Brooklyn Prospect Charter Schools is intending to move it’s Windsor Terrace Middle School currently located on 3002 Fort Hamilton Parkway (District 15) to 40 Flatbush Extension (District 13) for the 2020/21 school year and possibly beyond. 

The new proposed location at 40 Flatbush does not meet Brooklyn Prospect’s commitment to provide the basic facilities of a middle school and to assure the safety of students. The decision to move was made without community input, without parent consultations and without any independent impact studies. 

We request that the plans for the move be placed on hold and the WTMS students can remain in the current location until the new Gowanus facility is completed or a mutually acceptable interim space can be secured. 

Safety concerns

Commute:  

- According to NYPD stats, due to crime, Jay St Metro Tech is in the 2nd most dangerous train precinct in NYC.
- The York St station has only one exit, which is not up to safety code. During rush hour, the station’s sole egress and narrow stairs routinely fill up with commuters.
- The base of the steps becomes jam-packed as tourists purchase MetroCards and commuters attempt to enter and exit through just three turnstiles. In case of fire or a bomb scare, the station is a corked bottle. Various concerned neighborhood groups have petitioned the MTA but the MTA has no plans to fix it.
- Children commuting by subway will likely need to cross the intersection at Tillary and Jay Sts.  This intersection is the number 1 most dangerous in Brooklyn as reported in the Daily Eagle with stats taken from the NYPD database.  Tillary is 8 lanes wide, Jay is 4. This intersection is a main thoroughfare for trucks traveling to all bridges.
- The proposed move to a new location in district 13 will double or triple the commuting time for many families which all live in district 15. 

Building:
- The entrance and exit to the building is ON the Manhattan Bridge exit ramp. Cars exit the bridge at high speed.
- The building is under construction.  There is a current Class 1 violation because the facade is dangerous and has not been properly inspected.  The management company is unable to guarantee this can be remediated by the fall. 
- Building has many tenants including adult services organizations.  
- Building area is desolate other than vehicle traffic. 
- Major construction sites directly across the street 

Educational concerns:
- Over 320 students, teachers and administration will be confined to one floor of an office building. 
- There are no additional classrooms and no additional facilities; instead, students will lose a dedicated gym/dance studio and their own outdoor space. 
- The building has no auditorium, no gymnasium, no playground, no cafeteria. The library would be crammed into a small corner next to the administration. One multipurpose room is insufficient to meet all these needs. 
- There is no guarantee that the school can secure space outside the school. 
- The use of public parks for outdoor space poses additional safety concerns. It also seems likely recess and learning time will be lost, as the elevator is small and it can take 15-20 min to get groups of children up and down and to outside locations.

At the same time, Brooklyn Prospect Charter School intends to open a new elementary school at the current WTMS campus in Windsor Terrace. 

We are asking the school to halt its expansion plans and keep our students at WTMS until we have a proper new facility in District 15, whenever it is ready.