Bloomberg’s Four-Step Strategy To Kill a School

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/03/juan-pagan-mayor-bloomberg-you-are.html

Thurs, March 15, 2012

Bloomberg’s Four-Step Strategy To Kill a School

Juan Pagan, parent leader at Legacy HS and a member of the Citywide Council on HS, gave this eloquent speech at March 15 press conference in Foley Square:

It is beyond me how Mayor Bloomberg refers to himself as the “Education Mayor” when his educational reform policy is nothing more than a four-step strategy to kill schools.

Bloomberg’s Four-Step Strategy To Kill a School:

1) ATTACK THE BODY OF OUR SCHOOLS
Devastate schools with years of budget cuts. Overwhelm the most struggling schools disproportionately (like it did to Legacy High School) with large numbers of students with high needs without resources, even as the cutbacks continue. Use flawed and fabricated data to wrongfully justify closing and phasing out schools. Overwhelm teachers with overcrowded classrooms, no resources, and demand optimum results, and then wrongfully punish them for doing their best.

• [At Satellite, a transfer school, we have 100% high needs students. The DOE has used flawed and fabricated data to claim that there are more rooms on our floor than actually exist, and to boost the capacity #s 46% in order to take away 46% for the new school.]

2) CONTAMINATE THE LIFEBLOOD OF OUR SCHOOLS
Teachers are the lifeblood of our schools. Release Teacher Data Reports with flawed and inaccurate data and with a high margin of error, data that was collected experimentally and was abandoned by the DOE, but happily revived by the coercive tactics of Mayor Bloomberg to demoralize educators, pit parents against teachers, create doubt and discord among parents; confusion and fear.

• [At Satellite, the DOE has pitted our community against one school that provides options for youths who are not successful in traditional schools against another school that provides options for youths who are not successful in traditional schools.]

3) ATTACK THE SPIRIT OR THE SOUL OF OUR SCHOOLS
Children are the soul of our schools. Make children feel as if they are the failures; disrupt the stability given by teachers and educators, create an adverse affect on their ability to learn and lead our children to falsely believe that they are the failures, when it is Bloomberg’s educational reform policy that is failing our children.

• [Co-location at Satellite makes students feel like they are returning to their old schools bumping elbows with strangers and school security. It makes Satellite students feel that they will not get the credits they need. It makes Satellite students feel that their voices are not being heard: "One School One Floor!" rings the halls, the streets and the internet, but their voices are not heard.]

4) BLEED OUR SCHOOLS TO DEATH
The final blow is inflicted by the Panel for Educational Policy, like a sword stabbed in the back of our education system, directly into the heart of our schools and then twisted and pulled out by the PEP. Schools closing and being phased out, like watching them bleed to death.

• [Co-location at Satellite has been imposed by an undemocratic and flawed process. We demand an investigation of a flawed system.]

SCHOOLS DIE. And our children ultimately pay the price.

Mayor Bloomberg: You are NOT and shall NOT go down as the “Education Mayor.” You are and SHALL go down as the Executioner of our schools.

Mayor Bloomberg, if you think that you will only have to deal with the UFT, you are wrong. You will answer to the fathers and mothers and parents and guardians of the children of this city. You will answer to us!

Posted by  Leonie Haimson
 

SIGN OUR PETITION -- STOP CO-LOCATION AT SATELLITE

YOUTH ON THE MOVE, local CBO, creates petition on behalf of Satellite Academy and Bronx Regional HS

Please sign a petition created by local youth who oppose co-location at Satellite Academy imposed by the DOE. 

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-satellite-academy

STOP CO-LOCATION IN OUR BUILDING
ROADS II CHARTER SCHOOL CO-LOCATION PUSHES INTO THE BRONX.


WILL DISRUPT SATELLITE ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL …


YET NO COMMUNITY INPUT!


Another Charter School CO-LOCATION looms for the South Bronx and immediately threatens the very existence of our good innovative public high school, Satellite Academy (SA).


