Editorial: Unchartered waters
On Tuesday, October 15, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy – an oversight board whose members are largely appointed by the mayor – rubber-stamped the co-locations of 23 new charter schools around the city, including several in Brooklyn, over the vocal objections of parents, students and staff.
Normally, such votes are held in the spring, but observers contend that they have been pushed forward to enable Mayor Michael Bloomberg to continue his largely controversial agenda of reshaping the city’s public school system in his final months in office.
Among the schools that will be getting new charter schools in their buildings, based on the PEP’s recent vote, are Seth Low Intermediate School on Avenue P near Stillwell Avenue, and Roy H. Mann Intermediate School in Mill Basin, though local elected officials have vowed to sue the city to stop this from happening.