There’s no place for a charter school in School District 22, according to a leading parent advocate.
“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Christopher Spinelli, president of District 22’s Community Education Council (CEC), told this paper.
“It’s a very unnecessary action. It’s something that’s being forced upon the district,” he continued. “Charter schools are really meant for poor-performing districts and targeted for students at high risk for academic failure. [In District 22], there is the lowest number per capita of students at risk for academic failure.”
District 22 “is really the last place” for a charter school, he said.
However, a new charter school, with a focus on Hebrew studies, is close to opening in the district, which includes Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and parts of Midwood, Flatbush and Sheepshead Bay.
The city Department of Education (DOE) just approved the creation of the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School. The school’s proposal is now under review by the state Board of Regents, which will determine if the school will open next September.
The team behind the Hebrew Language Academy selected District 22 as the best fit for the school.
At a public hearing in the summer, the school’s lead applicant Sara Berman agreed that District 22 is fairing well but said there are areas that “warrant alternatives.”
She acknowledged that she was attracted by the district’s large population of Jewish residents, as she hopes “a chunk – five or 10 percent” of the school’s students would already be familiar with the Hebrew language.
The team behind the school has said that it would be housed in a privately-funded facility and receive financial support from the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life.
But if plans fall through, the school could ultimately end up in another district or borough.
That’s because all proposed charter schools select their preferred district but the DOE has final say based on space availability.
Spinelli questioned that practice because when a charter school is initially proposed, a public hearing is held in the district selected by the charter school’s design team. But if the school opens elsewhere, parents in that new district were never given a chance to weigh in on the school.
“That’s pretty curious too because you could have the public hearing in one district and ultimately it winds up somewhere else,” Spinelli said.
