By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Skeptical parents grilled representatives from Upper West Success Academy Thursday night, charging that while the charter school is touted as a solution to over-crowded schools, it will do little to relieve packed Upper West Side classrooms.
"I think you're creating a giant sense of false hope," said Eric Shuffler, a P.S. 199 parent and Community Board 7 member.
"We just don't believe that you're ever going to (serve) those parents who aren't in a failing school who want to go to your school," Shuffler told Jenny Sedlis, a spokeswoman for Upper West Success Academy, at a meeting of Community Board 7's education committee.
The charter school, part of the Success Charter Network, is slated to open inside a public school building in the Upper West Side's District 3 next summer.
The Department of Education hasn't said where the new school will end up, but officials have said it's likely the kindergarten will be housed inside Brandeis High School on West 84th Street.
Parents in the crowded district have rallied against Upper West Success Academy's plan to open in their neighborhood.
They fear the charter school will give seats to children from outside the neighborhood, leaving fewer slots than ever for District 3 students, who've endured some of the longest wait lists in the city.
They also worry that charter schools take up too much of the limited space inside buildings of existing public schools, and that non-charter school students don't receive the same space and resources as the charter school students who share their facility.
Sedlis disputed both those ideas.
"It is our goal to serve families here in the community," Sedlis said. "We're very sensitive to striking the right balance between serving the immediate neighborhood and serving at-risk students."
She said horror stories about Success Charter Network schools not sharing space well with existing public schools were overblown. Teachers at P.S. 241 have said they lost an art studio and computer lab after they were forced to share space with a Success Charter Network school.
"The stories in the media tend to be a handful of people who are upset that may not reflect the entire community," Sedlis said.
Also at issue is whether Upper West Success Academy will relieve overcrowding at P.S. 87 and P.S. 199, two of the most crowded schools in District 3 last year.
While the charter school seems to be marketing itself as an option for those parents, there's little chance their children will get into Upper West Success Academy, said Shuffler.
The charter school will give first preference to "at-risk" kids from so-called "failing" schools, but P.S. 87 and P.S. 199 don't fall into that category. That means the students there aren't likely to win seats at the charter school, Shuffer said.
"They're misleading people," Shuffler said. "That's where a lot of our anger comes from."
Still, despite the vocal opposition, close to 500 students have already applied to Upper West Success Academy, Sedlis said.
Some of those parents spoke up Thursday night.
Ebony Mays, the mother of a 4-year-old boy who's zoned for a failing school, said she was glad the new school was coming to the neighborhood.
"My son deserves a great education as well," Mays said. "Upper West Success gives my child an option to have a great education."
Jason Paraschac, another parent, said he was in favor of Upper West Success coming to the neighborhood too.
"This is not an ideal solution obviously," Paraschac said. "But we need options and I haven't heard anything outside of this that addresses the problem of where to send a kindergartner next year."
