Diamond charter school in Hempstead will start this fall after judge denies teachers' union bid to block opening
A New York state judge has denied a teachers' union legal bid to stop the opening of the Diamond Charter school in Hempstead. Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto/Ridofranz
New York’s largest teacher’s union met a setback Thursday when an Albany County judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction to stop a charter school from opening this fall in West Hempstead.
"If granted on the eve of the school year’s start, the requested injunction would serve only to disrupt the lives of parents of school children and school officials who have planned to attend and work at the previously approved ... site," Acting Supreme Court Justice Adam Silverman wrote.
New York State United Teachers had sued leaders of Diamond Charter School and State University of New York, which had initially approved Diamond’s charter to open in Hempstead Village, arguing they had violated the law with a plan to temporarily "incubate" Diamond in a West Hempstead location during renovation of its planned Hempstead Village space.
The suit came months after Brentwood and Central Islip school districts sued another operator, Academy Charter, over a plan to open three schools in those districts that public school officials said would cause financial strain because of tuition reimbursements.
The union’s concerns over charter schools are far-reaching. Announcing a separate lawsuit against SUNY in June alleging it violated the state charter cap, union officials wrote: "The expansion of corporate charter schools has drained billions of dollars from neighborhood public schools. While they receive taxpayer money, they are not held to the same standards of transparency, often fail to provide legally-required support to students with (special education plans), and can cherry-pick which students to admit or turn away."
NYSUT’s suit against Diamond argued that SUNY had failed to follow legal requirements for public participation and accountability when it approved the location change. While SUNY conceded that documentation regarding community support, demand and fiscal impact of the location change "was not resubmitted with the revision request," Silverman said the errors weren't enough to deny the location change.
The union had also argued that the location change would make transportation difficult for Hempstead families sending their children to the school and that Hempstead and West Hempstead public schools could be burdened with costs and an influx of new students if the school’s charter were revoked.
But Silverman was skeptical of those arguments, noting that the two school locations were only 0.7 of a mile apart, that a mid-year revocation of charter was not possible and that "only 5 students who reside in West Hempstead have applied."
He dismissed a union argument that both public school districts would face increased traffic and safety concerns, noting that the "incubation" site had already been used as a school. The union, he wrote, had submitted no information that harm was "likely or imminent."
Mark Crusante, the school’s executive director said in a news release: "This has never been about politics or special interests. It has always been about providing families with another high-quality public education option."
In a statement Friday, NYSUT president Melinda Person said the union was "disappointed the school will open while the case proceeds, but this fight is far from over. Communities deserve a real voice before a charter school comes to their district, and we will see this case through."
A SUNY representative referred a request for comment to SUNY Charter Schools Institute, which oversees SUNY-authorized charter schools. The institute did not comment.
Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.
