Meeting of the Board of Regents | February 2008

Friday, February 1, 2008 - 11:05pm

sed seal

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 Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School
DATE:	February 8, 2008
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve and issue the proposed charter of the Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School as submitted by the Chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York?

Reason(s) for Consideration

Required by New York State Education Law §2852.

Proposed Handling

This question will come before the Regents EMSC Committee for action in February 2008 and then before the full Board for final action in February 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 Chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York which will be presented to you at your February 2008 meeting. The proposed charter is for the following charter school:

Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School

The Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School (BAPCS) would be located in New York City Community School District 8, in The Bronx. BAPCS will initially serve 180 students in grades K-2 and expand to serve 794 students in grades K-8 by the fifth year of the initial charter. Career education will be infused into the core curriculum. Students will learn about 100 careers and the decisions they could make in high school given their career interests. BAPCS will use practices contained in the Bridges’ system to help students learn about careers. BAPCS believes in a constructivist ‘hands-on, minds-on’ approach to learning supported by curriculum activities and methodologies that engage all of a student’s senses. The School’s management partner will be Imagine Schools.

Recommendation

VOTED: That the Board of Regents approve and issue the charter of the Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and issue a provisional charter to it for a term of five years, ending on February 11, 2013.

Reason 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 would have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the proposed charter school.

Timetable for Implementation

The Regents action for the Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School is effective immediately.

New York State Education Department

Summary of Proposed Charter School

Summary of Applicant Information

Name of Proposed Charter School: Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School (BAPCS or “the School”)

Address: The Old Bronx Courthouse, 513 East 161st Street, Bronx, NY 10451 (Tentative)

Applicant: Wendy Calderon Payne

Anticipated Opening Date: September, 2008 (To be determined)

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

Charter Entity: Chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York

Institutional Partner(s): N/A

Management Partner: Imagine Schools

Grades Served: 2008-09: K-2

2009-10: K-3

2010-11: K-5

2011-12: K-7

2012-13: K-8.

Projected Enrollment: 2008-09: 180

2009-10: 249

2010-11: 506

2011-12: 698

2012-13: 794

Proposed Charter Highlights

Applicants

Rev. Wendy Andrea Calderón Payne, the lead applicant, has worked for the Urban Youth Alliance since 1994 and is currently the Executive Director of the Urban Youth Alliance, International. In 1989, she graduated with honors from Brown University with a B.A. in Latin American Studies, and in 2000 she graduated from the Executive Level Program of the Columbia Business School Not-for-Profit Institute. She has experience in nonprofit management, youth development, program development, fundraising and community organizing.
Members of the Applicant Team are: Michael Carrion, Associate Executive Director of the Urban Youth Alliance; Ruben Austria, Development Director of the Urban Youth Alliance; Nicole Ashiru, Program Coordinator of Urban Youth Alliance; Eileen Bakke, Vice President of Education of Imagine Schools; Barry Sharp, CFO of Imagine Schools; Sam Howard, Regional Vice President of Imagine Schools; Philip Parr, Regional School Developer of Imagine Schools; Dr. Timothy Birkett, Chair of the Bronx Clergy Task Force; Rose-Anne Collins Judon and Diane Capasso, Vice Principals of Roosevelt High School in the Bronx; Nina Zaragosa, Education Coordinator of World Vision and Adjunct Literacy/Special Education Professor at Brooklyn College.

Institutional Partner(s)

N/A

Educational Management Partner

The management partner will be Imagine Schools (Imagine). Using eleven of its own staff members, Imagine will be involved in the management and support of the school’s day to day operation, both internally and in the community. Two Imagine executives who will help manage the School’s financial and educational operations will also be voting members of the Board of Trustees. Imagine will lease the anticipated facility and enter into a sublease agreement with the School’s Board of Trustees. The School will designate Imagine as agents for the Board, entitling Imagine staff to access student records.
Located in Arlington, VA, Imagine Schools is a for-profit organization and is currently applying for non-profit status.
The founder and CEO is Dennis Bakke. The Regional School Developer is Philip Parr.
Imagine operates 51 public charter schools and independent schools in eleven states and the District of Columbia.
Imagine is authorized to do business in New York.

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

BAPCS will infuse career education into the core curriculum. Students will learn about 100 careers and the decisions they could make in high school given their career interests. The School will use practices contained in the Bridges’ system to help students learn about careers.
BCECC will integrate Technology into the English Language Arts (ELA), math and science curricula.
Arts instruction will include visual, music and theatre related activities.
As part of the character education program, learning about key character attributes will be infused into the curriculum in a developmentally appropriate manner.
In addition to all New York State assessments, the School will use pre and post-Terra Nova tests to determine annual learning gains of students, Standards-Based Assessment Unit Tests aligned with the Imagine Schools’ curriculum, Language Assessment Battery – Revised (LAB-R) and SUPERA as indicators to determine eligibility for Limited English Proficient/English Language Learner (LEP/ELL) programs, New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT) as an indicator to determine student progress in developing English language proficiency, and parent and student school climate assessments.
The School will use a constructivist ‘hands-on, minds-on’ approach to learning supported by curriculum activities and methodologies that engage all of a student’s senses.
Students in the regular education program will have an individual student learning plan, called a Student Success Plan.
Special education will be provided by pairing special education students with general education students along with resource models and alternative programs when necessary,
Spanish will be offered for the Languages Other Than English (LOTE) curriculum.
The school day will be 8:00-4:00 for Grades 1-8. Kindergarten will have five and a half hours of instruction per day.
Classes will have the following student/teacher ratios:
- Kindergarten – 18:1
- Grade 1 – 20:1
- Grade 2 – 22:1
- Grades 3-8 – 24:1
The school year will have 180 days.
The calendar, including opening and closing date, will follow that of the New York City public schools.

