Quoted Text

Charter school up for renewal
Regents to consider a recommendation as misgivings are raised  
  
By RICK CLEMENSON, Staff writer
First published: Sunday, June 24, 2007

SCHENECTADY -- The state Board of Regents Monday morning will consider a recommendation to renew the International Charter School of Schenectady's charter, despite a public school chief's misgivings.
  
The charter school, located in Rotterdam, opened its doors in September 2002 to 267 students and now has about 700. On Monday's agenda is the state Education Department's proposal to give the kindergarten to eighth-grade school a one-year charter extension until July 31, 2008.

Schenectady city schools Superintendent Eric Ely expressed concerns over the renewal.

The charter school projects having 693 students next school year, but is billing the Schenectady school district for 715 students, Ely said. Those numbers could be even lower, Ely said, estimating five to 10 students a day are transferring out of the charter school to his district. Ely also questioned the performance of the charter school's students on math and English tests.

Doris Belton, charter school board president, admitted the school's test scores "are not what we expect them to be."

As a result, its administrators fired the school's management company, SABIS Educational Systems, in March. Consultant J. Efrain Martinez was hired by the board in the aftermath of SABIS' removal.

"We felt we weren't moving educationally where we wanted to go," Belton said.

Ely said he has heard reports from parents of students fighting in classrooms and teachers who have been threatened and are afraid to go to work. Custodians have had to fill in as educators on occasion, Ely said. He noted nearly half of the school's teachers have left after less than a year on the job, as mentioned in the state Education Department's report.

Belton denied the allegations.

"It's all hearsay. He's never been to the school. There is nothing irregular happening here," Belton said.

Jonathan Burman, state Education Department spokesman, said the school meets all the state requirements and regulations for a charter school and has shown "the ability to operate in an educationally and fiscally sound manner."

"Of course they are (fiscally sound). We give them a lot of money," Ely said. The district is budgeted to give the charter school nearly $8 million next year, he said.

The charter school gets most of its funding from the city schools because charter schools are paid on a per-head basis by the districts in which their students live, according to Adrienne Leon, city schools spokeswoman.

Monday's Board of Regents meeting will begin at 9:45 a.m. in the fifth floor seminar room at the state Education Department building.

The Regents oversees the Education Department and licenses about half the state's charter schools annually. The State University of New York board of trustees licenses the other half.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Troubled charter school hires new director
BY MARK ROBARGE Gazette Reporter

   The International Charter School of Schenectady has hired a new director to lead its overhaul in the wake of the firing of its previous management group.
   Officials said at Monday’s meeting of the school’s Board of Trustees that Sam Penceal took over Sunday from interim director Garrick Loveria. Officials declined to provide any other details of Penceal’s hiring, saying a news release would be issued soon.
   Board members also said they are negotiating a contract with a new assistant director, as well as Efficient Schools Team, the Buffalo-based consultant that has been working with the school since it cut ties with SABIS Education Systems Inc., the private company that helped establish the school. Again, officials declined to provide any details of the negotiations.
   “We don’t have a management company like SABIS, but we have management,” said board member Sheridan C. Biggs.
   The school split with SABIS in March, claiming the Minnesotabased company failed to live up to the school’s performance standards. The move came after the Charter Schools Institute of the State University of New York denied permission for the K-8 school to expand to include ninth grade in the coming school year.
   Soon after, the State University Board of Trustees denied a threeyear renewal of the school’s charter because of the firing, agreeing last week to a one-year extension.
   SABIS filed a lawsuit against the school, its trustees and two school employees last week, claiming the school agreed to temporarily renew the management agreement in December 2005 only to use SABIS’ reputation to help get its charter extended and obtain financing for the purchase of the former Draper School in Rotterdam. Though she did deny the claims in the lawsuit, board president Doris Belton said at Monday’s meeting that the school would not comment publicly on the lawsuit, instead communicating directly with staff and parents about the school’s future.
   “After consulting with board members, we’ve decided not to make a public statement at this time,” she said.
   The board focused much of its attention Monday on putting in place the groundwork for selfmanagement. Among the issues discussed:
   Extensive renovations to the former Draper School building, which the school purchased for $1.5 million in December 2005, are on schedule.
   A proposal by Efficient Schools Team principal Efrain Martinez of an achievement-based pay scale that would reward teachers for reaching a series of personal performance and student achievement goals.
   The school will renew enforcement of dress codes for both students and staff that were included in school policy but had been ignored recently.
   Belton was re-elected as board president, Tracy Petersen as vice president and Sheridan Biggs as secretary/treasurer, and trustees John Belton, Scott Murray and John McMichael were reappointed to three-year terms.  

