Controversy Rages as DOE Plans to Move West Prep Academy into Shut Down Catholic School

Controversy is rocking West Prep Academy, an Upper West Side Middle school that the Board of Education plans to move to the former Ascension School a few blocks away that the Catholic Archdiocese shut down last June.

Parents and teachers protested at West Prep, situated at 150 W. 105th St., between Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue, blasting the DOE’s plan to move it a few blocks away to the former Ascension School, at 220 W 108th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway.

While the DOE told protestors that a final vote on the move is not scheduled to take place until May 22, there may be little chance to reverse the move.

The Department of Education has already leased the building from the Archdiocese of New York, the West Side Spirit found. This reporter witnessed construction work that was already underway. A source at Ascension disclosed that the Archdiocese is paying for the extensive renovations before turning it over to the DOE, which has plans to move the West Prep Academy in by the fall of 2024 school year.

The 126-year-old Ascension once housed 1,100 students in its heyday in the early part of the 20th century before its enrollment declined to 290 by the time it closed last June. The DOE said the school will allow more space and programs for West Prep, which shares its building with Bloomingdale elementary school PS 145 at its current location. The building has a library and gym/auditorium, but no outdoor playground.

If, as expected, the move is ratified at the May 22 hearing, it would be the second time in 13 years that West Prep is relocated.

West Prep offers a free autism program and has served as a lifeline for its student body of mostly black and Latino families. The DOE’s plan for West Prep to move to the larger space will allow for more dual-language classes like Spanish and Russian programs at PS 145, helping migrant children adapt to life in New York, and space for students in classrooms.

West Prep middle school’s enrollment declined during the pandemic to 200 students and has not fully recovered with 170 students currently, while PS 145’s enrollment went up to 500 students, causing overcrowding in the building that currently houses the elementary school and the middle school.

Sonia Lorenzi, a teacher at PS 145 for 32 years says she’s seen the whole transition and movement in the school. Over the past several years, Lorenzi said the student population in the elementary school has been growing with class sizes up to 32 students in some classes. “We simply wanted and needed more space.” Lorenzi said. “And how could you not accept more children.”

Unlike West Prep, which has seen the student enrollment decline, Lorenzi says that PS 145, with its growing student body population desperately needs more space and it is tough to accommodate both schools under the same roof. “We [teachers] are working out of libraries. Ten of us are,” Lorenzi said. “I had to give up my classroom last year, and work out of a closet, which was not adequate. Many teachers were working out of a closet, and that’s not fair.”

“It’s very stressful when you are looking for a place to work with the student,” Lorenzi said. “When you are giving mandated services like counseling, like speech, or OT [occupational therapy], and you can’t find the space to do that, it’s very frustrating. I don’t like when you are in the same room and everyone’s talking over each other. When the kids come in and they have their special needs, sometimes that is overwhelming for them also.”

Protesters who rallied on April 16 think that there is an agenda behind the need to move the students to another building that stems from allegations of racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, that brewed last winter, according to the New York Daily News. A grandmother of one student who is in his last year at PS 145 questioned why the kids are being moved now.

“Why is it that they are trying to move them?” she said to the Spirit wanting to remain unnamed. “Is it because they are black and brown kids? What is the real reason...?”

But Lorenzi, begs to differ. “We are not trying to throw any kids out,” she said. “I grew up in this neighborhood, and these are our neighborhood kids. We just need the space for our students to function.”

Lauren Balaban, PTA [parent-teacher association] co-president at PS 145, and parent of a first grader, supports Lorenzi’s statement. “Eighty percent of our kids are black and brown in this school too,” Balaban said. “Unfortunately, in situations like this, that’s when the racial stuff comes up because there is real trauma here in this neighborhood. So, every time communities get pushed around, it rattles them and brings all that back up, and that’s understandable. But, it’s just not what is actually happening from a logistical standpoint.”

The principal and PTA at PS 145 also reported that space constraints have cost the students access to a music room, TV studio, and science and technology lab at the overcrowded PS 145.

“And when you strip everything away no matter what the parents want, no matter what the kids need, and you just look at the physical numbers—both schools are performing outside of our footprint and neither school can grow,” said Balaban. “You have two successful and well-functioning schools that are being stifled to grow, and one of those schools has a ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder] Nest program [an inclusive program designed to support higher functioning kids with autism] that can’t take in more kids that need that program.”

“We have students with IEPS [Individualized Education Programs] who are not getting the proper service in the building in the way they should,” Lorenzi adds.

Parents who side with protesters like, Deysi Juarderas, a mother of a child who attends PS 145, still object in the pending West Prep move. “The move is a bad idea and will affect the kids a lot.” Juarderas said to the Spirit, translated from Spanish. “When they make the new installments for the students, they will have to start fresh, and that will have a psychological effect on the kids. They are happy now where they are.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Education mentions that the new building at the former Ascension School will meet the needs of students at both the elementary school and the middle school by splitting them up.

“We are confident that the newly renovated Ascension building will provide a more modern, and comfortable learning environment for students if we move forward with the proposal. We will continue to work closely with students, staff, and families to ensure that their needs are heard, and continue promoting a culture that allows all students to thrive,” a spokesperson for the DOE said.

The Ascension school at the time of its closure contained a library and a combo gym/auditorium, but no outdoor playground.

The DOE plans to add a science lab and additional improvements that will support the ASD Nest program for West Prep students. If the proposal passes, the district superintendent will explore options for students to have an outdoor space.

“The superintendent is working with leaders from both schools to ensure a smooth transition for all students, staff, and families,” a spokesperson for the DOE said.

Several calls to the DOE to get more information on the acquired status of the building were left unanswered.