Metro

City finds 2 former Catholic school locations for charters

The de Blasio administration has found alternate locations for two of three charter schools it barred from public school buildings two months ago, a move that set off a firestorm and led Albany to dictate new space regulations for charters.

City Hall officials said Wednesday that they had identified two former Catholic elementary school buildings — one in Morningside Heights and another in Rosedale, Queens — that could be used by the Success Academy charter network.

The hunt is still on in lower Manhattan for a third site suitable for charter classes in that congested neighborhood.

Talks between the city and the charter network — the only one whose students got the heave-ho — have advanced swiftly in the past three weeks, and both parties could sign off on the sites next month, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

City officials toured the old Pius X school in Rosedale with church officials and a broker last week and appear ready to sign a lease.

“They seemed very interested to me,” said the Rev. Jean Miguel Auguste, pastor of the church that owns the property. “The mayor is very much open to do something for this area. That is a good sign.”

The New York Archdiocese declined to comment about the former Annunciation School in Morningside Heights, which could end up as part of the Success network.

Under terms of charter protections passed by Albany, the city will have to pay the rent for the new private spaces.

Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz, who retreated from her war with Mayor de Blasio after Albany acted, said she remains worried about the future of her 500 or so displaced students.

She is continuing a federal civil-rights lawsuit to force the city to restore the original space promised by the Bloomberg administration, and still has a complaint pending with the state Department of Education.

A hearing on that complaint is scheduled for Friday.

Moskowitz told parents she assembled in Harlem on Wednesday that while she hasn’t given up on the original sites, she’s eager to end the uncertainty of where classes will be held come fall.

“I understand the need for flexibility and so I am willing to be flexible as long as the needs of children and families and teaching and learning are met,” she said.