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Meeting of the Board of Regents | January 2010

Monday, January 11, 2010 - 11:50pm

TO:

EMSC Committee

 

FROM:

John B. King, Jr.

SUBJECT:

Charter Schools:  Application for Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School

DATE:

January 5, 2010

STRATEGIC GOAL:

Goals 1 and 2

AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve the application for Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School (New York City)?

Background Information

We have received an application for the establishment of Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School (KIDCS or “the School”).  KIDCS will be located in Community School District (CSD) 10.  The School will open on September 7, 2010.  Initially, the School will serve 150 students in grades K – 1 in Year One and grow to serve 450 students in grades K – 5 in Year Five.  The School's mission is “to empower its students, families, faculty, and community to become creative, collaborative, socially responsible leaders to meet the challenges of the 21st century for a sustainable and equitable future.” 

The School does not have a management partner.  KIDCS will provide instruction from 8:15 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. for 185 days per academic year.  The School, based on a commitment to social constructivism, social culturalism and situated learning, will use strategies rooted in project-based, problem-based and inquiry-based learning. The School will also provide character education on core values such as diligence, gratitude, courage, perseverance, and respect. 

The New York City Department of Education held a public hearing in CSD 10 on August 5, 2009 regarding this proposed charter application.  No public comments were made or received. 

Additional information concerning this initial application may also be found on the Board of Regents website at http://www.regents.nysed.gov/

Recommendation

VOTED: That the Board of Regents approves the application for the Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School. 

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 applicant can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; and (3) approving 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.

Timetable for Implementation

           The Regents action for the Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School is effective immediately.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York State Education Department

Summary of Proposed Charter

Name of Proposed Charter School:  Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School (KIDCS or “the School”)

Address:  3120 Corlear Avenue, Bronx, NY

Applicant:  Julio Cotto

                             

Anticipated Opening Date:  September 7, 2010

District of Location:  New York City Community School District 10, Bronx

 

Charter Entity:  Board of Regents

Institutional Partner(s):  N/A

Management Partner(s):  N/A

Grades Served:

2010-2011:  K – 1

2011-2012:  K – 2

                                                        2012-2013:  K – 3

2013-2014:  K – 4

2014-2015:  K – 5

 

Projected Enrollment:        

2010-2011:  150

2011-2012:  225

                                                        2012-2013:  300

2013-2014:  375

2014-2015:  450

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

Applicant

              The lead applicant, Mr. Julio Cotto, is the Director of the Hispanic Initiative for Junior Achievement of New York.  Mr. Cotto has worked extensively with school districts in more than ten states.  He has worked as an Associate Vice President of Advancement and Collegiate Services for the National Hispanic Institute based in Maxwell, Texas.  He also served as their Director of Enrollment Management.  The applicant is a board member of the Union Foundation, Inc. in New York City, the Division of Ministries with Young People – United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee and the Manhattan Bridges High School in New York City.  Mr. Cotto is a resident of Community School District 10 and earned an M.L.A. degree in humanities from St. Edward’s University in Texas, and a B.A. degree in philosophy and Latin American studies from Boston University. 

Institutional Partner

N/A

Management Partner

             

N/A

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

  • The School will focus on social constructivism, social culturalism and situated learning.  The philosophy calls for educators to understand the educational environment (school culture, community, facility, class size, staffing) as part of the larger learning environment for students. 
  • The School will emphasize core values, which will rotate each month, to build culture and shared expectations. 
  • The School will provide instruction in each subject of the seven general curriculum areas.  The proposed curriculum is aligned to all 28 New York State (NYS) learning standards. 
  • The School will use an internally developed curriculum for English language arts.
  • KIDCS will use Core Knowledge for instruction in social studies.
  • The School will use Everyday Math for math instruction.
  • KIDCS  will use the Full Option Science System for science instruction. 
  • The School’s character education program will be based on Mary Beth Klee’s Core Values.
  • The School will use instructional methods based on the principles of Six Sigma, Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, and Lean.  KIDCS will incorporate philosophies of business and process management into the teaching and learning operations of the School.    
  • The School will also use a workshop instruction model to maximize time for small group instruction an one on one support for struggling students. 
  • KIDCS will administer teacher assessments, Early Childhood Literacy Assessment System-2, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, Developmental Reading Assessment, Fountas and Pinnell Running Records, FOSS science curriculum assessments and Saxon Math assessments.  The School will also administer the Language Assessment Battery-Revised and the New York State Alternate Assessment. 
  • The School will administer all assessments required by New York State.
  • KIDCS will use and integrated team teaching model for students with disabilities (SWD).
  • The School will provide instruction to English language learners (ELL) using a structured immersion model. 
  • A full-time special education coordinator will be responsible for service delivery to SWD. 
  • The School will emphasize the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data to inform instruction.  Teachers will receive extensive professional development to guide this process. 
  • KIDCS will provide instruction for 185 days per academic year. 
  • The School will provide an extended day, with daily instruction from 8:15 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

 

Governance

 

  • The number of Trustees shall not be fewer than five and shall not exceed 15.
  • Trustees will be divided into three classes for the purposes of staggering the terms of office.  The terms of the first class of trustees will expire in one year.  The terms of the second class will expire in two years.  The terms of the third class will expire in three years. 
  • In subsequent years, trustees will serve annual terms.
  • Terms for parent representatives will be for one year. 
  • The officers of the corporation will be president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.
  • No more than 40 percent of trustees will be affiliated with the School as a compensated employee or contractor or any other single entity; and such persons will not serve as chair or treasurer of the Board.
  • Regular meetings of the board of trustees shall be held no less than 10 times each year. 
  • The initial standing committee of the board of trustees shall be executive and finance and budget, hiring, development, community relations and fundraising, and, site and facilities.

 

Students

 

  • The School will serve 150 students in grades K – 1 in the first year of instruction and will grow to serve 450 students in grades K – 5 in its fifth year of operation.   
  • KIDCS will enroll 75 students per grade in its first year of instruction.  Each grade will have three classes of 25 students each.
  • The School anticipates the ages of students will range from five to eleven years old.
  • The School expects the student body to reflect the population of the community, which in 2007-2008 was 60 percent Latino, 19 percent Black, 12 percent White, seven percent Asian, and two percent Other; and, 76 percent federal free/reduced lunch program. 
  • In CSD 10, during the 2009-10 school year, 12 percent are SWD and 21 percent are ELL. 
  • The School expects to serve approximately 10 to 15 percent SWD.
  • The School expects to enroll approximately 21 percent ELL.
  • The School’s student outreach plan will include working with local community-based and faith-based organizations to target immigrant communities through informal sessions; and visiting local pre-kindergarten programs serving high immigrant populations; 
  • KIDCS will provide multilingual documents for all outreach efforts. 

 

Budget/Facilities

 

  • The School is not seeking incubation space in a New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) facility. 
  • KIDCS proposes to lease 26,000 square feet at 3120 Corlear Avenue in the Bronx.  KIDCS estimates the rent expense in Year One will be $285,000 and $1,038,800 in Year Five. 
  • The facility will have sufficient space to serve approximately 305 students.  The School has developed contingency plans and a budget to relocate between Year 2 and Year 3. 
  • The School provided a loan schedule with an initial balance of $800,000, and an outstanding payment of $1,081,539 in Year Five.  The projected budget allows the school to pay off the balance of the loan prior to the end of the charter term. 
  • The School’s Year One revenue will be $2,149,875 and will grow to $6,258,674 by Year Five. 
  • The Year One budget anticipates total expenses of $2,136,130, and $5,552,691 by Year Five. 
  • KIDCS projects carrying forward a balance of $110,000 from the start-up period.
  • The School anticipates an ending fund balance of $13,745 at the end of Year One and $1,232,964 at the end of Year Five.
  • The School has budgeted $75,000 to be set aside in escrow in the event of dissolution. 
  • The School anticipates receiving donations during the start-up period of $175,000 from philanthropic contributors.  The planning team will contribute $25,000 toward that total.   
  • KIDCS estimates receiving a City of New York Start Up Grant in the amount of $143,160 based on its projected enrollment.
  • The School assures that it will perform all programmatic and fiscal audits annually as required by the New York State Charter Schools Act, in accordance with auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.
  • 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 NYC 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

Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School 

(New York City – CSD 10 – Bronx)

2010-2011 through 2014-2015

School Year

Number of Students

Projected Payment*

Projected Impact

2010-2011

150

$1,922,400

.0107%

2011-2012

225

$2,970,108

.0160%

2012-2013

300

$4,078,948

.0213%

2013-2014

375

$5,251,646

.0266%

2014-2015

450

$6,491,034

.0320%

* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from the base of $18.035 billion in 2010-2011; and a 3 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2010-2011 rate of $12,816.

 

Personnel

 

  • The School will be led by an executive director and a principal.
  • In Year One, the School will hire one principal, one executive director, one school coordinator, one executive administrator, six classroom teachers, one special education teacher, six teaching assistants, six specialty teachers, one reading specialist, one math specialist, two school aides, one librarian, one social worker, and one nurse.
  • The executive director will manage the daily operations of the School inclusive of finance, school discipline, and recruiting.
  • The principal will be the instructional leader of the School.
  • The position of the school coordinator is analogous to an office manager. 
  • The School will contract out for security and custodial services. 
  • Professional development priorities include interpreting assessment data, classroom management, engaging diverse student populations (SWD, ELL, at-risk students), understanding and organizing subject matter, planning instruction.
  • The School will seek to hire two experienced teachers with no less than six years of educational experience.  These lead teachers will serve as mentors to new teachers with less than five years of classroom experience.
  • Teachers will receive instructional coaching on a bi-weekly basis.
  • KIDCS will use “student continuous learning plans” to track student performance.  The School will conduct monthly data meetings with classroom teachers and the assessment leadership team.
  • The ongoing data meetings between data specialists and classroom teachers will inform lesson plans. 

 

Community Support

 

  • The School provided 179 signatures of parents, with children eligible to enroll in grades K-1, who have expressed interest in KIDCS. 
  • The School has also received letters of support from the following community organizations and leaders: Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, Cloud Institute, and Riverdale Presbyterian Church Nursery School.

 

Public Opinion

 

  • NYC DOE mailed a letter and posted a notice on its website, notifying the public and independent schools in CSD 10 of the proposed application for Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School and inviting comments at a public hearing. 
  • NYC DOE held a public hearing in CSD 10 on August 5, 2009 regarding the application.  No public comments were made or received.