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
School’s new director upbeat
International Charter prepares for opening
BY MARK ROBARGE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Mark Robarge at 395-3123 or mrobarge@dailygazette.net.

   Sam Penceal found an effective way to ensure that he could greet every staff member, parent, student and community member who came to the International Charter School of Schenectady’s annual back-toschool barbecue.
   Sweat soaked through the shirt of the school’s new director as he handed out meals under a tent in front of the Vischer Avenue entrance to the school. Penceal talked and joked as he handed out chicken dinners alongside his wife, Bernadette, a professor at New York University, while his assistant, Shirley Reed, served drinks.
   “We’ve been having fun, but we’ve been working hard, ” Penceal said with a smile. “I’m waiting to get my shot at the chicken.”
   The hard work has gone beyond the barbecue, as Penceal and his staff have been preparing for a new school year starting next week that also spells a new beginning for the five-year-old school.
   The 2006-07 school year was a difficult one that saw trustees fire SABIS Educational Systems Inc., the company that had run the school since it opened in September 2002, because student performance wasn’t measuring up to expectations. Meanwhile, state officials rejected the school’s request to expand to include ninth-graders and agreed only to renew the charter for one year.
   But Penceal’s efforts over the two months since he was hired has left a strong impression on Tasha Powell of Schenectady, whose 12-year-old daughter, Miayjah Woods, has attended the school for four years and whose son, Elijah Jison Powell, will begin kindergarten next week.
   “We all have such high hopes for Mr. Penceal,” Powell said. “We ran into some little problems last year, but hopefully this year, we’ll work out the kinks.”
   Renovations of the former Draper Middle School have been going on since ICSS first leased the building from the Mohonasen Central School District in 2005 — the school purchased the building later that year for $1.5 million — but are nearing completion, Penceal said.
   “We’re getting there,” he said. “Of course, we’re a little bit behind schedule, but I’m not freaking out because I know this is the way it goes.”
   Meanwhile, Penceal put together a rigorous staff development program that included a workshop with nationally renowned educator Lorraine Monroe. And while last year’s problems may have affected staff morale, Penceal said little evidence of that remains.
   “They came in with lots of energy, and we’re kind of sailing along with that” he said. “I told them we’re going to have one of the best schools in the country in two years, and they clapped. They’re really happy to hear that.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Despite busing woes, first day at charter school goes smoothly
BY MARK ROBARGE Gazette Reporter

   Yetzabel Miranda said having to bring her two daughters to the International Charter School of Schenectady for the first day of the new school year was not a problem.
   With the younger of the girls, Paulina Bracero, starting kindergarten on Thursday, Miranda said she had planned all along to bring her and her sister, Anhi Bracero, a second-grader, to school to help them deal with any first-day jitters.
   “But I think I’m more scared than they are,” the Schenectady resident admitted as she walked the girls to the Draper Avenue entrance to the school.
   The girls were among as many as half of the school’s approximately 725 students who had to have private transportation to school Thursday. An apparent administrative foulup last spring resulted in the Schenectady City School District getting transportation requests for only about 370 children, about half the 700 requests it received last year.
   Traffic around the school was heavy Thursday morning but moved smoothly as scores of parents brought their children and a handful of buses — many of them half-empty — dropped off students along the side of the building.
   Despite the transportation problem, Miranda said getting her daughters into their classrooms was actually easier this year. Last September, she said, she literally had to wander the halls to fi nd Anhi’s classroom, but a host of teachers and parent volunteers were stationed both outside and at the building entrances on Thursday to direct students.
   “We made sure we had a system here to make sure things run smoothly,” said the school’s new director, Sam Penceal.
   School staff was also trying to find out which students needed transportation, gathering information from students and parents as they entered the building. School officials said they have money in their budget to provide buses and are working with Brown’s Transportation to have buses available for all its students by early next week.
   Penceal said the school only received about 15 bus-related complaints, many of them from parents who had successfully registered for transportation but whose children were not picked up.
   Penceal said Thursday’s head count was 567 pupils in grades K-8, with 715 registered and room for 750. When school settles in, he said, “We should be somewhere near that 750.”
   State law requires the city school district to provide transportation to its residents who attend private or charter schools. However, there is an April 1 deadline — or 30 days after a student moves into the district — for individuals to request transportation from the district. City school district officials said there is little they can do to help the charter school because the district’s transportation budget was set last spring based on the numbers provided by the charter school.
   The glitch apparently happened around the time SABIS Educational Systems Inc., the company that had run the school from its opening in September 2002, left in late March after being informed earlier in the month that its contract would be terminated at the end of the school year because of poor student performance.

