Co-location in Harlem Schools: Crowded Hallways, Shared Classrooms

OCTOBER 15, 2012
THEUPTOWNER.ORG

Students at Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing Arts in Harlem stampede out of their classrooms. A sea of blue and orange, gold and maroon, and white uniforms fill the halls as students from three different schools travel to their next classes. They share a gym, auditorium and cafeteria, but each school starts and ends at a slightly different time.

This fall, Wadleigh gave up one of its floors to Harlem Success Academy. Wadleigh, on West 114th Street, had already relinquished two of its five floors to Fredrick Douglass Academy II for the past seven years.

Three is a crowd, at least according to some students and teachers at Wadleigh and Frederick Douglass. Co-location, which refers to two or more schools occupying a single building, has become prevalent in Harlem and other New York City neighborhoods.

“The New York City Department of Education has been much more aggressive in exploring and mandating co-location than in almost any other district in the country,” said Jeffrey Henig, a political scientist and education professor at Columbia Teachers College. “In most places, charter schools have to find their own facilities.”

Although both Frederick Douglass and Harlem Success co-exist in the building Wadleigh initially had to itself, each school occupies a different floor. Harlem Success even uses a separate entrance. But space becomes an issue when students transition to their next class.

One student noticed the cramped hallways and stairwells within his first few days at Frederick Douglass. “It’s kind of hard because you have to travel up and down the stairs, and you got the high schoolers traveling, too,” said Jahqwan Gilford, a sixth grader.

Last winter, Wadleigh parents and administrators fought to keep its middle school open after it received a D on its Department of Education progress report, even importing Princeton professor Cornel West to defend Wadleigh. Some suspected that the Department kept Wadleigh open so that Harlem Success could move in. (The Department of Education didn’t respond to requests for comment.)

“Typically, we see charter schools expand in places where traditional schools have been underperforming for a long time,” said Andrea Rogers, policy director of New York Charter Schools Association. “Schools aren’t considered for co-location unless they’re being underutilized.”

One thing is certain: with co-location, both district and charter school teachers must learn to cope with limited space.

Some teachers have to move out of their classrooms frequently because they share their rooms with several people.

“Teacher space is limited,” said a Wadleigh middle school teacher, who wished to remain anonymous. “Sharing classrooms limits us from hanging up students’ work or grading assignments right after class. Because once you’re finished teaching, someone else comes in.”

This teacher shares two classrooms on the first floor with three other teachers and doesn’t stay in any classroom for more than one period.

Charter school teachers agree that space is limited in their classrooms and offices. KIPP Infinity, a charter school, has an elementary, middle and high school in the same building as New Design Middle School, a Harlem district school on West 133rd Street.

Ample classroom and office space is a luxury that KIPP, like many charter schools, can’t afford as it expands. Julia Lee, a KIPP Infinity speech and language coordinator, said this is a common problem. She is thankful to have her own office to provide therapy.

“Our schools are growing,” Lee said. “In KIPP Infinity Elementary, for example, a whole new kindergarten class came in this year. But Infinity Middle sacrificed one of its classrooms to the elementary school. Space is really, really tight.”

Charter schools often can’t afford new buildings. The Department of Education gives them money to hire staff and buy materials, but they are on their own when it comes to infrastructure and facilities, Rogers said.

“The idea is that the charter school should be receiving roughly the same amount that the district does on the operating cost,” she said.

Rogers added that debt, transportation and some other items aren’t included in the grants given to charter schools.

Although charter schools don’t receive public funds to establish their own buildings, they can use private funds to revamp their space. Harlem Success Academy’s décor livens up its newly-renovated fifth floor. It decorates classroom walls with college-readiness messages and drapes doors in banners from prestigious colleges. The nameplates outside classrooms identify not just the teachers’ subjects but their alma maters. The fifth floor also has considerably newer bathrooms than the rest of the building.

“With all that money, they should get a new school,” the Wadleigh middle school teacher said. Nevertheless, some charter school parents advocate co-location. Dana Broom, mother of a Harlem Success fourth grader, said co-location can motivate students to accelerate their learning.

“I don’t see the big deal for pushing them out,” Broom said. “If you ask me, they should turn all the schools into charter schools.”

Frederick Douglass mother Claudette Abney said she knows the school is crowded, but so far, her son hasn’t complained. She said it’s still too early in the school year to tell how co-location will impact her child.

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To Unionize or Not to Unionize: Uptown Charter Teachers Weigh Options

NOVEMBER 9, 2012
THEUPTOWNER.ORG

When Amber Charter School opened its doors in 2000, a teachers’ union was a priority. Instructors at the East Harlem elementary school joined the United Federation of Teachers and 90 percent of them return each year.

Unions contribute to the school’s low turnover rate and a strong relationship among teachers and administrators, said Amber Principal Vasthi Acosta. The charter school hardly loses staff, she added, but when it does, Amber teachers flock to the principal’s office with lists of friends who want to work there.

“In some charter schools, those protections don’t exist, so sometimes you have the revolving door effect at charter schools with teachers leaving by the truckload,” Acosta said. “I also know of other charter schools that are unionized and have a high retention. They must have a culture where teachers are protected and secure.”

