Meeting of the Board of Regents | July 2009

SUMMARY

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendation concerning the proposed revision to the initial charter for Explore Charter School 2 (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 initial charter of Explore Charter School 2 (“ECS2” or “the School”).  The School was approved on December 16, 2008 to open in CSD 17 on September 1, 2009.  The School will be located in Community School District 17 in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, and serve 177 students in grades K through 8.  The School seeks a revision to its initial charter to change the name of the School to Explore Empower Charter School; to change the enrollment plan; to change the staffing configuration; and to change curriculum materials. 

The School seeks to change its name from Explore Charter School 2 to Explore Empower Charter School.  Additionally, the School seeks permission to revise the Year One enrollment from 177 to 156 students because The New York City Department of Education (“NYCDOE) was unable to provide sufficient space for the School to accommodate 177 students in Year One.  The School, however, seeks to significantly increase enrollment in Years Three through Five (See Attachment 1).  The School has no plans to secure space in a private facility, but will continue working with NYCDOE to secure space within existing public schools. 

The School further seeks to change its staffing configuration to include the position of Resident Teacher (for newly certified professionals).  The revised model is intended to strengthen the instructional and mentoring components of the School.  The revised staffing configuration will create a student-teacher ratio of 13:1.  Finally, the School seeks permission to change various instructional materials for use within the literacy, math and social studies curricula. The revised curriculum will include STORYtown, Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading, Core Knowledge and other materials for literacy; Math Expressions and Stern Structural Arithmetic for math; and Social Studies by Houghton Mifflin for social studies.

A public hearing was held in the district of location on May 12, 2009 regarding the proposed revision.  No public comments were made concerning the proposed revision.   

Recommendation

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approves the revision to the initial charter of the Explore Charter School 2 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 revision to the School’s initial charter, along with the other terms of the initial charter: (1) meets 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) 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 Explore Charter School will be effective immediately.