Charter Board President Tracy Petersen said after the meeting that the board believes the coordinator of student discipline position is necessary.
They better make it good. The next generations coming up are so used to being "in the public" via Utube, myspace, cell phone cameras, reality shows etc that the fear of someone finding out what they did will be a moot point,,,there's no such thing as "what if they find out?"----MSNBC and their show about prison life and the like just makes it another reality show----anything to be on tv and famous......
So what do they get--a time out?--an essay assignment?--discussion?---their picture all over UTube???---ooohh the shame of it......
BTW---that is what the vice principal was for....where is the authority now? I be the position with require a clinical social worker with a background in juvenile criminal justice and Reiki.........
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
ROTTERDAM Charter school parents worried State institute considering charter renewal BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Parents expressed worry Tuesday about the International Charter School of Schenectady’s future and whether they may have to scramble to find alternative schooling for their children in the fall. Representatives from the State University of New York’s Charter Schools Institute took questions from parents about the school’s application for a new charter during a 90-minute meeting at the school. If the charter were denied, the school would have to shut down at the end of the current school year. Jennifer Sneed, senior vice president for the institute, said no decision has been made about renewal. The institute is preparing a draft report and recommendation for the school’s Board of Trustees next week. The full SUNY Board of Trustees would then take up the issue at its March 11 meeting. Sneed said the school is evaluated on four criteria including academic success, effectiveness, financial management and plan for the future. Institute representatives visited the school in November and conducted interviews with staff and parents. Parents Tuesday said the school — despite all the recent turmoil with the firing of former Director Sam Penceal last week — is a worthwhile alternative to public schools. James Cooper, who has a 10-year-old daughter, Yasmina, and 8-year-old son, Alexander, in the school, said “What’s going to happen when you wrangle them out of a place where they’re comfortable?” He said behavior is out of control in the public schools and these students would have a hard time adjusting if they had to get back in. Robert Depp said his son used to get in fights in the public school. He transferred him and his other two children to the charter school this year. “Not only have they been pushed academically and asked to do more than the public schools, they’re safe,” he said. He also told a reporter that the teachers have a personal contact with the parents and give out their cellular phone numbers to stay in touch. Ron Miller, vice president for accountability, also shared the results of test scores at the school for the last three years. In the 2004-05 school year, at least 75 percent of students tested achieved proficiency in the grade four standardized math exam. However, in the next two years the school did not, with 50.2 percent and 51.2 percent for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 years, respectively. For English, the school failed to reach those targets all three years. It had 72.3 percent of students achieve proficiency in 2004-05, 37.3 percent in 2005-06; and 40.5 percent in 2006-07. “That is a notable drop,” Miller said, adding that the results are about the same as the Schenectady City School District. The charter school has not done as well as similar schools statewide. Some parents were upset the data from the most recent tests taken this school year will not be included in the report or factored into the final recommendation. They said that students have been working very hard this year and the climate is improved after the school parted ways in March with SABIS — the educational company that had run the school. Carlista Lopez said after the meeting that her 9-year-old son Christian loves the school. She especially enjoys the small class sizes. However, she said there has been some upheaval at the school with teachers coming and going. She said it would be unfair for the Charter Schools Institute to make its recommendation based on some of these test results because the school was under different management. One person asked whether the dismissal of Penceal would be taken into account in the recommendation. Sneed said all factors are considered and typically one thing does not make or break renewal. Parent Jesse Watson said his son went to Central Park Middle School for one year and got punched three times by three separate students. He transferred him to the charter school. He said the Charter School Institute officials should look at the matter from a human perspective — and not just raw data. “What you see here is not policies, not procedures. You see real people,” he said. He said afterward that he believes the parents deserve some answers about what happened to Penceal and using a sports analogy, said the school needs more time to prove itself. “You fire a coach in midseason, you’ve got to give the team time to turn around,” he said.