As usual, the callous Bloomberg’s Department of Education (DOE), without any input of our parents, students, staff and Bronx communities, moves impose the ROADS II Charter School into the Bronx Regional High School Building complex where the three schools already exist (i.e. Bronx Regional, GED Plus, and Satellite Academy).


Without community input, the DOE arrogantly claims that ROADS II Charter School will have no educational impact!


SAY NO to the ROADS CHARTER SCHOOL CO-LOCATION;


Fully fund and support our Satellite Academy high school!


For more info go to: www.savesatellite.blogspot.com
Contact us at: betterbronxschools@gmail.com Better Bronx Schools – BBS


----------------
Sincerely,
Better Bronx Schools – BBS
Youth On The Move

Cathedrals Were Not Built Overnight

A quote from Ama to Chrissy:

 "The people who worked to build the cathedrals in the Middle Ages never saw them completed. It took two hundred years & more to build them. Some stonecutter somewhere sculpted a beautiful rose, it was his life's work, and it was all he ever saw. But he never entered into a completed cathedral. But one day, the cathedral was really there.

"You must imagine peace the same way."

 -Dorothee Solle

FMPR PRESIDENT Rafael Feliciano In Solidarity with Anti-Co-Location in the Bronx

FMPR President Rafael Feliciano stands in solidarity with Bronx Regional High School and Satellite Academy High School organizing against an unjust charter school co-location proposal by the DOE.

Rafael (Rafi) Feliciano Hernandez is the current President of the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR - Teachers’ Union)  2003-Present. 

He is also the founding member of the Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores - MST de Puerto Rico, and a High School Physics Teacher.

 
In his visit to New York City this March, he held a panel presentation at the Left Forum on the Privatization of Public Education and Resistance. 


He also came to Satellite's Press Conference on Monday, March 19, 2012 about pending investigations into the DOE's seeming mis-calculation of space in the Bronx Regional Building. 


He stands here in solidarity with all stakeholders who oppose the DOE's proposal to co-locate a new charter school in the Bronx Regional Building. 


Muchissimas Gracias, Rafael. 

In lucha, 
Save Satellite

ROADS 2 INVADES Part 2 -- Kelson Maynard

Video by Angel Gonzalez

Public Hearing March 12

ROADS 2 INVADES SATELLITE ACADEMY 

Statement made by
Kelson Maynard:

I have been in this school Satellite Academy for 28 years. 

I don’t understand. I don’t understand how the educational theory is going to improve the quality of education. I have not encountered an explanation, and yet that is the principle in which this decision is being made. 

Currently, I share a classroom because there isn’t enough space. We are being told by people who have not been to the school that we have too much space. Something is wrong with that logic. 

I want to know, Why is it that we in this community here have to confront this kind of problem, that Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, etc would not have to confront. Is this class warfare? Why are we being dumped on? 

Many of us have died for something called democracy. 

We are looking to see if those lives are in vain.

 Because hear me out! 

Expressing ourselves and the decisions are supposed to be democratic decision-making. 

Let's see if that were to be obtained here after this meeting this afternoon or if it is a cynical process and this proposal has already been confirmed.

Since I have been here, there have been two schools that are constant: Satellite Academy and Bronx Regional. Now a plan is being concocted to do irreparable damage to these two programs. Why is that? Why is the DOE doing this plan with such a deleterious effect as you have already heard?

I am pretty confident that the education that the well-to-do get, the education that students get in some parts of Westchester and other places are as different, the special arrangement is different and students have a different experience, but we are supposed to be crowded like cockroaches and we are supposed to get an education to compete with those same students who come out of schools from the Upper West Side from Westchester with superior facilities superior resources. 

Because of what students demonstrated tonight: they dropped out because the school system that they were apart of did not work. And now that we have something that works, DOE and SUNY say we must change that. Many of our students graduated from SUNY! 

