Harlem Success Academy chief Eva Moskowitz’s planned expansion of her charter network into a Fort Greene school is raising alarm among parents and staff, who say the co-location threatens the music and arts program at the heart of the 6th- to 12th-grade school.
IS 265, also known as the Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School of the Arts, is “Fort Greene’s answer to LaGuardia for our kids who can’t get in to LaGuardia,” UFT District 13 Representative Mary Wade said, referring to the famous performing arts school in Manhattan.
When Harlem Success moves into the Fort Greene building in September, it will take most of the third floor, which now houses IS 265’s two dance studios, its fine arts studio, its theater and an earth science lab, its guidance office and 10 heavily used classrooms.
Staff say that will force IS 265 to stuff all of its arts classes into the basement, which is already crowded with a band room, other music rooms, a cafeteria and a computer lab.
Music teacher Wil Hylton, a UFT delegate, said the drastic reduction in space will force cuts in critical arts programs that benefit students at the school.
“The population that we service, they have a lot of obstacles in their lives, a lot of challenges,” he said. “In the arts department, we try to give them an opportunity to create, the space to create. Our children don’t need less of anything — they need more of everything.”
The co-location also worries parents of special education students who currently take advantage of IS 265’s rich offerings through an inclusion program run by PS 369, a District 75 school.
Celia Green, the parent of a special education student at the school, said IS 265 is one of the few sites where special education students from PS 369 can move on to pursue courses in the arts. She said the loss of space to a charter is “not fair, especially because we’re looking to expand and for more inclusion.”
Parents and staff are also concerned that IS 265 will lose additional space in coming years as the charter school, which is starting with grades K-4, takes more students.
“There’s no way they’re going to stick with a K-4 program,” said Jerrick Rutherford, the school’s chapter leader, who teaches high school history and economics. “Once they start up, they’re going to want to expand.”
The Department of Education claims that the school building is underutilized. But a report from the UFT’s Safety and Health Department says there is insufficient space in the building for another school.
Rutherford agrees, noting that the school had to add another 9th-grade class this year because of growing enrollment.
“We may not have every room utilized by 25 students at every moment, but they’re being utilized,” he said.
Rutherford said, however, that he and others at the school feel that the DOE is ignoring their concerns because of favoritism toward Success Academy.
“It’s Eva Moskowitz,” he said. “Once Eva wants something, she gets it — even if the students and this community have to suffer.”