Brooklyn Prospect Charter withdraws proposal to co-locate in I.S. 240 Andries Hudde

The potential co-location of Brooklyn Prospect Charter School into I.S. 240 Andries Hudde in Midwood has been scuttled, say Hudde parents and community leaders.

The DOE’s Panel for Educational Policy website confirms this, noting that “this proposal has been withdrawn.”

Brooklyn Prospect is said to have withdrawn its charter application to the State University of New York (SUNY), leading to the DOE withdrawing its co-location proposal.

The initial proposal had been to open a second campus within I.S. 240, specifically for Brooklyn Prospect’s elementary grades.

“The original plan [for the charter school was to co-locate] last year,” said former president of CEC 22 Christopher Spinelli, who ended his term this past June. “We’ll see what the next step is. I know the community was not behind it.”

“After the proposal last year, there was a strong reaction against it from students, parents, teachers, alumni, and elected officials,” said CEC 22 President Deborah Perkins. “Almost 1,000 people came out who don’t want any charter school at Hudde. We’re definitely pleased with their decision.”

Perkins noted that among the chief concerns were class size, space constraints, and having younger children in the same hallways as middle school students.

“This is a well-deserved victory for the members of the Hudde family who devoted their time to the cause and spoke out against a proposal that could have jeopardized Hudde’s educational environment,” said Assemblymember Rhoda Jacobs, who joined the Hudde community in protesting the charter school’s expansion out of Kensington and into their school building, located at 2500 Nostrand Avenue.

“This is a well-deserved victory for the members of the Hudde family who devoted their time to the cause and spoke out against a proposal that could have jeopardized Hudde’s educational environment,” said Assemblymember Rhoda Jacobs, who joined Hudde students, parents, and staff in protesting the charter school’s expansion out of Kensington and into their school building, located at 2500 Nostrand Avenue.

Jacobs credited Zoraida Clemente, the Hudde Parent Coordinator, and Modupe Gillis–Gomes, Hudde’s Parent Association President, “for their hard work in spreading the word to members of the Hudde community and encouraging them to get involved and make their voices heard.”

The public hearing regarding the co-location had been scheduled for Tuesday, October 22, with the DOE vote scheduled for October 30. The Brooklyn Prospect-Hudde proposal will no longer be a part of that vote.