By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The teacher's union and the city's Department of Education have finally agreed on a way to fit 35 different schools into buildings currently occupied by only 19.
The city's space problem developed after attempts to close 19 struggling schools were shot down in a lawsuit by the United Federation of Teachers and the NAACP in March. By that time, their buildings had already been promised to 16 new and expanding schools, the New York Times reported.
The complex agreement means schools will be shoehorned into spaces around the city.
Schools affected in Manhattan include the Manhattan Academy for Arts and Language, which will start the semester at the teacher's union headquarters in lower Manhattan.
The Academy of Environmental Science on the Upper East side will share space with the new Renaissance Innovation Charter School. Norman Thomas High School on East 35th Street will share space with the Murray Hill Academy.
KAPPA II in East Harlem will be joined by the Harlem Success Academy II Charter School and the Academy of Collaborative Education on West 134th Street will share space with the Democracy Prep Charter School.
The city said next year it would try again to shutter the 19 schools rescued by the UFT's lawsuit.