Quoted Text

School sees enrollment drop Director explains why 150 students left charter school
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

   An enrollment drop of more than 150 students since last spring is worrisome, according to the director of the International Charter School of Schenectady, but he remains optimistic about the school’s future as it prepares to submit an application for a new charter.
   Director Sam Penceal acknowledged the loss of enrollment in an interview this week,
ROTTERDAM
attributing it partially to the confusion following the firing of the former school management team, SABIS Educational Systems Inc., in the spring. Penceal said the school is beginning an outreach effort to try to bring back some of the students.
   One of the most recent problems was transportation, including buses not picking up students during the first day of classes. There also have been disruptive students as new teachers begin work.
   About 578 are enrolled in the school now and its budget was based on 720 students. From this past May to September, the school enrolled 280 students and 240 left the system, which leaves a net gain of 40. “We’re thinking that we will be able to get some of them back,” Penceal said. The school projects an enrollment of 750.
   He added that he is working to resolve any budgetary issues with the drop in enrollment. The charter school is funded with state aid that follows students, most of whom have come over from the Schenectady city school district in recent years. Details of the finances regarding the state aid have not been resolved.
   The ICSS marketing efforts include an open house on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Penceal is currently preparing the school’s application to renew its charter, which must be submitted by Oct. 15.
   The board of directors has reviewed it and made some comments and he is in the process of revising it.
   Penceal said he addressed most of the issues that resulted in low teacher morale last year. He said SABIS had a more rigid series of lesson plans. Now, the school has given the teachers more flexibility in preparing lesson plans, which required a period of adjustment.
   “Folks are having some difficulty with coming up with what we’re asking because primarily they haven’t been asked to do these things,” he said. Penceal said three curriculum coaches work with the teachers to prepare their lesson plans.
   He said he believes the problems with the buses that marked the beginning of the year have been mostly resolved.
   The transportation problem happened because the school had not informed Brown Transportation that it would require busing.
   Penceal admitted that there have been some other issues. The eighth grade classes were filled with new teachers and there have been problems with disruptive students. A Spanish instructor quit this week and he has had difficulty filling the slot. They need five teachers to keep with the international theme.
   Penceal said he has always tried to be responsive to parents. “I call everyone back who calls me,” he said.
   Despite the problems, he said he is enjoying himself. “The interaction with the kids is what makes it all worthwhile,” he said.
   According to Schenectady Superintendent Eric Ely, most of those students that left the charter school have ended up in the city school system.
   Ely has opposed the charter school and said that he would prefer if its enrollment did not increase.
   “I still think we meet the needs of our students here at home. I’m not particularly fond of sending them to Rotterdam, along with the $7 million,” he said, which represents the loss of aid from students who transferred.
   “It’s not about competition. It’s about what kids need to be successful,” he added.
   State officials will visit the school Nov. 13, 14 and 15 to assess the progress. Penceal said he believes they will get a two-year charter. “They want to see us succeed,” he said.
   Cynthia Proctor, director of public affairs for the state Charter School Institute, said the recommendation on renewal will not come until December or January.
   “One of the things in particular that we’re looking for is how well they’ve implemented their transition plan since they’ve moved away from their management company SABIS,” she said.
   Among the broad criteria the Charter School Institute uses is whether the school is an academic success; whether it is fulfilling its mission and parents and guardians are satisfied; whether it is fiscally sound; and what the plans are for a future charter.
   She said the length of the renewal has not been determined. She said it is somewhat an unusual case because the institute had already made a recommendation for a three-year renewal before the school fired SABIS. Then, they went with a one-year renewal.
   Proctor said the institute was not concerned about the enrollment drop.
   “We do have some flexibility built into our charter for our enrollment. Obviously, financial viability comes into play at some point if they have lost a number of students. Right now, that’s not a problem,” she said.  

