Isis Zavala said she specifically chose Hostos Lincoln Academy of Science as her top high school pick for its open campus policy on lunch. Plus, she liked the freedom of being on the Hostos Community College campus, where the school had once resided. It seemed like the perfect fit.

But the summer before she started, the school moved into the Lola Rodriguez De Tio building that’s nearly a mile away. Now that students are co-located with three other schools, they say they lack space, freedom and extracurricular activities. They are dissatisfied and haven’t seen any positive effects.

Grisselle Romero, 16, doesn’t like having to accommodate other students, many of whom are much younger. “It makes me upset because it’s so tightly packed and you bump into people,” she said. “And it’s not a good idea to have middle schoolers and high schoolers together because of fighting.”

In the two years that Hostos Lincoln Academy has been at its new home, the school has been sharing the space with I.S. 162, and University Prep Charter High School. Each school has its own floor, though they share the same amenities that can include the lunchroom, gym and auditorium.

 

Co-Location Push Back

Throughout the Bronx, parents have been battling co-location and winning. The move has been stopped at P.S. 1 Courtlandt School in District

7 in the south Bronx. Along the northeast end of District 11, a move to house an Icahan Charter High school was denied co-location with two public middle schools in Pelham Parkway following community pressure.

The city Department of Education reports that 58 percent of all NYC public schools are co-located, though only 8 percent of co-located schools are charter schools, according to NYC Charter Center, a nonprofit group that promotions the building of charter schools throughout the city.

The Bronx Borough President’s Office supports co-location initiatives, but has to deal with the “inequality between charter schools and public schools in the same building,” said John DeSio, a spokesman for Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “Our office has worked to have charter schools partner with their neighbors on shared improvements to their buildings,” added DeSio.

The apparent inequalities are more than inconvenient to Madeline White, a 16-year-old student at Hostos. “Imagine sharing a school [building] with three other schools – 500 students each, only one gym and lunchroom. The space is not enough,” said Madeline, who plays on the Hostos basketball team. “We can’t practice after school because the gym is used by other schools.”

And the limitations don’t stop there. Students aren’t allowed to associate with their peers on other floors.

“Some of my friends who went to my middle school go to Green Dot, but we can’t talk to them and can’t go to the library which is in Green Dot,” said Mercy Onwuta, referring to the original name of University Prep.

The schools can be very territorial about their small space because they are responsible for their students’ safety. “I went up to Green Dot and I was walking around, but then the principal saw me and he started screaming,” said Veyyes Sanchez, a student at Hostos. “Then [Hostos vice principal Vincent] Marano yelled at me. They made it a big thing.”

Marano realizes that the situation isn’t ideal. In the college campus, students were allowed to go outside and eat lunch, but this freedom isn’t allowed in the new building. According to Marano, students who would normally follow the rules are rebelling by leaving the school grounds for lunch which is now against school policy. “Co-location isn’t a preference but a necessity. It isn’t compromisable, it’s not something you design,” said Marano. “Co-location into a college has value, but co-location into other schools does not.”
Students believe that co-location, and the increase of it, shows that the importance and value of education is not emphasized in the Bronx. “I think the DOE is trying to save money by putting these schools together,” said Tahjai Foote, a Hostos junior. “You can’t compromise education.”