Preschool News Hits the Paper
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The Brooklyn Eagle‘s reporter Mary Frost picked up the story about BCAP (Brooklyn Children’s Academy Preschool) and did some good investigative reporting. She called DOB and even manage to contact the elusive director Andy Lewis. Here is an excerpt from her article.
Executive Director
Denies Claims
Executive Director Andy Lewis denies many of the charges that the
parents are making. “It’s not true that there was no running water or
toilets,” he told the Eagle Tuesday. He also said that there were no
exposed wires as of Tuesday in the facility, though the Eagle did
obtain a photo of exposed wires Tuesday morning.
“I completely understand where the parents are coming from — they had
no childcare. But, he added, “They should be trying to help the school
rather than bring the school down. We were very honest, very
transparent” about the difficulties the organization was having with
the Building Department, he said.
After the preschool lost its lease on Pierrepont Street, he said, “We
had to move. The Department of Health said the space was viable since
day one.
“A lot of this is a paperwork process. City departments do not work
together. If we had until January at Pierrepont, we wouldn’t be in this
difficult situation … it was uncontrollable on our part.”
Lewis said that he would fax the Department of Health’s preliminary
approval to the Brooklyn Eagle. The Eagle did not receive the fax by
press time.
“Forty-three kids have not pulled out. About 17 people have pulled out
of the program.” Lewis went on to say that the school has set up a
temporary location at Our Lady of Lebanon’s parish hall, at 113 Remsen
Street in Brooklyn Heights. “We have a permit for 90 days from the
Department of Health. We expect to open by the end of January on Dean
Street,” he said.
Responding to the charges that he did not return the parents’ phone
calls, Lewis said, “I return every single phone call. I’ve sat on the
phone for over three hours, getting nothing accomplished. People have
called me at midnight. At some point I’m not going to answer my phone.”
Amy Huggans denied this. “He agreed to have a conference call Friday, Nov. 23. He never dialed into the call.”
Ex-teacher Walsh agreed that it was hard to get in touch with Lewis. “I
tried to track him down at BBCC’s administrative office at 900 Fulton
St. on Nov. 22. It looked like it had been abandoned for a week or
more.”
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
I still have not heard any updates but have been watching blogs on the subject for the past couple of weeks. On one of the blogs I posted comments, I mentioned that I work on behalf of New York Kids Club and was asked for additional information and figured I would share with other readers interested in the Brooklyn Children’s Academy.
New York Kids Club in a child enrichment center located in 4 locations in Manhattan and 1 location opening soon in Brooklyn Heights. Registration for winter/spring classes and camps are currently underway. For additional information on what is offered check out http://www.nykidsclub.com. Also, on Jan. 18 area residents can RSVP to see the facilities for free with their children. Here is more info–http://nykcbloggerparty.smnr.us.
Hope this helps!
I was wondering if anyone has heard an update on this news story about Brooklyn Children’s Academy? Has the Academy decided to shutdown or will it open on Dean Street? This is an unfortuante situation and I hope the families who had their children enrolled at the school now get the attention they deserve.
Parent’s letter to editor responding to Andy Lewis’ misleading comments.
http://tinyurl.com/ystare
How is it out of your control to knowingly and illegally open a child care facility that is not safe and not licensed? Because you thought you’d just get away with it? The issue isn’t that they had construction problems or permit problems, it’s that they responded to those problems in a negligent, possibly criminal fashion while misleading the parents at every step about the true nature of the problem.