Neighbors knock new charter school

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The dispute started with an all-too-familiar New York problem: complaints about traffic jams and school buses blocking the street.

But the disagreement between residents of Marble Hill and a new school in the neighborhood has quickly escalated, with more accusations appearing on a growing list of grievances.

Now, residents who live at 225th Street and Marble Hill Avenue want the charter school, Atmosphere Academy, off the block, and they are threatening to go to court to make that happen.

Members of the Marble Hill Avenue United Association claim the academy cannot manage its students, failed to notify 225th Street residents of the school’s opening and is unlawfully located on the block. And then there is still the persistent problem of school buses and parents’ cars causing traffic jams, residents argue.

“Students from the charter school come out and they throw rocks at the dogs,” said Yessenia Benitz, a social worker, who has two pit bulls and a dachshund.

Martha Rivera, who has lived on the block for 50 years, said Atmosphere’s students “started throwing things” in her yard.

Cynthia Lambert, who has lived on the block for more than 40 years, said students yell out to each other while in line and yell out to people on the street as they walk to the park for gym between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. and that it happens two to three times each week. She added that school employees fail to control the students. “I’ve seen the kids go from that building to the park. They are as loud as they can be,” she said.

Marble Hill is politically a part of Manhattan, but since the rerouting of the Harlem River it is geographically part of the Bronx. The neighborhood falls under the Bronx’s Community Board 8 and School District 10.

Bernice Cintron, the president of the neighborhood association, questions the legality of opening a school on 225th Street, which is part of Manhattan, to help students from the Bronx.

The school’s principal, Colin Greene, maintains he had reached out to the community. He and another staff member walked through the neighborhood before Atmosphere Academy opened in the fall of 2015,

Mr. Greene said. But local residents and activists interviewed by The Press denied receiving any communication from school employees ahead of the academy’s opening.

“There’s almost a vendetta against our school to close our school, which is a different issue than the bus issue,” Mr. Greene said.

“Atmosphere charter school traffic problems and other issues” was the second item on the agenda of a special joint meeting of the Education and Traffic and Transportation committees of Community Board 8 in the northwest Bronx on June 29. The discussion moved from school bus concerns to calls to get the school out of its current location.

“The community board does not have a great deal of jurisdiction in this area,” the chair of the Traffic and Transportation committee, Michael Heller, told the meeting. “Regardless of what we’re convinced needs to be done or should be done, we don’t have any kind of formal role in the planning or improvement process for this system. We will listen and take it under advisement of what our output should be.”

The school serves grades six through eight, according to its website. If future charter terms are approved, the academy would enroll students through 12th grade, the State University of New York (SUNY), which oversees charter schools, said in a 2014 statement.

During the week, “there is no way to get through Marble Hill with all of these buses,” Ms. Cintron of the Marble Hill United Association said. Speaking to The Press after the community board meeting, Ms. Cintron added that teachers park on the block in areas designated as “no parking,” and weekend programs at the school make the situation worse.

According to the school’s online calendar, Atmosphere Academy holds half school days on Saturdays one to three times per month during the academic year, the Westhab Summer Program starting on July 5 and summer school starting on July 11.

Ms. Cintron, whose family moved to the block in 1976, said she takes her father to chemotherapy appointments, and traveling through the street sometimes takes up to 45 minutes. Her son, who is a special-needs student, once became distressed after being stuck on the school bus for 30 minutes because of the slow-moving traffic: “His face was red, and he was hyperventilating,” she said.

Mr. Greene defended his school in an interview with The Press and invited the community association’s members to visit.

“I think we really bring some dynamic offerings to the community,” Mr. Greene said. “Atmosphere is supposed to be a place for everyone and that is what we want it to be.”

But following the initial interview, Mr. Greene has not

responded to allegations that students throw items on residents’ lawns, accusations that staff members cannot manage students, or requests for comment on how the school plans to work with residents during its summer programs.

The school’s operations manager, Dahiana Sanchez, told the community board meeting the school has been trying to resolve traffic jam problems after learning about residents’ concerns, and now coordinates its bus schedule so that its three buses do not arrive in front of the school at the same time.

“All of our buses arrive around 3:45 and all of the buses leave the area by 4 o’clock, 4:05,” she said. An after-school bus, which had been departing at 5:30 p.m., stopped running on May 13, she said.

Other schools also have buses traveling on Marble Hill Avenue, Ms. Sanchez said, arguing the community should look into other potential culprits behind the traffic jams.

Sylvia Alexander, the chair of the community board’s Education Committee, said she visited the area in May and was stuck in traffic along with other drivers. But when she returned on June 14 and watched the street from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., the situation had improved, she said.

Members of the neighborhood association were not convinced. The heavy traffic might still prevent emergency vehicles from entering the street, Ms. Clinton said.

Deputy Inspector Terence O’Toole, the commanding officer of the 50th Precinct, said his officers were doing the best they could to alleviate traffic problems, but the precinct’s resources were limited. Officers were needed at W. 230th Street and Broadway, a dangerous intersection, and could not continuously patrol Marble Hill Avenue, he said, adding that officers enforce the law when they are on the block or receive complaints about traffic problems.

Mr. Greene, the principal, said he wanted to work with the neighborhood association, but activists insisted the dispute was beyond an amicable settlement.

“Let the Manhattan County Court decide whether or not they actually legally moved into that building,” Ms. Cintron said.

Atmosphere Academy, charter schools, Marble Hill, Marble Hill Avenue United Association, Lisa Herndon

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