Charter school secures space in East Village

Classes will soon be back in session for middle schoolers at Girls Prep on East Houston Street, whose classes were delayed from their Aug. 16 start date to accommodate the school’s expansion plan. Girls Prep has now secured new space at 51 Astor Place in Cooper Square for 125 fifth- and sixth-graders, DNAinfo reported. The East Village school’s decision to look elsewhere for classroom space came following protests from parents and elected officials over its planned expansion within the East Houston Street building, which would have caused special-needs students — who share the building with Girls Prep — to move. Following the protests, the Department of Education backed off a plan to use an “emergency declaration” that would have bypassed an earlier state ruling against the expansion. [DNAinfo]