Int’l Charter School will get $740K Sch’dy school officials protest allocation of funds BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
The state will send more than $740,000 in aid to the International Charter School of Schenectady to make up for money charter school officials say the city school district improperly held back. In December, the charter school filed what is called an “intercept” with the state Education Department and state Comptroller’s Office to receive the $741,601 it says it is owed from the Schenectady City School District. The charter school receives state aid of $9,500 annually for each student that attends, money that would go to the city district if the student attended there. Jonathan Berman, a spokesman for the state Education Department, said in an e-mail that the department has told the Comptroller’s Office to take $741,601 of the Schenectady district’s aid and send it to the charter school. The decision follows a monthslong dispute between the charter school and the district. Harold Gordon, attorney for the charter school, said it sends a bill every other month for the students it has enrolled. He said the issue came to a head in November, when the city school district was about $700,000 short on payments due. “Needless to say, it caused unnecessary inconvenience,” Gordon said. They filed the formal process to get this aid, which he said the charter school should receive on Friday. Schenectady Superintendent Eric Ely said he believes the Education Department erred. The district withheld the money because he thought the charter school did not provide accurate enrollment figures. He said the charter school did not provide proper documentation including proofs of residency for enrolled students. “We believe there’s fraud being committed against the Schenectady taxpayers,” he said. In July, he said the charter school sent them a bill for 715 students. The district paid for 636 students and the charter school only provided proof of 385 resident students, according to a letter he wrote to then-Director Sam Penceal on Nov. 5. In August, the charter school sent a bill for 701 students, the district paid for 587 students and only had proof of 389 resident students. Then, for the November bill, Ely said the charter school said it had 576 students. However, Ely said adequate documentation was not provided and the city district could only account for 384 students. On Nov. 5, he sent a letter to Penceal expressing his concerns. “I got no response,” he said. Penceal was fired Jan. 21. The next correspondence Ely received was on Jan. 10, from state officials saying the district had underpaid the charter school. Ely said the charter school since then has provided some documentation on proof of residency. However, he said the Schenectady School District may owe an amount in the range of $200,000, not the $700,000 figure. That is why he did not pay. “I can’t do that and be fi scally responsible to the taxpayers of Schenectady,” he said. The district is exploring its options to appeal the state’s decision, but Ely could not cite specifics. The district does plan to file a complaint with the SUNY Board of Trustees. He also said the state “fast-tracked” this issue when these items normally take more than a year to resolve. Ely added that 10 students have recently transferred back to the district from the charter school. Charter school Business Manager Lori Veshia said the school stands by its enrollment numbers. “Everything is updated every time I do a new billing,” she said. Gordon added that state law says that the district and the charter school are supposed to work out any discrepancies in the aid given for the amount of students at the end of the school year — not during the year. This dispute is just the latest in a series of clashes between the district and the charter school. City district officials were opposed to the school when it was first announced in 1999. They criticized the curriculum of then-management company SABIS Educational Systems and opposed the loss of funding from state aid. In December 2005, the charter school purchased he former Draper School in Rotterdam and began serving students there in January 2006.
Re Jan. 31 editorial, “Charter school fi ring raises questions”: The Board of the International Charter School of Schenectady has shown that it takes its governance and accountability role very seriously by taking action first against its former management company, and lately by removing its director. The removal of the school leader is a personnel matter, and the Gazette should understand that any employer is in no legal position to divulge the specific reasons behind such action. The charter school was given only one year by the state to transition from its former management company arrangement which is insufficient time. Nevertheless the school’s board has taken a number of positive steps by already having in place an impressive management team and support group to ensure that the school continues to provide a disciplined culture focused on high student achievement. In spite of all the transition issues, the latest scores by the school mirror the Schenectady school district’s averages on the state’s English and math exams. Judging by the Gazette’s reporting on the recent parent meeting, it’s clear that the International Charter School remains a vital public school option for hundreds of families who would be worse off in the city school district. PETER MURPHY Albany The writer is policy director for the New York Charter Schools Association.
Schenectady charter school may learn fate tomorrow Monday, February 4, 2008 By Michael Goot (Contact) Gazette Reporter
ROTTERDAM — The International Charter School of Schenectady may learn its fate as soon as Tuesday, but the public may not know for several more weeks. Cynthia Proctor, director of public affairs for the Charter Schools Institute, said Monday that a report could be completed by Tuesday or Wednesday that will either recommend a renewal of the school’s charter for two to four years or recommend against extending the charter, which means the school would close at the end of the school year in June. The report will be sent to the school’s Board of Trustees for its review and comment, Proctor said, but the institute's recommendation will not be released to the public. The public may not learn of the recommendation until a final decision on the charter is made by the State University of New York’s Board of Trustees. That action is expected to come at the board's March 11 meeting. In the meantime, Proctor said, school officials will have an opportunity to change the institute's mind if the recommendation is against renewal. “The school would have an opportunity to have the institute staff come to the school, where they would present us with additional information in support of changing our draft recommendation," she explained. "They would also have an opportunity to appeal to the Committee on Charter Schools, either in writing or in person.”
