Meeting of the Board of Regents | December 2008

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

TO:
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:	Charter Schools: Proposed Charter of The Academy Charter School
DATE:	December 11, 2008
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendations concerning the proposed charter to establish The Academy Charter School (Hempstead)?

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

            Required by the State statute Education Law §2852.

Proposed Handling

This question will come before the EMSC Committee in December 2008 for action.  It will then come before the full Board for final action in December 2008.

Procedural History

            The New York Charter Schools Act of 1998 requires the Board of Regents to review, in accordance with the standards set forth in Education Law §2852(2), proposed charters, renewal charters and revisions to charters and renewal charters that have been approved and submitted by other charter entities.  The Board of Regents may either approve and issue a charter, renewal charter and/or revision as proposed by the charter entity, or return the same to the charter entity for reconsideration with written comments and recommendations.

Background Information

We received a proposed charter from the Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) for the establishment of the following charter school:

• The Academy Charter School

 

The Academy Charter School (“the School”), with Victory Schools, Inc. as its management partner, would be located within the Hempstead Union Free School District. The School will open in September 2009.  Initially, the School will serve 168 students in kindergarten through second grade and grow to serve 336 students in grades K-5 by its fifth year of operation.

            The mission of The Academy Charter School is to offer an interdisciplinary curriculum in a technology rich environment that challenges students to explore connections across subjects and use experiential learning to bridge the gaps between theory and practice. In addition to core subjects, students will benefit from high expectations in physical education, health, and the arts. The School will focus on character development and community service will cultivate a student body poised to be active, engaged and responsible members of the community. The School will employ a committed staff whose teaching and high academic and behavioral expectations will promote the excellence the community’s children can achieve.  Students will leave from The Academy with the content mastery and life skills needed to move into the top five percent of their middle and high school classes.

 

Recommendation

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approves and issues the charter of The Academy Charter School as proposed by the Trustees of the State University of New York, and issues a provisional charter to it for a term of 5 years, up through and including December 16, 2013.

Reasons for Recommendation

            (1) The charter school described in the proposed charter meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the applicant can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; (3) approving and issuing the proposed charter is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law; and (4) approving and issuing the proposed charter will have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the proposed charter school. 

Timetable for Implementation

The Regents action for The Academy Charter School is effective immediately.

New York State Education Department

Summary of Proposed Charter

Name of Proposed Charter School: The Academy Charter School

Address: TBD

 

Lead Applicant(s):  Donna M. Douglas

Anticipated Opening Date: September, 2009

District of Location: Hempstead UFSD

Charter Entity: Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY)

Institutional Partner(s):  N/A

Management Partner(s): Victory Schools, Inc.

Grades Served:                   2009-2010: K-2

2010-2011: K-3

2011-2012: K-4

2012-2013: K-5

2013-2014: K-5

Projected Enrollment:       2009-2010: 168

2010-2011: 240

2011-2012: 288

2012-2013: 336

2013-2014: 336

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

Applicants

                  The lead applicant is Ms. Donna Douglas.  The application describes Ms. Douglas as an experienced Executive with a comprehensive background in business, including banking and investments, and social services. She is currently the Founder/Director/Pastor of Calvary Tabernacle, Inc. in which she administers an annual budget of $1.2 million and manages church assets valued at $4.5 million.  Ms. Douglas is also the Founder/Chairperson of the Tri-State Music Association, Inc., which she established to empower youth and churches through music.  She has a BA in Economics and a BA in Christian Education and Biblical Studies.  

 

Institutional Partner

N/A

Management Partner

• Victory Schools, Inc. (“Victory”) is a not-for-profit organization that has provided start-up and ongoing services to 20 charter schools in New York State, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Chicago, Illinois since 1999.  Victory has agreed to provide The Academy Charter School with a full range of management services which include day-to-day management and operation of the School, financial and accounting services, education and instructional support, and professional development. Victory provides services to 9 charter schools in the New York City area and to one charter school located in Albany, New York.  (See Attachment I related to the academic performance of Victory managed charter schools operating in New York State).

 

• The applicants met with an existing charter school that is managed by Victory Schools, Inc., and  were impressed with Merrick Academy Charter School’s school climate, visually rich design, interaction between students and teachers, and student behavior—observations that mirror the applicant’s vision for The Academy Charter School.  

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

• The School plans to enroll kindergarten through 5th grade students during the first five years of the charter and continue to grade 8 during the first three years of its charter renewal.
• The School Principal will focus on creating a professional and collaborative learning community where all members are held accountable for their performance, and where students will respect themselves and respect others.
• The School will focus on three areas of student growth that will enable them to be empower adults:  mastery of academic subjects, character development, and lifelong behavior of giving back to their community. 
• The School will encourage and develop student creativity and resourcefulness to suggest and implement solutions.  Civic engagement will be a part of student consciousness from the primary grades.
• The School will employ standards-based and research-proven curriculum with an emphasis on the core subject areas of English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. 
• For ELA, the School will use a balanced literacy approach and focus on the fundamentals of reading, writing, listening, and speaking for 120 minutes of instruction for all students. The School will use the Scott Foresman Reading Street program, Great Source Writing Program, and grade level trade books and classroom libraries with authentic literature.
• The School will implement instructional best practices including differentiated inquiry-based learning using a variety of assessments to measure on-going student progress. 
• Technology and the Arts will be integrated and used across the Core Knowledge curriculum.
• The applicant has provided an assurance that the School will provide instruction in each subject in the 7 general curriculum areas and 28 Learning Standards.
• There are 183 days of instruction and the school day starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m.

