By Evans Vielle
Special to Brooklyn Daily Eagle

RED HOOK — I have been stationed in Iraq for the past five months. In that time I have seen too much conflict and fighting.

One thing that always buoys my spirits is correspondence with my family. I always love hearing updates about my daughter Sarah’s new school, PAVE Academy, an elementary charter school in Red Hook, Brooklyn. She loves it and my wife raves about it. She has seen a difference in Sarah’s attitude about school and in Sarah’s own words, “PAVE is like a family.� We are very happy with PAVE.

My service to this country has taken its toll on my family. Because I am in the military, my family is often relocated. Prior to PAVE, Sarah attended two schools in the past year. And now that I am deployed overseas, both my wife and daughter are coping with increased levels of stress and anxiety. PAVE has provided stability for my daughter and due to recent events I fear that continuity will be disrupted. I am one week into a two-week leave. One of the things I was most looking forward to doing while home was spending some time in PAVE and seeing the school and meeting the teachers that are having a tremendous impact on my daughter.

On the first morning of my return my wife informed me of an important meeting at the school that night. “Great,� I thought. I was going to be able to see all these things sooner than I had thought.

But what I witnessed and experienced was so sad and disappointing. The constituents of PAVE and PS 15 were debating whether there is space in the building for two schools to continue to co-locate. One after the other, parents and teachers from both sides stood up to express their frustrations and concerns about the prospect of this. For the most part the debate was civil and respectful.

The curious thing to me was the number of speakers who don’t live in Red Hook and don’t have children in either school: a high-ranking representative of the UFT, representatives from Grassroots Education Reform (GEM)- an organization I now know vehemently opposes charter schools, the president from Community Education Council 1, or a high school teacher whose school faces closure. Their commentary against PAVE and its extended co-location was the most incensed. Whose interests are these agitators looking out for?

The building is meant to educate approximately 725 students. This year it has slightly over 500 students enrolled between the two schools. There is no reason this building cannot support PAVE’s growth and continued co-location for a few more years. The building belongs to the taxpayers of New York City. It should be celebrated that it is being operated efficiently and that as many students as possible receive a great education inside its walls.

In less than a week, I return to Iraq and more conflict and fighting. My sincere wish is that while I am gone the fighting surrounding PAVE’s co-location within P.S. 15 also stops. Petty adult concerns and politics need to be set aside for what is in the best interest in children. Providing children with an outstanding education that will prepare them for college is hard work that requires intense focus. Our children deserve this.

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