Wyandanch charter school to benefit from $42M in bonding

Babylon Town’s nonprofit development board will bond for $42.1 million to fund a Wyandanch charter school that is expanding as part of the $500 million downtown revitalization in the hamlet — a move some public school advocates opposed.

Last week the Local Development Corporation's board approved the bonding for Academy Charter School with a vote of seven in favor, one against and one abstaining.

The building will be the first nonresidential or commercial space created in the town's Wyandanch Rising public-private partnership with master developer Albanese Organization Inc. of Garden City that has been in the works for two decades. The effort's aim is to revitalize the community — one of the most economically distressed communities on Long Island.

The Wyandanch charter school opened in a former hardware store on Long Island Avenue in September with classes for kindergarten through second grade students. A new building is under construction on Commonwealth Drive that will host kindergarten through sixth grades and is expected to open next fall. School officials plan to keep the existing building open. 

The vote by LDC board members exposed a few fissures in the community over the funding.

Board member Marcus Duffin said he voted against the bonding because he believes it’s “too early” to embrace a charter school while the Wyandanch school district is under a state monitor.

“It's no secret that Wyandanch is facing some challenges,” Duffin said. “It is my hope that they can address these issues and become a better school district.”

Board member Rosemarie Dearing said she abstained from voting because she feels charter schools are "taking from the public schools and that money could be used to make public schools better."

Wyandanch Memorial High School teacher Timothy Karcich wrote to the board that the charter school expansion is a “money grab” that will lead to gentrification.

“It defunds the school district, the hamlet, and does a disservice to my students,” Karcich wrote. “Instead we should fully fund public education with public funds without giving public money away to charter schools.”

In April, Academy's executive director Wayne Haughton denied the school was "committed to any location" for the expansion, even as the town neared the end of approvals for construction at the Commonwealth Avenue site.

The school asked the LDC to bond so the school could have tax-exempt debt repayments and lower interest rates than if it bonded on its own, LDC attorney Matthew McDonough said previously.

 According to the bond application, $6.9 million of the money will be used to pay off costs of buying and renovating its existing school site, while $18.9 million will pay for its new, 41,271-square-foot building and another $2.6 million will fund equipment. An additional $11.6 million will be used for fees.  

Bishop Barrington Goldson, Academy's CEO, expressed gratitude for the bonding in a statement. He added that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions makes educational choice for students of color and Academy's mission of “creating world class competitive scholars” even more crucial.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.