Save the Nest

Fifty parents, teachers, and students from a New York City public school that could be ordered to share its building with the Ross Global Academy charter school this fall came to East Hampton Monday morning to protest that plan and to try to force Courtney Sale Ross to meet with them.

The protesters, from New Explorations Into Science, Technology, and Math, a schoolfor gifted and talented students at 111 Columbia Street on New York’s Lower East Side, stood behind police barricades at the corner of Goodfriend Drive and Route 114 from 8 to 9 a.m., greeting Ross School students and faculty returning from spring break with signs reading “Bad Plan, Bad Karma, Don’t Destroy NEST” and “1 Building, 1 School.”

The group, which reportedly numbered 500 in a protest at New York City Hall earlier this month, traveled from Manhattan to East Hampton early Monday morning on a chartered Hampton Jitney in an attempt to get the attention of parents at the Ross School, and to have a discussion with Mrs. Ross.

“We need [Courtney Sale Ross] to say, ‘I don’t want to be in this building,’ ” said Mark Alhadeff, vice president of the PTA at NEST+m, as the school is known. The New York City Department of Education assigns charter schools to specific buildings in the five boroughs. Several of the New York students’ parents said they believed that Mrs. Ross could pressure the Department of Education to find a different space for the Ross Global Academy. Mrs. Ross did not make an appearance on Monday, however.

Ross School officials pointed out that the Ross School and the Ross Global Academy are separate entities, even if they both operate as parts of the Ross Institute. Nonetheless, Mr. Alhadeff said that the rally staged in East Hampton attracted attention from the Department of Education: Department officials asked members of the NEST+m PTA not to protest at the Ross School, he said.

Ross Global Academy will open in the fall with 160 students in kindergarten and first, fifth, and sixth grades. The academy will eventually have about 585 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Both Mrs. Ross and the Department of Education have acknowledged a plan to put the academy into the school’s building, but that plan has not yet been made official. Diana Aceti, a spokeswoman for the Ross School, said that the department is to announce the school’s location within the next few weeks.

Mrs. Ross has said that the Ross Global Academy must go wherever the Department of Education decides to put it. “If Mrs. Ross had a say, don’t you think we would know where we’re going to be by now?” Ms. Aceti asked on Monday.

If the academy were to be placed in the Columbia Street building, it would be on a temporary basis, according to Garth Harries, chief executive of new schools for the Department of Education. Several New York City charter schools “incubate” within existing public schools, he said last week, and that is the intention for the Ross Global Academy.

Parents at Monday’s demonstration found no consolation in that knowledge, however.

“Even if they’re there for only two years, do you know what two years is in the life of a 6-year-old? Do you know what two years of sharing the building will do to this school?” Mr. Alhadeff asked. “We don’t want to jeopardize a very successful public school serving the Lower East Side.”

The argument between the Department of Education and school officials comes down to the number of students the school can accommodate. Neither can agree on that number, and each accuses the other of exaggerating it. The Department of Education has said that the building can accommodate 1,400 students; school officials claim that the building, which last year served 730 students, is already too crowded.

“NEST is a really enjoyable place, but in the hallways, it’s crowded already,” said Jimmy Wiener, a sixth grader who was part of the school’s entourage on Monday.

“They’re going to put another school in it? I get pushed in the hallways now.”

The school’s enrollment has grown each year since it was founded in 2001. With the addition of a fifth grade this fall, it will offer classes in kindergarten through 12th grade. The school’s officials say that 1,050 students are enrolled for 2006-7, while Department of Education officials expect that the number of students will be 927. Mr. Harries has accused the school’s principal, Celenia Chevere, of inflating enrollment figures.

Although those who picketed at the Ross School on Monday did not get to meet Mrs. Ross, two NEST+m representatives were escorted into a Ross School building by Ms. Arceti and were allowed to speak to Michele Claeys, the head of the middle school, and Christopher Sarlo, the interim head of the upper school. Ms. Aceti said that Ms. Claeys and Mr. Sarlo would try to arrange a meeting with Mrs. Ross in the future.

Protesters said that they handed out about 100 brochures advocating their cause and advertising their Web site, www.savethenest.org.

As the day of the Department of Education’s announcement draws closer, so do the opportunities lessen for protesters to change the department’s mind. Lou Gasco of the school’s PTA said last week that the group has retained legal counsel, and will seek an injunction against the Ross Global Academy if it is placed at 111 Columbia Street.

“We have lots of other activities planned,” Mr. Alhadeff said. “We woke up at 3 a.m. to come to East Hampton, and we had 1,000 parents turn up at City Hall during a work day. We won’t leave any stone unturned.”