Middle Schoolers Will Learn Ukulele In Old Bed-Stuy Family Dollar

BEDFORD STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Kids will be able to study woodworking, improv and the ukulele at a new private school opening above a Bed-Stuy Family Dollar.

The Co-op School — a private school chain founded by Clinton Hill parents — will open a 250-seat middle school at 644 Gates Ave. in time for the 2018-2019 school year, the group announced on their website.

“Rooted in the joy and inquiry-based learning ideals of the preschool and elementary programs,” said school officials in a statement, “The Middle School will strive to develop students into active members of the school as well as the local community.”

The Co-op middle school curriculum will feature a wide array of STEM and arts courses that include computer-focused mathematics, STEM Design Challenges, and a variety of electives that music composition, photography and ukulele for beginners, school officials said.

Students will also regularly participate in a “Genius Hour,” when they’ll be given time “to explore their passions” with individual projects as well as community service and “mindfulness” sessions.

The Co-op School launched in 2003 as a preschool in a Clinton Hill brownstone basement and has since expanded to include an elementary school in Bed-Stuy.

Meredith Gray, the school's director, told Crain’s New York Business that The Coop School prioritized affordability when it set the tuition at $17,000-per-year.

"We try and make the student body as balanced as we can so it reflects the neighborhood," she said. "We definitely want a diverse group."

The Bawabeh family — developers who are also helping the school develop a location in Flatbush — gave the school a 20-year lease for 30,0000 square feet of the Family Dollar building, according to Crain’s.

Correction: This story originally misstated that the school would replace the Family Dollar.

Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps/Nov. 2017