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THE STATE
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY
OF THE STATE OF |
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TO: |
EMSC-VESID Committee |
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FROM: |
Jean C. Stevens |
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SUBJECT: |
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DATE: |
August 23, 2006 |
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STRATEGIC
GOAL: |
Goals 1 and 2 |
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AUTHORIZATION(S): |
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SUMMARY
Issue for
Decision
Should the
Regents approve the staff’s recommendations regarding the proposed charter for
the Carl C. Icahn Charter School Bronx North in
Reason(s) for
Consideration
Required by State statute, Education Law 2852.
Proposed
Handling
This question will come before the
EMSC-VESID Committee in September for action.
Procedural
History
Under the
New York Charter Schools Act of 1998, the Board of Regents is authorized to make
recommendations regarding proposed charters submitted to it from another charter
entity. The Board is also
authorized to make recommendations regarding the renewal of existing charters on
applications submitted directly to it as a charter entity. Upon receipt of an
application for the establishment of a new charter school or a renewal, the
Board of Regents shall review such applications and proposed charters in
accordance with the standards set forth in the Charter Schools Act. Subsequent to their approval, the Board
must then issue the initial charter or the renewal charter for each school, as
applicable.
Background
Information
We received one proposed charter from the
Trustees of the State University of New York (“the Trustees”) to establish a new
charter school. The proposed
charter is for the Carl C. Icahn Charter School Bronx North,
The Carl C. Icahn Charter School Bronx North will be located in
Copies of the above are available for your review by contacting Shelia Evans-Tranumn at 718-722-2796.
Recommendation
VOTED: That the Board of Regents approves the following proposed charter:
§
Timetable for
Implementation
The Regents action will become effective on September 12, 2006.
New York State
Education Department
Summary of
Proposed Charter
Summary
of Applicant Information
Name of Proposed charter school: Carl C. Icahn Charter School Bronx North
(“ICS-BN” or “School”)
Address:
To be determined
Applicant(s): Julie C. Goodyear and Gail
Golden
Anticipated Opening Date: September 7, 2007
District of Location:
Charter Entity:
SUNY Board of Trustees
Institutional Partner(s):
Foundation for a Greater
Management Partner(s):
None
Grades Served:
K-2 (K-5)
Projected Enrollment: 108 (216)
Proposed Charter
Highlights
Applicant(s)
Co-applicant, Julie C. Goodyear, is the Executive Director of the
Foundation for a Greater Opportunity, the proposed partner organization for the
Carl C. Icahn Charter School Bronx North.
Ms. Goodyear is a resident of
Co-applicant, Gail Golden has served as Vice Chairman of the Board of
Directors of Lowestfare.com, Inc. since August 1998 and Vice Chairman of
Lowestfare.com, LLC, since February 1999.
Ms. Golden also serves in various executive capacities for
privately-owned entities controlled by Mr. Icahn. Ms. Golden is a Director and
Vice-President and Secretary of the Icahn Charitable Foundation and the Icahn
Family Foundation; in addition, she is Director and Secretary of the Foundation
for a Greater Opportunity, and a Director of the Randall’s Island Sports
Foundation. Ms. Golden is a
Institutional
Partner(s)
The
Foundation for a Greater Opportunity has as its mission the creation and support
of New York Charter Schools. The
Foundation is an organization with a 501(c)(3) designation. The Foundation will
provide the start-up capital as well as serve as an educational resource for the
charter school, and it will provide the financial support that is necessary to
build the school. The Foundation
also built the Carl C. Icahn Charter School (ICS), approved by the Board of
Regents on March 20, 2001, and advanced the start-up costs and the shortfall
from the first years’ expenses over revenues. The Foundation intends to replicate the
relationship it has established with ICS with new charter schools. A subsidiary of Foundation for a Greater
Opportunity, Greater Opportunity LLC, has been created to oversee the building
of schools. They intend to work in
collaboration with the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE). In addition, the organization is
currently building a middle school expansion of the current charter school, ICS,
in collaboration with the NYC DOE.
Management
Partner
None.
Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction
§
The School’s
curriculum is aligned with New York State Learning Standards.
§
The School will use
the Core Knowledge curriculum developed by E.D. Hirsch.
§
Jeffrey Litt, the
current principal of the
§
The
Waterford Early Reading Program™, a technology-driven,
research-based
curriculum that teaches children how to read, write, and keyboard, will also be
used.
§
The McGraw Hill
textbook series will be used as a foundation for instruction in the areas of
English language arts and science.
For mathematics instruction, the Glencoe Mathematics series will be
used.
§
The Core Curriculum will have its own internal
assessments that will measure the efficacy and effectiveness of the curriculum’s
goals. These assessments will form
the basis for any modifications of the curriculum.
§
Students that
demonstrate a need for remediation, based on Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
and Fox in the Box baseline scores,
will be supported by small group instruction.