About 12 percent of the 136 New York City charter schools are unionized, including only a few uptown. At some non-union charter schools, teachers describe trust between administrators and staff.
At KIPP Infinity, for instance, a charter school on West 133rd Street, Julia Lee, a speech and language therapist, is among the teachers happy without a union.

“Personally, I haven’t found any problems,” she said. ”I think that unions initially existed to protect

themselves and their rights as teachers for better pay. But when the organization is genuinely looking out for the teachers’ interest, you don’t really need a union.”

Other charter school teachers hesitate to petition for unions because they fear being fired or think that their voices will not be heard. Leaders at the United Federation of Teachers union sense their apprehension.

“If management fights back, the teachers could get fired – especially in this economy, it’s a tough decision to make,” said Jonathan Gyurko, former senior adviser to the organization’s president. “Unions are not widespread across the sector because some charter school teachers are happy. But to those who are unhappy, the risk of trying to organize a union is very high.”

New York City charter schools, founded to serve at-risk students, must meet the same test standards as every public school. Opportunity Charter School on West 113th Street, which specializes in teaching high-need students, was scheduled to shut down last January because the Department of Education gave it a failing grade.

However, it remained open and retained its staff, and the teachers won their bid to join a union in August 2011. Asked whether unionization played a role in retaining staff, Opportunity Principal Marya Baker, via email, declined to comment.

“If a majority of the teachers at a charter school want to create a union, they sign cards indicating that they want the UFT to represent them in collective bargaining and those cards are given to the state Public Employees Relations Board,” said Christina Collins, lead researcher and political analyst for the UFT. Once the Board certifies that a majority of the instructional staff wants to form a union, “the teachers can start negotiating their first contract.”

But some teachers have faced opposition from school boards that allegedly ignored union petitions and refused to honor contracts. The UFT sued Merrick Academy Charter School in Queens last March for breaching its commitment to increase teachers’ salaries.

“The teachers tried to form a union with the UFT, and the leaders were fired,” Gyurko said. “The school board was very slow in responding to the teachers and would not recognize teachers petitions to be a union or negotiate over a contract.”

Merrick Academy Chairman Gerald Karikari “vehemently” disagrees with this account, saying the union wouldn’t allow teachers to discuss salary differences with administrators, leading to misunderstanding and confusion.

Currently, Merrick is negotiating its first contract, which Karikari said will be approved by
December. First-time hires with the same credentials and experiences all receive the same pay, he said. As teachers continue to shine, Merrick offers salary increases based on factors such as timeliness and students’ academic improvements.

“At Merrick, we believe in individual merit,” Karikari said. “Every student in that class isn’t going to get the same grade. Students are going to be judged on their own individual merit. We don’t see why teachers would be judged on anything different.”

The new principal and assistant principal at New York French American Charter School on West 120th Street, however, embrace the idea of teachers unions.

Principal Edith Boncompain said she understands the importance of a positive relationship with the teachers because both she and Assistant Principal Claire Zhelauer were once in their positions.

“We were teachers, too,” Boncompain said. “We remember what it’s like to be teaching in the classroom.”

Contract negotiation is underway, something both administrators fully support.

“We are coming across the table and negotiating,” Zhelauer said. “We want the teachers to have all the benefits, to feel valued, to have the supplies and tools to do what they do.”

Existing district schools that convert to charters follow the same salary schedules as traditional district schools. However, charter school teachers receive higher salaries, reflecting the longer school days and years, Collins said.

Charter schools that were previously district schools are required to provide the same contractual health and retirement benefits. All charter teachers are eligible for the city’s Teachers’ Retirement System, but most charter schools only offer a 401(k). This means charter teachers get retirement payments annually, unless money contributed to the plan runs out. The TRS, which all district schools offer, provides guaranteed payment to retired teachers until they die, Gyurko said.

The 401(k) plan typically costs an employer less than a pension plan, he added. ”That’s why charter schools pick 401(k). By spending less on employee retirement costs, they redirect the extra funds into other services, supplies, base salaries, management fees, marketing and other expenses.”

Standards for hiring at charter schools differ somewhat from district schools, but both are required to take fingerprints and perform criminal background checks.

“Charters are also required to mostly hire state-certified teachers,” Collins said. “However, the charter law allows each school to hire up to five teachers or 30 percent of the teaching staff, whichever is less, who lack state certification but who they can show they are otherwise qualified to teach.”

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Locally-Grown Produce, Cooking Demos Draw Residents to Uptown Youthmarket

NOVEMBER 27, 2012
THEUPTOWNER.ORG

Barrels of golden apples, ruby-red radishes and other fruits and vegetables fill the Marble Hill Youthmarket stand on West 225th Street. Parents, many from neighboring Inwood, shop for produce while kids pick free pumpkins and watch young chefs prepare snacks using locally- grown ingredients.

Richie Juares, 36, a Marble Hill resident, picks out a head of broccoli while his son, Justin Fernandez, paints pumpkins with the neighborhood kids.

