Albany
- The State University of New York Board of Trustees voted to approve
applications to establish six new charter schools—five in New York City (one
each in Bronx and Harlem, three in Brooklyn); and, one in Rochester. This
leaves SUNY with only 12 available charters to award and 22 charter
applications under consideration.
“I had the
opportunity to meet the lead applicants and prospective boards of each one of
these schools,” said Dr. Pedro Noguera, SUNY Trustee
and Chair of the Trustees’ Charter Schools Committee. “I believe that
they understand the very high expectations of the SUNY Trustees as they move
forward. I extend my congratulations to each planning team for their work to
date.”
“This
round of approved applications represents a diverse mix of charter school
models,” said Jonas S.
Chartock, Executive Director of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute. “Three replications of existing successful SUNY authorized
charter schools; a unique partnership with a long-established, highly regarded
community organization; the first school that has come to us with a proposed
school replacement model; and, an independent school whose founder is a
Prep for Prep alumnus, Building Excellent Schools fellow, and member of the New
York City Middle School Task Force.”
Abbreviated
summaries of the approved schools appear below:
·
True North Genesee Preparatory Charter School (“Genesee Prep”), to
be located in the Rochester City School District, will open August 2011. The
school will serve 78 5th grade students in its first year, growing
to serve 594 students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade and 5th
through 8th grade during the initial charter period. The school
ultimately plans to serve students in Kindergarten through 8th grade.
The mission of the proposed charter school is to prepare all
students to enter and succeed in college through effort, achievement and the
content of their character. The school plans to achieve its mission by
relentlessly focusing on the mastery of standards in each subject so that each
student will achieve proficiency on the New York State assessments.
The school will be modeled after the highly successful True North Rochester Preparatory Charter School, also authorized by SUNY.
Genesee Prep intends to contract with Uncommon Schools, Inc.
(USI), a non-profit charter management organization
·
Achievement First Aspire Charter School (“AF Aspire”), to be located
CSD 19 (Brooklyn) in New York City, will open in August of 2011. The school
will serve 166 students in Kindergarten and 1st grade, growing to
serve 501 students in Kindergarten through 5th grade during the
initial charter term. Ultimately, if renewed, the founders envision a
Kindergarten through 12th grade school serving 966 students.
The mission of the proposed charter school is to provide
students with the academic and character skills they need to excel in top
colleges, to succeed in a competitive world, and to serve as the next
generation of leaders in their communities.
The school board would contract with Achievement First, Inc.
(“Achievement First”), a not-for-profit charter management organization.
·
Boys Preparatory
Charter School of New York (“Boys Prep”), to be located in either CSD 7 or 8 (Bronx) in New York
City, will open in August 2011 with 132 male students in Kindergarten and 1st
grade, growing to include 396 students in Kindergarten through 5th
grade during its charter term. The school plans, if renewed, to ultimately
serve students in Kindergarten through 8th grade.
This application is a proposed replication of the academic
program of the Girls Preparatory Charter School of New York and the Girls
Preparatory Charter School of the Bronx, single-sex schools authorized by the
Board of Trustees of the State University of New York that are located on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan and in the Bronx, respectively. While Girls Prep
Bronx is in its first year of operation, Girls Prep was just awarded a
full-term, five year charter renewal by the SUNY Trustees. Boys Prep would
employ the curriculum currently in place at Girls Prep, but would provide instruction
through methods and strategies that address the unique ways that boys learn,
including more hands-on activities and incorporating more kinesthetic
elements.
Boys Prep would contract with Public Preparatory Network,
Inc. (“Public Prep”), a recently formed not-for-profit charter management
organization that was launched by former staff and board members of the Girls
Preparatory schools.
·
EHTP Pact Charter
School (“EHTP
Pact”), to be located in Community School District 4 (East Harlem) of New York
City, will open in August 2011 with 100 students in Kindergarten and 1st
grade, growing to serve 300 students in Kindergarten through 5th
grade during the initial charter term.
