Success Academy has flatly rejected City Hall’s suggested site for a future Queens middle school, claiming the building is inadequate.
Network officials toured the defunct Catholic school for the first time Tuesday and said that it fell woefully short of their space needs and would require millions of dollars to renovate.
“‘Equity and excellence for all’ means all — all public school children, district and charter,” Success boss Eva Moskowitz said in a statement. “These children deserve equitable space.”
Officials at the charter chain were initially hesitant about the building but reserved a final decision until they could assess it firsthand this week.
Success said the facility would require a pricey gut renovation to address electrical and mechanical problems along with water damage. It also lacks a gym and an auditorium, officials said.
Most critically, Success argued that the building can only accommodate roughly half of the 600 students rising southeastern Queens middle schoolers who will soon need seats.
The DOE contended that it can fit 500 kids.
“It’s a shame that Success Academy is declining such a great educational space, which is so hard to come by in Queens,” said DOE spokeswoman Miranda Barbot. “We’ll make sure someone takes advantage of the opportunity to use this building to serve public school students.”
She added: “We’ll discuss next steps with Success Academy.”
State law requires the city to either provide space for charter kids or to reimburse operators for private space rental costs.
City Hall’s proffer of the abandoned Catholic school campus was the latest development in the bitter three-year-long fight between de Blasio and Moskowitz — longtime nemeses — over Success’s attempts to establish a middle school in southeast Queens.
“This building will work for only a year and then we’d have to start this whole process all over again. This is unreasonable,” said parent Gisselle Valiente-Sukh in a statement.
City officials have argued the DOE’s schools in southeastern Queens are already overcrowded and have no room to host the charter school.
Success countered the city’s own data shows there could be several viable local schools with hundreds of available seats, space the DOE claims it needs to deal with enrollment fluctuations and enrollment changes throughout the year.