We have a safe building, we do not have metal detectors. The program that will come in by default will… How are we supposed to be and feel comfortable with this apparatus? Something has to stop. We will see if what our voices have to say are heard, if this is the home of brave land of the free or not.

Something has to be done. 

The nonsense has to stop. 

You must give our children a chance to be successful.

 

Satellite Demands Investigation Before PEP

Demands

1.     Postpone the PEP Hearing & Vote until the following investigations can be made:

2.     Investigate and clearly explain to the community the change in Building Organizational Capacity.

a.     Is there a connection with the change in Building Organizational Capacity and the submission of the original ROADS application?

3.  Investigate the Errors in the Annual Facilities Survey to clearly explain to the community how many full size classrooms exist on the floor.

a.     If errors are substantiated, then explain to the community how co-location will work equitably, especially because the proposal assumes that there will 9.5 classrooms for the new school.

4. Explain to the community how co-location would work equitably with the existing school structure, especially regarding division of space for a high needs student population.

Satellite Fights DOE Move to Increase Floor Capacity

This story is about how the DOE allegedly increased the building capacity (number of seats) from 295 seats to 432 seats in one year (with no new construction or change of rooms).

News 12 Report

The DOE responded by saying that the Bronx Regional Building is at 67% capacity--BUT we are calling for an INVESTIGATION of this capacity rate. 

Here's why:

• In 2009 the 5th floor capacity was 295 seats.
• In 2010 the 5th floor capacity was changed by the DOE to 432 seats.
• This is a 46% increase in capacity.

What accounts for this change?

Interestingly, ROADS II charter school application was presented to SUNY around the same time in 2010. The ROADS school application was initially sent by Cami Anderson, who worked in the SAME BRONX REGIONAL BUILDING (the proposal was sent back to the drawing board 2 times because of Conflict of Interest).

Further, the DOE co-location proposal requires that the 5th floor give the new charter school 46% of the 5th floor.....exactly the same amount of increase that occurred in 2010 when ROADS II application was filed.

You do the math.

http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=312032&position=1&news_type=news

(03/19/12) THE BRONX - The Schomburg Satellite School is fighting a Department of Education (DOE) plan to put a second school in the building floor it already occupies.

The DOE wants to put the second school on the fourth and fifth floors, adding 250 students to the building.

Schomburg officials say that the plan would put the floors at 121-percent capacity and the DOE isn't planning of adding additional classrooms or teachers.

The DOE is expected to vote on the issue Wednesday.

Report: Burglaries on the rise in 49th Precinct

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Highbridge tenants endure another day in the cold

BX students celebrate St. Joseph's Day with gratitude

Report: Manning negotiating to join Broncos

Cops: 24-year-old killed in Soundview shooting

NYS makes big gains in high school graduation rates

NY Mets owners settle in Madoff-related case

Bronx dance studio mourns loss of gymnastics instructor

Police: Innocent bystander shot during Bronx fight

Protesters gather to try and save BX post offices

Man shot and killed in Belmont

Afghanistan shooting suspect identified as Robert Bales

Family finds hateful graffiti sprayed across home

BX mom slams school after son stabbed with pencil

DOE: Teachers, aides guilty of misconduct not properly disciplined

DOT delivers on stop sign promise in LongBronx school fights DOE plan to increase student

SATELLITE PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW!

DOE DRASTICALLY INCREASES BUILDING CAPACITY TO MAKE ROOM FOR INCOMING CHARTER SCHOOL?

When: 3:30 p.m. on March 19

Who: Teachers and Students of Schomburg Satellite Academy 

What: Press Conference to announce their recent findings that the Department of Education drastically increased the building’s student capacity. 

These figures, which increased by 47.5% in a single year, will allow “room” for the DOE to add a new charter school to the building, despite strong opposition by parents, students, and teachers. 

