West Buffalo Charter School (WBCS) says it may be forced to find a temporary location while a legal battle wages over its attempts to acquire as its permanent home the former Public School #36 in Days Park. WBCS is currently working on options for a temporary location that meets its standards and that can accommodate 162 K-2 students in its first year of operation. Within two years the school is expected to have 270 students in grades K-4.
A Founding Trustee of WBCS, Joseph Cozzo, President and CEO of Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center, explained that for more than a year their designated landlord, Savarino Development, has been trying to acquire Public School #36 as a permanent home. He says Savarino followed the protocol set out by the City for accepting proposals for the sale and disposition of the School #36 property.
“Our discussions about acquiring School 36 started when the property was still owned by the Board of Education,” says Cozzo. “We have looked hard and fast for an adequate facility for three years including closed schools and other buildings. There are abandoned Catholic schools but the diocese refuses to sell to charter schools. School 77 would work but it is being used as a swing school while the district’s reconstruction projects are underway. It is tied up for another two or three years.”
WBCS concluded that the former School #36 on Day’s Park was not only the best option they could find, but also the only option that would suit the program needs of the school in Buffalo’s west side.
Savarino had submitted a formal non-contingent offer and contract to purchase the former school for its independently appraised value. The offer also memorialized Savarino’s intent to invest funds for remedial work on the building and to improve the grounds surrounding the school.
An existing elementary charter school, Elmwood Village Charter School (EVCS), had also submitted an offer, albeit contingent, to the City of Buffalo for School 36 for its possible future expansion plans. When it became clear that WBCS was approved by New York State to open in August of 2010 and that School #36 was its only realistic option for a location, EVCS advanced their efforts to acquire the property.
WBCS was approved by New York State as a local elementary K-4 charter school earlier this year. It is scheduled to open in August of this year. Elmwood Village Charter School is an existing elementary charter school currently located at 124 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.
According to Cozzo, EVCS has not yet applied to New York State for any expansion let alone an expansion that would require its use of the School #36 property; indeed any such large expansion is not assured, cannot be assumed, and, it can be argued, should not be the basis for a speculative real estate purchase which serves to stymie the efforts of another elementary charter school.
Cozzo stresses that the needs of West Buffalo Charter School are immediate. The school is chartered to be open in August and without a quick resolution on the school #36 building, the opening will become more difficult.
“We’re ready to go, and the ready to go part is being jeopardized because of the dispute over the school,” says Cozzo.
After consultation with WBCS, Savarino filed a suit against the City alleging that the agreement to sell School #36 to EVCS was arbitrary, capricious and that it did not follow proper process – and was as well a disservice to City taxpayers. Savarino sought and has received a Temporary Restraining Order barring the City from moving forward with any sale of School #36 to EVCS. A court date has not been set.
It should be noted that Savarino is also the Landlord for EVCS. It is a matter of public record that Savarino has independently filed a separate suit against EVCS claiming that its use of its funds for speculative real estate purchases and for uses not contemplated in its charter (or for “the good of the Corporation” as set forth in their charter) was contrary to their charter, placed EVCS at unnecessary financial risk and, for this and other reasons, constituted a default of their lease with Savarino. WBCS is not a party to that matter.
The founders of WBCS are committed to creating a school for children on the west side of Buffalo that is built upon an integrated literacy approach. It is their core belief that literacy is the foundation of all future academic and vocation success. The curriculum at WBCS will provide students with excellent language and reading skills and will educate each child in a school environment that is positive, safe, and focused on high learning standards. The school will provide students with adult support in a safe, nurturing, and academically challenging environment. The school is trying to attract and recruit the children who were described in a recent newspaper article as the “forgotten” children in the Buffalo Public School District.
According to Joseph Cozzo, the school evolved from a literacy intervention curriculum designed by Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center called “Language to Literacy.” The school’s partner, D’Youville College, will provide to the classroom staff with the latest in teaching technology and assessment to ensure that WBCS provides its graduates with the platform skills necessary for them to become highly successful lifelong learners.
Cozzo now fears the needs of students and parents in the community will go unaddressed because of this building dispute. WBCS has no other viable permanent site options and the deadline for a building confirmation with the State Education Department is looming just a few short weeks away.
“I feel terrible that two very good charter school programs are at odds over School 36,” Cozzo says. “In my view, the main concern of the parties involved should be on the children in the City of Buffalo and the greater public good. If we do not have that building to open in August of 2010, the children on the west side will be the ones who immediately suffer the most.”
“Not having a secured site is affecting our ability to recruit children,” says Cozzo. “We’re approaching a drop-dead point if we are going to open on time.”
Cozzo says the school is scrambling to find an interim site. One potential option is the old school at First Presbyterian Church on Symphony Circle. “It is a short-term solution, we’ll outgrow it in one year,” says Cozzo. “We are having discussions with First Presbyterian, but there is no lease yet.”
As for the Immaculate Conception School on Edward Street, Cozzo says the building could work, but WBCS would outgrow it in one year and it wouldn’t be worth the investment needed to prepare it for use.