City axes proposal to oust Brooklyn autism program with charter school move

The city canceled a plan last night that would have moved a Brooklyn charter school into Carroll Gardens’ P.S. 32, effectively ousting the public school’s program for autistic students, according to the Daily News. The plan would have temporarily relocated the Brooklyn Prospect Charter School into 14 classrooms at the 290-student Hoyt Street elementary school, which enrolls 46 autistic students who currently take advantage of the extra classrooms for intensive therapy sessions in addition to their integrated classroom lessons. The successful Nest program boasts unusually high scores on state math exams and has been mimicked at 20 public schools around the city since its inception at P.S. 32 in 2003. An emergency session at P.S. 32 last night drew some 200 parents and teachers to protest the charter school plan by the city’s Department of Education. Borough President Marty Markowitz had also spoken out against the relocation. It’s now unclear where Brooklyn Prospect will head next year, but the DOE said it’s looking into alternatives and is abandoning the original proposal. [NYDN]

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