The Schenectady City School District fought the creation of the International Charter School before Day One and has done its best to undermine the school’s effort ever since. Thus it was hardly surprising to hear last week that the school district had unilaterally decided to withhold $741,000 in aid it owed the charter — claiming the school had been inflating its attendance figures — or that the state Education Department had sided with the charter and paid it off with money from the school district’s aid account. But the school district may have had a point. It claims the charter didn’t provide adequate documentation for hundreds of students it sought money for — adequate being identification for the child (like a birth certificate) and proof of residence for the parent (like a utility bill). The district has to pay the charter $9,500 for every one of its students who attends the charter, and while most of the charter’s students reside in the city, some hail from other districts in the county. Thus proof that a student not only exists, but resides within the city school district, is essential. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell whether the district’s claim has merit or it’s simply harassing the charter, as it has so many times in the past. State Ed’s position is that disputes like this are supposed to be settled only at the end of a school year, so without concerning itself with the possible merits of the school district’s claim, it simply cut the charter school a check. Ordinarily, that might not be a bad way to handle such disputes, but in this case the charter school may not be around after the current school year ends: Its charter expires then, and a decision on its request for a multiyear renewal is due any day. Given its spotty academic performance, trouble retaining teachers, and two management shake-ups over the past year, what will happen is anybody’s guess. So it’s hard, really, to blame Schenectady Superintendent Eric Ely for being concerned that the charter school might not be held accountable for the accuracy of its attendance figures. (And since most of the students who’ve dropped out of the charter school re-enroll in Schenectady, he might have some idea how many students the charter has actually lost.) If State Ed isn’t willing to get to the bottom of the dispute during the school year, it should at least agree to reimburse the school district if its claim pans out but the charter is no longer around to pay up.
Charter school board to meet ROTTERDAM — The International Charter School of Schenectady’s Board of Trustees — still awaiting a report on the school’s future — will meet tonight. School officials are currently waiting to hear from the Charter Schools Institute about whether the school’s charter will be renewed. The institute plans to send a draft report with a recommendation to the trustees. Charter school officials said the report was to come out in the fi rst or second week of February and it was not ready as of Friday. The recommendation will either be for a two- to four-year charter or for nonrenewal, which means the school would close at the end of the 2007-2008 school year. The school has been going through some turmoil after former Director Sam Penceal was fi red on Jan. 21. Shirley Reed, formerly assistant director, has been appointed acting director. The trustees at its Jan. 28 meeting also agreed to hire a student discipline coordinator position. The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the school at 901 Draper Ave.
