Mayor de Blasio is creating a task force to grapple with the space crisis in the city’s school system — and is including supporters of charters.
Among those named were Dave Levin, co-founder of the KIPP charter-school network, and Emary Aronson, education director of the pro-charter Robin Hood Foundation.
The panel — co-chaired by Deputy Mayor Richard Buery and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña — will recommend ways to relieve overcrowding and improve the process for co-locating charter schools and regular schools in the same building.
De Blasio, who has come under fire for blocking previously approved sites for three charter schools run by the Success Academy, promised he would approve more co-locations.
Charter operators and advocates welcomed the peace offering.
“We look forward to working together to restore stability for all our children,” the pro-charter Coalition for Educational Equality said in a statement.
James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, said, “Great news.”