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 St. Hope Leadership Academy 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 St. Hope Leadership Academy 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 to establish a new charter school.  This will be presented to you at your January 2008 meeting.  The proposed charter is the following:

 

• The St. Hope Leadership Academy Charter School

 

The St. Hope Leadership Academy Charter School (SHLACS or “The School”) would be located in New York City Community School District 5, in Harlem.  The proposed charter school would initially serve 150 students in grades five and six and would expand to serve 780 students in grades K-10 in the fifth year of the initial charter. The School is based on a charter school model that has operated in Sacramento, CA for the last five years. SHLACS indicates that “it is a college preparatory school whose mission is to graduate self-motivated, industrious and critical thinking leaders.” St. Hope, Inc. will be the School’s management partner.

 

Recommendation

 

              VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approve and issue the charter of the St. Hope Leadership Academy 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 St. Hope Leadership Academy Charter School is effective immediately.

 

 

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Proposed Charter School

 

Name of Proposed Charter School:  St. Hope Leadership Academy Charter School (SHLACS or “the School”)

 

Address:  TBD

 

Applicant(s):  Ventura Rodriguez

 

Anticipated Opening Date:  August 18, 2008

 

District of Location: New York City Community School District 5, Harlem

 

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

 

Institutional Partner(s):  N/A

 

Management Partner(s):  St. Hope, Inc.

 

Grades Served:                      2008-09: 5-6

              2009-10: 5-7

              2010-11: K-2, 5-8

              2011-12: K-3, 5-9

              2012-13: K-10

                         

Projected Enrollment:         2008-09: 150

2009-10: 225

2010-11: 480

2011-12: 630

2012-13: 780

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

Applicants

 

             The lead applicant is Ventura Rodriguez. He is a New Leaders for New School’s resident with eight years of middle school and high school teaching experience, including four years as a founding teacher at a charter school specializing in serving at-risk and special needs youth.  Mr. Rodriguez has spent the past five months visiting charter schools in New York City drawing from best practices to support the design and implementation of St. Hope Leadership Academy Charter School.  

 

             Members of the Applicant Team are: Tom Bratkovich, Andrea Corso, Dana Gonzalez, Kevin Hiestand, Jonathan Howard, Lori Mills, and Torry Winn. Six of these members have experience building private and nonprofit organizations from the ground up. Five of the members have worked in urban education, establishing and/or working at schools. Four of the members have graduate degrees in education. Two of the members have raised philanthropic dollars to support educational efforts.

 

Institutional Partner

 

N/A

 

 

              St. Hope, Inc., a non-profit charter management organization located in Sacramento, CA, operates three charter schools serving a predominantly low-income, minority student population.  As an aggregate, the grade levels of those schools are K-12.  St. Hope will provide the following educational services: accessing best practices and resources; evaluating options for efficacy and impact; facilitating school leader professional development; and organizing weekly conference calls to discuss key progress on educational initiatives and instructional issues.  St. Hope will also provide the following operational services: finance and accounting; human resources; information technology; legal; data collection and assessment, communications and marketing, fundraising and grant administration.

 

 

• St. Hope Leadership Academy Charter School is based on a school design model that has been developed and implemented by St. Hope, Inc, and refined by the applicant team based on New York State law and context, community needs, and learning from local best practices. 
• SHLACS states its mission is “to graduate self-motivated, industrious and critically thinking leaders who are prepared to attend a four-year college, committed to serving others and passionate about lifelong learning.”  
• Character development will be an underpinning of academic achievement.
• With a focus on literacy and mathematics, the School states it will offer a rigorous, standards-based college preparatory curriculum.
• SHLACS will administer benchmark assessments of student progress every six to eight weeks.
• SHLACS will provide intensive interventions for students who are performing far below grade level
• SHLACS will provide extensive leadership development and community service opportunities.
• SHLACS will utilize a curriculum design model that aims to balance explicit skills and content instruction with a curriculum that encourages students to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers. 
• The curriculum will be implemented through the use of purchased curriculum as well as teacher designed materials.
• All purchased curriculum programs will be New York State editions, aligned to the Learning Standards, and include tools to help students master the requisite skills, knowledge and abilities. 

 

Governance

 

• The founding Board of Trustees (Board) for SHLACS is a team of educational, civic, community and business leaders. Each member must demonstrate that he/she is committed to the shared belief that all students are entitled to attend a high quality, public school of their choice. 
• The intent of the Board is to develop and maintain a Board of Trustees whose capacity resides at the local level.  Eight of the eleven (73%) Trustees live and work in New York City. 
• The Board of Trustees shall consist of seven (7) to eleven (11) members, of which no single organization will hold more than 40% of the seats and at least five of the seats will be held by New York City residents. 
• Board members will be elected and serve two-year terms, the initial terms will be staggered. 
• The Board will have four standing committees: executive; finance/audit; education/accountability; and evaluation. 
• The Board shall elect four officers: President; Vice Chairperson;  Treasurer; and  Secretary.  Officers will serve one-year renewable terms.

