New charter high school opens on Fifth Ave

In late August, Launch Charter High School opened on the second floor of 475 53rd Street, part of the same building as United Senior Center. Launch has over 60 freshmen with capacity for 85 students, and a 6:1 student-to-teacher ratio, according to their chief operating officer, Alexis Rubin. Many of the students matriculated from Launch’s middle school in Crown Heights.

Classes include theater, algebra, and world history, and over the summer, the school took students surfing. There’s no gym, so for PE, students go to Soccer Roof, Major Owens Community Center, or back to their middle school for soccer, track, mixed martial arts, and other activities.

Ninth-grader Joseph takes two trains to get to Launch, but says he likes Sunset Park, highlighting a class trip to Melody Lanes and a scavenger hunt where he was tasked with interviewing a fruit vendor. “It’s a nice neighborhood,” said Joseph. “I like the parks.”

LEEP Dual Language Academy Charter School previously occupied the space, but moved to the nearby Bay Ridge Savings Bank building after completing a large-scale renovation.

Launch’s current space is limited, but Rubin said they have bids open for a larger, permanent 9-12 school in Sunset Park, and are looking at existing buildings where they, like LEEP, would do significant renovations.

When asked why they chose Sunset Park, Rubin said Launch reached out to community members and organizations, including the Sunset Park Business Improvement District.

Delvis Valdes, the vice-chair of the BID, holds the lease for Launch’s new space. Sunset Park Councilmember Alexa Avilés said her office learned this when United Senior Center nearly closed due to a rent hike exceeding 70%. Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes and Avilés secured more than $1 million in state and city funding to save the center. Launch gets a rental subsidy per-pupil, according to Rubin, and the idea of more public funds going to the landlord angers Avilés.

“DOE has to pay that rent, and then P.S. 516 has no money for after-school programs,” said Avilés. “It’s infuriating to me. It drains our local public school resources. We have too many schools, and not enough resources.”

If space is not available in the district for two or more schools to share in one building, New York State law requires the NYC Department of Education to subsidize charter school rent at a new location. DOE school enrollment is also directly tied to public funding, so a decline in enrollment means a decline in public funding.

But some parents say charter schools are a helpful option, especially as a backup when ranking school choices for middle and high school.

A mother of three who wished to remain anonymous, born and raised in Sunset Park, chose Brooklyn Prospect High School, a charter in Windsor Terrace, for her oldest daughter after she expressed discomfort with attending the larger FDR High School in nearby Borough Park.

"I had heard negative things about charter schools being rigid and having long hours. I didn't want to consider that for my children," she said. "I chose Brooklyn Prospect because I knew parents whose children went there and had good things to say. It turned out to be a good experience.”

Her daughter is able to continue studying dance at Brooklyn Prospect and enjoys the smaller classes. The school also has an International Baccalaureate program that prepares students for college. She’s now considering Sunset Yards Middle School on 39th Street, part of the Brooklyn Prospect network, as an option for her 10-year-old.

Brooklyn Rise Charter Schools plans to build a new 36,000-square-foot K-8 school for over 450 students at Fourth Avenue and 40th Street. It is within a six-block radius of P.S. 001, P.S. 169, P.S. 204, P.S. 516, P.S. 958, and middle schools Dewey and Sunset Park Prep. When it was originally approved by the DOE for its charter in 2018, overcrowding was a major issue in Sunset Park and there were not as many schools nearby, according to a recent Community Board 7 resolution calling for rescinding that approval.

This sentiment has also been shared by many local parents.

Anna, a Sunset Park educator and parent, said that area is called the School Corridor. "My daughter goes to a public school in Sunset Park, and there are so many things that I would love for her school to have, like having a science teacher," she said. "There are not enough resources. We need to make sure our schools are fully funded."

PTA co-president Fanny Manzo-Luna at P.S. 516 said the community requested four more schools ten years ago, and they have already opened up. “The charter school is coming in late,” she said. “It’s a misuse of public funds to spend millions on building a facility when we have schools serving the community.”

Brooklyn Rise said it has signed a 35-year lease for the site with an annual rent of $1.6 million that will be reimbursed by the DOE and the state, according to the CB7 resolution.

Real estate developer Barone Management, which holds a large portfolio of charter school buildings throughout the city, plans to complete the school by early 2027.

While new for-profit charter schools are prohibited under state law, investors can fund the facility via an LLC. By rule, NYC rental assistance is capped at the lesser of a school’s actual rent or 30% of per-pupil funding, and leases often peg base rent to that 30% ceiling. Higher enrollment and year-to-year increases in per-pupil funding can yield gains for those who invest in construction and renovations.

Supporters argue that charter schools can offer unique services and experiences for their students.

David Estrada, the executive director of the Sunset Park Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, is a board member at LEEP and says the school is distinct for its focus on students developing academic fluency in both English and Spanish, as well as cultural understanding.

“People have strong opinions on charter schools’ impact on public education. It’s not a pure all-good or villainous situation,” he said. “I like seeing a grammar school where all the teachers are fluently bilingual, all the signage is bilingual. It’s an embrace of intergenerational families.”

Launch student Samantha lives in Sunset Park and previously went to Dewey I.S. 136. She said she had been planning on going to Sunset Park High School. “But when I heard about this one, I was like, you know what, ‘I’m gonna see if I like it,’” said Samantha. “I had choices to see, and I did like it, so I ended up staying here.”

Councilmember Avilés said that it took 30 years to get Sunset Park High School built and that it was developed by the community for the community with a deep connection to the neighborhood.

“A drop-in charter high school feels like an affront,” said Avilés. “If the charter school was interested in mitigating impact, they wouldn’t be advertising for students. They are in direct competition.”