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Teach won’t preach – Catholicism not in school’s plans

Teach won’t preach – Catholicism not in school’s plans

The team behind a controversial charter school met with the public to address concerns that the school would promote Catholicism.

“It is not a private school. It is not a Catholic school. It is truly a public school,” said William Girasole, co-lead applicant for the proposed Brooklyn Dreams Charter School, said at a public hearing in Bay Ridge last week.

At the meeting, held at 415 89th Street, educators and parents objected to news that the school’s board of directors would include employees of local Catholic schools, including Xaverian High School on Shore Road. And Girasole’s co-lead applicant is Dick Conti, who is Xaverian’s chief financial officer (CFO).

There was also the problem of the company selected to run the school – National Heritage Academies. It’s been reported that some of the company’s schools have opted to teach creationism as a scientific theory.

National Heritage “supports a Christian education,” asserted Ellen Driesen, School District 20’s United Federation of Teacher’s (UFT) representative.

Although charter schools must follow separation of church and state laws, “National Heritage does not have a history of abiding by that,” Driesen charged.

According to National Heritage’s Web site, its charter schools maintain a “moral focus curriculum” teaching students “to respect their classmates, to make smart decisions and to resolve disputes in a manner that displays strong character.”

“I feel that this is going to be a mini Catholic school,” said June Johnson, a retired school secretary.

The city Department of Education (DOE), which along with the state Board of Regents is currently reviewing the Brooklyn Dreams application, maintains that charter schools are public schools and cannot promote any religion.

“We’re not zealots here who want to fool you and say this is a public school when this is a Catholic school. This is a public school,” Girasole said.

But even the impression that the school could be sympathetic to Catholic beliefs may have devastating consequences for parochial schools, which are struggling to survive, according to critics. There are fears that parents will remove their children from parochial schools, which cost thousands of dollars a year in tuition, for the free Brooklyn Dreams Charter School.

“It threatens the continuance of the Catholic schools that are still operating in our neighborhood,” said City Councilmember Vincent Gentile.

He worries that parochial schools, several of which have already closed due to poor enrollment, “may not be viable if this goes forward.”

There’s also the issue of where the charter school would be housed.

The team behind Brooklyn Dreams admits that School District 20, which spans Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton and Borough Park, is severely overcrowded and unable to provide space in an existing public school building for Brooklyn Dreams.

So Conti and Girasole are searching for a private facility. They’ve already turned down the Regina Pacis School’s building because “it would be cheaper to go out and build a new building than rehab that,” Girasole explained. They’re considering 1925 Bath Avenue, which housed St. Finbar School, but that space is “too small.”

There’s also talk of constructing a new building. Two vacant lots are currently being considered – one near Victory Memorial Hospital and another on New Utrecht Avenue “in the 70s.”

Gentile expressed concern about a new charter school searching for property since the DOE is currently doing the same thing to relieve overcrowding at local schools.

“I don’t know how it would behoove District 20 to have a charter school looking for space when District 20 is looking for space,” Gentile said.

The Brooklyn Dreams proposal was pitched to the DOE four years ago but rejected.

Girasole and Conti think the school will have better luck this time around.

“We met with the Board of Regents yesterday and I believe that meeting went very well,” Girasole said.

“We’ve gotten conditional approval. We haven’t gotten final approval,” Conti said.