A charter school chain’s bid to build a pricey private school in Red Hook is an out-of-nowhere, elitist moneymaking scheme that has no place in the working-class neighborhood, said a local panel that voted to block its bid on Wednesday night.
Community Board 6 voted against Arizona-based Basis Independent School’s application to build a five-story private school on Columbia Street where tuition would run $23,500 per year, saying that it would be a terrible fit in the industrial area between the Red Hook Houses, the borough’s biggest public housing development, and furniture retailer Ikea. Not only that, but Basis filed the application for a special building permit without telling neighbors, according to board members who said that raised red flags.
“My sense is that either this is a blatant attempt by [Basis] to fly under the radar — or, in the best case, they are incredibly naïve,” said board member Elizabeth Shipley. “They should spend some more time building up support and building up relationships.”
The board’s land use committee approved Basis’ plan for a school between Bay and Sigourney streets at a Nov. 14 meeting, but the board then recommended the company go back to the drawing board because the high-priced learning center would be out-of-place and because the company did bupkis to hear out Red Hookers about their concerns.
The school chain stuck to its original application to the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals, which did nothing to endear it to the already-suspicious board.
“There’s something in this that’s not right,” said board member Roger Rigolli. “This is nothing but a façade.”
Some Red Hook residents at the meeting said they were blindsided by Basis’ application because the company did not do its due diligence in telling neighbors about the school plan as required by Community Board 6, but the company maintains it did what it was told.
“It’s like a disrespect,” said Lillie Marshall, president of a Red Hook Houses tenants association. “They are coming into the community, and they are not saying anything to anybody. The location is wrong.”
Basis is hoping to open the school in the fall of 2014. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
