‘Holy’ charter plan
Praise the lord and pass the schoolbooks!
A long-shuttered Catholic school in Canarsie may find its salvation in a charter school — even though these privately run but publicly funded institutions haven’t felt very welcome in the neighborhood.
Father Edward Kane, a parish priest, told members of the Informed Voices Civic Association last Monday that there have been “discussions with possible charter schools.”
If a deal is struck, the charter will open in the shuttered school next to the 130-year-old Holy Family Church at the corner of Flatlands Avenue and Rockaway Parkway.
The Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens closed the cash-strapped and enrollment-challenged parochial school in June, 2009, relocating its few students to the nearby Our Lady of Miracles on E. 87th Street and Flatlands Avenue and St. Jude School on Canarsie Road.
A charter school was planning to move into Holy Family shortly after it was closed, but the deal fell through, residents recalled.
Yet a charter school may have a hard time moving into Canarsie. Over the last few months, neighborhood leaders have labeled them as interlopers looking to lure students away from perfectly fine public schools.
Widespread protests were held over the proliferation of charter schools earlier this year when the Department of Education said that it would put a charter school inside PS 114 on nearby Remsen Avenue.
The protests only subsided after a compromise was struck: PS 114, which was slated for closure, would be saved if it shared space with the charter school.
The United Federation of Teachers led most of the protests, knowing that charter schools hire non-union instructors. More charter schools coming to Brooklyn mean fewer jobs for union teachers — and draw more attention when charter schools squeeze into public school buildings.
A charter school opening in a closed private school is a bit different, but not by much, said Councilman Lew Fidler (D–Canarsie).
“I’m never happy about charter schools coming into my neighborhoods,” he Fidler. “But if a private institution wants to rent its private space to a charter school, that’s a bit different than jamming a charter school into a public space — but only by a few degrees in my opinion.”
Calls to the Diocese were not returned, yet Kane said a charter school would help preserve and maintain a property still vital to the community.
“Many organizations still use the facilities,” he told Informed Voices members. “Boy and Girl Scout units host their programs in the schools and there’s also a program for autistic children. We also have numerous functions and meetings at the school all year around.”
