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Meeting of the Board of Regents | July 2009

Friday, July 24, 2009 - 11:00pm

                                                                                                 

 

 

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:

FROM:

Johanna Duncan-Poitier

SUBJECT:

Charter Schools: Proposed Revision to the Initial Charter for KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School and the KIPP Infinity Charter School

 

DATE:

July 24, 2009

 

STRATEGIC GOAL:

Goals 1 and 2

AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

 

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendation concerning the proposed revision to the initial charter for the KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School and the KIPP Infinity 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 KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School (KAMPCS) and the KIPP Infinity Charter School (KICS).  KAMPCS was approved on May 15, 2005 to open in Community School District (“CSD”) 17 on July 5, 2005.  The School is located in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn and was approved to serve 330 students in grades 5 through 8.  KICS was approved on May 15, 2005 to open in Community School District (“CSD”) 5 on July 5, 2005.  The School is located in the West Harlem section of Manhattan and was approved to serve 330 students in grades 5 through 8. 

 

The Schools seek to revise grade configurations to serve grades K through 12 (See Attachment 1); to co-locate grades 9 through 12 with KIPP Academy Charter School and KIPP S.T.A.R. College Prep Charter School in CSD 5; to create a Memorandum of Understanding between KIPP NYC, LLC and the School governing administrative and operations support; and to revise its admissions criteria and preferences. 

 

The Schools propose to “expand its charter to open a high school (grades 9-12).  The School’s board of trustees will  serve with the boards of the other KIPP schools to form a Joint High School Committee.  Each board will maintain its own “exclusive and absolute responsibility and authority over its schools” with respect to employee hiring and termination; student discipline issues; complaints; student-specific data information; and budgets.  Each board will be entitled to one vote on the Joint High School Committee.  A majority vote will be required to set policy and make decisions for the co-located high school grades.  The School will hire one principal for the grades K-4.  The Schools will share staff and administrators for the high school grades based on their percentage of enrolled students.  The principals of each grade level (elementary, middle, high) will report to the board of trustees of each school.  The Schools propose to apply an “at-risk” admissions preference to all seats.  The Schools would designate those students eligible for free and/or reduced-price lunch as “at-risk of academic failure.” 

 

The New York City Department of Education held a public hearing on November 6, 2008 regarding the proposed revision.  No public comments were made or received. 

 

 

Recommendation

 

VOTED: That the Board of Regents approves the revision to the initial charter of the KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School and the KIPP Infinity Charter School as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and the provisional charters are amended accordingly.

 

Reasons for Recommendation

 

The proposed revisions to the Schools’ initial 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 KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School and the KIPP Infinity Charter School will be effective immediately.  

 

 

 

 

Attachment 1

 

Approved Enrollment Plan

KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School

and KIPP Infinity Charter School

2008-2009

GRADE

STUDENTS

Fifth

90

Sixth

83

Seventh

80

Eighth

77

Total

330

 

 

Revised Enrollment Plan

KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School

and KIPP Infinity Charter School

2009-2010 through 2013-2014*

GRADE

 

2009-10

2010-11*

2011-12*

2012-13*

2013-14*

Kindergarten

 

0

80

80

80

80

First

 

0

0

80

80

80

Second

 

0

0

0

80

80

Third

 

0

0

0

0

80

Fourth

 

0

0

0

0

0

Fifth

 

90

90

90

90

90

Sixth

 

83

83

83

83

83

Seventh

 

80

80

80

80

80

Eighth

 

77

77

77

77

77

Ninth

 

45

45

45

45

45

Tenth

 

0

41

41

41

41

Eleventh

 

0

0

38

38

41

Twelfth

 

0

0

0

35

35

Total

 

375

496

614

729

809

* Projected dates are informational only.  The charters for both schools run through May 15, 2010.