In The News

The borough’s newspaper of record ran a story on the pending closure of The Little Room last week. The In this most recent article, the Brooklyn Paper correctly noted that BHMS contradicted itself when explaining why it planned to terminate the program.

The troubles all started late in 2008 when Montessori School officials decided that its regular school program and its Little Room program could no longer fit under the Bergen Street roof. Those officials assigned a task force of parents and staff to find a new home for the program — which is currently state-funded and free — by December, 2009. But complications among the program’s would-be host, future director and the state Department of Education hindered the effort.

Montessori Head of School Dane Peters declined to talk about the problem, referring a Brooklyn Paper reporter to the school’s outside spokeswoman, Lupe Todd, who said, “I do understand what these parents are going through, but this isn’t about money, or even space. It’s about two schools growing under one roof — two schools that need to be separate.”

Todd’s comments are in direct contradiction with the Montessori School’s earlier position. Just over a year ago, Montessori officials said that the Little Room was too costly because state reimbursement rates don’t fully cover the expense of such a fine program.

Many parents say that the failure to find a new sponsor is the Montessori school’s fault. Matilda Garrido, whose son is a Little Room graduate, said parents found out about Montessori’s discontinuation of the Little Room program by accident, through a vague letter sent out by the school in 2008. [The Brooklyn Paper]

The New York Post recently ran a story on the letter written by State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman and Councilmembers Steve Levin and Brad Lander which outlined some options on how to help save The Little Room.

The letter suggests two options for saving the school.

One calls for BHMS to extend the deadline for closing Little Room to August 2011. This, the elected officials said, would give YAI Network “ample time to complete all of the necessary paperwork and to identify and properly prepare a new home” for Little Room beginning in September 2011.

The second option is for BHMS to allow YAI to operate Little Room in its current location at the Montessori school next academic year. YAI would rent the space and use the extra time to find a permanent site.

BHMS, however, is not budging. [NYPost.com]

There was an article posted on the New York Times City Room Blog yesterday detailing the events surrounding the closure of the Little Room. As Paul Nelson (Assemblywoman Joan Millman’s Chief of Staff) correctly pointed out, we needed another year, and BHMS refused to consider it.

But some parents and elected officials including State Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman and State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose districts include Brooklyn Heights, say that the school is not allowing enough time to find a workable space for the Little Room, and is prematurely shutting it down when there are still other options.

“At this point, the ball is really in Brooklyn Heights Montessori’s court,” said Paul Nelson, chief of staff for Ms. Millman. “We’ve tried to do too much in too short a time and we need another year, and they’ve refused to consider it. We’re going to keep asking them.” [NYTimes.com]

12 Dean St. (Brooklyn, NY)

With the Little Room program still officially homeless after the 2010 school year, parents of Little Room children were shocked and dismayed to receive a mailing from BHMS trumpeting its $1.9 million purchase of the facility at 12 Dean St. The “strategic goal” of the new building is to increase enrollment in the general ed program at BHMS by approximately 40 students.

While the future for BHMS looks rosy, unfortunately the same can’t be said for the future of The Little Room: the program is still without a permanent home after 2010 and the November 15, 2009 deadline for winding down the Little Room looms large. In recent weeks, the Board of BHMS voted to move ahead with pursuing the transition of The Little Room to a new home at The League Treatment Center in DUMBO, but this process is by no means complete, nor is it even assured that it will happen at this point.

The Brooklyn Paper picked up on BHMS expansion story and they have some quotes from Head of School Dane Peters (whom they refer to as Dane Smith), who once again publicly emphasized out the financial drain of the Little Room on the school’s resources.

The push to separate the Little Room from the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School is due to irreconcilable financial and philosophical differences, Smith [sic] said, explaining that the state-regulated special-ed track is incompatible with the independent Montessori teaching model, in which students do not receive grades.

It’s also a drain on the school’s resources because the state’s reimbursements do not cover the Little Room’s expenses. Its students do not pay tuition either.

“It couldn’t sustain itself. We would have had to cut staff salaries,” Smith [sic] told The Brooklyn Paper. “The physical plant is costly. The state will only pay so much for overhead.” [TheBrooklynPaper.com]

Here’s what Dane Peters didn’t say to The Brooklyn Paper:

a) Like their Montessori counterparts, the 3 and 4 year olds enrolled in The Little Room program do not receive grades.

b) While Little Room students “do not pay tuition”, the State of New York pays the school for each child enrolled in the Little Room program.

c) BHMS is currently not receiving the maximum reimbursement per Little Room student from the State; Little Room parents offers to fundraise have been rebuffed by the school; and

d) In Roger Clark’s story for NY1, BHMS spokesperson Bob Liff, stated that, “…finances are always an issue with private education, that is not the core issue that’s driving this discussion.”

Scans of the BHMS “12 Dean St Purchase” mailing after the jump.

(more…)

The League Treatment Center, another Brooklyn school that serves children with special needs may be forced to relocate by November 2010 if it cannot come to terms with its obstinate landlord.