ROADS 2 Charter Invading Satellite Academy: Public Hearing

ROADS 2 Charter Invading Satellite Academy: Public Hearing 

ROADS II CHARTER SCHOOL CO-LOCATION PUSHES INTO THE BRONX. 

WILL DISRUPT SATELLITE ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL
 

YET NO COMMUNITY INPUT!

Another Charter School CO-LOCATION looms for the South Bronx and immediately threatens the very existence of our good innovative public high school, Satellite Academy (SA).

As usual, the callous Bloomberg's Department of Education (DOE), without any input of our parents, students, staff and Bronx communities, moves impose the ROADS II Charter School into the Bronx Regional High School Building complex where the three schools already exist (i.e. Bronx Regional, GED Plus, and Satellite Academy).

Without community input, the DOE arrogantly claims that ROADS II Charter School will have no educational impact. This is an insult our community's intelligence! The placement of hundreds more high needs students will have negative consequences on all the schools housed in the Bronx Regional High School complex. This is simple math.

All three high schools already serve a high needs Latino & Black student population from our least mobilized neighborhoods. All students in the Bronx Regional Building are transfer students -- over-age, under-credited and many formerly drop-outs. ROADS II aims to serve the same population that SA already serves while at the same time would take away 47% of SA's classroom space!
There is no need for the offerings of the ROADS II charter school. Satellite Academy already exists with a proven track record and offers a far more superior program with an experienced staff that has successfully served transfer students. SA implements a reputable collaborative project/ portfolio learning process that engages students, and has a State-approved Waiver to support its non-Regents-tests-based approach.
ROADS II CHARTER, with the private backing of an outside Wall St. profit driven firm, Centerbridge Partners, comes from outside the Bronx community and promises an questionable computer-based method (promising 15 students per class, ROADS II will instead host 25 students per class where teachers work with small groups while the rest will be placated on computers) and teach-to-test curriculum with a focus on Regents exams. ROADS thus will provide more of the same old methods that contributed to the alienation and pushing out of "transfer" students in the first place. Test-driven teaching negatively impacts on learning.

By adding more students into the Bronx Regional building and segregating these needier students into ROADS II, what results is overcrowding and heightened tensions between four, instead of three schools that all already service very high need students. Instead of using available spaces to promote smaller class sizes, this crowding can result in a negative climate that will beg for demeaning metal detectors, surveillance cameras and the police interventions. The co-location of the ROADS II Charter School is an invitation for unwarranted competition, disharmony and disruption.

The Bronx Regional campus is extra-ordinary in that it is one of the few Bronx high school buildings that to date has no such prison-like scanning, stop & frisk protocols. Instead has a generally more student friendly and welcoming atmosphere. In fact, it holds no scanning as a building-wide policy!

SA classrooms are welcoming with rich learning and decorated environments (a family school atmosphere rarely seen at the high school level). Make an unannounced visit to SA and a respectful low-volume demeanor of the staff will blow you away. The ROADS II co-location would force the doubling-up of teachers and the dismantling of such a wonderful model school that all students deserve.

If more students must be placed here, the public believes that Satellite Academy should be expanded and this fourth unnecessary competing school, the private ROADS II CHARTER, should not be accepted. Its impact can only be negative for all programs at the site.

betterbronxschools@gmail.com

Los Sures fights against Success Academy Charter School

Video Found at Grassroots Education Movement Youtube Page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph7lCgWfzTY&feature=plcp&context=C44839b2VDvjVQa1PpcFPLy_raIaP8G0Ah9pjHIxCz9v_TFr3jKbI%3D

DOE DRASTICALLY INCREASES BUILDING CAPACITY TO MAKE ROOM FOR INCOMING CHARTER SCHOOL?

March 17, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT

Dirk Peters

Better Bronx Schools

betterbronxschools@gmail.com

347-450-9853

DOE DRASTICALLY INCREASES BUILDING CAPACITY TO MAKE ROOM FOR INCOMING CHARTER SCHOOL?

