Parents Urge Mayor to Honor Pledge Against Co-Locations

Parent leaders urged Mayor Bill de Blasio to make good on his campaign pledge to instill a moratorium on co-locating multiple schools in the same building.

In a letter sent on Friday, and signed by many members of the city's 32 community education councils as well as groups like Class Size Matters, they said co-locations violated students' rights because they led to crowded conditions,

"Many students in New York City are currently constrained by space limitations from receiving the resources necessary for a sound basic education, including smaller classes, the full complement of cluster, specialty, and resource rooms necessary for the full Regents-required curriculum and required academic intervention services," the authors wrote. 

In an effort to ease friction among schools in the same building a mayor-appointed group recently made recommendations for how schools could get along better.

But that is not even close to the moratorium the mayor promised on the campaign trail. Parents said they were eager for the administration to reveal its policy on future co-locations. Of concern is the impact of a state law that requires the city to pay rent if it is not willing to give public space to charters. The city would bear the first $40 million of expenses before the state chips in any money.

A surprising element of the letter was the suggestion that the city should fork over the money rather than let another charter school move into a district public school buildings.

Tesa Wilson, president of the community education Council for District 14 in Brooklyn, said she realized this would be a hardship for the city but it would be worth it. Meanwhile, Wilson said, the city was pursuing co-locations despite de Blasio's campaign pledge.

"Co-locations are occurring," said Wilson. "We've had quite a few joint public hearings across the city and even though there's been talk about a moratorium I have yet to see one."

In September, the city agreed to give space in public buildings to four charter schools that plan to expand. And several charters have applied already for space in public buildings to open new schools next fall.

The city must notify the charters as early as December if it intends to fulfill their requests.

Co-Location Moratorium Letter