ROTTERDAM Agency: Close charter school Board president vows to fight agency decision BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
The agency responsible for oversight of the state’s charter schools is recommending closing the International Charter School of Schenectady at the end of this school year, the school board president told parents Monday night. Board President Tracy Petersen told a crowd of about 30 parents that this is only a preliminary recommendation and the school is prepared to fight. “I believe we’ll be here next year. Hopefully you believe me and believe yourself,” she said. “We need to get off our butts so we can change this decision.” The Charter Schools Institute is the agency responsible for oversight of charter schools in New York. It sent the draft recommendation to the school’s board of trustees on Friday. This is just the latest event in a series of changes for the school. On Jan. 21, the school’s Board of Trustees fired former director Sam Penceal and Information Technology Director James Desira. Penceal had only been on the job since August. Last March, the school parted ways with SABIS, the educational management company that had been running the school since its inception. School officials have already begun to appeal the Charter Schools Institute’s recommendation. They have asked representatives from CSI to visit the school again, which they will do on Feb. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. Planning for that meeting is under way, Petersen said. The board discussed the report in 90-minute executive session following its regular meeting on Monday. “We’ll continue to work diligently to see that this school survives.” Petersen said. CSI’s final recommendation is due on Feb. 22. The State University of New York Board of Trustees makes the final decision and is scheduled to vote on the matter at its March 11 meeting. Petersen said one of the reasons the institute recommended nonrenewal was the low enrollment of the school. The charter school was approved to have 750 students and it only has about 580 currently. The institute said the enrollment may be an indication of the “desirability” of the school as an option for local parents and added that the enrollment drop could have an effect on whether the school is financially viable. The charter school draws students from primarily the Schenectady City School District. It originally was based at the former Fulton School on Eleanor Avenue before it purchased the former Draper School in Rotterdam and relocated students there in January 2006. Petersen encouraged parents to re-enroll their children in the school and complete the necessary forms — including requests for student transportation — by March 15. She said parents could even enroll their children in both the city schools and the charter schools for next year as a backup. She also asked people to spread the word to friends. “We have room for your children, your children’s friends and we could enroll them now,” she said. The school’s parent-teacher organization, the Parent Connection, will hold a meeting at 7 tonight at the school to discuss strategies. Petersen said the board could not discuss the Charter Schools Institute report’s contents publicly. “This is a contractual matter. Our charter is a contract we have with the state,” he said. She added she only mentioned the enrollment issue publicly because it struck her as “disingenuous.” The enrollment drop did not affect the school’s financial health. “We adjusted our budget accordingly and we have and remained fiscally sound,” she said. The Daily Gazette has also been unsuccessful in obtaining a copy of the draft report. Spokeswoman Cynthia Proctor said previously that because it is not a final recommendation, it is an interagency document and not subject to the Freedom of Information Law. The institute said it would provide information data tables used in the recommendation, but had not done so as of Monday night. In the event the school is not successful at reversing the nonrenewal recommendation, Petersen said the institute would work with parents to provide alternative education options. She said she hoped that list would be provided at the Feb. 19 meeting. The board would also have the opportunity to correct errors in the report. For example, the report called the school’s top administrator a principal instead of a director and gave the wrong name. Petersen pointed to academic gains the school has made. She pointed to an increase of 26 percent on the school’s social studies test over last school year. About 66 percent are at level four — the highest level of proficiency. Some early results for the English Language Arts tests taken in grades three and four show 59 percent of students achieved a level 3 or 4, which indicates proficiency. This is short of the Charter Schools Institute’s 75 percent threshold, according to Petersen. “However, it shows a marked improvement from last year to this year, and what does that tell you — our academic program is working,” she said. Geraldine Wolfe, the executive director for the board, said seventh- and eighth-graders performed poorly on mock mathematics tests and the school is stepping up its instruction in preparation for the real tests this spring. PENCEAL SEVERANCE Following an executive session, the board approved a severance agreement with Penceal that will pay him $20,000 in eight payments of $2,500. Penceal has also agreed not to make any negative remarks about the school. Earlier, Petersen had reiterated the explanation that Penceal was let go because he failed to meet expectations and she said she was legally prohibited from discussing it further. Nichole Warner of Schenectady, whose 10-year-old Alex and 6-yearold Laurelee attend the school, said she was very distressed by the news of the recommendation. “I think it’s very upsetting because in Schenectady there is no alternative for education. Some of the Schenectady School District schools are failing and I don’t want them to go there,” she said. She said she is pleased with the progress her children have made in the charter school. She said Alex is pretty fluent in Spanish and Laurelee is reading at two years above grade level. Parent Jesse Watson said he also wanted to help out. “If you don’t stand up and fight for it, no need to squawk later,” he said.
School district must prepare now for post-charter era
When the state Legislature approved its experiment with charter schools nine years ago, it did so without properly weighing the impact on host school districts, which lost thousands of dollars in state aid for every pupil who left for one of the new charter schools. Now the situation may soon be reversed in Schenectady, where the state Charter Schools Institute has just recommended closing the International Charter School at the end of the current school year. If the school is indeed closed — and it seems likely, if not certain, that it will be — how will the city school district handle 500 or more of its (mostly elementary) students? Currently the largest district in the region (see last Saturday’s Gazette), Schenectady already has some uncomfortably crowded elementary schools. It’s taking steps to alleviate that problem, with plans to open a new school at the old St. Luke’s School next fall and to add on to a couple others over the summer. And while it will get back a bundle of lost aid — $9,500 per pupil — more than money may be needed for the district to digest so many new students. Eventually, a new middle school may be necessary; but to save money the district should attempt to use another of the vacant parochial school buildings in town. The school board, which hasn’t addressed this issue, needs to do so soon. And the state — Legislature and/or Education Department — needs to make sure the district gets extra help, if necessary. The charter school may yet manage to turn itself around and convince the state that it deserves another chance, but with the recent management shake-up and now this, convincing parents and current employees to hang in there isn’t going to be easy.
