Marjorie Stamberg:
Here is
some information about our school's current struggle against a charter
co-location that will cut our Brooklyn hub in half, as well as impact
two transfer schools, a LYFE program and a D75 school. It's in the old
Boys High School building on Marcy Avenue in BedStuy. A key issue here
is the gentrification of BedStuy which is pushing the public schools
out.
Here is some local press coverage:
Media write-up in local Brooklyn paper on P2G Marcy Hub
Here is a statement from a teacher
To
Whom It May Concern, my name is Nicole Greaves and I am a teacher at Pathways
to Graduation (P2G) an alternative program within the NYC Dept of Education
(DOE) that prepares adolescents ages 17 - 21 years old for the TASC(GED)
Examination. Currently we are located in the Old Boys High School in
Bedford-Stuyvesant on Marcy Avenue along with Bed-Stuy Prep High School,
Brooklyn Academy High School, Uncommon Collegiate Charter High School and the
LYFE Center. P2G has maintained a presence in the building for over 20 years
and has serviced thousands of Brooklyn youth during that time.
On
February 15th the Dept of Education issued a proposal to reallocate classroom
space in the building which includes: 1. Consolidating Bed-Stuy Prep HS and
Brooklyn Academy HS into one school. 2. Pathways to Graduation losing four
classrooms, one administrative office and storage space in the basement 3.
Relocate Brooklyn East Collegiate Charter Middle School into the building from
their current location at PS9
The proposed Building
Utilization Plan (BUP) would give an overwhelming majority of classroom space
to Uncommon Collegiate Charter High School and Middle School. They would occupy
the 1st, 4th, 5th floors, four rooms on the 2nd floor and the basement. This
reallocation of classroom space creates numerous and varied problems for the
other three existing schools in the building. P2G would lose four classrooms
and one administrative office if the plan is finalized. This would surely be a
serious blow to our program and diminish the level of services and resources we
can offer to our students.
The teachers and staff
at P2G are committed to saving our school and maintaining our presence in the
Bedford Stuyvesant community as long as possible. There are a series of
public hearings that will be taking place to address this issue before the
final PEP Vote on April 25th at Murray Bergtraum High School.
The first public
hearing was held Monday evening in the auditorium at Old Boys High School,
where students, staff and community members alike shared their concerns for the
possible closing of schools and reduction of youth educational services in the
neighborhood.
We
would really like to get the word out to the city about the battle to save our
school, the services we offer
and the overwhelming need for our services in the community. http://p2g.nyc/
If we could get an article in your publication that would help us out greatly in
reaching the greater New York community.
Recently, our school
was featured on News12 Brooklyn "Cool in School" news segment for the
Bike Repair Program we offer our students. If the proposed reallocation of
space were to happen, the classroom where the bike program is housed is
threatened to be taken away and the program possibly ended.
Sad state of affairs that never seems to go away. I also saw that Eva Moskowitz success academy had a student event at the Barclays Center - a basketball and hockey arena suddenly gives way to a charter school maggot and her so called "scholars". Crying shame if the DOE gives up this space to these outside invaders working for a buck tree eighty. Simply a shame.
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