The facility, which accommodates 100 children, most of them preschoolers with autism, was informed two years ago that its lease would not be renewed, said Hannah Achtenberg Kinn, the chief executive officer. The current lease expires in November 2010.
…
Ms. Kinn, for her part, said the center has looked at other spaces, but is willing to pay market-rate rent in order to stay, and has said as much to Two Trees. In response, Mr. Walentas noted that commercial market rents are expensive and questioned whether a social service organization should pay so much for rent rather than operating cost. [NYTimes.com]

In response to Mr. Walentas, perhaps you should stop being so patronizing and allow the school to renegotiate its lease.

You can view the NY1 piece on The Little Room on Time Warner Cable channel 1110 under Boroughs->Brooklyn->Little Room Closing. The Roger Clark story will be available until February 17, 2009.

Read the full story here.

Time’s Short for Little Room
By Michele De Meglio

The Brooklyn Heights Montessori School will maintain the Little Room program for children with special needs through 2010 – but parents aren’t celebrating.

“I’m not happy. None of us are.,” said Joyce Creidy, whose twin sons are in their second year at Little Room. “It’s unfortunate that they really don’t see future children who this program as being enough.”

Montessori, located at 185 Court Street, agreed to keep the program until August 2010 but next year to accept fewer than in year’s past. The Little would have to find a home before the start of the 2010-2011 school year.
…
[Park Slope Courier]

While this is a good article, I believe there are a few points that require clarification:

1) I’m not sure it’s 100% accurate to say that the Little Room will accept fewer children into the program for the upcoming academic year. There are 19 children aging out of the program this year and I believe it is the intent of the administration at BHMS to have “a full complement of students [next year] to retain the integrity of the program.” (December 17, 2008 email)
2) In the same email, Dane Peters, Head of School at BHMS, informed the community that if a viable alternative location for The Little Room was not found by November 15, 2009, steps would be taken to wind down the program the following summer.
3) Helene Banks, President of the BHMS Board of Trustees, informed the attendees at the public meeting on December 18, 2008 that the Little Room program would consist solely of 4 year olds in the upcoming academic year (2009-2010).

This article makes some excellent points. Read the whole thing over here.

…
There are several alternatives to moving the school: The Little Room can apply for more funding from the state; it can raise its class size from 9 to 12 students; it can recruit parents to organize fundraising efforts; it can pay the special education teachers less than the general education teachers. These are only some of the more obvious solutions.

The simple, stomach churning fact of the Little Room’s eviction is this: The Board of Trustee parents who can afford to spend $25,000 a year in tuition to send their child to school don’t want that school to also house special-needs students. It makes the parents uncomfortable. They don’t want their child to be confused with a child having a language delay.

I say to the school’s trustees, Get over it! If you are really concerned with diversity and the future of the school, as you say, then you will help teach your children that with privilege comes responsibility. A truly diverse education can not be taught; it can only be exemplified through our acts and words.
[NY School Examiner]

McBrooklyn [12/19/08]
OTBKB [12/18/08]
Brownstoner [12/18/08]
NYTimes City Room Blog [12/18/08]
NY Observer [12/18/08]

What’s disconcerting about all of the stories covering the Little Room is that none mention the fact that BHMS could have received more money from the state, yet because they failed to file the proper paperwork in a timely manner, they did not.

School Unit Gets Reprieve at Montessori in Brooklyn
By WINNIE HU
Published: December 17, 2008

Brooklyn Heights Montessori School announced Wednesday that it would continue to operate the Little Room, a well-regarded preschool for children with special needs, until August 2010 to allow all of the current students to finish the two-year program.

Prospect of a Beloved Preschool’s Demise Alarms Brooklyn Parents (December 14, 2008)

The decision by the school’s 23-member board of trustees came after more than a week of contentious exchanges between school officials and parents who have fought to keep the program from closing as early as next summer. School officials said they would use the additional time to try to find another home for the Little Room.

“The board wanted to make sure it was doing the right thing for the school and the program,” said Dane L. Peters, the head of the school.

The future of the state-financed special education program had been in question in recent weeks after Brooklyn Heights Montessori, a private elementary and middle school, informed parents that it could no longer keep the Little Room at its red-brick complex at Court and Bergen Streets. The program, which like others for preschoolers with special needs is free to those who qualify, was started by the school in 1970.

Mr. Peters said the Little Room did not fit in with the school’s future plans, and required a subsidy of more than $100,000 a year to make up the difference between the program’s expenses and about $1.2 million in annual reimbursements from the state.

Mr. Peters said the school planned to keep in place the entire staff next year.

He also said he would hire a new director to replace Sonia Nachuk, who left Friday for another job.

Brooklyn Heights Montessori plans to form a transition task force of trustees, faculty and parents to explore future options for the program, like being taken over by another school or special education program. Mr. Peters said the school would continue to subsidize the Little Room while also trying to get state education officials to increase its reimbursements.

Little Room parents expressed relief at the reprieve but said they remained concerned about finding a new location quickly; a statement by the board said it needed to identify a new potential home by Nov. 15, 2009, or start preparing to close the program. [NYTimes.com]