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Brooklyn Mom Wants Cobble Hill Charter

“Cobble Hill needs a charter school: Brooklyn mom demands more choice”
Opinion
By Jenna Sternbach
New York Daily News
December 14, 2011

If I tell you that I’m raising three children in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, with the oldest ready for kindergarten next September, you can probably guess what I think about when I have a moment to think: Where will they all go to school? This is a problem with far greater long-term implications than the logistical problem of our one-bathroom apartment.

When I moved to the neighborhood several years ago, I felt lucky to be zoned for a public school with a great reputation. I thought we were set, and I was relieved because private school is simply too expensive for us.

But as my now-4-year-old son neared school age, I began looking more closely at our options and found out it was not so simple. Not only was I underwhelmed when I toured our zoned school, I found out that due to the local baby boom and other factors, we’re not even guaranteed a seat.

When I say underwhelmed, I mean that despite the clear dedication of many of the educators, not to mention the terrific mix of kids that reminds me why I love our neighborhood, I simply did not see the kind of structure and learning opportunities that I thought could bring out the best in my children.

So I want options — but which ones do I currently have?

a) Win the lottery and spend $90,000 a year on private school for my three kids — assuming that we could get into the few available seats, and assuming we even wanted to go private, which is not a given.

b) Put my children up for the gifted and talented test, hope they score well enough to qualify, and if so, roll the dice again and hope they win seats in the lottery — assuming that we even believe in segregating kids that way, which again is not a given.

c) Pack up our family and move to the suburbs for its schools — but here my husband reads over my shoulder and says, “Now write, ‘But that’s where my husband puts his foot down.’ ”

Luckily, a fourth option has emerged in our neighborhood, and we couldn’t be more excited. As everyone in the district knows by now, Success Academies, a nonprofit charter school network, plans to open in Cobble Hill next August. To be located in an underutilized school building called K293, it would start as a K-1 school for 190 students and add one grade a year until it becomes a K-8 school. Success Charter Network operates some of the highest-performing public schools in the city, with a reputation for academic excellence that goes beyond their outstanding test scores.

In mid-November, I toured the network’s upper West Side school. I paid close attention to what the teachers and students were doing and how they interacted. I was impressed with what I saw — fully engaged kids and a highly structured day (which might not be for everyone but suited me). The work the boys and girls had completed that decorated the walls surpassed what I saw at my zoned school. Science and math are part of the daily curriculum, as is a 50-minute period of free play in the “block room” — yes, block room. Teachers, whom I got to see in action, get rigorous and continuous training. It seemed to me that the result is consistent, nonchaotic classrooms where many students will thrive.

That’s why I don’t understand the highly vocal, very angry opposition to Success Charter Network’s plan for Cobble Hill. Opponents, including many bused in by the teachers union, can be expected to loudly protest again at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, where they’ll vote on letting the new school set up shop.

I attended a public information session that had to be abandoned because the opponents made it impossible for the speakers to speak or the parents to hear. A man near me incessantly screamed “Shut up!” at the speakers. It was ridiculous and offensive. On a more even keel, but for reasons that make no sense to me, our Community Education Council said that the school, if opened, should be allowed to recruit only from poor families and children of immigrants.

Well, they surely need help, but that would leave middle-class families like mine with the same limited options I described above. Everyone in our neighborhood with school-age kids knows that there are just not enough great schools to choose from, and anyone who wants to deny these families another public option does not represent my interests or my children’s.

I’ve heard complaints about this new charter school supposedly making life more difficult for students already in the building — but the facts don’t support the claims. There are about 700 vacant seats; why not let a high-quality school make good use of them?

This is all about having choices. Let’s lower the temperature of this debate and increase the opportunities for everyone to send their children to great public schools.

Sternbach lives in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.