At a raucous meeting with a large group of teachers from the United Federation of Teachers making impassioned speeches, and a group that identified itself as “Occupy Queens” holding holer-back rallying cries such as , “99, 99, 99” for the 99 percent, Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s 13-member Panel for Education Policy approved a controversial move by Success Academy Charter School to locate a Kingergarten to 4th Grade at 284 Baltic, on Court, next to Cobble Hill Cinemas.
The city was clearly preparing for some sort of riot — there must have been 50 police officers at the meeting at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens — a very diverse but predominantly Asian area — including officers in dark suits with ear bugs and walkie talkies who acted as bouncers, surrounding anyone who got too impassioned.
The matter of the charter’s move to Cobble Hill is now up for final approval by the State University of New York Charter Institute, and the SUNY Board of Trustees. Read all about it in our indepth feature story on Success Academy.