§
The School will use
published assessments as the basis of its school-developed assessments. Examples are CTB McGraw Hill Fox in the
Box, a parallel assessment to E-class, ITBS, as well as weekly assessments of
early childhood literacy skills on the Waterford Early Reading Lab computer
program.
§
The ITBS will be
used for in-school assessment to illustrate year-to-year gains for all
grades.
§
The School will have
a dress code, but not a uniform.
Students will be required to wear a white shirt and dark pants or
skirts.
§
The School will have
an extended day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and a 190-day extended school
year.
§
An after-school
program that lasts through 6:00 p.m. will be provided. This program will be
mandatory for students who cannot be picked up at 4:00 p.m. due to
parent/guardian work schedules or school obligations, those who need tutoring,
and for targeted assistance children.
Governance
§
ICS-BN
will start with a seven-member Board of Trustees.
§
The
minimum number of Trustees will be seven (7). The maximum number will be thirteen
(13).
§ Each Trustee will have renewable one-year terms.
§
One
member of the Board shall be a representative of the parents of children
attending ICS-BN.
§
The
Board of Trustees will meet no fewer than nine (9) times
annually.
·
The
Board may have an Executive Committee and various advisory committees may be
formed, as needed.
Students
§
The
School anticipates using year one of the charter as a planning year. In year two, the School will serve 108
students in Kindergarten, first and second grade. Eventually, the School will serve 144
students in Kindergarten through third grade in year three, 180 students in
Kindergarten through fourth grade in year four, and 216 students in Kindergarten
through fifth grade in year five.
§
The
School will have two classes per grade of 18 students in each
class.
§
The
School has provided a statement of assurances indicating that the School will
comply with all applicable State and federal laws and regulations governing the
education of students with disabilities, including a barrier free
facility.
§
The ESL
push-in program as it will be implemented in the School will meet the
requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of race, color or national origin.
Budget/Facilities
§
The
School’s first-year anticipated budget total is $1,187,862. The start-up budget is for $94,008.
§
The
School projects fiscal deficits in years one through three. The shortfall
between expenses and revenues will be covered by advances from the institutional
partner, Foundation for a Greater Opportunity, which the School intends to repay
by the end of the charter.
§
The
salary for the School’s Principal is budgeted at $110,000 in year two and
$45,000 during the start-up phase/planning year in year
one.
§
The
School anticipates that it will be located in
Personnel
§
Six (6)
classroom teachers, 1 targeted assistance teacher, 2 part-time special education
teachers, 2 paraprofessionals and 3 after-school activities specialists will be
hired in year one.
§
Administrative staff will include 1 safety
officer, 1 secretary, (Lehman College Institute for Literacy and Mathematics
Studies) consultants, 1 financial manager and 1 principal.
Fiscal Impact
§
When
fully enrolled with 216 students, the School will receive no more than 0.012% of
the New York City Department of Education budget (See Potential Fiscal Impact
Chart).
§
Programmatic and fiscal audits will comply
with all requirements of public schools.
The School will employ a
Potential Fiscal Impact
of
(
|
School
Year |
Number of
Students |
Projected School
Payment* |
Projected
Impact |
|
2006-2007 |
0 |
- |
- |
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2007-2008 |
108 |
$1,071,355 |
0.0059% |
|
2008-2009 |
144 |
$1,492,755 |
0.0080% |
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2009-2010 |
180 |
$1,949,911 |
0.0102% |
|
2010-2011 |
216 |
$2,445,188 |
0.0124% |
* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the
district’s budget from a 2004-2005 base allocation of $17.0 billion, and a 4.5
percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the
2004-2005 final average expense per pupil of $9,084.
Community
Support
§
The
application includes evidence of community support sufficient to allow the
School to reach its anticipated enrollment. Additionally, the applicant asserts that
the New York City Department of Education identified this area as in need of new
schools.
§
The
proposed charter includes a petition with signatures from interested
families.
Recommendation
Approve the proposed charter.
Reasons For
Recommendation
1) The charter school described in the application 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) granting the application 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.
Attachment 1
Performance on ELA and
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Percent of Students
Scoring At or Above Level 3 on State Grade 4
Exams | |||||
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2001-2002 |
2002-2003 |
2003-2004 | |||
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Gr.
4 ELA |
Gr.
4 MATH |
Gr.
4 ELA |
Gr.
4 MATH |
Gr.
4 ELA |
Gr.
4 MATH |
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(NYC CSD 9/Region
1) |
NA (62) |
NA (68) |
NA (64) |
NA (79) |
70 (63) |
94 (79) |
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Percent of Students
Scoring At or Above Level 3 on State Grade 4
Exams | |||||
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2003-2004 |
2004-2005 |
| |||
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|
Gr.
4 Science |
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Gr.
4 ELA |
Gr.
4 MATH |
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|
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(NYC CSD 9/Region
1) |
86 (79) |
|
86 (-) |
100 (-) |
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