TO:	EMSC Committee
FROM:	John B. King, Jr.
SUBJECT:	Charter Schools: Proposed Charter for Hyde Leadership Charter School – Brooklyn
DATE:	January 5, 2010
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve and issue the proposed charter for Hyde Leadership Charter School – Brooklyn (New York City)?

Background Information

We have received a proposed charter from the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York for the establishment of Hyde Leadership Charter School – Brooklyn (“the School”).  The School will open in August 2010.  Initially, the School will serve 132 students in grades K – 1 and grow to serve 396 students in grades K – 5 in its fifth year of operation.  The School's mission is to “develop the deeper character and unique potential of each student.”

The School has contracted with the Hyde Leadership Schools Division of the Hyde Foundation of Maine as its management partner.  The School will provide instruction from 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday – Wednesday, 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Thursday – Friday for 180 days per academic year.  The School is a replication of the Hyde Leadership Charter School located in the Bronx in Community School District (CSD) 8.

              The New York City Department of Education held a public hearing in CSD 19 regarding this proposed charter application on December 8, 2009.  No 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 and issues the charter of the Hyde Leadership Charter School – Brooklyn as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and issues a provisional charter to it for a term of five years, up through and including January 11, 2015.

Reasons for Recommendation

               (1) The charter school described in the proposed charter 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) approving and issuing the proposed charter 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 Hyde Leadership Charter School – Brooklyn is effective immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York State Education Department

Summary of Proposed Charter

Name of Proposed Charter School:  Hyde Leadership Charter School – Brooklyn (HLCS-Bk or “the School”)

Address:  TBD

Applicant(s):  Dr. Sandra J. DuPree

Anticipated Opening Date:  August 30, 2010

District of Location:  New York City Community School District 19, Brooklyn

 

Charter Entity:  Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York

Institutional Partner(s):  N/A

Management Partner(s):  The Hyde Leadership Schools Division of the Hyde Foundation of Maine

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:  132

2011-2012:  198

2012-2013:  264

2013-2014:  330

2014-2015:  396

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

Applicant

              Dr. Sandra J. DuPree obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from Howard University (1994) and her Master of Science degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Trinity College.  Her doctor of education degree is in Educational Administration and Policy from Howard University.  Dr. DuPree was the founding director of the elementary school for the Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.  She has 14 years of experience in Washington, D.C. and New York City public schools as a teacher, principal, professor of education and consultant.  She works with schools to develop the academic foundation and components needed to ensure quality schools and academic success. 

Institutional Partner

              N/A

Management Partner

             

              The Hyde Leadership Schools Division of the Hyde Foundation of Maine, a not‑for‑profit corporation, will supply materials, training and support to the School to deliver and maintain a character development curriculum.  The Hyde Foundation is the source of the parent program the School intends to use with families and students.  In addition, the School will rely on the Hyde Foundation to assess the execution of the School’s character culture and parent program goals.  Some of the resources the management company will provide are:  new teacher training, faculty professional development, character development curriculum for teachers, students and parents, and leadership mentoring.  The Hyde Foundation will be monitored by the leadership team (executive director and director) on a quarterly basis as to the delivery of contracted services.  If the Hyde Foundation becomes able to offer additional services, for example support with financial management, the School is interested in investigating those opportunities.  It should be noted that the Hyde Foundation wishes to protect its name, which is nationally known for excellence in family-based character education, and accordingly, will do all in its power to assure that a school bearing the Hyde name is faithful to its mission and reaches its stated goals. 

              The Hyde Foundation manages public charter schools in the Bronx, Washington, D.C. and Hamden, Connecticut, and an independent boarding school in Bath, Maine.  The School is a replication of the Hyde Leadership Charter School located in the Bronx in Community School District (CSD) 8.

