Councilman Fidler: "We don't want it, we don't need it!"

UPDATED: THERE ARE VIDEO CLIPS of this meeting at Ednotes.


This just in about Councilman Lew Fidler and the fight going on over the charter school pushing into Shell Bank JHS in District 22.

Councilman Lew Fidler is bristling at Brooklyn Dreams Charter School's push into our 'hood. Though he's against charter schools in general, he's particularly angered about the latest attempts to infiltrate our own District 22.

"We don’t want it, we don’t need it, and our schools down here don’t merit it," he told Sheepshead Bites over the phone.

And like many in the community, Fidler fears an attempted invasion of public educational facilities by Brooklyn Dreams - a la Hebrew Language Academy/Marine Park J.H.S - despite promises from officials to find their own space.

"The problem with that is that’s what we heard from HLA when they were in the charter process," he said. He also shook a finger at the decision to schedule summer hearings, when many parents are away on vacation, and the school's attempts to move into other districts in search of the path of least resistance. "Somehow they don’t imagine that the opposition to a charter school would be just as consistent here?"

As a member of the education committee and chair of the youth services committee in the City Council, Fidler has had behind-the-scenes access to the citywide charter schools debate. What he has seen has made him a decided — and influential — opponent to charter schools.

[Continued here.]

See our July Action Calendarfor the meeting scheduled for July 16th.