 2010 when it was scheduled to relocate to a new building. In December the Department of Education informed PS 15 that PAVE would remain in their building through the 2010/2011 school year because the new building would not be completed until 2015. (This, despite the $20 million allocated for its construction by the DOE and $6 million raised by the school.) (more…)