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Charter school seeks renewal from state
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

   The International Charter School of Schenectady has formally submitted its application to renew its charter, meeting the Monday deadline to submit the document to the state Charter School Institute.
   “It’s in and we are now in the waiting mode to hear from them about the questions they may have with regard to our application,” said Director Sam Penceal.
   He added that the school is asking for a four-year charter with the expectation that it would probably get a two-year renewal.
   The next step is for representatives of the Charter School Institute to visit the school on Nov. 13, 14 and 15.
   “They will send a team in that will look at the workings of the school — visiting classes, talking to teachers and students, visiting board members and myself to determine how well we are doing what we say we are doing,” he said.
   Then, the school will get a draft version of the Charter School Institute’s report and the final report will be submitted to the state Education Department around March or April for a decision.
   Charters are private schools supported by state aid that is tied to the students who transfer from public schools.
   Penceal said the overall goal of the school has not changed, which is to prepare students to go on to college and be contributing citizens in the community.
   The only real changes since the initial charter application have been the addition of the assistant director’s position and the three curriculum coaches that work with the instructors to prepare lesson plans.
   This has been a year of upheaval for the school. In March, the school’s board of directors fired SABIS Educational Systems Inc., the company that had been running the school, and then hired Penceal.
   The school also stumbled with its transportation at the beginning of the year, with buses not picking up students during the first day of classes. The problem was blamed on the confusion surrounding the SABIS departure.
   Enrollment had decreased from about 720 anticipated for this year, to 580 in September. Right now, Penceal said it has increased its enrollment to about 600.
   “Students are trickling in,” he said.
   The school has been conducting outreach efforts to try to get those students back, including an open house last Thursday.
   It is working to adjust its budget based on the revised enrollment fi gures. It receives money based on the number of students, Penceal said.  

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
International Charter School hopeful Oversight board visiting academy to make determination on renewal
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

   International Charter School of Schenectady Director Sam Penceal hopes a visit by an oversight board this week will get the school well on its way to having its charter renewed.
   Seven members of the Charter Schools Institute are visiting the Rotterdam school this week, talking to administration and faculty members, as well as observing classrooms.
   “They’re looking to see that we have a proper instructional program in place that will help us meet the benchmarks that have been set by the state,” he said. “We won’t know more until December or early January when we’ll get their preliminary report. That will give them some indication of what they’re leaning toward.”
   School officials will then have an opportunity to respond. Penceal said previously he anticipates the final report will not be ready until March or April.
   Joanne Falinski, vice president for school evaluation for the Charter Schools Institute, said she could not comment extensively because they are still gathering information.
   Among the criteria are whether the school is an academic success; whether it is fulfilling its mission and parents and guardians are satisfied; whether it is fiscally sound; and what the plans are for a future charter, according to the organization’s Web site.
   In October, the charter school had submitted an application for a four-year renewal, expecting it would get a two-year renewal, according to Penceal.
   Cynthia Proctor, director of public affairs for the state Charter Schools Institute, did not respond to a request for comment. However, she said previously that the organization would be examining how well the school has handled the transition after its board fired SABIS Educational Systems, the company that had run the school, last March because of concerns about student performance.
   Penceal was brought on board during the summer. In addition, the charter school has revised its approach to teaching and given instructors more flexibility in preparing lesson plans.
   Enrollment dropped from about 720 last year to 580 at the start of this school year. Penceal said school enrollment currently stands at 589.
   “We’re trying to make some effort to get that going up again,” he said.
   Because of the lower enrollment, Penceal said he had to lay off three teachers and two support staff in art and music. Main classroom teaching was not affected and the average class size is in the low 20s.
   Penceal said the school will start a marketing campaign to attract students, including a new brochure. Then, Penceal said he will be making visits to various community groups and asking parents of enrolled students to put the school in touch with other parents.
   Penceal said he is focusing on the changes that they have made to the school including improving the atmosphere, implementing a new curriculum and having coaches work with teachers on instructional techniques.
   The third-grade students in Gary Scank’s music class were oblivious to the observers’ work elsewhere in the school. Instead, they were learning about eighthnotes, quarter-notes and rests. The students have a good time playing another game where they had to freeze in place when Scank stopped playing the music.
   Eight-year-old Trinity Roscoe of Schenectady said her favorite subjects are reading and math.
   “It’s really fun to read because you have some exciting stuff,” she said.
   Scank, who teachers music to grades one through eight, said he enjoys the variety.
   “It’s always something different every class.”

