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Compass Charter Cleared to Open in Fort Greene's M.S. 113

By Janet Upadhye | February 28, 2014 2:51pm
 M.S. 113 Ronald Edmonds Learning Center in Fort Greene.
M.S. 113 Ronald Edmonds Learning Center in Fort Greene.
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DNAinfo/Janet Upadhye

FORT GREENE — The Department of Education is moving ahead with its plans to open Compass Charter School inside M.S. 113 on Adelphi Street.

The charter school — founded by three educators who visited 60 schools nationwide in order to create what they call a "model school" — will welcome its first class in the 2014-2015 school year, Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced Thursday.

Parents and teachers spoke out against the proposed co-location last year when they learned some current M.S. 113 students would be phased out to make room for incoming charter school students.

"I don't see the co-location being a problem if our students weren't being phased out," said parent coordinator Eric Figueroa in October of last year. "It's not something we're comfortable with, and we don't want it — not the way they're doing it."

The co-location was approved near the end of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's term and was one of dozens of decisions Bill de Blasio vowed to review once he took office.

While de Blasio and Fariña announced Thursday that a handful of Success Academy charter schools would not be allowed to open this fall as planned, they decided to allow Compass Charter School to go ahead in Fort Greene.

The charter will initially serve only kindergarten and the first grade but will expand to fifth grade by 2018.