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

• In 2008-2009, the initial Hyde Leadership Charter School (HLCS) located in the Bronx, out-performed its district of location, CSD 8.  HLCS reported 68.3 percent of students were proficient in English language arts (ELA), with a Performance Indicator (PI) of 168, compared to CSD 8, which reported 62.9 percent of students were proficient with a PI of 159.  HLCS reported 84.9 percent of students were proficient in math with a PI of 184, while CSD 8 demonstrated 76 percent of students were proficient with a PI of 171 (See Attachment 1).
• According to the New York State Report (NYS) card issued in 2008-2009, CSD 19 reported that 59.3 percent of grade 3-8 students demonstrated mastery in the NYS ELA exams; and 75.5 percent of grade 3-8 students demonstrated mastery in the NYS Math exam.
• HLCS-Bk believes that character education should permeate every aspect of the school and that children must have daily opportunities to develop intellectual curiosity and academic excellence, and ultimately to take full responsibility for their learning. 
• The School plans to create an environment to sponsor this growth as well as to offer the specific learning tools and experiences that will best promote those efforts.
• The School’s curriculum intends to develop a careful and coherent platform for learning that allows students to build on the knowledge and skills gained in each succeeding year - an experience that will eventually stretch from K – 12. 
• At the onset of the academic year, every new student at HLCS-Bk will be diagnostically assessed in ELA and math to identify student levels and needs.  Teachers at the School will assess children’s progress, through both formal and informal methods, and modify their instruction to respond to student needs.  
• The School will use “the Hyde Process,” which was first developed in 1966 in the Hyde School in Bath, Maine (a private boarding high school).  The Hyde Schools (private and public) have served as research centers to continue the development and improvement of this model.
• The Hyde model has been developed and modified with the intention of delivering well-rounded education experience to students that allows both academic growth and character development.
• The School plans to provide students opportunities for personal challenge and growth through their regular participation in the performing arts, and through the demands of competitive athletics, and through a regular physical fitness and health program.  
• Hyde Discovery Groups provide opportunities to explore and make a personal connection to the Hyde Words and Principles (curiosity, courage, concern, leadership and integrity); these groups also provide a place where confrontation of negative attitudes and other learning opportunities can take place among people in the School’s community who know each other especially well. 
• The School intends to meet regularly with students and their families to share the Hyde Words and Principles to combat the loss of motivation and academic decline that are all too common in other school settings. 
• The School expects to graduate students who are not only prepared to go to college well equipped for academic success, but who possess the tools to grow throughout life.
• The School will provide instruction in each subject in the seven general curriculum areas and the proposed curriculum is aligned to all 28 NYS learning standards. 
• HLCS-Bk will create and maintain Individual Student Profiles (ISP) of each student throughout their time at the school.  The ISP will include standardized test results, samples of student work, formative assessment data, and teacher narratives and progress reports
• HLCS-Bk will administer NYS tests as well as a nationally norm-referenced test such as the Terra Nova.  In addition, HLCS-Bk will use several forms of formative assessments, allowing teachers to monitor students’ progress consistently and frequently in order to inform instruction.
• The following diagnostic methods and instruments will be used to identify and assess students’ needs as well as the effectiveness of curriculum and curriculum delivery: 
• Initial screening of students at the time of enrollment (for school readiness or for basic reading and math skills, depending on the grade of the student);
• Annual fall administration of a norm-referenced standardized achievement test in reading comprehension, vocabulary and math;
• Careful item analysis, student by student, of the standardized achievement test results;
• Informal and ongoing teacher criterion-referenced assessments at regular intervals (i.e. once during the Fall, Winter, Spring);
• Careful scrutiny of Grow Reports in the fall of each year;
• Use of weekly and monthly assessments within core academic areas (FOSS, Saxon Math);
• Teacher Designed Assessments;
• Student Portfolios; and
• Narrative Progress Reports.
• Special attention and additional individual assessments will flow to students who are determined to be at-risk:
• Use of running records to determine student reading achievement;
• Diagnostic use of student oral reading capacity (for fluency);
• Teacher and literacy specialist observation; and
• Brief passage questioning to determine reading comprehension.
• The School will employ a structured immersion strategy to help English language learners (ELL) achieve proficiency in the English language.  The extended instructional day will offer additional opportunities for ELL students to acquire proficiency.   
• The after-school program will provide students additional academic support or enrichment in order to achieve their goals.  The program is voluntary and may be recommended by the School or requested by a parent.
• The School will conduct periodic internal assessments in the core subject areas to assist in differentiating instruction and providing additional support to students as needed.
• The School proposes a 180-day instructional year from September to the end of June.
• The School will provide instruction from 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday – Wednesday, and 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., on Thursday and Friday with professional development activities until 5:00 p.m. both days.

 

 

Governance

 

• The number of Trustees shall not be fewer than five and shall not exceed nine.
• Trustees will be elected to serve annually for a maximum of three years. 
• No more than 40 percent of trustees will be affiliated with the School as a compensated employee or contractor or will be affiliated with The Hyde Leadership Schools Division of the Hyde Foundation of Maine or any other single entity; and such persons will not serve as chair or treasurer of the Board.
• The proposed charter school Board of Trustees does not reflect parent participation.  However, HLCS-Bk fully intends to include parents and staff involvement in school governance.  The School’s Family Learning Center will establish a Parent and Faculty Council open to all parents and faculty. 
• The Parent and Faculty Council will meet monthly when the executive director and/or head of school will bring forth issues for perspective, consideration and input.  Simultaneously, the Parent and Faculty Council will present suggestions, issues of concerns and potential resolutions.
• Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees shall be held on the second Wednesday of every month throughout the year.
• The initial committees of the Board of Trustees shall be executive, finance and education/accountability committees.
• The officers of the board of trustees are chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer.