ROTTERDAM Most of Institute report redacted Int’l Charter School parents meet BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
The oversight agency that recommended against renewing the International Charter School of Schenectady’s charter has released a copy of its draft report to The Daily Gazette, but most of the content has been blacked out. The Charter Schools Institute on Friday sent a complete copy of the report to the Rotterdam-based school’s Board of Trustees and emailed a copy to the newspaper on Tuesday. Institute officials have said previously that because it is an interagency document and not final, the recommendations and comments are not public. Only the data tables will be released. Only 11 pages of the document have not been marked with a black marker — covering up text. Twenty-seven pages are completely blacked out and the rest have a portion of the page redacted. The institute evaluated the school on four criteria including whether the school is an academic success, whether it is a viable organization, whether it is fiscally sound, and what are its plans. The report shows that the school is not complying with its enrollment requirement because it only has 587 students, instead of the 750 students for which it received its charter. It also presents a variety of statistics — many of which have already been reported — about the students’ performance on state testing. They show that on the state English Language Arts examination, 39.3 percent of students during the 2006-07 school year received a score of 3 or 4, which is considered proficiency. This compares to 42.2 percent for the Schenectady School District. For math, 51.1 percent of students scored at or above level 3 on the mathematics test. This is a slight decline from last year’s 53.2 percent level and nearly the same with the city district’s 52.7 percent mark. In science, 90 percent of fourthgraders and 46.3 percent of eighthgraders scored at 3 or 4 on the science exam. Comparable statistics for the Schenectady district were not available. Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, said the Charter Schools Institute is within its right to hold back large sections of the report. “Those portions of the report that consist of recommendations, advice, opinions and the like, may be withheld. However, the law specifies that other portions such as statistical or factual information or statements of policy must be disclosed,” he said. Freeman took issue with the Board of Trustees discussing the report in executive session on Monday night. “The performance of the charter school would not be close to any of the grounds for conducting an executive session,” he said. School spokesman Saleem Cheeks said the school disagrees. “It is a contractual matter. A charter is a contract with the state and the entire process is a review to see if the state wants to renew that contract,” he said. PARENTS MEET The Parent Connection met on Tuesday night to discuss efforts to save the school. A packet of form letters to elected officials and the Charter Schools Institute is going home Thursday for parents to sign. The school is also drafting a list of talking points for parents who want to write their own letters. A teacher is also working on a slide presentation about life in the school and students will also have an opportunity to write a letter or poem or create a poster about the school during snack time this week. The school is also attempting to round up an alumnus or two to come and speak at its presentation before Charter Schools Institute representatives, on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the school. Sharlene Harris, who has an 11-year-old daughter named Dominique Barnes at the school, said she would “fight for this school to the end.” “She’s safe here; she’s comfortable here. She’s not just a statistic here. Teachers care about their students,” she said. The Schenectady School District has already taken steps in the event the charter school is closed. Superintendent Eric Ely said his staff is already reviewing enrollment data for the school and where those students live. Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net
ROTTERDAM Charter school community to make its case Parents, teachers, board members to argue against state’s closing decision BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net
Parents, teachers and board members of the International Charter School of Schenectady will have a chance tonight to try to convince state officials the school should remain open. The Charter Schools Institute has recommended that the school’s charter not be renewed at the end of the current school year. The institute has not publicly released its reasons, but provided a copy to the charter school’s Board of Trustees. Representatives from the institute will be at the school — located on Draper Avenue — from 6 to 8 p.m., and school officials will have the opportunity to make presentations about why the recommendation should be changed. School spokesman Saleem Cheeks said the main thrust of the presentation is that there are inaccuracies in the report including referring to the people by the wrong title and addressing the report to the wrong people. “They’re a number of things there. I’ll leave it to the presentation to address all of it. It’s a strong case and they’re going to make it,” he said. Acting Director Shirley Reed and board President Tracy Petersen will make some remarks, Cheeks said. Following that, there will be some student presentations and a video about life in the school. The twohour session will conclude with a question-and-answer period. The school has launched a campaign to get the charter renewed. School officials sent out a packet and put on its Web site form letters that parents could sign and send to elected officials. They were also going to reach out to politicians to get them to attend the meeting. Cheeks said no plans have been made for elected officials to be part of the presentation. In addition, students last week were going to write letters or poems or create posters about the school during snack time. Following tonight’s meeting, the next step is for the Charter Schools Institute to go back and make any changes to the draft report. The recommendation then goes to the State University of New York Board of Trustees Committee on Charter Schools, which will meet on March 3 at 10:30 a.m. at the SUNY building in Albany. It then makes a recommendation to the full board, which will act at its March 11 meeting.