At 3:30 p.m. on March 19, teachers and students of Schomburg Satellite Academy will hold a press conference to announce their recent findings that the Department of Education drastically increased the building’s student capacity. These figures, which increased by 47.5% in a single year, will allow “room” for the DOE to add a new charter school to the building, despite strong opposition by parents, students, and teachers. The charter school, ROADS II, is proposed to open in September of 2012. 

Monday’s press conference comes in advance of Wednesday's highly-anticipated PEP vote on the co-location of ROADS II with Schomburg Satellite Academy and Bronx Regional High School. The dramatic changes in building's operational capacity were uncovered after the DOE announced plans to add a charter school to the building. The drastic increase in capacity, from 295 students to 432 students, gives new weight to on-going protests by parents and students that the DOE plan would lead to severe over-crowding in the building. Local representatives including State Senator Ruben Diaz, State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, and City Councilmember Maria del Carmen Arroyo have all expressed their opposition to the plan. 

At Monday’s press conference, teachers and students will call for an investigation into the DOE’s calculation of the building’s capacity, and for a delay of Wednesday’s PEP vote until the results of the investigation can be reviewed. According the DOE plan, enrollment at Satellite would remain constant, but the number of classrooms at would be reduced by half, with the remaining space designated to ROADS II. 

What: 

Press conference demanding investigation into the DOE's radical student capacity increases, and a delay to Wednesday’s PEP vote on co-location

Who:

Schomburg Satellite Academy students, teachers, and parents

Where: 

1010 Rev. James A. Polite Ave, in the community garden, across the street from the main entrance to the school 

When: 

3:30 p.m.

Bronx transfer high schools feel bullied into sharing space with new charter school

By Corinne Lestch / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, March 12, 2012, 6:00 AM

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-transfer-high-schools-feel-bullied-sharing-space-charter-school-troubled-youth-article-1.1036360#ixzz1ou0nF8nc

Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News

[Students] of Bronx Regional High School Campus are furious that the city plans to put a new charter school for troubled youth inside the already overcrowded building. They walked out of their school in protest on Friday.

[Students] at a Bronx complex that houses two transfer high schools fear a [new school].

Bronx Regional High School and Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy will share close quarters in September with ROADS Charter High School II, a school for youth who have histories with the criminal justice system, as well as foster and homeless kids.

“They’re going to change the environment,” said Aiesha Vegas, a 17-year-old Schomburg student. “We already have aggressive kids in our school, and if another school comes in, there’s gonna be kids bumping heads with them.”

There will be a public hearing Monday at 6 p.m. at 1010 Rev. James A. Polite Ave. on the DOE’s decision to co-locate ROADS. A vote on the proposal is scheduled for March 21.

“We’ve worked very hard to create a supportive environment,” said Schomburg teacher Dirk Peters, 30. “These are children who haven’t been successful in a traditional academic setting, and we have to work really hard to build a community.”

The DOE is also consulting with school safety about whether to install cameras and metal detectors, further upsetting staff and students at the existing schools who boast they don’t need the extra security.

Seth Litt, the incoming principal of ROADS and a Bronx native, defended the charter and said all the schools should collaborate to provide a solid education for marginalized youth.

“All the kids in our community deserve success,” said Litt, 32, who received degrees from Tufts and Fordham universities. “People have the right to have questions and concerns, but we’re going to be providing a very important option.”

Litt has already hosted information sessions for interested parents, and plans to hold more as the April 2 application deadline nears to fill 150 seats.

According to a Department of Education report, the building has a capacity for about 1,600 students. It currently houses about 1,000 students, which means it has a 67% “utilization rate.”

But Schomburg teachers said their school will lose nearly half of its classroom space once ROADS moves into the five-story building, taking rooms on the fourth and fifth floors.

clestch@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-transfer-high-schools-feel-bullied-sharing-space-charter-school-troubled-youth-article-1.1036360#ixzz1ou0MXX69

JOINT PUBLIC HEARING: MARCH 12

SATA-WHAT? 

