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 for the Icahn Charter School 4
DATE:	December 5, 2008
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

 

Should the Regents approve and issue the proposed charter of the Icahn Charter School 4 (New York City)?

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

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

 

•  Icahn Charter School 4

 

The Icahn Charter School 4 (ICS4 or “the School”) with the Foundation for Greater Opportunity as its institutional partner will be located in The Bronx.  The School will open in September 2009.  Initially, the School will serve 108 students in grades K-2 and grow to serve 252 students in grades K-6 in its fifth year of operation. The School's mission is “to use the Core Knowledge curriculum developed by E.D. Hirsch, to provide students with a rigorous academic program offered in an extended day/year setting.  Students will graduate armed with the skills and knowledge to participate successfully in the most rigorous academic environments, and will have a sense of personal and community responsibility.”  The School’s institutional partner, the Foundation for Greater Opportunity, is currently in partnership with three charter schools in New York City.  (See Attachment 1)

 

Recommendation

 

              VOTED: That the Board of Regents approves and issues the charter of the Icahn Charter School 4 as proposed by the Trustees of the State University of New York, and issues a provisional charter to it for a term of five years, up through and including December 15, 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 applicants 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 Icahn Charter School 4 is effective immediately.

 

 

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Proposed Charter

 

Name of Proposed Charter School: Icahn Charter School 4 (ICS4 or “the School”)

 

Address:  TBD

 

Applicant(s):  Julie Clark Goodyear and Gail Golden

 

Anticipated Opening Date: September 2009

 

District of Location: New York City Community School District 8, The Bronx

 

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

 

Institutional Partner(s): Foundation for a Greater Opportunity

 

Management Partner(s): N/A

 

Grades Served:                      2009-2010: K-2

2010-2011: K-3

2011-2012: K-4

2012-2013: K-5

2013-2014: K-6

 

Projected Enrollment:         2009-2010: 108

2010-2011: 144

2011-2012: 180

2012-2013: 216

2013-2014: 252

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

 

Applicants

 

Co-Applicant, Julie Goodyear is the Executive Director of the Foundation for a Greater Opportunity and the Icahn Scholars Program.  Ms. Goodyear has worked at College du Leman in Versoix, Switzerland.  She was the Associate Director of Admissions at Choate Rosemary Hall from 1985-1995.  Ms. Goodyear has a B.A. from New York University and a M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University. 

 

Co-Applicant, Gail Golden has served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lowestfare.com, Inc. since August 1998.  Ms. Golden has served as president of Lowestfare.com and as Chief Executive Officer of Lowestfare.com, LLC.  She is the Director and Secretary of the Foundation for a Greater Opportunity as well as Vice President of Administration of Icahn Associates, Corp.  Ms. Golden has served in various capacities at Icahn & Co., Inc., including Director of Public and Investor Relations and Director of Human Resources. 

 

Institutional Partner

 

The Foundation for a Greater Opportunity (FGO) is a non-profit organization.  This organization is located in New York City.  FGO will advance the School start-up costs.  A subsidiary of the FGO, Greater Opportunity, L.L.C., was created to oversee the building of schools and will serve in that function to build ICS4.  FGO is partnered with three charter schools in the Bronx, which are the following (name of school-date of issuance-location):

 

Approved by the Board of Regents:

• Carl C. Icahn Bronx North Charter School – September 2006 – Bronx, NY
• Carl C. Icahn Charter School – March 2001 – Bronx, NY

 

In effect by operation of law:

• Carl C. Icahn South Bronx Charter School (formerly known as Carl C. Icahn Far Rockaway) – January 2008 – Bronx, NY

 

Management Partner

             

N/A

 

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

• The School’s educational philosophy is to provide a rigorous academic program that will graduate students armed with skills and knowledge to participate successfully in the most rigorous academic environments, with a sense of personal and community responsibility.
• The ICS4 curriculum reflects instruction leading toward attainment of the 28 learning standards.
• The School’s educational program is based on the three existing Carl C. Icahn charter schools currently located in The Bronx.  (See Attachment 1 for Performance data)  
• The School’s curriculum is founded on E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge, which combines different subject areas to reinforce the idea that children learn new knowledge by building on what they already know. 
• In addition to all New York State assessments, the School will administer CTB/ McGraw Hill Fox in the Box, and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. 
• ICS4 will have a Targeted Assistance Program, developed to assist students on an individual basis in math and literacy.
• The School will offer a Saturday Academy to provide remedial support for students identified as in need of additional support.   
• ICS4 intends to offer intensive staff development to all teachers in the implementation of Core Knowledge. 
• ICS4 will have a Pupil Personnel Committee (PPC) that will meet monthly to review the need of at-risk students who will receive appropriate interventions.  The PPC will be comprised of a special education teacher, general education teacher, an administrator and a related service provider.
• English language learner (ELL) services will follow a push-in model.
• The School intends to replicate the success of CCICS which, in 2005-2008, had 80 to 85 percent of third to eighth graders meet or exceed grade level standards in ELA and 96 to 98 percent meet of third through eighth graders meet or exceed grade level standards in math.
• The School proposes a 191-day school year from September to July.
• ICS4 will provide instruction from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

