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Upper West Siders Protest Harlem Charter School's Plan to Move Into Neighborhood

By Leslie Albrecht | October 19, 2010 7:50pm | Updated on October 20, 2010 6:24am

By Leslie Albrecht

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER WEST SIDE — Angry Upper West Side parents and politicians gathered Tuesday outside a local elementary school to protest what they called a "hostile takeover" by a Harlem charter school looking to share their building.

The Harlem Success Academy, founded by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, wants to move into P.S. 145 on West 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, but parents say their already overcrowded district can't handle the new school, which could draw students from outside the area.

"This is a sneak attack on this school and this community," said State Senator Bill Perkins. "Co-location means eviction, it doesn't mean just having someone come to dinner. It doesn't mean sharing. It means displacement."

The state's charter review board will vote Wednesday on Harlem Success Academy's application to bring the new charter school, called the Upper West Success Academy, to P.S. 145.

The Success Academy argues that opening on the Upper West Side will give more public school options to a district that desperately needs them.

The highly regarded P.S. 87 elementary school had the longest wait list in the city this year, and a new elementary school was created a block away to handle the overflow.

"We're opening Upper West Success to alleviate overcrowding and to provide an option to families that really need it," said Success Academy spokeswoman Jenny Sedlis.

"There is an incredible need for more public school options on the Upper West Side. P.S. 87 is at 120 percent capacity, and we want to provide parents with another public school option."

But critics say the Success Academy will attract students from other districts, worsening District 3's already overstuffed classrooms.

The new charter school is scheduled to open in 2011 with kindergarten and first-grade classes. Sedlis said the school will give preference to District 3 students, but will also accept applicants from other districts.

Sedlis noted that P.S. 145 can handle more students because it's at 59 percent capacity — a figure parents charge is inaccurate.

Sedlis added that the charter school already has a track record of serving families in District 3, which stretches from 59th to 122nd streets between the Hudson River and Central Park, and to Fifth Avenue above the park.

The Success Academy operates two schools in District 3, one of which is the "top non-selective school" in the district, Sedlis said.

But speakers at Tuesday's rally said the Success Academy has hurt, not helped, District 3.

A teacher from P.S. 241 painted a dire picture Tuesday of what happened to her school after Harlem Success Academy opened in her building in September 2009.

"They have squeezed us and suffocated us almost into oblivion," said Ellen Darensbourg, adding that her school has lost an art studio and computer lab since Success Academy's arrival.

Parents also say allowing Harlem Success Academy into P.S. 145 will endanger an $11 million federal grant that several District 3 schools recently received.

They say the grant money will be taken away from all of the schools if P.S. 145 doesn't have room to expand, because the school won the grant on the condition that it had room to grow.

Mark Diller, chair of Community Board 7's education committee, referenced the recent education documentary "Waiting for Superman" at Tuesday's rally.

"I don't know where Superman is right now, but it sure sounds like an $11 million grant is a step in the right direction, and squandering that is unacceptable," said Diller, who opposes the Success Academy's plans to move into P.S. 145.

Although its application hasn't yet been finalized, the Success Academy has rolled out bus stop ads and a website that touts the school as a solution for parents looking for new public school choices in the neighborhood.