SATELLITE Joint Public Hearing

When: March 12 at 6:00pm (come early to sign up at 5:30)

Where: Bronx Regional Building, 1010 Rev. James Polite Ave, Bronx, NY 10459

(Photo Credit: Patrick Wall, DNAinfo.com)

• What: Share your comments about the proposal to add a fourth school to the Bronx Regional Building.
• How: prepare a comment, letter or 2 minute statement to read or submit to the Department of Education (we will have a presentation and information if you are unsure of what you want to say)
• Bring: parents, guardians, grandparents, aunties and uncles, students, siblings, neighbors, friends, pastors, counselors, and anyone who is interested in the future of Satellite Academy, Bronx Regional and the state of their community schools

How will co-location impact your school? 

How has our community been involved in this discussion?

What do you want the Department of Education to hear? 

Speak out on March 12 @6pm!

 

Get your voice heard! 

(Photo Credit: Patrick Wall, DNAinfo.com)

Photos from:

Bronx Students Walk Out of Class to Protest Charter Co-Location Plan  

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20120309/south-bronx/bronx-students-walk-out-of-class-protest-charter-co-location-plan#ixzz1om9zz289

Satellite Community Garden in Bloom!

Yes, our Community Garden is officially in bloom!

Stay Tuned for Open Hours!

 

 

Satellite Parents and Teachers working in the Community Garden on Saturday!

Sign Petition for Community Input in School Changes!

Sign this Petition to ensure that ALL PROPOSALS TO CLOSE, PHASE, TRUNCATE or CO-LOCATE NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST BE APPROVED BY THE COMMUNITY!

Click to Sign Petition 

Why This Is Important

In a recent Quinnipiac poll, almost 6 in 10 New Yorkers believe that that the mayor’s takeover of our schools has been a failure, while only 1 out of 8 New Yorkers say that mayoral control should continue as currently constituted. More than four times as many New Yorkers believe that in the future, the mayor should share power with an independent body than retain complete control over our schools.

It is time for public school parents, our communities, and our elected officials to have a voice again as to the fate of our children’s public schools, especially when it comes to damaging school closings and co-locations!

We urge the Governor and our legislature to ensure that all proposals to close, phase, truncate or co-locate NYC public schools must be approved by the district Community Education Council in which the school resides. Before taking a vote, the CEC shall solicit advice from the affected School Leadership Team(s), the district Presidents Council, the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, and the Citywide Council on Special Education and other parent and community organizations. In the case of high schools, the district CEC shall also consider the advice of the Citywide Council on High Schools, in addition to the organizations listed above.


Endorsed by Class Size Matters and the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, 3/8/12. 

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-ny-give-nyc-parents-a-voice-in-school-closings-and-co-locations 

Schomburg Satellite Student Walk-Out to Speak with Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr. Bronx

 

Students in the office of Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr. 

 

"You are supposed to be with us Not against us!"

 

"We can make a difference!" 

 

"1 School 1 Floor"

"CUT/TING SCH/OOLS IN H/ALF!"

 

Outside of the office of Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr.

Photo Credits: Patrick Wall, DNAinfo.com

http://www.dnainfo.com/20120309/south-bronx/bronx-students-walk-out-of-class-protest-charter-co-location-plan

Bronx Students Walk Out of Class to Protest Charter Co-Location Plan

By Patrick Wall DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
March 9, 2012 6:49pm
  
LONGWOOD — When several dozen students at Schomburg Satellite Academy High School heard the 12:05 bell ring Friday afternoon, rather than meander to their next class, they stood up, pulled out neon-colored poster boards and marched outside.