 

Governance

 

• The number of Board members shall not be less than (5) or more than (25).
• There will be ten members on the initial Board of Trustees.  One member will be an officer from the Parent Teacher Association.
• Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees shall be held no fewer than nine times throughout the year.
• The initial committees of the Board of Trustees shall be Executive, Financial and Grievance.
• The officers of the Board of Trustees are chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer.

 

Students

 

• ICS4 will serve 108 students in grades K-2 in the first year of instruction and will grow to 252 students in grades K-6 in its fifth year of instruction.   
• The School anticipates a class size of 18 students.  Each class will have one teacher. 
• The ICS4 recruitment efforts will include contacts with neighboring schools, day care centers, community boards, community based organizations and flyers.
• The School anticipates the ages of students enrolled in grades K-6 will range between five and twelve.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

• The School has not secured a facility, but is in communication with the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), to occupy space in one of their facilities in CSD 8.
• The School’s first year revenues are anticipated at $1,475,230 and will grow to $3,690,805 in Year Five. 
• The Year One budget anticipates total expenses of $1,472,420, with $1,915,265 during Year Two and by Year Five to equal $3,573,661.
• The School anticipates an ending fund balance of $40,441 at the end of Year One and $323,505 at the end of Year Five.
• The School intends to apply $25,000 per year towards its dissolution fund, starting in Year One through Year Three.
• ICS4 ensures that it will perform all programmatic and fiscal audits annually as required by the New York State Charter Schools Act.
• The potential fiscal impact upon the District is represented below.  Please note that these projections are based upon several assumptions, which may or may not occur: that all existing charter schools will also exist in the next five years and serve the same grade levels as they do now; that the charter schools will be able to meet their projected maximum enrollment; that all students will come from NYC and no other districts; that all students will attend everyday for a 1.0 FTE; that the District’s budget will increase at the projected rate; that the per pupil payment will increase (and not decrease); and that the per pupil payment will increase at the projected rate.

 

Projected

Fiscal Impact of

Icahn
Charter School
4  

(New York City – Bronx)

2009-10 through 2013-14

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2009-2010	108	1,300,038	0.0061%
2010-2011	144	1,811,387	0.0082%
2011-2012	180	2,366,124	0.0104%
2012-2013	216	2,967,119	0.0127%
2013-2014	252	3,617,413	0.0151%

* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from the base of $20.12 billion in 2007-2008; and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2007-2008 rate of $11,023.

 

Personnel

 

• The School will be led by one principal. 
• The work of the principal will be supported by the financial manager, teachers and general staff.
• The School will employ the following instructional staff in its first year: six classroom teachers (14 in Year Five); one part-time special education coordinator/teacher (full-time by Year Five); one targeted assistance teacher (four in Year Five); and one part-time ESL teacher (full-time by Year Five).
• The Special Education teacher will be New York State certified in special education.
• Staff will receive one and a half weeks of professional development in Core Knowledge before the School opens.
• Jeffrey Litt, the principal of Carl C. Icahn Charter School, will provide training to the new teachers of ICS4 in the implementation of the Core Knowledge curriculum.  Mr. Litt is recognized as a Core Knowledge expert and has trained teachers and administrators globally including, individuals from Australia, Great Britain, Italy and Israel.

 

Community Support

 

• The School provided information regarding the waiting lists from another charter schools partnered with the Foundation for Greater Opportunity, in the borough of The Bronx.  Presently, Carl C. Icahn Charter School has 735 names on its waiting list.

 

Public Opinion

 

• The New York City Department of Education sent a letter and posted the notice on its website, notifying the public and independent schools in Community School District 8 of the proposed application for Carl C. Icahn Charter School 9 (recently renamed Icahn Charter School 4) and inviting comments for the public hearing. 
• The public hearing on the proposed application for the School was held on Tuesday, June 24, 2008.  No comments were made or received.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachment 1

 

Performance on ELA and Math State Assessments by all  

Carl C. Ichan Charter Schools in New York State

	Percent of Students Scoring At or Above Level 3 on State Exams
Charter School	2005-2006		2006-2007		2007-2008
	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH
Carl C. Icahn	84	96.9	81.1	97.6	85	98
Carl C. Icahn Bronx North	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Carl C. Icahn South Bronx	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A