Author: Halden

Williamsburg Charter High School on Probation

09/19/2011 | Comment

NY1 [via Brownstoner] is reporting that the Williamsburg Charter High School has been put on probation by the Department of Education “for a string of violations”, including “illicit spending” and “misallocating funds”, all of which has left the school with $4 million in debt. According to the Times’ SchoolBook site, which originally broke the story (and whose post includes the DOE probation letter in full), the school was already under investigation by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The financial problems seem to be a combination of overspending and under enrollment. WCHS – which has been in operation for seven years – is part of the Believe High Schools Network, which also operates the Southside Charter High School and the Northside Charter High School (both of which are located in on the Ericsson J.H.S. Campus in Greenpoint). According to Gotham Schools, all three schools spent about 30% more per student than they brought in through state funding, a gap that was not covered by private fundraising. In the case of WCHS, the school needed an enrollment of 1,000 students in order to cover its $2.3 million annual rent, but was only able to enroll 850 students. Another big issue in the DOE review is the relationship between the Believe network – which received $2.34 million in management fees from WCHS last year – and the school. Half of the school’s 6-member board is employed by Believe or other schools in its network.

To compensate for the missed rent and loan payments, the school has apparently cut back on the number of teachers.

WCHS is located on Varet Street in East Williamsburg. The school’s landlord received a number of variances in order to allow the conversion of a former factory building for a school use. After the school fell behind on rent, the landlord put the property on the market for $30 million. (That price tag seems a bit steep, given that the property is zoned for manufacturing and subject to a variance [Word document] that specifically allows Williamsburg Charter to occupy the building, but requires BSA approval for any change in school operator.)

For its part, the school says that the DOE charges contain “many inaccuracies and misstatements of fact” that the school has “challenged time and time again”. WCHS doesn’t have any specific response to the DOE allegations, but promises to post “links to a series of documents that outline the concerns that the City and State have addressed us on and our responses to them. In addition, [we will post] relevant timelines and information regarding the school’s attempt to set the record of facts straight over the course of time”.

The Brooklyn Restaurant Awards

The L Magazine presents its list of best restaurants in Brooklyn. Plenty to choose from, and to agree or disagree with (I’ll have to try Maison Premiere again – first time around I was very underwhelmed by their oysters, in particular their ability to properly shuck them).

Presumably, the L’s readership is hip enough to know where all of these great restaurants are – the article omits addresses.

Is Brooklyn a Disaster Area?

09/01/2011 | Comment

No.

A hurricane hit Brooklyn dead on, and the damage we suffered was pretty minimal. Anytime you can say that, you are lucky. Brooklyn (and all of New York City) was very lucky.

We planned well and were very well prepared, but at the end of the day, we were very lucky.

Huge swaths of upstate New York, New Jersey and Vermont were very unlucky.

We have ways of dealing with such bad luck. One such way is to declare the affected areas a disaster zone and the Federal government puts money towards alleviating the disaster conditions. The fact that Brooklyn was not declared a disaster area does not mean that we were screwed. It means that we were lucky. I’m as much of a Brooklyn booster as the next person, but let’s just count our blessings and move on.

To review, Brooklyn is not a disaster area.

Upstate NY is a disaster area.

No matter how many sidewalk tree pits in Brooklyn were affected, we should not be clamoring for disaster-zone declarations. We should be thanking our lucky stars that a hurricane hit us dead on and caused so little damage, and then we should be opening up our hearts and wallets to fellow New Yorkers upstate and fellow Americans throughout New Jersey and New England.

A lot of us were lucky, some of us weren’t. Let’s help the people who weren’t and stop trying to score political points – local or national – off of other people’s misfortune.

No Longer an Alternative

Not an Alternative, the art space/co-working venue/activist hub at 84 Havemeyer, is closing as a result of a massive rent increase. The people there have done a lot of great things, most notably (for me at least) making the community’s fight against the 2005 rezoning a hell of a lot of fun.

PS – does anyone have a copy of the singing telegram video?

Monster Island to Close

Rumour has it that Whole Foods supermarket may open a branch in its place.

New one on me – it is worth noting that the site (on the west side of Kent Avenue) is not zoned for residential use. So absent a rezoning application, it won’t be a condo. But as far as I know, retail (or hotel, restaurant, club, etc.) are all as-of-right uses.

Monster Island will be holding a farewell block party on Saturday, 10 September.