 

Governance

• The number of Trustees shall not be fewer than nine (9) and shall not exceed thirteen (13).
• Trustees will be elected to serve terms of five years dating from the day of their election and extending to the date of the annual meeting of the Trustees five years thereafter.  The President of the Parent-Teacher Organization (“PTO”) will be a voting Trustee for the length of his or her term as president of the PTO.
• No more than 40 percent of trustees will be affiliated with any single entity.  No person affiliated with Victory Schools, Inc. will serve on the Board of Trustees.
• Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees shall be monthly throughout the year and as appropriate over the summer as the Board determines.
• The initial committees of the Board of Trustees shall be Executive Committee, Academic and Personnel Committee, Grievance Committee, and the Fundraising and Finance.
• The officers of the Board of Trustees are Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer.

 

Students

• Some concerns were raised regarding §2852(2)(d) of the Education Law, as amended by Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2007, which states that an application shall not be approved unless “in a school district where the total enrollment of resident students attending charter schools in the base year is greater than five percent of the total public school enrollment of the school district in the base year (i) granting the application would have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the proposed charter school or (ii) the school district in which the charter school will be located consents to such application”.  

 

• Based on data from the Hempstead UFSD, a total of 207 resident students attended a charter school in the base year (2007-2008), which represents 3.3 percent of the total district public school enrollment of 6,188 in the base year (2007-2008). 

• The School expects the student body to reflect the student population of the Hempstead UFSD in which 52 percent of students are African-American; 46 percent are Hispanic or Latino; and 2 percent Asian or Other.  A total of 71 percent of the district’s public school children are eligible for the federal free/reduced lunch program.
• The School will begin with two classes each of kindergarten and 1st grade and three classes of 2nd grade for a total of 168 students. 
• In each subsequent year, The Academy Charter School will alternate between adding two and three classes of kindergarten (48 and 78 students respectively).
• Class size will average 25 students.
• The School will provide one lead teacher at each grade level, and one assistant teacher per class in grades K-1.
• The School’s recruitment plan includes strategies to advertise widely to families from the community school district, including English Language Learners (ELL) and Students with Disabilities (SWD).
• The School seeks to offer school choice in a community with substantial resources but where the school system is plagued by poor academic results, violence and low expectations.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

Projected Fiscal Impact of

The Academy Charter School (Hempstead UFSD)

2009-10 through 2013-14

 

Projected Fiscal Impact of

Evergreen Charter School (Hempstead UFSD)

2009-10 through 2013-14

 

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from the base of $150,616,862 in 2008-2009 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year.

 

 Personnel

• During its first year, the School will employ one principal, a business manager, and an administrative assistant and one director of operations.  The School will employ an assistant principal and a second administrative assistant in its second year.
• The School will employ the following staff in its first year of instruction: seven classroom teachers (20 in Year Five); one special educator (2.5 in Year Five); two special area teachers (3 in Year 5); and four teacher assistants (5 in Year Five)
• In addition, in its first year of instruction, the School will employ a social worker/counselor part-time initially and 2 full-time by Year Five.
• Staff will receive two weeks of intensive professional development in the summer prior to school opening and constant on-going professional development throughout the year. 
• The School will dismiss students at 2:00 p.m. twice a month so that teachers may participate in additional professional development.
• Victory Schools, Inc. will provide professional development through its agreement with the School; however, if Victory is unable to deliver a particular kind of professional development identified as necessary and appropriate for some or all teachers, the Trustees will set aside $26,450 in the first year for outside professional development and tuition reimbursement, (with an eight percent annual growth rate budgeted in subsequent years.

 

Community Support

• The School provided signatures of parent support and evidence of student age, and/or grade level eligibility for enrollment to the School.
• The School included letters of support in its application from the:  Honorable Roger H. Corbin, Nassau County Legislature, District 2 and Honorable Kevan M. Abrahams, Deputy Presiding Officer, Nassau County Legislature, District 1.
• The Charter Schools Institute and the State Education Department sent notification letters to, and posted the notice on its website to inform, public and private schools in the county, including those in the Hempstead school district, of the proposed application to establish The Academy Charter School and inviting comments for the public hearing. 
• The Hempstead UFSD held two public hearings: one on August 21, 2008 and another on September 18, 2008.  Both hearings were well attended by no less than 60 individuals combined as shown in the DVD recording submitted by the district.  Comments were evenly divided between those who support charter schools and those who do not support charter schools.  Some believe the district has made great strides in academic performance and some believe the district has not made great strides at all. 
• Three letters written in opposition of charter schools were received from the Hempstead Hispanic Civic Association, the Hempstead School Administrator Association, and a representative of the Hempstead Classroom Teacher Association.

 

Attachment I:  Performance on ELA and Math State Assessments by all Charter Schools

In New York State Managed by Victory Schools, Inc.

	Percent of Students Scoring At or Above Level 3 on State Exams
Charter School	2004-2005		2005-2006		2006-2007		2007-2008
	Gr. 4 ELA	Gr. 4 MATH	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH
Charter School of Education Excellence			32	34	46	53	56	77
Grand Concourse			53	80	87	93	78	95
Merrick Children’s Academy					56	85	66	82
New Covenant	39	75	27	38	35	56	47	71
Peninsula Preparatory					56	85	66	82
Roosevelt Children’s Academy	87	93	82	75	77	80	90	96
South Bronx Charter School for International Culture and the Arts							63	95
Sisulu-Walker Charter School	62	89	78	74	69	100	82	98