The Co-Op School Finds a Home in Clinton Hill
After five years of using temporary space (mot recently at 241 Taaffe Place), the Co-op School, a pre-school serving the Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bed Stuy communities, has found a permanent home: The 60-family group will take over the Irving Place Child Development Center at 87 Irving Place between Putnam Avenue and Fulton Street…
After five years of using temporary space (mot recently at 241 Taaffe Place), the Co-op School, a pre-school serving the Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bed Stuy communities, has found a permanent home: The 60-family group will take over the Irving Place Child Development Center at 87 Irving Place between Putnam Avenue and Fulton Street in Clinton Hill. From what we hear, everyone is thrilled with how the long search ended up. Hopefully, it will also apply some extra pressure to law enforcement’s efforts to address the long-time, ahem, quality of life issues that have plagued Putnam Avenue. GMAP
Dang I keep missing all the fun posts.
Fair enough clintonhillchill/bknesto – I see where you are coming from. I doubt there’s anything that insidious about the question from Brownstoner. We know about PS 56, the daycare with the playground on the roof of the senior center etc. Considering that those places haven’t resulted in any greater police presence probably means the Coop School won’t make a difference to police presence.
Brownstoner made the same sort of post when he talked about the Achievement First Charter School to be opened on Waverly – he said something about that school opening hopefully putting pressure on the methadone clinic to clean up its act. The kids at that school will be 99% poor and minorities, so maybe that’s why you didn’t get upset at that post.
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/01/ground_broken_o_1.php
I think that more schools along Fulton Street is a good thing. I doubt it will result in more police presence, unless you have parents who are more prone to calling the police regarding quality of life issues they see near where their kids go to school. That may be the case, who knows. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, and parents of little kids can be very squeaky. However, without some sort of active push from proactive parents, I don’t see much changing re cop presence. Maybe an increase in people frequenting Michael Allen Deserts, Outpost, Brown Betty for a cup of coffee etc., but probably no change in police…
chnewbie–As someone who lives on the next block from the school (and as someone who also, like Putnam Denizen, picks up a lot of trash around the area) I can understand your misapprehension about the physical appearance of the block. However, I moved here from Clinton and Lafayette and I have never felt unsafe or unwelcome here on my street so I would imagine that the look of the place has made you unnecessarily unsettled. You would have no problem picking your child up from school at whatever hour and you would find that the area is inhabited by friendly people. Definitely go check it out again before you make a snap judgement.
Hey – I cleaned up the street yesterday. Obviously you are facing a different situation than you expected, so I’ll try not to be too insulted. From our postings above, it should be clear that we who live near the new site of the Co-op School (is it still a cooperative?) are aware that we do not present as spiffily as say, Washington Avenue (but isn’t the school of Taafe Place now? hardly convenient). Building new institutions and communities involve taking risks – perhaps you should talk to the leadership at the Co-op School to understand why a building the size of the irving Place building is such an opportunity. If you take another look at the area you may stumble across Outpost Cafe and Michael Allen’s Desserts which may feed your need for coffee and sweets. People have been picking their kids up at that location for decades without problems. My son and I walk down Putnam every day. I remember others having similar fears about the location of Community Roots Charter School and they got over it. I hope it works out for you, or that you find a place more to your liking.
Our child was recently accepted to the co-op school and we were thrilled. We thought it was a little odd that the email recommended that we walk by the new location but after going there, I understand. We were extremely disappointed by the location, which was not only further away, but across the street from an empty lot with trash all over the streets. I wouldn’t want to pick up my child by myself when it got dark. I’m surprised that anyone affiliated with the school is “thrilled” by the location. I thought it was funny that the price of the coop school was increased (along with a requirement of a $2000 bond) when they basically moved to a crappier (albeit it larger) location.
And people like BKnesto who blog about these kinds of issues are bridge builders. I would also like to be a bridge builder and in my own way I try to integrate with my neighbors and see what makes them tick.
The divide does indeed continue – and of course, as I make clear in my post, it is racial in nature as well as class. But here and there people create bridges, which sometimes crumble and sometimes hold. A lot depends on people being willing to listen hard, being open to being wrong, and retreating from absolutes.
BKNesto–if I may say so myself, you do a great service to everyone in trying to bridge whatever “cultural divide” we have in this neighborhood. I don’t personally think that anything that was said by commenters in this thread was particularly egregious in the “classist” sense but I do appreciate your point of view in general. I think that perhaps it was a stretch to equate police presence with this school but in general I really think that most everyone who lives in this neck of the woods, no matter their background, will agree that the Clinton Hill Co-op school going into this space is a good thing.
Oh it shows big time here and PLENTY of other posts. I’d go on a limb to say it’s not simply a “classist slip”. I do however appreciate your honesty. But once again it shows some of the attitudes people have about the people they live around is sickening…The divide continues…