Meeting of the Board of Regents | January 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 Dream Charter School
DATE:	January 4, 2008
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

 

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

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

        Required by State statute, Education Law §2852.

 

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the Regents EMSC Committee for action and then before the full Board for final action in January 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. This will be presented to you at your January 2008 meeting.  The proposed charter is for the following:

 

•  Dream Charter School (New York City)

 

              The Dream Charter School (DCS or “The School”) would be located in New York City Community School District 4, in East Harlem.  The proposed charter school would initially serve 100 students in grades kindergarten through one and would expand to serve 300 students in grades K-5 at full capacity in the fifth year of the initial charter. The School's mission is to educate East Harlem children through a comprehensive K-8 program that builds a community of passionate lifelong learners. DCS states that it “will promote physical, social, emotional and moral growth in a nurturing environment with high expectations, inspiring every student to recognize their potential and realize their dreams.”

 

Recommendation

 

                VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approve and issue the charter of the Dream 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 January 14, 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; and (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 Dream Charter School is effective immediately.

 

 

 

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Proposed Charter

 

Name of Proposed Charter School: Dream Charter School (DCS or “the School”)

 

Address:  TBD

 

Applicant(s):  Richard Berlin

 

Anticipated Opening Date: September 2, 2008

 

District of Location: New York City Community School District 4, East Harlem

 

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

 

Institutional Partner(s):  Harlem RBI, Inc.

 

Management Partner(s): N/A

 

Grades Served:                      2008-09: K-1

              2009-10: K-2

              2010-11: K-3

              2011-12: K-4

              2012-13: K-5

                         

Projected Enrollment:         2008-09: 100

2009-10: 150

2010-11: 200

2011-12: 250

2012-13: 300

 

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

 

Applicant

 

              Richard Berlin has been the Executive Director at Harlem RBI since 1997. Mr. Berlin holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a Master's Degree in Political Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Additionally, he has completed certificate programs at Columbia University's Institute for Not-for-Profit Management in both Non-Profit Management and Leadership Development. Mr. Berlin has been a Leadership Fellow at the Citizen's Committee for the Children of New York City and is an adjunct faculty member at The Milano Graduate Studies Program at the New School for Management and Urban Policy. Mr. Berlin currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Council of Community and College Leaders at the Center for After School Excellence and sits on the Program Council at The Partnership for After School Education and the National Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Summer Learning. Mr. Berlin has particular experience in strategic planning, board development, fund development, leadership and management and program planning. 

 

Institutional Partner(s)

 

              HRBI is a 501(c)3, community-based, youth development organization located in East Harlem, New York. HRBI’s mission is “to use baseball and softball and the power of teams to provide inner-city youth with opportunities to Play, to Learn and to Grow, inspiring them to recognize their potential and realize their dreams.” HRBI provides academic, enrichment and sports programs to offer positive opportunities for youth to develop from vulnerable children into resilient young adults. HRBI began in 1991. After several years of offering a summer baseball league, the organization identified the critical needs of its population and began offering off-the-field programming such as mentoring, a youth newsletter and a summer literacy camp. HRBI leadership has spent fifteen years building its non-profit infrastructure and capacity. HBRI will support the School in the areas of Finance and Development. HRBI’s FY 2007 operating budget is $3.6 million. 79% of all its expenditures go directly toward program services. HRBI is primarily supported by gifts from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Government support represents approximately six percent of annual revenues.

 

Management Partner

N/A

 

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

• Dream Charter School's mission is to educate East Harlem children through a comprehensive K-8 program that builds a community of passionate lifelong learners.
• DCS states that it “will promote physical, social, emotional and moral growth in a nurturing environment with high expectations, inspiring every student to recognize their potential and realize their dreams.”
• The School states that its educational philosophy is “founded on the belief that student success is based on the instructional effectiveness of classroom teachers, and that schools that are experiential, collaborative and inclusive will best engage and inspire children to learn.”
• DCS will provide two co-teaching teams on each grade level.
• At DCS, health and wellness education will be a fundamental component of the overall curriculum.
• The balanced literacy approach will be adapted for use in DCS. DCS will use two basic curricula: Fundations and the Making MeaningReading Program.
• For instruction in Mathematics, DCS will use Investigations In Number Data and Space (INDS) from Technical Education Research Centers (TERC).
• DCS will feature the Full Option Science System (FOSS) from Delta Education.
• DCS’ social studies curriculum will be broken into concrete ‘studies’ formulated by using Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s Understanding by Design backward design framework.
• The K-8 curriculum will be sequenced and based on the Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education.
• In addition to all assessments required by New York State and the No Child Left Behind Act, the School will administer nationally normed exams (ITBS) in ELA and math, beginning in kindergarten. The School will also administer ECLAS-2 (K-2) and Dibels (K-6).
• Where appropriate, DCS will implement the inclusion model as the means of serving the needs of all of its students, including those students classified as special education.
• To serve English Language Learners (ELL) within its inclusion classes, DCS will implement the Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Program and Sheltered English Techniques (SET) or Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) for delivering content to ELL students in English.
• DCS will employ an extended school day schedule from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Monday through Thursday. On Friday afternoon, students will be dismissed at 3:00 p.m.
• DCS will employ an extended school year program with 183 school-year days and 24 mandatory summer half-days.

