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Start of School Delayed at LES Charter School Girls Prep

By Patrick Hedlund | August 18, 2010 6:54am | Updated on August 18, 2010 7:34am
Girls Prep Charter School on the Lower East Side has delayed the start of classes for some students while it searches for space to handle its expansion.
Girls Prep Charter School on the Lower East Side has delayed the start of classes for some students while it searches for space to handle its expansion.
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By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

LOWER EAST SIDE — The start of school has been delayed for dozens of students at Girls Prep Charter School following a decision by the city not to move forward with a controversial expansion plan that would have put the squeeze on students from a special-needs school that shares the building.

Last week, a group of elected officials blasted the Department of Education for disregarding a ruling by the state Education Department that said Girls Prep could not expand in the East Houston Street building it shares with P.S. 94, a special-needs school that serves students with various learning disabilities, especially autism.

Following the outcry, the city Department of Education backed off its plan to use an “emergency declaration” that would have bypassed the state’s decision by allowing the charter school to expand, resulting in the shuffling of students from P.S. 94 into different classrooms.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (at podium) rallied with Lower East Side parents elected officials last week to condemn the Department of Education's approval of a plan to expand Girls Prep Charter School.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (at podium) rallied with Lower East Side parents elected officials last week to condemn the Department of Education's approval of a plan to expand Girls Prep Charter School.
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DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund

“If we can identify an alternative space [for the Girls Prep expansion] for one year, we feel that would be the preferred outcome,” said DOE spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz, noting that the department still has the ability to invoke the emergency declaration and expand within the building.

A total of 125 fifth- and sixth-grade students from Girls Prep's middle school who would have begun school Monday will now wait up to a month to see if the city and school can locate another space to accommodate the expansion, school officials said.

Girls Prep's middle school students had planned start classes on Aug. 16, a week before its kindergarten through fourth-grade students begin, and a full month before the rest of the city's public schools open for the year.

Ravitz cited the “serious threat of litigation” posed by moving ahead with the expansion plan as a reason the city and Girls Prep officials decided to hold off for the time being.

Kimberly Morcate, principal of the middle school, agreed that the looming threat of a lawsuit and so much uncertainty surrounding the situation compelled the school to look elsewhere.

She added the school already has several possible leads on a new location for the expansion.

Nonetheless, the DOE does believe that the current building can accommodate students from both schools, and it is prepared to use emergency powers if no other site can be found.

Using the declaration “was our intention at the time, and we remain ready to do that if necessary,” Ravitz added.