January 19, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 3

The controversial proposal to put a public middle school in the soon-to-reopen Brooklyn House of Detention was killed on Monday amid outrage after the plan was first reported in The Brooklyn Paper.

But left unanswered in the confusion about the idea was a central question: Whose idea was it in the first place?

Just as a great idea has many mothers, this bad idea appears to be an orphan.

No one who attended a Jan. 2 meeting of elected officials, neighborhood groups and the Department of Correction was willing to confess to first broaching the idea for a public school at the Atlantic Avenue jail.

The Department of Correction denied Commissioner Martin Horn came up with the scheme. And Councilman David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights), who was enthusiastic about the idea at the meeting, did not return several calls for comment.

Staffers from other elected officials also told The Brooklyn Paper that they didn’t dream up the doomed proposition.

Before the middle-school-in-a-jail plan officially died, a handful of residents rallied against the proposal on Sunday.

“If ever you wanted to plant in the minds of our youth that the government just doesn’t care about them, this is certainly the right approach,” said Tony Herbert from Fort Greene.

Despite killing the school plan, city officials still plan on reopening the Brooklyn House of Detention — and doubling its 750-inmate capacity.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper