Meeting of the Board of Regents | July 2009

SUMMARY

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendations concerning the proposed revision to the initial charter for South Bronx Classical Charter School (New York City)? 

Background Information

We received a request from the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York to revise the charter of the South Bronx Classical Charter School (SBCCS or “the School”).  The School is located in Community School District 12 in the Bronx. SBCCS was initially approved in December 2005 to serve grades K-5 at full growth.  The School is seeking several revisions retroactive to December 9, 2005.  Specifically, the School seeks to decrease the amount each board member is expected to raise from $10,000 to $1,500 annually; and to replace the Community Committee with a Family Advisory Council.  Retroactive to June 1, 2006, the School seeks to increase the number of required signatures on all checks from two to three, including the executive director, board chairman and board treasurer for all checks in excess of $5,000 versus the approved $3,000.  Retroactive to December 4, 2006, the School seeks to end the school year during the month of June instead of July, changing the number of instructional days from 202 to 191, while increasing the length of the school day by 30 minutes.  Retroactive to August 22, 2006, the School seeks to eliminate the requirement to hold a Saturday Academy, replacing the extra instructional support time provided with an extra 90 minutes of instructional support from Monday through Thursday; to reduce the amount of mathematics instructional time per day from 120 minutes to 75 minutes, to be consistent with the principles of classical education as per the mission of the School, which is to provide 60 minutes of character education instruction daily.  The decrease in mathematics time would allow for additional instructional time in literacy.  The School also seeks to replace the approved Developmental Reading Assessment with the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and Terra Nova assessment; and to decrease the amount of time students are required to perform community service from four to two hours per month, due to the difficulties in coordinating community service opportunities with third-party community organizations.  Retroactive to August 1, 2008, the School seeks to replace the position of director of data and accountability with the position of business manager. 

The New York City Department of Education (“NYCDOE”) held a public hearing in CSD 12 on July 22, 2009, regarding this proposed revision for the School.  Five comments were made by one person.  One of the comments was in opposition to increasing the length of the school day by 30 minutes.

              Complete 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 revision to the initial charter of the South Bronx Classical Charter School as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

Reasons for Recommendation

The proposed revisions to the School’s charter, along with the other terms of the charter: (1) meet 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) are 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 South Bronx Classical Charter School will be effective immediately.