The public school building at 190 Beach 110th Street in Rockaway Park, Queens is at risk of being turned into a private charter school. 

Waterside Children's Studio School (PS 317Q) is moving across the street into a larger space, and Waterside Leadership Academy (MS318) will remain in a portion of the building, while the majority of the building is set to be given over to Success Academy, the infamous charter school network plagued by scandals​, violating federal privacy laws​, accusations of racism​, abuse, and disability discrimination. Success Academy's embrace of the school to prison pipeline earned them the nickname "Success Academy Charter Network Suspension Factory" by Dr. Patrick Jean-Pierre of the NYU Metro Center.

This is a deliberate move to deprive public schools of what they need. The city pays rent for these charter schools and then denies public schools their basic needs:

"New York City Department of Education has overspent by many millions on rent for charter schools, while denying co-located traditional public schools millions of dollars of their legally-required matching funds for facility upgrades and repairs."

The Rockaway peninsula needs more middle schools seats, especially since it's a transportation desert and travel is a burden on kids and families.  Students deserve fully-funded local thriving public schools on this peninsula, not to have our resources privatized and drained by entities like Success Academy, who come with a long history of abusing Black and brown children, disabled children, and neurodivergent children.

There will be a vote on November 30th, where the Panel for Education Policy (PEP) will be voting on this proposal. Please sign and circulate the petition to let the panel members know that all of our children deserve better, and we do NOT want to give more public school space to Success Academy.