Middle school fears for arts program if charter co-locates
+2 Bruce CotlerParent coordinator Donna Phillips and teacher Linsey Johnson wear their emotions on their T-shirts at a rally on May 10 outside IS 285 to protest a proposed co-location at the school.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Sgt. Meyer Levin was a World War II bombardier and pilot and the first American Jewish hero of the war. He died at only 26, after more than 50 aerial battles, sacrificing his life while saving members of his crew.
Today, an emotional battle rages over the proposed co-location of Uncommon Elementary Charter School at IS 285 Meyer Levin School for the Performing Arts in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Maurice Hyde, a dean, says, “The arts program here is the best I’ve seen at this level in 20 years.” One of the students, he says, described it as “the heartbeat of our school.”
Warns Hyde: “We’re looking at losing our heartbeat.”
The magnet school provides training in dance, drama, chorus, theater production, instrumental band and steel pan orchestra. The majority of students come from the neighborhood, 87 percent qualify for free lunch and 17 percent have Individualized Education Programs.
Amelize Joseph, who has lived in the community for 30 years and has a daughter at Levin, says “A lot of people in our community are low-income and they can’t afford to send their kids to” private classes to study performing arts, “so if they take the programs away, what will the kids have?”
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