Making Collocation Work in NYC Schools

A bunch of my coworkers and I decided to end our week of school with some libations and seafood this past Friday. Anyone who has ever been in a bar with a group of teachers during happy hour has probably overheard the loud debrief of the week full of stories about odd student questions and frustrating behavior problems. We were no exception this week.

Towards the end of the evening a smaller group of us began to talk about collocation. A former colleague was present and shared her experience in her new school, a public school, which until this year had shared its space with a charter school. She described the more obvious differences between the two schools, such as classroom appearances and materials, explaining that each of their classes had interactive whiteboards, while only a small handful of classes in her school had them installed in the classroom. We all expressed frustration that our own schools did not have the financial means to provide each classroom with such new materials, but understood that charter schools have the private funding that pays for such items.

The conversation then shifted towards the relationship between the two schools. My friend said that the teachers at the charter school were incredibly cold to her school and that they did not communicate, nor work together in any way. She described one particular experience in which she was holding the door open for the teachers from the other school and the group walked past her without thanking her or even acknowledging her. Now, I realize that this behavior could easily be chalked up to being incredibly enthralled in the conversation they were having, or even simply poor manners. I am by no means suggesting that all teachers who work at charter schools are rude people.  This was simply a concrete example that my friend could provide to show the divided relationships between the two schools within her building.

My immediate reaction was to think of my own building, in which we are collocated with a District 75 special needs program. They occupy the top floor of the building, while my school has the other three floors. The basement level, with the gym, auditorium, and cafeteria is shared space. We are both public schools within the New York City Department of Education; yet, I have noticed similar experiences to the relationship gap described by my friend.

I would like to think we are slightly more cordial in our building. We smile at one another when passing in the halls, and everyone holds the door for each other. But beyond common courtesy, there is not a relationship that transcends the two schools. As a self-contained special education teacher, I want to talk to the teachers upstairs. They are all special ed teachers and I know they could provide me and my colleagues with an immense amount of ideas for how to more effectively educate our students. It seems, though, that an imaginary boundary has been placed between us and we are all too scared to try to cross it.

Despite the difference between our students (most of the students in the District 75 school are on alternate assessment track while our students are all state assessment track), the teachers act as if we are competing. It is almost as if we share our ideas and share our materials and share our space better, we think our students may not be as successful. Let’s rethink that: if we share our ideas and share our materials and share our space better, than ALL of our students WILL be successful.

Collocation of different schools means that there are more great ideas floating around one building. How can we share those ideas? If you work in a building that is collocated with another school(s) and you do have great relationships, what has your school done to foster that? What has worked and what has not?

--Teach