“I have a big garden at home with a lot of plants,” said Juares, a chef who regularly shops at this youthmarket. “I love cooking the vegetables that I buy here. I make lasagna for my kids.”

As farmers markets have become common in New York City, youthmarkets are also growing, though at a slower rate. GrowNYC, a non-profit health organization, first introduced them in 2006 to bring locally-grown produce from tri-state farms to “food deserts” throughout upper Manhattan, the south Bronx, and northern and central Brooklyn, said youthmarket manager Shane Jiles-Joseph. GrowNYC sponsors 11 youthmarkets in New York, two in Manhattan. Their sales have grown 36 percent since 2008 to hit $90,000 this year, said Ryan Morningstar, GrowNYC youthmarket operations coordinator.

“Not all neighborhoods can support a full-blown farmers market,” said Amanda Gentile of GrowNYC. Sales of fresh, healthy food are lower in some areas compared to others, she said. But “sometimes, in places where farmers markets aren’t successful, a youthmarket will be.”

At youthmarkets, a network of farm stands, nearby farmers supply fresh fruits and vegetables and high school and college students sell it, gaining entrepreneurial and customer service skills while running small-scale businesses.

Jiles-Joseph, 24, began as a Brooklyn youthmarket intern for GrowNYC in 2006, and was hired as full-time youthmarket manager at Marble Hill in 2009.

“My role is to mentor the high school and early college-level adolescents and help them operate a sustainable farm stand in the city,” said Jiles-Joseph as he unloaded boxes of potatoes from his van. “Primarily they learn nutrition, entrepreneurial skills, and it gives them someplace to be in the summer and after school.”

Cindy Lee, 21, another former youthmarket intern, has taken her business management skills to a full-time job at Buffalo Wild Wings in Brooklyn. She plans to also remain the youthmarket manager in Far Rockaway.

“I bartend, and I have experimented with making cocktails using local grown food from upstate New York,” Lee said, mentioning a mojito with corn silk. “I like to share everything I learned with my co-workers, and they come to visit my market.”

Partner organizations employ such interns to operate the 11 youthmarkets each July through November. Bon Secours Health Systems hired the three that this year run the youthmarket in Marble Hill.

“This place is considered a food desert because the quality of food in this area is not as great as other areas,” said York College student Jessica Mendoza, 18, a second-year intern. “So we suggest trying our food

because it’s fresh, and it helps the neighborhood understand that the food that you get at the supermarket isn’t as great as it should be.”

Sometimes the interns try creative costumes to draw shoppers’ attention, said Mendoza, wearing a silver full-body suit in the shape of a spoon while stirring cranberries, raspberries and apples over an electric stove. She was making apple berry crisp with Bon Secours community food educator Vanessa Berenstein, impersonating a fork in a similar costume.

Throughout Mendoza’s internship, she said, her own diet vastly improved. She also earns $10 an hour and learns how a small business operates. Being bilingual is an asset at this youthmarket, which serves a predominantly Spanish-speaking community, Mendoza said.

The Marble Hill Youthmarket, launched by Bon Secours in 2009, draws more low-income seniors, WIC mothers and food stamp recipients than any other New York youthmarket, said Bon Secours liaison Sarah Shaikh.

“It doesn’t matter the size of the stand,” Shaikh added, describing her youthmarket’s small-scale operation. “More percentage of our sales came from low-income moms and low-income seniors purchasing foods through subsidized programs than any other stand.” In 2010, “we got a letter from the governor congratulating us for doing this, and we got even more inspired.”

Berenstein, an NYU graduate student in food studies, runs the youthmarket’s cooking demonstrations and develops recipes with Shaikh, experimenting with seasonal and multi- cultural foods.

“Anything that appeals to all five senses has been really successful,” Berenstein said of the samples the interns distribute. “As soon as we’re cooking onions and garlic, people can smell them from a mile away. And they’re ready to eat.”

Some shoppers come every week for recipes, Berenstein said. “And they’re asking, ‘What are you cooking this week?’ And ‘Oh, I want to try this at home!’” Their response shows that “people really are interested in eating healthy,” she said.

Mobile kitchens will be the next step for providing healthy foods to underserved communities in Marble Hill and elsewhere. “By next summer, we’ll have the mobile kitchen project up and running so we can teach other people to do what we’re doing,” Berenstein said.

In the mobile kitchen, an operation on wheels, Shaikh and Berenstein plan to travel with cooking tools, distributing cookbooks and finding new places to set up shop, including community centers, schools and even homes. Though youthmarkets shut down for the winter, people need year-round guidance on how to cook healthy meals, Shaikh said.

GrowNYC, working to keep young people involved in sustainable food education through the year, gives schools in Harlem and the Bronx up to $2,000 for gardening programs. Through “Learn It, Grow It, Eat It,” a sister program, GrowNYC has worked with more than 200 kids.

As the youthmarket closes for the season, children scramble to salvage the last soggy servings of apple berry crisp. Meanwhile, third-year intern Curtis Williams, 21, packs vegetables and fruits back into cardboard boxes, starting with the broccoli.

“Not only are we here to sell things, but we’re here to show people a healthier way to cook and a healthier way to live,” Williams said.

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