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# State Greenlights Charter At Floyd Bennett
- URL: https://bklyner.com/state-gives-greenlight-to-charter-at-floyd-bennett-sheepshead-bay/
- Published: 2010-12-24T21:00:32.000Z
- Updated: 2010-12-24T21:00:32.000Z
- Author: Ned Berke
- Tags: urban dove school, #API-Imported

From [Courier-Life](http://yournabe.com/articles/2010/12/24/sheepshead%5Fbay/bay%5Fnews/news/courier-yn%5Fbay%5Fnews-all%5Furbandoveupdate%5F2010%5F12%5F24%5Fbk.txt?ref=bklyner.com):

> New York State’s Education Department OK’d the controversial Urban Dove School for the sprawling national park last week, clearing the first hurdle toward its construction — and bringing on the inevitable backlash that now includes Aviator Sports, the Floyd Bennett Field tenant that had been silent on the issue.

> “\[Urban Dove\] has absolutely no support from the community, so we will not be able to support the project,” Aviator CEO Kevin McCabe told this paper Friday, joining a chorus of elected officials panning the plan.

> In their prospectus to the state, school planners said they hoped to use Aviator’s popular facilities as part of their sports-centric curriculum.

> But with the ‘no’ vote, the owners of Aviator have become the latest critics of the school, which will cater to 95 over-aged, under-credited youth. Local politicians have slammed the plan since its infancy, claiming a park is no place for a school.

> “We don’t use our schools as parks and our parks as schools,” said Councilman Lew Fidler (D-Marine Park). “Aviator is not available to them.”

> State Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Mill Basin) agreed.

> “\[Gateway\] was not designed for charter schools,” he said. “It was designed as a community and family use facility.”

> Despite its detractors, Urban Dove organizers say they believe Floyd Bennett Field is the perfect spot for a sports, health, and fitness-oriented alternative high school because the national park has plenty of open space and a selection of abandoned buildings they can turn into a “one-of-a-kind campus environment” that will include classrooms, a cafeteria, office space and recreational areas.

> At its core will be a socialization-heavy curriculum where students aren’t part of classes, but teams that travel together from lesson to lesson and activity to activity.