Minutes of a Meeting of the Education, College Readiness and Success Committee of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York held March 28, 2012 Pursuant to a notice of meeting duly given on March 9, 2012, the Education, College Readiness and Success Committee of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York met at the SUNY College of Brockport, Brockport, New York and via video from SUNY Optometry, New York, NY on March 28, 2012. Members present: Trustees O’Brien, Good, Hunt, Lewin, and Ambassador Spielvogel Also present: Senior Vice Chancellor Duncan-Poitier; Ms. Miller Barker and Mr. Rossi of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute; Simeon Banister of the SUNY University Relations Office; and Christina Collins of the United Federation of Teachers. Trustee O'Brien convened the meeting at 2:30 p.m. He extended his appreciation to SUNY Chairman Carl McCall for his recent appointment as Committee Chair. In underscoring the significant responsibilities of the Committee, Trustee O’Brien pledged his commitment to SUNY’s strategic goal of ensuring that more New York high school students graduate better prepared to take advantage of the multiple opportunities afforded them by the state’s superb institutions of public higher education. He further expressed his commitment to working with his fellow Trustees, Committee members, SUNY System Administration leadership including Chancellor Zimpher and Senior Vice Chancellor Duncan Poitier, the staff of the Charter Schools Institute and the public, believing that improvements to the education system can be made by addressing the complex issues posed by our currently leaking education pipeline. Trustee O’Brien highlighted the fact that the SUNY Trustees and its Charter School Institute have earned a national reputation as one of the country’s leading charter school authorizers; a trend he expects to continue. He indicated that the Committee needs further clarification on the May 2010 amendments to the Charter Schools Act and the ways in which those amendments shape the work of the Institute and the Committee. He said the Committee will rely on the considerable expertise of the Institute staff to make that happen. To that end, Trustee O’Brien also indicated that he was recommending to the Chairman of the Board and Chancellor that Ms. Miller Barker be appointed the permanent Executive Director of the Institute. Approval of Meeting Minutes Trustee O’Brien then called for a motion to approve the minutes of the last Committee meeting. * Upon motion of Trustee Lewin and second by Trustee Hunt, the Committee unanimously approved the minutes of its January 25th meeting. Agenda Items * Trustee O’Brien indicated that he was largely deferring the agenda item entitled “Future Directions of the Education, College Readiness and Success Committee” to a special meeting of the Committee to be called in April, likely in New York City, where there would be time to discuss these matters in a more deliberative fashion. He said that he planned to create a long-term schedule of activities for the Committee and noted that a draft of such a schedule was included in the meeting binders. Trustee O’Brien also indicated that going forward, he envisioned an email message to Committee members prior to the meeting to direct their attention to key items in the meeting materials. * Trustee O’Brien then asked Ms. Miller Barker to review the first resolution before the Committee, a revision to the charter of the Explore Exceed Charter School. Ms. Miller Barker explained that Explore Exceed was a new charter school approved by the SUNY Trustees last June which will open in the fall of 2012. Explore Exceed will be one of two new public schools to open in a district building where a district public school is being phased-out (closed) by the New York City Department of Education for poor academic performance. That this charter school would provide a quality choice option for parents of a failing district public school was envisioned in the original charter application approved by the SUNY Trustees. In order to better accommodate enrollment from the phasing-out school, Explore Exceed will serve more than 250 students in its second year of operation. As a result, the school is seeking a waiver from the enrollment-driven collective bargaining provision of the Charter Schools Act, as was contemplated when SUNY approved the original charter application. Ms. Miller Barker explained that the Institute was recommending that the Committee vote to grant the school the waiver as the Institute had carefully reviewed the programmatic and fiscal reasoning for the request. Ms. Miller Barker made the important note, which was underscored by Trustee O’Brien before calling for a vote on this matter, that approving the waiver in no way prohibits the school’s employees from deciding among themselves to organize and collectively bargain. Granting the waiver simply puts the decision in the hands of the employees, rather than representation happening not by decision, but by second year enrollment numbers only. Upon motion of Trustee Hunt and second by Ambassador Spielvogel, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the proposed revision to the charter of the Explore Exceed Charter School. * The next resolution before the Committee was consideration of approval of New York State Stimulus Fund grant awards. Ms. Miller Barker explained that funding for this grant program comes from the 2011-12 New York State budget and is targeted for services and expenses related to the development, implementation and operation of charter schools authorized by SUNY, the Board of Regents, the New York City Schools Chancellor and the Buffalo City School District. The resolution included recommendations for six (6) Facility Financing Grants, totaling $562,654 and eight (8) Start-up Grants Totaling $398,966. Trustee O’Brien indicated that prior to the next round of grants he would be interested in having the Committee briefed on the scoring rubric the Institute utilizes in reviewing grants. Upon motion of Ambassador Spielvogel and second by Trustee Lewin, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the New York State Stimulus Fund grant recipients included in the resolution. [Trustee Lewin departed the meeting at approximately 2:55 p.m.; a quorum was still present.] * The next agenda item was the Institute’s report on action items proposed to be taken by the Institute on behalf of the SUNY Trustees, all of which the Institute recommended for approval. Trustee O’Brien first shared with the Committee a written statement on proposed revisions of schools partnering with Success Charter Network, Inc. (SCN) (included in the Institute’s report) that was given to him by Christina Collins of the United Federation of Teachers’ Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff. Attached to the statement was a copy of an article from Crain’s New York dated December 4, 