Meeting of the Board of Regents | June 2010

SUMMARY

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendations concerning the proposed revision to the first renewal charter for the Bronx Charter School for Children? 

Background Information

              We received a request from the Board of Trustees of the Bronx Charter School for Children (“the School”), a Board of Regents authorized charter school located in New York City Community School District 7, to approve a proposed revision to its current charter. For the 2010-2011 school year, the School seeks to increase enrollment from 22 to 24 students in each classroom at grade levels Kindergarten through Grade 5 (a total of 18 classes), and to expand the total enrollment from 396 to 432.  The request is supported by community interest.  The School will sustain the overall teacher/student ratio of 12:1 and will maintain full-time teaching assistants at the Kindergarten level and shared instructional specialists at all grade levels.  The classroom space in the School’s facility is sufficient to support the increased enrollment.    

The Board of Regents granted the School its initial charter on January 15, 2003 for a period of five years, and the School opened for instruction in September 2004, with approval to serve 308 students in Kindergarten through Grade 5 by 2008-2009.  The Board of Regents approved a first revision on June 20, 2005, which authorized the school to increase enrollment from 308 to 396 students.  On December 14, 2007, the Board of Regents voted to renew the School’s charter for three years and five months, through June 30, 2011.    

              The NYCDOE held a public hearing on June 15, regarding this proposed revision for the School.  

              Staff recommends that the Board of Regents approve the proposed revision to the first renewal charter of the Bronx Charter School for Children. 

Recommendation

VOTED: That the Board of Regents approves the revision to the first renewal charter of the Bronx Charter School for Children, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

Reasons for Recommendation

              The proposed revision to the School’s first renewal charter, along with the other terms of the  charter: (1) meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) will permit the charter school to operate in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; and (3) 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.

Timetable for Implementation

The Regents action for the Bronx Charter School for Children is effective immediately.