SUNY Trustees Approve Four Applications for New Charter Schools and Renew Five Charter Schools

April 13, 2016

New York – Upon recommendation of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, the SUNY Board of Trustees’ Charter Schools Committee (the "Committee"), acting on behalf of the full SUNY Board of Trustees, today approved four resolutions to approve four applications for new charter schools. Three of these schools will be located in the Bronx and one will be located in Buffalo. The Committee also approved five resolutions to renew five SUNY authorized charter schools located in New York City—in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.              

SUNY is the largest authorizer of charter schools in New York State. SUNY authorizes 156 charter schools and currently serves over 56,000 New York students and their families. 90% of SUNY authorized charter schools outperform their district of location in math and 73% outperform in English language arts.

"Each of the four schools approved today will replicate an innovative program that provides badly needed services, including services to special education students," said Charter Schools Committee Chair Joseph Belluck. "We see the fact that each of these applicants chose to grow their successful programs with SUNY as a testament to our national reputation as a strong and cutting edge charter school authorizer. We are thrilled that these charter schools are choosing SUNY to authorize their progressive schools."

"Each of these schools will provide a unique and high quality public school choice to New York students and their families," said SUNY Charter Schools Institute Executive Director Susie Miller Barker. "New York Center for Autism Charter School Bronx will serve as the second public charter school dedicated solely to serving students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Elmwood Village Charter School 2 will replicate the highest performing school, district or charter, in the city of Buffalo. Brilla College Preparatory Charter School at Highbridge will provide an opportunity for students to engage in blended learning and The Urban Assembly Charter School for Computer Science will be the first charter school in the state with a career and technical education focus on computer science."

Brief summaries of each decision follow. Full Committee resolutions and reports can be found here: www.suny.edu/about/leadership/board-of-trustees/meetings/meetingNotices.cfm.

Approved New Charters

  • Brilla College Preparatory Charter School at Highbridge (Bronx) will open in August 2017 to serve 170 students in Kindergarten and 1st grade. The school will grow to serve 540 students in Kindergarten through 5th grades during an initial five-year term. The school will replicate the instructional program of Brilla College Preparatory Charter School, which opened in 2013 in New York City Community School District ("CSD") 7 and is authorized by the New York State Board of Regents (the "Board of Regents"). The anticipated location for the school is in CSD 9. Key design elements include blended-learning, the Paideia approach (which integrates a combination of didactic instruction, coaching and student-centered discussion into lessons), double blocks of literacy instruction every day, curricular frameworks based on the Core Knowledge Sequence, and high levels of parent involvement.
  • Elmwood Village Charter School 2 (Buffalo) will open in September 2017 with 150 students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade. The school will grow to serve 350 students in Kindergarten through 6th grades during an initial five-year term. The school will replicate the instructional program of Elmwood Village Charter School, which opened in 2006 and is authorized by the Board of Regents. Elmwood Village Charter School is the highest performing public school in the city of Buffalo. Elmwood Village Charter School 2 will also be located within the Buffalo City School District. Key design elements include a small K-8 community, low student-teacher ratio, community alliances, interdisciplinary curriculum, parental involvement, technology integration to support student success, a Responsive Classroom approach to building school culture and high behavioral expectations, and diversity.
  • New York Center for Autism Charter School Bronx (Bronx) will open in September 2017 with 12 students in three ungraded cohorts to serve students with moderate, moderate-severe and severe Autism. The school will grow to serve 32 students during an initial five-year term. The school will replicate the instructional program of New York Center for Autism Charter School in East Harlem, authorized by the New York City Schools Chancellor, which opened in 2005 as the first and only public charter school dedicated solely to serving students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. New York Center for Autism Charter School Bronx plans to locate in CSD 7 or 9. Key design elements include teaching strategies based upon the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, an educational therapy for individuals with autism, as well as use of small classroom environments, close (often 1:1) monitoring of students, and a comprehensive array of services that support families and facilitate home-school collaboration.
  • Urban Assembly Charter School for Computer Science (Bronx) will open in August 2017 with 105 students in 9th grade. The school will grow to serve 420 students in 9th through 12th grades during an initial five-year term. The school will replicate the instructional program of the Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, which opened in 2011 and is an unscreened public career and technical education ("CTE") high school in Manhattan serving primarily low-income students of color who enter below grade level, and graduate with both high school diplomas and industry certifications that make them competitive for entry-level employment in computer science professions. The Urban Assembly Charter School for Computer Science will be located in CSD 7. Key design elements include a CTE framework for computer science education, work-based learning through industry internships, and a four year advisory program that provides post-secondary awareness, advisement and planning structures that introduce students to multiple pathways after graduation.

Renewals

  • New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science (Bronx) opened in 2011 and operates in public space at 99 Terrace View Ave, Bronx, NY in CSD 10.  The school currently serves students in 9th through 12th grade. New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science received a full-term renewal of five years.
  • New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities (Bronx) opened in 2011 and is located in public space at 99 Terrace View Ave, Bronx, NY in CSD 10.  The school currently serves students in 9th through 12th grade. New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities received a full-term renewal of five years.
  • Success Academy Charter School-Bed Stuy 1 (Brooklyn) opened in 2011 and operates in public space at 70 Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn, NY in CSD 14. The school currently serves students in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Success Academy Charter School-Bed Stuy 1 received a full-term renewal of five years and approval to grow to serve students in Kindergarten through 10th grade.
  • Success Academy Charter School-Harlem 1 (Manhattan) opened in 2006 and received its original charter from the Board of Regents.  The school merged into a SUNY-authorized education corporation in 2012. The school operates in public space at 34 West 118th Street, New York, NY in CSD 3 (Kindergarten through 4th grade), 215 West 114th Street, New York, NY in CSD 3 (5th through 7th grade), and 111 East 33rd Street, New York, NY (8th through 10th grade) in CSD 2. Success Academy Charter School-Harlem 1 received a full-term renewal of five years and approval to grow to serve students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.
  • Success Academy Charter School-Upper West (Manhattan) opened in 2011 and operates in public space at 145 West 84th Street, New York, NY in CSD 3 (Kindergarten through 4th grade) and 439 West 49th Street, New York, NY in CSD 2 (5th grade). Success Academy Charter School-Upper West received a full-term renewal of five years and approval to grow to serve students in Kindergarten through 10th grade.

SUNY is the largest charter school authorizer in New York State and the largest university-based  charter school authorizer in the country. The SUNY Charter Schools Institute was created by the SUNY Board of Trustees to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities under the New York Charter Schools Act (the "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; ongoing oversight and evaluation of operating schools; 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. Charter schools in New York trade greater autonomy for greater accountability for academic outcomes. Each charter school education corporation has a charter contract that is signed by its board of trustees and the authorizer of the school. As part of the contract, the accountability plan for eachschool establishes the academic goals that must be met and how those goals will be measured. Contracts last a maximum of five years as set by the Act. In order to continue operating, a charter school must apply to renew its charter at the end of each charter term. Receiving approval to continue operating is the core of accountability required by the Act.

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, with 64 college and university campuses located within 30 miles of every home, school, and business in the state. As of Fall 2017, more than 430,000 students were enrolled in a degree program at a SUNY campus. In total, SUNY served nearly 1.4 million students in credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs in the 2016-17 academic year. SUNY students and faculty across the state make significant contributions to research and discovery, resulting in $1 billion of externally sponsored activity each year. There are 3 million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu.

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