Zeta Charter Schools is slated to open in the P.S. 150 Annex in Sunnyside (Facebook)
March 18, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Hundreds of Queens parents have signed a petition to prevent a charter school from opening in Western Queens. They state that the establishment of a charter school would divert much-needed funds away from public schools in the district.
The petition, launched last week in response to news that Zeta Charter Schools plans to open a new branch in Sunnyside’s P.S. 150 Annex for the 2025/26 academic year, has received 377 signatures out of a target of 500 at the time of writing.
Although charter schools are considered tuition-free public schools and open to all prospective students, opponents to the planned Zeta Charter School for Western Queens stated that charter schools are privately operated and are not held to the same standards as public schools in the city.
Alexis Kaloyanides, a signatory of the petition and a candidate for Community Education Council (CEC) District 30, said she was concerned by the potential presence of a charter school in the district. She contends that charter schools often focus on achieving high test scores, leading them to exclude children with disabilities and students who do not speak fluent English.
Schools operating in the New York City Public Schools System, on the other hand, are obligated to accept students of all abilities and backgrounds, Kaloyanides said.
“One of the things that charter schools promote is their high test scores,” Kaloyanides said. “In order to have those numbers go up in the rubric that they like to see, they can actually ask students to leave.
“So if a student is underperforming, they do not have to go through the process that a public school would do to get that student further assistance, be it language needs or special education needs. They simply don’t have to abide by that the way a public school does.”
CEC30, which endorsed the petition in a post on Instagram, has outlined its opposition to a potential charter school in Queens, stating that it aims to inform Zeta Charter Schools that “we do not want them in our communities.”
Council Member Julie Won, who penned a letter to Zeta Charter Schools Executive Director Emily Kim last December alongside State Sens. Kristen Gonzalez and Mike Gianaris expressing major concerns about opening a charter school in Sunnyside, said the issue is “much deeper” than simply diverting funding away from public schools in the district.
Won said opening a charter school in Sunnyside would negatively impact local schools’ ability to fill seats and attract necessary funding. She added that Zeta Charter Schools is not welcome in the district in “any way, shape or form.”
“If you go to a really dense neighborhood like Jackson Heights where there’s not enough school seats for those kids, sure, open a school there if the families there are open to charter schools,” Won said. “But in a district like ours, where we have plenty of public schools in Sunnyside, where those schools need more students… that is not welcomed here.”
In the letter to Kim, Won, Gonzalez, and Gianaris stated that opening a charter school in Western Queens would “severely impact” schools in School District 30.
“Currently, the schools in Dutch Kills, Sunnyside, and Woodside are under-enrolled,” the elected officials stated in the letter. “As of today, elementary schools and middle schools in these neighborhoods cannot meet enrollment numbers, and if Zeta Charter School opens a school in one of these neighborhoods, the school would severely impact the existing public schools negatively.
“Zeta Charter School would not only take away students from our existing schools but also remove necessary resources and funding needed to help these schools thrive.”
The petition similarly states that establishing a charter school in Western Queens will divert badly-needed public funds away from public schools in School District 30, negatively impacting a dozen new schools slated to open in School District 30.
The campaign notes that there will be four new elementary schools, three middle schools, and five high schools opening across Long Island City, Woodside and Sunnyside in the near future, with a total of 7,266 seats. Those against the establishment of a charter school in Western Queens state that Zeta Charter Schools will “pull enrollment” from the new schools, preventing the schools from reaching the necessary enrollment numbers to maintain funding streams.
In an open letter to Kim, opponents to the planned charter school accused the business of “essentially stealing” necessary resources from local public schools.
“Funding for public schools comes from enrollment numbers,” the petition states, “Should Zeta Charter Schools establish a branch in Sunnyside, it would negatively impact our communities; Zeta would siphon students from the public school system, impacting the amount of funding our public schools get. This funding is necessary for our schools to thrive and provide our students with the best education.”
Won stated that schools in School District 30 need to increase enrollment in order to stay open, stating that most of the public schools in the district don’t have enough students at present.
Furthermore, the petition argues that Zeta Charter Schools are not unionized by the UFT Teachers’ Union, leading to high teacher turnover and instability for students.
“Our students also deserve to build long-lasting, meaningful relationships with their teachers, while our teachers should have the protection of just-cause terminations and access to union benefits,” the petition states.
“We do not want Zeta Charter Schools in our neighborhoods. We ask that you reconsider your decision and keep Zeta out of Western Queens,” the petition concluded.
Zeta Charter Schools has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Won also stated that she has received no communication from Zeta since sending the letter last December but is confident that public and political pressure will prevent the charter school from opening for the new academic year.
“It would not mathematically or logically make sense for the Department of Education (DOE) to open up a charter school there,” Won said. “We have very great schools, and if parents want to see other programming or extracurricular activities, then we should invest in making sure that those public schools get those programs, not open up another school that would just take away funding from those schools.”
She said the public campaigns serve the dual function of putting political pressure on the DOE not to open a charter school in the district while also discouraging parents from enrolling in Zeta Charter Schools, thereby discouraging Zeta from opening the school in the first place.
“We’re doing it from all angles, comprehensively, to ensure that they never open here,” Won said.
She added that she has sat in principal’s offices with crying children as they have been removed from charter schools because they did not meet “competitive requirements.”
“That is excruciating as a parent to witness, and that should never happen to any child you raised,” Won said. “They’re more focused on their test scores, to be able to say ‘we’re ranked X number for this subject.”
“If a child is not up to their standards, instead of providing the support that each student needs to excel in any environment, they just remove that student entirely. That is despicable. No child should be expendable that way.”
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Why prevent a Charter school from coming into the neighborhood? PS119 on 39th street and 48th Avenue has a low student less than 600 student, parents prefer their kids to attend programs that work NYC public school have been failing for decades success academy charter schools have a 100% success rate