By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Two groups of parents who both want the best for their kids faced off Thursday night at a rally and hearing on a charter school's planned move into the Brandeis Educational Campus on West 84th Street.
The space-sharing plan, known as "co-location," has drawn intense criticism from parents whose kids attend the five high schools inside the Brandeis building.
They say their children will be treated like second-class citizens if charter school Upper West Success Academy moves its kindergarteners into the Brandeis building. They fear the charter school will steal space and resources away from the high schools.
Ric Cherwin, the parent association president at Global Learning Academy inside the Brandeis building, said rooms that high schoolers once used for one-on-one sessions with school counselors were recently closed to make way for the new charter school. He called the changes "draconian."
Cherwin is a plaintiff in one of two lawsuits trying to block the charter school's move into the Brandeis building. A judge recently ordered a temporary halt to the renovations needed to move the charter school in.
Parents also say it's not appropriate to house kindergarteners alongside high schoolers, some of whom are as old as 21 because they attend special programs.
"I just have visions of these little five-year-old children coming in a separate entrance and being greeted by these 21-year-old giants in the lobby," said State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal. "What kind of dynamic does that set up?"
They were speaking at a rally outside the building on Thursday evening, organized by protesters against the school.
But supporters also turned up.
The moms and dads who won seats for their five-year-olds at Upper West Success Academy say the charter school is their only hope in a neighborhood they consider to be plagued with failing schools.
Yovanka Arroyo said she wants to send her daughter to Upper West Success Academy because she wants to avoid P.S. 75, which earned a C on its last school progress report.
Arroyo said she was attracted to Upper West Success Academy because it seems to have a "phenomenal curriculum."
She said she had no qualms about sending her five-year-old to school in the same building as high school students. Arroyo pointed out that many private schools have kindergarten and high school-level classes in the same building.
"I really resent people telling me how to parent and what I should be worried about," Arroyo said. "I'm the mother and I decide what's dangerous."
