Washington Heights Church Puts A Stop To Charter School Possibility

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — The Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Washington Heights sent a letter to its community recently saying that it had voted against a partnership that would lead to a charter school getting opened at the site.

The vote and email comes after a petition was signed by more than 600 people in an effort to stop the church located at 729 W. 181st St. from partnering with Civic Builders and opening the school.

"The financial structure of the proposed charter school would have a negative fiscal impact on the surrounding elementary schools in the neighborhood servicing a population of students with a diversity of needs, including migrant families," Fort Washington Collegiate Church wrote in an email to its community. "FWCC cannot pretend to operate in a bubble and risk losing the community’s trust."

The Washington Heights church also wrote that it had not had the opportunity to "vet Civic Builders," but it was "concerning" that a consultant who had provided a recommendation for the incoming charter school to Rev. Damaris D. Whittaker also sits on the board of Civic Builders, according to the church.

"His recommendations were heavily charter school-centered and demonstrated limited familiarity with the entire public education spectrum," the church wrote.

Charter schools are free for students, publicly funded, and independently run alternatives to public schools that can be managed drastically different from school to school and state to state.

People against charter schools argue that they take money from already under resourced public schools, while people that are pro-charter school argue that they can offer a strong alternative in areas with under performing public schools.

In a recent ranking by Niche, not a single Washington Heights or Inwood public school was among the 480 best in New York City.

"We could not vote for something that would have angered and hurt the surrounding community, and led to strong backlash," the Fort Washington Collegiate Church wrote.

The Washington Heights church is currently looking to get a sale of its building done to avoid permanent closure.

Fort Washington Collegiate Church mentioned that is now working with the city and the NYC Department of Education to possibly develop disability housing, an early childhood center, or a union jobs training workforce center at the address.

None of these proposals have been committed to.