2011 (copies of both are on file in the office of the Secretary of the University). Trustee O’Brien allowed time for the Committee members to review the document before hearing the Institute’s presentation. Ms. Miller Barker and Mr. Rossi reviewed the report with the Committee: - The Institute received requests from 10 of the 11 SUNY authorized charter schools that contract with Success Academies Inc. to change their school name, consistent with a network-wide re-branding effort. The new proposed school names all begin with “Success Academy Charter School,” then a dash, the name of the neighborhood where the school is located, and then a sequential number, ex. Harlem Success Academy Charter School 2, located in Manhattan, becomes Success Academy Charter School – Harlem 2. - Those same 10 schools, and one additional school, Brooklyn Success Academy Charter School 3, have also requested a revision to their admissions preferences. Senior Vice Chancellor Duncan-Poitier requested that the statutory background on student admissions preferences, discussed in response to questions from Committee members, be included in the meeting minutes (below). The New York Charter Schools Act, N.Y. Education Law § 2850 et seq., (the “Act”) requires that admissions are first come first served unless the number of applications exceeds the number of seats available in which case a lottery must be held. In the absence of other factors, students residing in the school district (or in NYC the Community School District) in which the charter school is located receive a statutory admissions preference together with siblings of students already enrolled in the charter school. In addition, the Act permits a charter school to be designed to serve students at risk of academic failure in derogation of the general anti-discrimination and open admission policies in the Act and described above. A school can include in its charter at-risk designations and admission priorities based thereon to increase the percentages of at-risk students served. The priorities may be what is called “absolute” meaning that seats first go to all at-risk students, or the priority may be weighted or take the form of a set-aside where a school reserves a certain number or percentage of seats for those in the designated at-risk category. In any case, the sibling and resident statutory preferences are still applied in conjunction with any at-risk designation to arrive at the final admissions policy. The SCN affiliated schools seek to eliminate an existing, absolute at-risk admissions priority for students zoned to attend failing New York City public schools, a preference that was difficult to apply, confusing to the public and, according to the schools, contributed to not allowing the schools to attract sufficient numbers of English Language Learners (ELLs). The schools also seek to modify their at-risk admissions priority for ELLs to a variable set-aside for ELLs, which would be set at 20 percent of the incoming class for the 2012-13 school year. The schools will evaluate the effectiveness of the set aside, and may make adjustments in subsequent years based on several factors including, but not limited to, an evaluation of the ELL percentages of the New York City School District and surrounding Community School Districts, either current or from the previous school year, and/or an analysis of the ELL percentages of students enrolled at the school, with a view toward achieving ELL enrollment comparable to the enrollment figures for ELLs in the New York City School District. Trustee O’Brien asked if any of the voting Committee members felt that the statement from the UFT was cause for the Committee to seek to interrupt the Institute’s action. Trustee Hunt asked one clarifying question answered by Mr. Rossi, but then indicated he did not. Ambassador Spielvogel agreed. Trustee O’Brien clarified that the Institute would be monitoring progress toward meeting targets on an annual basis. Trustee O’Brien indicated that the Institute should proceed as outlined in its report for the SCN affiliated schools. - Ms. Miller Barker briefly described two additional proposed revisions, also relating to lottery preferences, for New World Preparatory Charter School in Staten Island (an existing school serving grades 6-7); and Heketi Community Charter School in the Bronx, a new charter school that anticipates opening in the Bronx in September of 2012 (serving students in Kindergarten and first grade). These schools proposed to give an absolute ELL at-risk priority in their admissions lotteries. There was no objection to the Institute proceeding with these actions. Ms. Miller Barker briefly described two facility change/addition requests from schools currently sharing space in a New York City district building that desire to move to a new district building. > Bronx Success Academy Charter School 2 proposes to move to building X055 located in Community School District 9 beginning in September 2012. If approved, the school would grow to serve grades K-4 in X055. > Leadership Preparatory Brownsville Charter School Charter School in Brooklyn proposes to move its elementary grades to building K275 in CSD 23 in September 2012 and co-locate its future middle school grades (5-8) back into building K284 beginning in September 2013, assuming the school successfully earns renewal. The Institute conducted hearings on both proposed moves. After careful consideration of public comment, the Institute proposes to approve the changes in location subject to compliance with the terms of the school’s charter agreement regarding facilities. There was no objection to the Institute approving these changes. * Ms. Miller Barker then directed the Committee’s attention to a memo in their binders on merger and consolidation. She noted that this topic is something that has been brought to the Committee’s attention a number of times now, but that the Institute is nearing a point when it will be bringing related items to the Committee for consideration. She indicated that the Institute has two requests pending for mergers, that schools and networks are anxious to move forward as this is something made possible by the May 2010 amendments to the Act. Trustee O’Brien asked that Committee members review the document carefully and that this will be something likely taken up at the April committee meeting. [Ambassador Spielvogel left the meeting at approximately 3:55 p.m. A quorum was no longer present.] Trustee O’Brien then noted a terrific presentation that Senior Vice Chancellor Duncan-Poitier gave to the Academic Affairs Committee the day before on SUNY’s initiative to reduce remediation across the system. He apologized that there was not time to discuss this important issue. He said it was an important topic for the ECRS Committee to consider and that he looked forward to future discussions on that and other topics related to the education pipeline. The meeting adjourned at 4 p.m. Page 2 of 5