One year ago, the International Leadership Charter High School began planning the construction of a new Middle School on 306 West 232nd Street in Kingsbridge. Over the last few weeks, several members of the residential community have expressed frustration with the project, arguing that it poses several safety, environmental, financial and educational risks. These concerns are outlined in more detail on their website StopTheCharterSchool.com.
The first and most important problem is the school’s location, which can create several health and safety risks for its students. Advocates against the school, in their online petition, which has accumulated just over half of their 1,000-signature goal, argue that, perhaps due to its private management, the school fails to comply with New York State Education Department requirements, such as:
“Space for physical education, the arts, library and information skills, and other aspects that generally require dedicated spaces; compliance with relevant municipal and state requirements to ensure that students — including those with mobility-related disabilities — can safely evacuate, shelter-in-place, lockdown, or take other appropriate actions in response to a fire or other emergency situation; impact on local traffic and emergency vehicle access, specifically during student arrival and dismissal times; [and] provision of space for general student health and wellness, including a cafeteria and outdoor space for gathering and recreation.”
Another major concern that the schools’ administration has disregarded is the environmental damage that the new building may cause. The land on which the school is set to be built sits above the historic Tibbetts Brook, which causes flooding in the area. This poses a severe threat not only to the neighborhood, but to the students themselves. The aforementioned petition demands the conducting of a comprehensive environmental impact study to assess the impacts of the building on the surrounding environment.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Fieldston science teacher Palma Repole, who is heavily involved in the campaign. “We hit a nerve in the community,” said Repole. “I’ve never done this before. I’ve never been active locally… but when I found out that they were building a charter school, seven stories, on this tiny lot across the street from us, I was, like, clearly this is not a good idea.” Repole, who lives very close to the construction site, noted the traffic problems that the school will cause, which will lead to a poorer quality of life in the neighborhood and the reduction of property values of nearby residences.
On a larger scale, the expansion of the International Leadership Charter School to another site is emblematic of a greater issue that is hotly debated in American politics — that is, whether charter schools belong in society in the first place. Repole remarked, “It’s deeper than this one building. The charter school issue is a huge hot topic right now.”
Charter schools are institutions that receive public funding but operate independently from the government. Many educators — most notably the United Federation of Teachers — assert that this creates an unfair divide between charter schools and public schools, as charter schools often have access to different resources and are generally not held to the same educational standards as public schools. Critics also argue that charter schools are fundamentally undemocratic, being entirely funded by taxpayers yet managed by non-governmental organizations and not open to all students.
Repole emphasized the lack of community outreach from the local government in their approval of the school’s construction. “Wow, have I learned a lot!” she said. “All we’re asking for is an explanation for how the school is going to work in this particular space, and the answer is that nobody has to explain it to us. That’s a complete breakdown of what it means to be in a community.”
If you want to help out the cause, sign their petition and spread the word!
