Tonight: Hearing On Controversial Co-Location Of Charter School Within Seth Low J.H.S.

A plan that has riled parents and school activists throughout Southern Brooklyn is coming to a hearing tonight, at 6:00 p.m., at Seth Low Intermediate School (99 Avenue P).

The Department of Education is proposing the co-location of a Success Academy Charter School within the same building as the public school, drawing criticism from those who don’t wish to see the mingling of different age groups and the siphoning off of public school resources to privately-operated charter schools.

Success Academy will be an elementary school serving students in kindergarten through fourth grade, sharing the building with the existing sixth to eighth grade classes of the public I.S. 96 Seth Low building. If the proposal passes, the schools would begin sharing space as early as September 2014.

The first year of Success Acedemy would see approximately 150 to 200 students in kindergarten and first grade, and will swell as the school adds a grade each year through 2018, when it will serve as many as 600 students, chosen through a lottery process. In total, the Avenue P building will serve nearly 1,300 students. The impact statement can be seen here.

Success Academy already operates 18 other public charter schools in New York City.

The Community Education Councils of Districts 20 and 21, which span a swath of Southern Brooklyn, including the location of Seth Low, have issued resolutions decrying charter school co-locations within their districts, and specifically opposing the Seth Low plan.

Tonight’s meeting is open to the public. Speaker sign-up beings at 5:30 p.m.

Correction (October 1): Due to a typo, the original version of this post indicated that the school could begin sharing space in 2013. It has been corrected to read 2014.