ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Two separate charter schools want to buy former Rochester City School District buildings, but some city council members say the schools should be used in other ways.
News10NBC spoke with city leaders, school leaders and students about the future of the buildings.
Former School 20’s future?
The Young Women’s College Prep Charter School, currently based in Greece, is hoping to turn the former RCSD School 20 into their new home, but it has to get past city council first.
“The most rational and adaptive use of a property is for its original design purpose. All of these buildings were designed and built as schools, and we’ve got folks who are saying, ‘hey, we want to use them as public schools,'” Patterson said.
“However you feel about charter schools, they are public schools. They’re designed as schools and these folks are going, ‘well, let us buy the surplus school buildings that the school district no longer needs and use them again as schools in the communities in which they’re located.'”
City Councilmember Michael Patterson wants to allow the sale of now closed RCSD schools like School 20 — which closed six years ago — to charter schools. He was joined at a Thursday night public info session by dozens of charter school parents, students and leaders like Principal Sheri Webber, who wants to bring the Young Women’s College Prep School closer to where their students actually live.
“We’ve been located in Greece for the last 12 or so years, and we serve 90% of our population is RCSD students, and we want to be in their home. We want to be in their backyard. And it’s our goal to be back in the city and serving the kids that need to be served,” Webber said.
“Also we need to, also have a larger school to accommodate the growing population of kids,” said Ghislaine Radgonde-Eison, board chair of the school.
City Councilmembers pushback
The idea has faced pushback from some city councilmembers. In a vote to sell a separate school — School 29 — to the Rochester Academy of Science at an April 9 committee meeting, Councilmembers Mary Lupien and Stanley Martin said they’d rather see that building turned into housing.
“Selling schools to charter schools is something that I ideologically don’t support. However, I want to understand the suitability of school 29 for housing. Because that’s, in my mind, a better use of these buildings,” Lupein said at the meeting.
“Right now I’m in alignment with, Councilmember Lupien,” Martin said.
Students weigh in
But students at the Academy say they’re sick of sharing a building with Bishop Kearney High School and want a school closer to home, and with more space.
“A lot of the students at Roc Sci live in the city, and we have to go all the way to around to Irondequoit to go to school. But it’ll be easier and better transportation for the students to get to school quicker and faster, because everyone lives in the city,” said Beautifull Carter, a student.
Looking ahead
Rochester City Council is aiming to vote on the sales of School 20 and 29 in the coming weeks. But how about other former RCSD schools?
School 25 on North Goodman and Bay is set to be turned into affordable housing, with construction beginning next year. But former Schools 44, 106 and 2 will remain vacant for now.
Two former city schools could be sold to charter schools, but some council members want buildings used for housing instead WHEC.com.
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