"New York City teachers Emily Giles and Bill Linville describe how the drive to spread charter schools affected one public school in Harlem--and how teachers, parents and the community are organizing an opposition."
P.S. 123 is one of New York City's "well developed" schools, according to Department of Education (DOE) standards...so successful that the DOE approved a proposal to add 7th grade classes for the 2009-2010 school year--and according to a teacher at P.S. 123, more than 600 students applied.
But P.S. 123 doesn't have the space to accommodate those students. Teachers at the school are dismayed at the loss of two science labs, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) lounge, a parent room with computers for parent GED prep classes, half the library and the social studies room...P.S. 123 lost an entire floor for this school year. Strangely enough, as the school was given DOE approval to grow, the very same DOE took away classrooms and program space.
That space was given to a charter school called the Harlem Success Academy II (HSA II), the second such academy founded by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, opened inside the P.S. 123 building one year ago...And not only is it staying--it's growing. Both schools were given permission to add classes, but HSA II gained space while P.S. 123 is losing it...
What's most alarming about the P.S. 123 story is that it isn't unique. The same pattern of new charter schools moving into community public schools is happening across Harlem, where the charter school invasion is at its fiercest, and now across the city, where two dozen new charter schools opened across the city, and more are on the way.
http://socialistworker.org/2009/09/14/charter-school-invasion-of-harlem
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