In light of the Arizona-based BASIS Educational Group's desire to construct the BASIS Independent School, a $23,500 a year private school, at 556 Columbia Street, we, the undersigned Red Hook community members and allies, demand that the Board of Standards and Appeals reject BASIS Independent School's special permit application (Calendar #: 282-13-BZ).

We oppose this permit request because

1. The site, 556 Columbia Street, is an inappropriate location for a school
2. The BASIS Independent School will provide no significant benefit to our community
3. The BASIS Independent School will be a disruptive force to the neighborhood character of Red Hook and the quality of life of its residents
4. The BASIS Independent School does not reflect the values of the Red Hook Community
5. Claims that the BASIS Educational Group’s manages the “best schools in the world” are highly questionable

 

The site, 556 Columbia Street, is an inappropriate location for a school

• The proposed BASIS site is zoned for Industrial use (M3), making it a site that could otherwise provide sustainable, long-term work for members of our community. The site’s job-creation potential for Red Hook community members would be lost, and could not be replaced by comparable ones, as most of the staff of BASIS school are being recruited from outside Red Hook and NYC itself.

 

• Bringing a school to an industrial area/truck route will create unsafe traffic conditions. School traffic will impede traffic that is vital to current commerce/jobs and community uses. If efforts are begun to make traffic ‘safe’ for the school, traffic will be disrupted for the local businesses within a short radius of the school site, which will in effect put financial pressure on the school’s most immediate neighbors.

 

The BASIS Independent School will provide no significant benefit to our community

• From the beginning, the BASIS independent school has been designed to serve wealthy families from more affluent neighborhoods.  Their application clearly states that they intend to serve the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Vinegar Hill, Williamsburg, and Downtown Manhattan.

 

• The BASIS School will be taking resources from community members, including permits and space in our neighborhood recreational facilities, as well as an industrially zoned location that could provide long-term, quality jobs to community members.

 

• Any benefits to Red Hook were an afterthought, and brought to the table only after community members began expressing their discontent.  Instead of engaging the community in an open and transparent conversation about potential benefits, the BASIS Educational Group has disingenuously apologized for leaving us out of the conversation while engaging in closed-door meetings with a select few to negotiate such benefits.

 

The BASIS Independent School will be a disruptive force to the neighborhood character of Red Hook and the quality of life of its residents

• The construction of the BASIS school will put upward pressure on real estate value and housing costs, further accelerating the displacement of our neighbors who are of working class and are people of color.

 

• The construction of an exclusive $23,500 a year school in our neighborhood, along with the accompanying external impacts on housing costs and future development, would contribute to the transformation of our community to one where only the wealthy and privileged are welcome.

 

• We have strong reason to believe that such a transformation of our neighborhood would include increased police harassment of Red Hook’s young black and Latino residents.

 

• Changing the use of this industrially zoned site would set a precedent for other property owners to change uses, contributing to the disruption of our neighborhood’s industrial waterfront character.

 

The BASIS Independent School does not reflect the values of the Red Hook Community

• Unlike other private schools that value socioeconomic diversity and provide need-based financial assistance and other supports to create a more inclusive student body, BASIS, with its $23,500-a-year tuition, has not demonstrated any commitment to fostering socioeconomic diversity within its student body.

 

• Providing two scholarships for low-income youth from our neighborhood does not hide the fact that the BASIS Independent School will discriminate on the basis of class. These scholarships are an insulting attempt to placate community members and are not seen as a genuine commitment to our neighborhood.

 

• The BASIS Educational Group has ties with the American Legislative Exhcange Council (ALEC) and other organizations that promote values and causes that are contrary to those of social justice and democracy.  Michael K. Block, one of the co-founders and co-CEOs of the BASIS educational group, has worked as a consultant for ALEC. ALEC, through the drafting of model legislation and the influence of state and federal legislators, works to advance the privatization of public services, the expansion of the prison industrial complex, the erosion of protections for workers, consumers, and the environment, as well as the erosion of democracy through voter ID restrictions which disenfranchise the elderly, students, people of color and low-income voters.

 

Claims that the BASIS Educational Group’s manages the “best schools in the world” are highly questionable

• BASIS schools (of which there are 12 charters in AZ, TX, DC, and at least 5 charters and 1 other private slated to open 2014) have come under wide criticism from educators, academics, and policy makers. BASIS is among the "corporate reformers" of education, is operated as a for-profit business, and is known for heightened rigor leading to a high drop-out rate.

 

• A 2013 article by Amanda U. Potterdon at Arizona State University examined two BASIS Arizona charter schools and illustrated that the BASIS model of producing “the highest achievement test scores for the lowest cost” is largely due to “questionable methods for enrollment procedures, high attrition rates, and methods including 'counseling out' of students who might negatively affect average school performance rankings”, and that BASIS’ schools “appear to serve a privileged demographic, and then . . . likely select even further among that privileged group.”

 

• This leads us to believe that BASIS will do little, if anything, to ensure the success of any Red Hook students who receive scholarships.

 

• BASIS is a powerful player in the school privatization movement, as evidenced by its work as a serial charter school business since its inception in 1998. BASIS Independent may look like a stand-alone private school, but it is much more than that. It is a for-profit charter school company entering our city under the radar.

We all agree that BASIS is not the school for Red Hook.  Thank you for your attention on this important matter. We trust you will make the right decision.