 

Cheyenne Lee, 18, addresses students from Schomburg Satellite Academy High School during a protest on March 9, 2012. Aiesha Vegas, 17, holds a sign. (DNAinfo/Patrick Wall)

 

Some 60 students joined in the walkout to protest the Department of Education's plan to move a new charter school into the five-story building at 1010 Reverend James Polite Ave., which already houses Schomburg and Bronx Regional High School, as well as a full-time GED program and childcare, medical and student-referral centers.

The protest comes days before a public hearing Monday on the proposal, and following weeks of organizing, outreach and even talk of legal action on the part of Schomburg students, who worry the city’s plan will lead to overcrowding, strained resources and even conflicts between the building’s current occupants and newcomers.

Students from Schomburg Satellite Academy High School staged a walkout on March 9, 2012 to protest the city's plan to move a new charter school into their building. (DNAinfo/Patrick Wall)

“You’re invading our space and the family we have here,” said student Crystal Samuels, 18, whose mother, Nona Samuels, is president of the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

Crystal added, “You bring in more kids — that’s more altercations.”

Like other students at the protest, Samuels emphasized that she was not opposed to the planned charter school, called ROADS II, but rather to the Department of Education’s plan to place ROADS in a building with two other schools.

The students proceeded down Polite Avenue to the district office of State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., where they chanted “No new schools!” as about a dozen police and school safety officers looked on.

The senator briefly stepped outside and offered the students his support, then he and a staffer met with four student representatives in his office.

Rev. Diaz told the students he supports charter schools, but not when the DOE uses them to “pit communities against each other.” He advised the students to recruit as many supporters as possible to attend Monday’s hearing.

“You have to get that place packed,” Diaz told the students, adding, “You’re doing the right thing.”

Resistance to the so-called co-location plan has slowly gained momentum since the DOE announced the proposal on its website about a month ago.

Students, parents and staff from Schomburg, along with a few representatives from Bronx Regional, held their first serious meeting about the plan on February 21. Since then, Schomburg’s student council has taken up the cause, the Parent Teacher Association discussed the matter, and a public interest law firm was reached to explore possible legal action against the city.

Both Schomburg and Bronx Regional serve older students who transferred from other high schools, often because they struggled with academics or discipline. ROADS II would also admit older students who are behind in credits, but they plan to give preference to teens who have faced serious setbacks, such as homelessness or run-ins with the law.

At Friday’s rally, students said classroom space is already limited. For example, Schomburg students currently have access to a single computer lab and must share a cafeteria and gym with Bronx Regional.

While both schools now occupy their own floors, students said it seems inevitable that next year they will have to split floor space with the charter school.

“We’re going to be overcrowded and uncomfortable,” said Schomburg student Eygribelk Ramirez, 15.

He and other students said they fear the co-location will lead to fights and fewer resources for students.

According to the DOE, only 67 percent of available space in the 162,000 square-foot building is being utilized. Adding another school to the building will not harm the current occupants, the DOE noted.

But Schomburg students and staff disagree. They have pointed out that Schomburg would eventually lose about half of its instructional space, going from 20 classrooms this year to a proposed 10-and-a-half classrooms in 2014, as ROADS moves in.

ROADS II is scheduled to open in the Bronx this fall with 150 students, while another branch, ROADS I, will launch in Brooklyn.

The schools, whose charter application was approved by the state last year, boasts a high-powered board of trustees that includes Jeff Li, the executive director of Teach For America in New York, and chairman Mark Gallogly, co-founder of the private equity firm Centerbridge Partners, as well as a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

The DOE will hold a public hearing on its proposal at 6 p.m. Monday at the school building on Polite Avenue. 

An educational oversight panel, which traditionally approves the DOE’s proposals, will vote on the plan the following week.

Regarding Friday’s walkout, a DOE spokeswoman said: “Students have a right to express themselves, but they cannot walk out during school hours and disrupt classroom time.”

Representatives for ROADS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the protest.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20120309/south-bronx/bronx-students-walk-out-of-class-protest-charter-co-location-plan#ixzz1ofnmYz3m