Brooklyn Charter Network Plans To Open 2 New Schools In 2019

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A local charter school network that provides a free education to thousands of students in central Brooklyn plans to open two more locations, school officials announced.

Ascend Public Charter Schools — a Brooklyn-based charter school network currently serving 4,400 students — announced Wednesday their plans to open two schools for kindergarteners and first graders in 2019.

“Ascend welcomes this opportunity to further serve the high academic aspirations of the Central Brooklyn community by opening two new public charter schools,” said Susan Pollock, president of Ascend Learning, in a statement.

Ascend will submit its proposal for two 224-student schools — to be located in either Crown Heights, Bed, Stuy, Brownsville, Bushwick, Ditmas Park, East New York, Flatbush or Midwood — to the State University of New York Charter Schools Institute this year, the school announced.

The SUNY institute is currently accepting applications for its Stimulus Fund Grant program, and will be distributing $1.6 million to qualifying charter schools to develop new facilities, according to their website.

The expansion was spurred by the more than 3.200 students currently on waitlists to attend Ascend's 10 charter schools — serving grades kindergarten through 11 — in Brownsville, Bushwick, Canarsie, and East Flatbush, school officials said.

“We are eager to respond to the overwhelming demand for our academically rigorous program," Pollock said.

Ascend was recently the subject of a New York Times feature examining the decline of “No Excuses,” a teaching philosophy that mandated strict punishments for minor infractions.

The charter school network was one of the first to abandon the philosophy — which resulted in high numbers of suspensions — for a more progressive approach to behavior management, according to the Times.

And in 2015, The Atlantic wrote extensively about Ascend’s emphasis on arts and cultural education, despite trends in similar schools toward STEM-test focused programs.

School officials have created an email account to accept feedback or comments about the new schools. Those who wish to contact them at feedback@ascendlearning.org are asked to use the subject line “New School Feedback.”

Photo courtesy of Ascend Public Charter Schools