 

Students

 

• The School will open with 150 students in grades five and six.
• The School will add one secondary grade each year. In addition the school will begin a K-2 program in 2010-2011 and add subsequently add one elementary grade each year.  At the conclusion of the initial charter, therefore, the school will operate from grades K-10.
• SHLACS’s final enrollment will be 780 students in kindergarten through grade ten.
• The School anticipates that the student population will be reflective of the proposed community school district of location
• The School’s recruitment efforts will target the Harlem neighborhood in Community School District 5.   The area is 67% African American, 31% Latino, 1% White, 1% Asian, 82% Free and Reduced Lunch, 11% English Language Learners, and 11% Students with Disabilities.
• The recruitment process will include the following: distribution of mailings to residents of the community school district of location; posted flyers and notices in local newspapers, communities of faith, community centers, and apartment complexes; offering of open houses in public and private elementary schools, after-school programs and youth centers; and visits to local organizations in surrounding neighborhoods.

 

 

 

Personnel

 

• Year One staffing will reflect a total of sixteen full time equivalents (FTEs). Seventy-five percent will be focused on instruction and school culture and twenty-five percent will be focused on school operations. 
• In Year One of operations, the founding principal, the support services coordinator and the instructional coach will serve as the administrative team.
• The following chart shows the personnel plan for the five years of the charter:

 

Leadership	Instruction	Culture	Operations
Elementary Principal (1 FTE)	ES Teachers (16 FTE)	Elementary Dean (1 FTE)	Director of Ops (1 FTE)
MS Principal (1 FTE)	MS Teachers (6 FTE)	MS Dean (1 FTE)	Business Manager (1 FTE)
High School Principal (1 FTE)	HS Teachers (9.6 FTE)	High School Dean (.5 FTE)	Administrative Assistants(3 FTE)
	ELL Teacher (1 FTE)	ES Parent Liaison (.5 FTE)	Tech Coordinator (1 FTE)
	Special Ed Teacher (1.5 FTE)	MS Parent Liaison (.5 FTE)	Campus Monitor (2.5 FTE)
	Teacher Assistants (4 FTE)	HS Parent Liaison (.5 FTE)	Custodian (.5 FTE)
	Counselor (1 FTE)
	Support Services Crd. (1FTE)
	Instructional Coach (1.5 FTE)
	Librarian (1 FTE)
	Data Coordinator (1 FTE)
	Registrar (1.0 FTE)

 

Budget/Facilities

 

• The proposed operating budget of the School in its first year of operation is $2.36 million.
• The School anticipates a Federal Charter Schools Program grant at the level of $125,000 per year for the first two years of operation as well as $250,000 in fundraising for fiscal year (FY) ’09. 
• The School anticipates a budget surplus at the end of the first year of $10,800.
• SHLACS has not yet identified a site for the School and has established a collaborative relationship with the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) to identify a physical site of an existing NYCDOE school facility. 
• In the event that a NYCDOE facility is not available, SHLACS has made initial contacts concerning the possibility of leasing a building for at least the first year of operation.  The School has initiated discussions with the managers of a building located at 52-54 East 126th Street.
• 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

St. Hope Leadership Academy Charter School

(New York City CSD 5 –Harlem)

2008-09 through 2012-13

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment	Projected Impact
2008-2009	150	$1,727,855	0.0083
2009-2010	225	$2,708,413	0.0127
2010-2011	480	$6,037,956	0.0275
2011-2012	630	$8,281,433	0.0366
2012-2013	780	$10,714,598	0.0459

* 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

 

• SHLACS has secured signatures of parents representing potential enrollees for the upcoming school year.
• Letters of support are provided by Teach for America, the New Teacher Project  and New Leaders for New Schools.

 

Public Opinion

 

• A public hearing was held on September 19th at the Community Education Council meeting for District 3.
• Three supportive comments were made at the meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachment 1

 

Performance Data of St. Hope, Inc. Schools (Public School 7 Elementary School (PS7) and Sacramento High School (Sac High) in California vs. Sacramento County

 

School Demographics for 2006-2007

	African-American	Latino	White	Asian	Other	Free and Reduced Lunch
Sacramento County	15.4%	23.9%	39.2%	13%	8.4%	49.3%
PS 7	84%	5.2%	3.8%	2%	5%	79%
Sac High	50.7%	25.9%	9.1%	9.2%	5%	83%

 

ELA Performance Data: Percent of Students Scoring Proficient or Advanced

	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007
Sacramento County Elementary	38.7	42.2%	42.7%
PS 7	38.5%	38.6%	46.9%
Sacramento County High School	66%	63%	22%
Sac High	66%	55%	N/A

 

Math Performance Data: Percent of Students Scoring Proficient or Advanced

	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007
Sacramento County Elementary	43.8%	48.5%	48.5%
PS 7	43.7%	51.1%	50.2%
Sacramento County High School	64%	60%	21%
Sac High	62%	42%	N/A

 

Both schools affiliated with St. Hope, Inc. met the Federal Accountability Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for ELA and math in 2006-2007.