Call to Action: Save Old Boys High

Dear neighbors,

Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright and I wrote to Chancellor Richard A. Carranza regarding the New York City Department of Education’s (DOE) proposal to co-locate Uncommon Brooklyn East Collegiate Charter Middle School (84K780) at the Old Boys High Campus (K458). We requested that the Panel on Educational Policy (PEP) postpone the April 25th vote on this co-location until further notice. We have numerous concerns about this proposal and have invited the Chancellor to visit Old Boys High Campus to meet with us about this issue firsthand. Unfortunately, this proposal currently remains on the schedule.

Old Boys High Campus currently houses Bed-Stuy Prep and Brooklyn Academy transfer schools, Pathways to Graduation (P2G), a District 75 program, a Living for the Young Family Education Program (LYFE) and Uncommon Collegiate Charter High School. With the exception of Uncommon Collegiate, all of the schools in this building provide education and services to youth as old as 21 who struggled in traditional high schools.

Many of the students have already had life experiences that interfered with their educational progress such as homelessness, foster care, abuse, loss of a parent, unplanned pregnancies and interactions with the criminal justice system. The staff here has created an environment where these students have an opportunity to flourish both academically and socially despite the difficulties in their lives.

The current proposal would introduce 5th – 8th graders to a building serving 16 to 21 year old students, take four classrooms from P2G, consolidate the two transfer schools to one floor and add yet another school to share communal spaces with. Even in the current space, most rooms are multipurpose to accommodate programming, counseling, tutoring and serve as a meeting space for parents and support staff.

We are asking for your support in opposing this co-location so we may find a more appropriate location for Brooklyn East Collegiate that addresses the intense overcrowding at their current home in P.S.9. However, we do not want to lose important programming space at Old Boys High that serves our most vulnerable young people.

We urge you to attend the PEP meeting, which will take place on April 25th at 6PM at Murry Bergtraum High School (411 Pearl St. Manhattan, NY 10007). You may also submit your comments to Max Familian at D13Proposals@schools.nyc.gov or 212-374-0208 until April 24th.

To learn more about this issue, visit https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/velmanette-montgomery/senator-montgomery-and-assemblywoman-wright-request