Governance

The initial Board of Trustees will consist of nine voting members. One trustee will be a parent and one will be a staff member. Two members will be executives of the management partner who will help manage the School’s finances and educational program.
The initial board will have aggregate experience in education, fundraising, finance and community affairs.
Trustees may serve up to two consecutive three-year terms.
The minimum number of Board members is seven (7), and the maximum number is seventeen (17).
Board committees will include: Education/Accountability; Finance and Budget; and Executive. The Executive Committee shall consist of at least five members and the other standing committees of the Board shall have at least three members.
The Board will seek members with a background in K-8 public education, community knowledge, leadership and expertise in establishing viable school/community partnerships, parent involvement, business operations, financial management, human resource operations, and legal affairs. The Board will act to provide a balance in the range of expertise the Trustees display.

Students

The School will open with 180 students and grow to 794 students in the fifth year of operation.
In 2008, the School will operate a Kindergarten, Grade One and Grade Two. Each will have three classes with the following student/teacher ratios:
- Kindergarten -18:1
- Grade 1 – 20:1
- Grade 2 – 22:1
In 2009, the School will add Grade Three, which will have three classes with a teacher/student ratio of 24:1.
In 2010, the School will add Grades Four and Five, each having four classes with a student/teacher ratio of 24:1. The School will also increase the number of classes in Grades One through Three, to four classes per grade. The aforementioned student/teacher ratios will remain. Kindergarten will remain the same.
In 2011, the School will add Grades Six and Seven, which will have four classes with a student/teacher ratio of 24:1.
In 2012, the School will add Grade Eight, which will have four classes with a student/teacher ratio of 24:1.
The student population will be representative of students served in the former Region 2 of the New York City Department of Education, which includes Community School District 8 where the School will be located. Region 2 serves 63,391 elementary and middle school students. More than half (51.1%) of the student body is male, and 48.9% is female. The majority of students in the district are Hispanic (52.2%), while 38% are African American, 5.4% are white and 4.3% are Asian or Other. Most of the students (75.6%) receive a free lunch. In 2004-2005, 10.7% of the students were classified as English Language Learners (ELL), and 7.8% were classified as Students with Disabilities (SWD).
The School will engage a professional communications and marketing firm to design recruitment information and to develop recruitment campaigns, targeting communities across Community School District 8.
The School will recruit students with special education needs by advertising at parent workshops sponsored by Head Start programs and agencies that offer early intervention services.
The School will recruit ELL students by advertising at local ethnic communities of faith, stores, pre-Kindergarten facilities and businesses. The School will also advertise on a community cable TV and radio show, hosted by the Church Alive Community Organization, which targets immigrant families.

Personnel

The first-year administrative staff will include a principal, an office manager and a part-time administrative assistant.
Administrative certification is preferred for the principal and prior school experience is preferred for the office manager as well.
One teacher will coordinate the career education curriculum beginning in the first year of operation.
In the third year of operation, there will be a vice principal and administrative assistant time will be increased to full-time equivalency.
Staff, including regular education, special education and specialty staff (librarian, arts, physical education, Spanish, and ELL), will expand accordingly as the enrollment grows.
The School will be divided into three Academies representing different age levels: K-3, 4-5 and 6-8. A Lead Teacher will be assigned to each of the three levels

Budget/Facilities

The first year budget is anticipated to be $3,366,986.
The total of loans from Imagine Schools, as part of the five-year budget, is $1,436,483. This includes principal and interest. The breakdown is: $250,000 for the start-up expenses, $465,030 in Year One and $576,460 in Year Two. The Years One and Two loans will be used to cover anticipated deficits. No additional loans are anticipated after Year Two.
Loan payback terms are 60 months, at 12% interest. The start-up loan will be paid in Year Six; the Year One loan will be paid in Year Six; and the Year Two loan will be paid in Year Seven.
If the chartering authorizer cancels their charter, all loans will be forgiven.
For a facility, Imagine Schools, Inc. is proposing to enter into a long-term lease for the Bronx Courthouse, located at 161st Street and 3rd Avenue, with Mr. Henry Weinstein, President, Liberty Square Realty, 1839 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11223. The Board of BAPCS will sublet the property for 25 years.
The Courthouse has been shuttered for approximately 30 years. It is now gutted.
The plan is to have the owner renovate the courthouse following charter approval and to be able to accommodate 430 students by September, 2008.
The school facility will contain 80,000 square feet when fully renovated. This will provide 36 classrooms, space for counselors and adjunct staff, administrative space, a cafeteria, a multi-media room (aka library), and a gymnasium, using the cellar, ground, second, third, and fourth floors of the building.
Renovations will continue throughout the 2008-2009 school year during a time when classes are in session.
The potential fiscal impact upon the District is represented below. 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 New York City 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 the

Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School

(New York City CSD 8 – Bronx)

2008-09 Through 2012-13

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2008-2009	180	$2,073,426	0.0100
2009-2010	249	$2,997,311	0.0140
2010-2011	506	$6,365,012	0.0290
2011-2012	698	$9,175,303	0.0405
2012-2013	794	$10,906,911	0.0468

* 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

Community Support

Three hundred residents signed a petition of support and families of 260 age-eligible children have signed that they are considering enrolling their children in the School.
The proposed charter provides six letters of support from community representatives and organizations.

Public Opinion

A public hearing, hosted by the Community Education Council of Community School District 8, New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), was held on September 19, 2007. There were 25 comments, all in support of the School.

Recommendation

Reason for Recommendation