 

Students

 

• The School will serve 132 students in grade K – 1 in Year One and will grow to serve 396 students in grades K – 5 in Year Five.   
• The School will enroll 66 students per grade in Year One. 
• The School anticipates a class size of 22 students.  Each class will have one teacher per class.  The student to teacher ratio will be 22:1. 
• The School will reach out to the community and nearby districts with information sessions held at night and on weekends at the School and other locations within the community.
• The School will advertise in community newspapers and make enrollment information available via the School’s website; additionally the School will distribute flyers, brochures and applications to elementary schools, community and social service organizations, children service organizations and communities of faith.
• The School’s recruitment plan includes strategies to advertise widely to families from the community school district, including ELL and students with disabilities (SWD).
• The School anticipates the ages of students enrolled between four and 11 years old.
• The School intends to enroll and admit up to 66 students in each grade.  If seats become vacant, the first five students on the waitlist will be called to confirm their interest and let them know of a possibility of being asked to join the school sometime during the year.  After notice of withdrawal, the School will contact the families on the waitlist within 24 hours and seek               to have a student enroll within three school days.  
• The School expects the student body to reflect the population of the target community, which in 2008-2009 was 55 percent Black; 13.4 percent Hispanic; 15 percent Asian or Pacific Islander; 7.6 percent White; 12 percent SWD; four percent ELL; and 65 percent of the area public school children participated in the federal free/reduced lunch program.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

• The School is pursuing alternatives to conventional lease/purchase arrangements that include securing underutilized New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) space, and partnerships with other school-facilities organizations. 
• The School’s fiscal soundness is contingent on the capacity of the Hyde Leadership Schools Division of the Hyde Foundation of Maine (or “the Hyde Foundation”) to provide $500,000 each year for five years.  The Hyde Foundation has committed the funds to the School.
• The School anticipates $2.5 million in philanthropic contributions over the term of the charter from the Hyde Foundation.  The School anticipates another $100,000 in annual fundraising from private sources, with an additional $20,000 from the Walton Foundation.
• All numbers in the following bullets are for a NYC DOE facility.
• The School’s Year One revenue is anticipated to be $2,912,816 and will grow to $5,894,841 in Year Five. 
• The School projects expenses of $1,767,680 in Year One and $3,276,817 in Year Five.
• The school anticipates a reserve fund of $768,971 in Years One, $561,850 in Year Two, $1,220,082 in Year Three, $1,947,970 in Year Four and $2,016,098 in Year Five.
• The School expects to carry forward a cash balance of $97,032 from the start-up budget.
• The School intends to create a $70,000 dissolution fund to be funded over the first three years of the charter.
• The School anticipates receiving a New York City Start-up Grant for $51,000.
• The School has not yet sought a Charter Schools Program Planning and Implementation grant, because the timing of the grant award did not coincide with the writing of the application.  The applicants estimate conservatively that an award of about $150,000 may be available, but did not use this figure in preparing the proposed budget. 
• 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

Hyde Leadership Charter School-Brooklyn

(New York City – CSD 19 – Brooklyn)

2010-2011 through 2014-2015

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2010-2011	132	$2,816,196	0.0094%
2011-2012	198	$3,770,483	0.0141%
2012-2013	264	$4,407,005	0.0188%
2013-2014	330	$5,412,130	0.0235%
2014-2015	396	$6,394,841	0.0281%

* Assumes a three percent annual increase in the District’s budget from the base of $18.035 billion in 2010-2011; and a three percent annual increase in the average expense-per-pupil per year from the 2010-2011 rate of $12,819.

Personnel

 

• The School will be led by an executive director. 
• The work of the executive director will be supported by a head of school, dean of student life, dean of family learning, data assessment coordinator, manager of finance, operations assistant, and an administrative assistant.
• The School will employ the following staff in its first year of instruction: six classroom teachers (18 in Year Five); one special education coordinator/teacher (two in Year Five); one fine arts teacher; one science teacher; one physical education/health; and one music teacher in Year One.
• The special education teachers will be New York State certified in Special Education.
• In addition, the School will employ a librarian, a social worker and a nurse beginning in Year One.
• Students will be dismissed early on Thursday and Friday each week to allow two hours a week of focused professional development.
• Staff will receive an additional half day of professional each month during the school year.
• The professional development will have four major areas of focus:
• Character training;
• Curriculum training;
• Methods training (classroom management, effective use of data, best practices); and
• Technology training.

 

Community Support

 

• The School provided 145 signatures of parents with children eligible for enrollment to satisfy its target enrollment.
• The School has received six letters of support.  One was from Community First, Inc., and five were from parents of children eligible for enrollment.

 

Public Opinion

 

• The NYC DOE sent a letter and posted the notice on its website, notifying the public and independent schools in CSD 19 of the proposed application for Hyde Leadership Charter School-Brooklyn and inviting comments for the public hearing. 
• The NYC DOE held a public hearing in CSD 19 regarding this proposed charter application on December 8, 2009.  No comments were made or received.

 

Attachment 1

Performance of NYS Charter Schools managed by Hyde Leadership Schools Division of the Hyde Foundation of Maine on the ELA and Math State Assessments compared to the school district of location

	Percent of Students Scoring At or Above Level 3 on State Exams
Charter School	2006-2007		2007-2008		2008-2009
	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH	3-8 ELA	3-8 MATH
Hyde Leadership Charter School	NA	NA	47.6	73.3	68.3	84.9
CSD 8	40.4	57.2	50.5	68	62.9	76.0