Save the Nest

New Explorations in Science and Technology Plus Math (NEST+m) opened five years ago as a K-12 public school within the halls of a formerly abandoned high school on the Lower East Side. A strong staff vision has brought about success for students and the school alike with an eventual designation as Talented and Gifted school (TAG). This fall, NEST+m will reach its goal of having students at all grade levels.

Early last week, those goals were interrupted by the possibility of a new charter school to be placed within the NEST+m building ‹ a charter school planned by the Ross Foundation and the Ross School of East Hampton, NY. With acceptance letters for the NEST+m school already being returned by anxious parents, the Department of Education (DOE) has released statements that the building is operating well below capacity. NEST+m disagrees, citing the fact the DOE building capacity numbers fluctuate, are inherently outdated and in this context do not account for the students already accepted to NEST+m for Fall 2006.

The ramifications of a charter school combination with NEST+m are hard for parents to imagine and impossible for some to accept. NEST+m already operates a K-12 school within one three-story building. The only other K-12 program in NYC enjoys a multiple building 'campus' on Staten Island. The new charter school would require some thoroughly researched solutions to the following issues:

Co-mingling Regulation
Schools are required to keep students of defined age groups apart with different physical space as well as different arrival and release times. NEST+m already staggers students to meet these requirements. Another set of younger and older students would be difficult to incorporate.

Administrative Space
An entire new K-12 school would require more administrative offices in addition to those already used by NEST+m for its three levels of students.

Utilization of Common Space
NEST+m currently has one cafeteria, one auditorium and one main entrance/lobby. Sharing these with an additional school would be also difficult to schedule.

The major concern that NEST+m has for school space is the lack of planning that has taken place with regard to how any new school would fit within the current structure. The fear among current teachers and staff is that specialty facilities for art, dance and science will converted to classrooms. A theoretical ³snowball effect² could create larger class sizes and reduced curriculum options. This situation, NEST+m contends does not benefit the current students or the new students of any charter school planned. Students and families expressed their concern about the intentions of the Department of Education and the Ross Foundation that they organized a rally outside city hall that captured media attention and the support of State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

The Ross Global School has noble intentions for creating a new charter school in District One. However, their partnership with NYU to make this a ³training school² for education majors make it an obvious candidate for usage of underutilized NYU space. NEST+m supporters also point out that the Ross Global Academy would bring charter school regulations into a public school setting. For example, the school proposed by the Ross School is not required to hire teachers approved by the United Federation of Teachers.

"The DOE keeps saying that we are contesting overcrowding. They don't get it. Its not about OVERCROWDING, its about IMPOSSIBILITY. And for some reason, they are not coming forward and sharing their facts, or plans, or decision criteria with our school's administration. The DOE keeps saying its THEIR BUILDING, and THEIR DECISION. Well, its our children. I think, at minimum we are due a CLEAR explanation as to how they plan on sharing the space between NEST+m and ROSS. Unfortunately, I feel they will be making the decision in isolation, without attempting to seek parent collaboration, and that will leave us with a whole bunch of angry, aggrieved parents with due-course." commented Lou Gasco, a concerned Nest+m parent.

Regardless of the variety of reasons for two schools with different purposes to not exist in the same facility, the argument boils down to actual physical space. With the current scheduled enrollment of NEST+m, the Ross GLobal School could not operate at the level they propose. While a protest rally is planned for East Hampton to educate Ross Academy parents about the negative issues facing their charter school, information sessions are underway in District One organized by the Ross Foundation to begin enrolling students for the same charter school. With efforts building on both sides, student remain in the middle, prepared to face an uncertain fall semester unless the Ross Global School finds a different facility ‹ one with the space for their vision to flourish in the same spirit as NEST+m.