 

Governance

 

• The Board of Trustees will serve as the governing authority of the School and will be directly accountable to the charter, authorizer and mission of the School.
• DCS proposes to govern the School with a Board of Trustees charged with oversight for financial and management decisions.
• The initial Board of Trustees consists of seven (7) voting members.
• The maximum number of Board members allowed is fifteen (15).
• The Board will not exceed the State Education Department requirement that no more than 40 percent of the members be affiliated with another organization.
• Qualifications for Board members include experience in financial, legal, business, fundraising, management, governance, real estate development or education. 
• No governance positions are set-aside for parents. Parents, however, may become members of the Board of Trustees.
• The Board includes the following standing committees: Executive, Finance, Education, Accountability and Personnel.

 

Students

 

• DCS will serve 100 students in grades K-1 during its first year and expand to serve 300 students in grades K-5 by the fifth year of its charter. 
• Each class will have 25 students.
• DCS intends to serve students with similar demographic profiles as CSD 4; students attending traditional public schools are predominantly Hispanic (~62%) and African American (~34%).
• Student recruitment will involve outreach to prospective DCS students and their families through advertisements in local newspapers, flyers distributed throughout the community, notices in ‘communities of faith” institution bulletins, presentations at East Harlem community-based organizations, Head Start and other pre-K programs.
• The students will be selected by a blind, random lottery. Preference will be given to students living in New York City Community School District 4.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

• The School’s budget for the start-up period is $291,752. The first year’s anticipated budget total is $1,454,803.
• DCS anticipates a budget surplus of roughly $201,962 for the first year of the charter.
• The budget anticipates a $50,000 post-authorization grant from the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence and a $175,000 Federal Charter School (CSP) grant.
• The School anticipates a minimum of $150,000 in additional fundraising in the first year.
• The proposed charter school has requested incubation space in a New York City Department of Education school building.
• The most likely private space alternative that will be ready for the first day of school and that has been identified is a former parochial school building in East Harlem, in the St. Lucy’s Church Parish on 104th Street and 1st Avenue.  
• DCS and its institutional partner, Harlem RBI, have begun to explore longer-term facility options.  Initial exploratory conversations have revolved around finding a development partner, in commercial or non-profit real estate, to build a space that DCS can hold a long-term lease on and perhaps eventually purchase.
• There are no loans that are a part of the proposed budget.
• 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 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

Dream
Charter School

(New York City CSD 4 – East Harlem)

2008-09 through 2012-13

 

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2008-2009	100	$1,151,904	0.0056
2009-2010	150	$1,805,609	0.0085
2010-2011	200	$2,515,815	0.0114
2011-2012	250	$3,286,283	0.0145
2012-2013	300	$4,120,999	0.0177

   * 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

 

• Joshua Klaris, former principal of NYCDOE’s PS 183M, will assume the role as founding principal of DCS.
• During Year one, the School’s administrative staff will include a principal, a director of operations, an office manager and an administrative assistant.
• During Year one, the School’s teaching staff will include a director of Health and Wellness, four general education teachers, two special education teachers, two ELL teachers, .5 FTE Art teacher, and .5 FTE Social Worker.
• In Year two, the School will be staffed by a principal, a director of operations, a director of Health and Wellness, an office manager, an administrative assistant, six general education teachers, three special education teachers, three ELL teachers, .5 FTE Art teacher, and .5 FTE Social Worker.
• In Year three, the School will be staffed by a principal, an assistant principal, a director of operations, a director of Health and Wellness, an office manager, an administrative assistant, eight general education teachers, four special education teachers, four ELL teachers, a Health teacher, a Social Worker and .5 FTE Art Teacher.  
• In Year four, the School will be staffed by a principal, an assistant principal, a director of operations, a director of Health and Wellness, an office manager, an administrative assistant, ten general education teachers, five special education teachers, five ELL teachers, a Health teacher, a Social Worker and an Art Teacher. 
• In Year five, the School will be staffed by a principal, an assistant principal, a director of operations, a director of Health and Wellness, an office manager, an administrative assistant, twelve general education teachers, six special education teachers, six ELL teachers, a Health teacher, a Social Worker and an Art Teacher.

 

Community Support

 

• More than 200 signatures from parents with school-age children were collected on the Parent Petition of Support to support the projected opening enrollment.
• The School has received letters of support from ten community-based organizations and elected officials serving the educational, cultural, business and political interests of the target community. The following individuals and organizations have provided letters of support:

• U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel
• State Senator Jose Serrano, Jr.
• NYC Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito

• Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center
• Union Settlement Association
• Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Services

• Boys and Girls Harbor

 

Public Opinion

 

              A public hearing for the Dream Charter School was held on October 10th, 2007, at the Community Education Council Meeting for New York City’s Community School District 4. There were no public comments generated at or following the meeting.