The Charter Schools Institute recently recommended that the International Charter School of Schenectady should close. The Feb. 13 Gazette editorial has urged the Schenectady City School District to begin planning for the anticipated influx of children from the charter school. We are grandparents of two children who graduated last year from the charter school, and two who are currently attending. Based on the experience of the two oldest children, we believe that forcing charter school children into the city school system would be a disaster. One of our graduating grandchildren transferred into Schalmont High School. Her preparation at the charter school was recognized as being above grade level, and she was soon moved into advanced classes. The other child transferred to Schenectady High School, which had expected to receive most of the charter school graduates and had ample time to prepare for them. At Schenectady High, our granddaughter’s very good academic record was never reviewed, she was denied entry into her preferred house, was placed in a track below her ability and was refused transfer into advanced classes. The school basically ignored the fact that she had already completed substantial ninth grade work during eighth grade at the charter school. Obviously she is at risk of becoming unmotivated and bored, jeopardizing her educational future. The Schenectady City School District, strictly for financial reasons, has obstructed the Charter School since its inception. In order to bolster its claims that the charter school is failing, it is prepared to guarantee that children transferring to the city schools will fail by denying them proper placement. As grandparents, we are afraid for the future of our oldest grandchild and the two who are now attending the charter school. Our family feels that the charter school has done an excellent job of educating our children. For the welfare of all its students, we urge in the strongest possible terms that the charter school should remain open. We also ask the city school district to stop penalizing the children and to cease its badfaith and financially motivated efforts to scuttle the charter school. RUDY AND KATHLEEN PETERSEN Schenectady
ROTTERDAM Fees hurt charter school finances Board expects spending to increase $175K for year BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
The International Charter School of Schenectady — still awaiting a final recommendation on its fate — is spending almost $175,000 more than it had planned this school year, with much of the money going to consultants. Business Manager Lori Veshia reported to the school board Monday on revisions to the budget including more than $120,000 in consulting fees and $125,000 in payment for the just-completed school renovation project. In addition, they budgeted $17,000 to cover a new student management coordinator’s position from March through June. These additional costs were partially offset by $30,000 in savings after the school fired former Director Sam Penceal. Veshia said the school has enough cash to pay its bills. It is going to cut back on other expenses such as office supplies. It also overbudgeted for heat and electricity, so it expects to see some savings there. “It’s a positive balance before you take into account all of these expenses,” she said. Consultant expenses included $5,000 for Lorraine Monroe, a consultant on blackboard and classroom organization; $16,000 for School Performance, consultants who reviewed the teaching; and $91,400 in salary for Dr. Geraldine Wolfe, another consultant who was brought on board in January to review the entire school and is now on staff. Meanwhile, the Charter Schools Institute, the state agency that recommended not renewing the school’s charter earlier this month, has not made its final determination. Board President Tracy Petersen said institute officials informed her that it has not finished going through the volumes of material they sent to correct errors in the initial draft report and offer additional evidence. Last week, the institute representatives attended a two-hour presentation by school officials. The institute will offer its recommendation to the Committee on Charter Schools on March 3 and the full SUNY board of trustees will make a final decision on Dec. 11. “CSI is saying that they haven’t made a final decision yet — one way or another,” Petersen said. The school has requested to meet the Committee on Charter Schools, Petersen said. Board members continued to tout the improvements made by students. Instructor Shirley Reed said that raw, unofficial data from the English Language Arts test scores showed that 58 percent of third-graders showed proficiency compared with 45 percent last year; 66 percent of fourth-graders showed proficiency compared with 43 percent last year; and 47 percent of fifth-graders showed proficiency compared with 29 percent last year. School officials are trying to improve the math scores ahead of the state math tests, which will be administered the first two weeks of March. The board also set its upcoming schedule. It will meet at the Draper School on March 10, March 24, April 14, April 21, May 12, May 19, June 9 and June 16. All meetings start at 6:30 p.m.
