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Schools

BUGS Charter School Has Eyes on Park Slope

Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School, a new science-focused middle school, is looking to co-locate in a public school building.

Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School, or “BUGS,” a science-focused middle school, has plans to move into District 15 by next fall, and is on the hunt for co-location space in Park Slope’s public school buildings, says the Brooklyn Daily.

A team of former corporate executives from Ford Financial, Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital are helming the new school, which will enroll 300 students between sixth and eighth grades, according to the report. The Daily says that the students at BUGS will spend more time outside learning about science and nature, while planting and designing gardens.

But Park Slope parents aren't all welcoming of the new school.

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“We want good, community based-public schools — not privatized new ones. Buy your own building,” Park Slope mom and activist Gloria Mattera said to the Daily about the charter’s idea of co-location in a public school building.

Success Charter Academy, whose at P.S. 368, was met with criticism from many local parents and public school faculty.

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"Co-locations are destructive and divisive; they create winners and losers in our school buildings and siphon off valuable resources from our public schools," Julie Cavanagh, a kindergarten teacher at P.S. 15 in Red Hook, said . "Co-locations discriminate against our neediest children, particularly students with special needs."

that the new schools only help to fill up space in underutilized buildings, while providing more education options for parents and students.

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