The mission of the proposed charter school would be to
ultimately provide East Harlem families with a comprehensive Kindergarten
through 8th grade learning community that combines a rigorous
academic curriculum with innovative extended day and extended year enrichment.
The proposed school would partner with the East Harlem
Tutorial Program, Inc. (“EHTP”), a New York not-for-profit corporation with
deep educational roots in the East Harlem area. EHTP would provide financial
and in-kind support and has plans to house the school after the first year of
operation.
·
Explore Excel
Charter School
(“Excel”) to be located in Community School District 17 or 18 (Brooklyn) of New
York City will open in August 2011 with 168 students in Kindergarten through 2nd
grade and grow to serve 396 students in Kindergarten through 6th
grade during the term of its charter.
The mission of the proposed charter school would be for its
students to demonstrate the academic skills and critical-thinking abilities
they need to be successful in a college-preparatory high school. Excel’s founders
originally proposed a charter school that would be a “turnaround” model where
the charter school would replace a closing or phased-out district school.
However, the circumstances to implement that model do not currently exist. If
the circumstances do arise in future the proposed school intends to seek a
revision to implement such a model.
The proposed school would contract with Explore Schools,
Inc., a not-for-profit charter management company that operates two other
charter schools in New York City, both authorized by the New York City Schools
Chancellor. The SUNY Trustees have not previously authorized any Explore
Schools, Inc. schools.
·
Invictus Preparatory
Charter School
(“Invictus Prep”), to be located in Community School District 19 (Brooklyn) of
New York City, would open in August 2011 with 90 students in 5th
grade, growing to enroll 360 students in 5th - 8th grade
in the school’s initial charter term.
The mission of the proposed charter school would be for its
students—ultimately in 5th through 12th grade—to have the academic
and ethical foundation necessary to excel in four year colleges and
universities.
To ensure that its students meet the school goals, Invictus
Prep will adopt a curriculum focused on academic achievement based on the best
practices of other successful charter schools, such as the SUNY Authorized Leadership Preparatory Charter School.
The Institute’s detailed Summary of Findings and
Recommendations document for each school is available on the Institute’s
website at: http://www.newyorkcharters.org/newsPRs.htm.
New
school applications submitted to SUNY undergo a rigorous and thorough review
not only by Institute staff but also by a panel of nationally renowned experts
from the fields of education (charter and traditional schools), school administration, charter and
traditional school policy, finance, and curriculum. The
Institute interviews the lead applicant and founding trustees for all submitted
applications. Those applications the Institute considers moving forward move
into the Request for Amendment (RFA) phase where the Institute makes very
specific requests for amendments to the application to ensure its clarity, and
educational, fiscal and legal soundness. Applicants that successfully complete
the RFA process are then interviewed, along with all proposed board members, by
members of the SUNY Trustees’ Charter Schools Committee. In addition, for
applicants proposing to contract with a management organization, the Institute
conducts its own due diligence regarding the management organization in terms
of its capacity to provide the proposed services, including its fiscal and
organizational soundness.
All
of this work informs the Charters Schools Institute’s ultimate recommendations
to the SUNY Trustees. Additional details about SUNY’s application review
process are available on the Institute’s website at: http://www.newyorkcharters.org/openAppKit.htm.
SUNY is the
largest charter school authorizer in New York State and the largest
university-based charter school authorizer in the country. The Charter Schools
Institute was created by the SUNY Board of Trustees to help it in carrying out
its responsibilities under the Charter Schools Act. Guided by the rigorous
standards set by the SUNY Board of Trustees, the Institute’s oversight of SUNY
authorized charter schools is comprehensive, including: evaluating initial
applications for the opening of charter schools; providing technical assistance
and guidance to schools where necessary; requiring schools to take remedial
action or placing schools on probation; conducting a comprehensive evaluation
when a school applies to renew its charter; and reporting to the school and the
public on each school’s performance and progress. Students at SUNY authorized
charter schools out-performed those at all public schools (charter and
non-charter) on last year’s mathematics and English language arts exams.
About
the State University of New York
The State
University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating nearly 465,000 students in 7,351 degree and certificate programs
on 64 campuses. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu
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