SCHENECTADY & ROTTERDAM District prepares for pupil infl ux International Charter School awaits decision BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
As the International Charter School of Schenectady awaits a decision about whether it will be open this fall, Schenectady district officials are already discussing how to integrate the more than 500 students back into the public system. Superintendent Eric Ely presented options to the Board of Education Wednesday. Options the board plans to explore include using the new William C. Keane School — at the former St. Luke’s School— or finding alternative classroom space in the city. Ely said it is important to act very quickly since the SUNY Board of Trustees is expected to make a decision on the charter school renewal at its March 11 meeting. “That would leave us a very short few months to determine how we would accommodate these returning students,” he said. The schools that would be most affected by the charter school closing would be Van Corlaer, Pleasant Valley and Hamilton, which could gain an estimated 232 students. One option Ely presented is to use Keane school for all the charter school students in kindergarten through fourth grade. However, this would slow down the progress of using new school to relieve overcrowding at existing schools. Another option is to use Keane for just prekindergarten and kindergarten students to free up space at the district’s other schools. Board President Jeff Janiszewski said that a downside to this option is it would require younger pupils to switch to another building following kindergarten. Still another idea is to pursue special legislation that would allow Schenectady to operate ICSS’s existing Draper School building in Rotterdam. The district could lease or buy the school from the charter school. Other options are to use modu- lar classroom space. Ely said he hopes a decision could be reached by early April if the charter is denied. Meanwhile, the charter school has picked up the support of the New York State Charter Schools Association in its effort to convince the Charter Schools Institute to overturn its current recommendation to close the school. Peter Murphy, the association’s policy director, said the school is clearly showing progress and merits a short-term renewal. He said he association has backed closures of charter schools when they are clearly not working and up until now, has supported every closure that the Charter Schools Institute recommended. Murphy joined representatives of the school in a hourlong editorial board meeting with The Daily Gazette on Wednesday. ICSS officials reiterated many of their arguments that the school should stay open. They said the institute is using old test score data from 2006-2007 when its previous education management company SABIS was running the school. Also, the institute has not been back to the school to see the changes since then. Board President Tracy Petersen said it does not make sense to close a school that is outperforming the district. “As a parent, it’s very frightening to think I would have to put my children back into Van Corlaer,” said Petersen. “I think my child and all those other children would lose.” Petersen said the board realized that the school was underperforming academically during the 2006-07 year and decided to part ways with its educational management company SABIS and govern itself. The school released statistics confirming low test scores. In 2007, at best, 65 percent of students were considered proficient on the state math test and at worst, only 25 percent of eighth-grade students were considered proficient. For the English Language Arts tests that same year, the best achievement was 48 percent of thirdgraders and worst, 29 percent of fifth-graders. During the renewal process last year, ICSS officials had talked to the Charter Schools Institute about its pending decision to fi re SABIS. “They assured us it would not affect our application and obviously it did,” Petersen said. Petersen said learning and discipline have improved at the school and test scores reflect that. Scores from the 2007 New York State Social Studies exam show that 65 percent of fifth-grade students achieved proficiency, which is an increase of 25 percent from the previous year. Preliminary results from the New York State English Language Arts exam show an increase of students achieving proficiency. School officials also rebutted the Charter Schools Institute’s assertion that says the school’s financial condition has deteriorated. Harold “Chip” Gordon, the school’s legal counsel, said First Niagara says the finances are sound. PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER Angeline Schell, a parent of a charter school student, left, makes a point to members of The Daily Gazette’s editorial staff as Saleem Cheeks, center, and Harold Gordon listen on Wednesday.
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