MEREDITH L. KAISER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER India Arrington, left, Trinity Roscoe, center, and Amelia Matrazzo, all 8-year-old third-graders at the International Charter School of Schenectady, sing Wednesday during Gary Scank’s music class Wednesday

Quoted Text

Charter school finally being run properly

    We need to recognize the change at the International Charter School of Schenectady this year. We have a new director, Mr. [Sam] Penceal, and he has turned our school around like you wouldn’t believe.
    The kids are more respectful, grades are better, it’s parent-friendly, there are lots of daily activities with parents getting involved. Teachers will talk to you any time you need to, and the kids love it there this year.
    We just had our Christmas concert, and it was the best one in the three years my kids have been at the school. It was organized, the kids were fantastic and the director, Mr. Penceal, was involved every step of the way. Parents need to know that this director is there to stay, and he has done a great job cleaning up the mess the other director left behind.
    There will be an open house every Thursday starting after the Christmas break (Jan. 10). You can contact the school at 344-5107 and ask to speak to Mr. Penceal, and ask any questions. He’ll tell you all you need to know and more. There are spots available this year to enroll your students. Come and experience the charter school.
    The news never focuses on the good things that take place, they only focus on the negative, and let me tell you from experience there is a lot more positive than negative this year.
    MARIE GINTER
    Schenectady

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
International Charter School celebrates
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net.

    Students at the International Charter School of Schenectady had three reasons to throw a party — completing the English Language Arts tests, wishing good luck to those who still had to take them and celebrating their new school entrance.
    Director Sam Penceal said he wanted to have the spaghetti dinner to celebrate the ending of the statemandated English Language Arts tests for those in grades 3 through 5. Students in grades 6, 7 and 8 will be taking the tests this week.
    Penceal said the whole school has been getting the students ready for the tests since early December. They held a rally in the auditorium. Students made posters like “ELA, Helping Hands. Together We Will Pass the Test.” They also hung up words and definitions they needed to learn around the building. In addition, the school gave the students “thinking caps” that they were allowed to wear in school. The supper was the final part of this celebration.
    School officials are also anxiously awaiting to see whether the school’s charter will be renewed. Representatives from the oversight board, the Charter Schools Institute, visited the school in November.
    The school also just renovated its entrance on the Earl Street side including adding a handicapped-accessible ramp, an elevator and an interior window to allow the offi ce secretary to see who is coming in and out of the building. It held a dedication ceremony before the dinner.
    “We figured we could combine the two events, have a ribbon cutting ceremony and have an opportunity for families to get together and break a little bread together and continue the high spirit,” he said.
    Fifth-grader Sade Payne, 10, of Schenectady felt good about the test. “It was pretty easy,” she said.
    Payne explained that the students have been doing a lot of reading, editing and proofreading to prepare.
    Her mother, Lorrie Robinson, said she is glad that the school held the dinner and hoped the school would sponsor more dinners. She has sent her daughter to the school since it opened.
    “I love how they teach the kids with respect. I love how they encourage the kids to strive for the best in life,” she said.
Fourth-grader Dayanna Stevens, 9, also of Schenectady, said the teachers prepared them for the tests.
“They help us learn how to do all kinds of subjects,” she said.
Penceal said he is optimistic that the students will show some progress on the tests. Fifth-graders increased their scores in a social studies test administered in October.
He said the school hopes to hear about its charter application renewal later this month. Some of the preliminary comments that were received from Charter Schools Institute officials were that was critical of the quality of teaching and how classrooms are managed. Penceal attributed that to the fact that 38 of the 52 teachers in the building are new to this school or new to teaching. The school has stepped up its staff development. He said the school has had a lot to do to catch students up since many were at below grade level academically. In addition, they have had pupils with behavioral problems.
    Penceal said the children’s appreciation make the job worthwhile.
    “One of the things that makes my day is all of the hugs I get from the people in the hall,” he said.
    Republican state Assemblyman George Amedore Jr. and Sheridan Biggs, secretary and treasurer of the charter school board, were on hand to wish the students good luck with their tests, praise their teachers and cut the ribbon on the entrance.
    Business Manager Lori Veshia said the entranceway was the last part of the overall $2.4 million project that included renovating 16 classrooms, hallways and the kitchen in the former Draper School off Curry Road.
    Penceal said the school’s next major project would be to replace all the windows. However, that would not be for a while, because he anticipated that it would cost several million dollars.
BRUCE SQUIERS/ GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
The line is busy at the cafeteria of the International Charter school in Rotterdam on Thursday, setting for an Italian dinner night for parents and families.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
International Charter School president quits leadership spot
Tracy Petersen replaces Doris Belton
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    The president of International Charter School of Schenectady Board has decided to step down from her leadership post, but will remain on the board.
    Doris Belton has served as president since 2003 and has been on the board since its inception in 2000. The school announced Monday that she has chosen to step down effective with the board’s first meeting on Jan. 7 .
    “Mrs. Belton’s decision provides her with an opportunity to pursue other interests but still continue her deep involvement with the school after serving nearly five years as president,” according to a school release.
    Belton was attending a funeral on Monday and could not be reached for comment.
    Belton worked in the Buffalo Public School System for 11 years and then spent 25 years at the New York state Education Department developing guidelines, administering grants, designing evaluation systems and coordinating research activities.
    The charter school opened in 2002. Belton presided over the school’s move in 2005 from its original location, the former Fulton School on Eleanor Street, to its current location at the former Draper School. The school bought the building later that year for $1.5 million and has made extensive repairs. The school that year also received the Business Council of New York State’s Pathfinder Award, which is given to 12 schools around the state demonstrating marked improvement in math or English.
PETERSEN IS PRESIDENT
    Tracy Petersen, who has been on the charter school’s board since 2004 and has been vice president since 2007, has been elected the new president. Contacted by telephone Monday, she said that she felt good about the charter school’s direction.
    “I feel confident that we can continue with the vision that was started by Mrs. Belton and we can take the school in its direction toward self-governance and get our charter renewed.”
    The school went through a transition in 2007. In March, the board fired SABIS Educational Systems Inc., the firm that ran the school, because it said the student performance was not living up to expectations. SABIS in turn filed a lawsuit against the school. Enrollment has dropped from 720 students last year to about 585 currently.
    In July it hired new director Sam Penceal and the school is seeking a two-year renewal of its charter from the Charter Schools Institute under the State University .
    Because SABIS left so abruptly, Petersen said the board had to micromanage the school. With Penceal as director, the board can step back. She also wants to increase enrollment for the next school year and develop a new strategic plan.
    “We want the parents to know that we are here and we are a choice for them,” she said.
    Her 14-year-old daughter, Julia, attended the charter school and is now at Schenectady High School. Her other daughters — Kayla, 8, and Sierra, 6, are currently attending and her 2-year-old, Thomas, will attend.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Charter school officials fired
Director, head of information technology let go
BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter

    Two officials at the International Charter School of Schenectady were fired this week, including the school’s director who had been on the job for only six months.
    Director Sam Penceal “was released from his contract” on Friday “after failing to meet expectations set by the board,” according to a statement released by the school. Assistant Director Shirley Reed was appointed acting director.
    On Wednesday, the school’s head of information technology, James Desira, was fired, said Saleem Cheeks, account supervisor for Eric Mower and Associates, a public relations fi rm representing the school. Rotterdam police were called by the school as a precaution. There was no untoward incident at that time, police and Cheeks said. Cheeks said Desira was dismissed before school started, but he could not go into personnel matters including why the employees were fired.
    Penceal came to the charter school in July after running eight charter schools in the Cleveland area for Mosaica Education Inc., with Reed working as director of one of those schools before joining him at ICSS. During Penceal’s brief tenure, the school saw a sharp decline in enrollment — from 720 students last year to 584 currently. This was in part the result of a failure to line up bus transportation for many of the school’s students in time for the first day of classes in September.
    “Forms didn’t make it to the Schenectady School District,” Reed said. The lower enrollment resulted in the layoff of three teachers and two support staff last year.
    The school is still awaiting word from the State University of New York Board of Trustees on its application to have its charter renewed. SUNY’s Charter Schools Institute denied permission last year for the K-8 school to expand to include ninth grade, and SUNY trustees denied a three-year renewal of the school’s charter after the school’s board fired SABIS Educational Systems Inc., the company that helped open the school in 2002 and ran it until March 2007.
    Cynthia Proctor, director of public affairs for the Charter Schools Institute, said in an e-mail Friday that her organization “is in regular contact with the school. We made a multiple-day renewal visit to the school from Nov. 12th through the 16th where we analyzed the school’s performance through the lens of our renewal benchmarks [a set of specific criteria designed to gauge whether the school is an academic success; an effective viable organization; fiscally sound; and whether its plans for the future are reasonable and achievable].”
    Proctor said the Institute was made aware this month “of the board’s plans to make a change in school leadership.”
MEETING TUESDAY
    On Tuesday, Proctor said, as part of the renewal process, a 6 p.m. meeting is scheduled with parents at the school. Cheeks said that meeting would not be open to the news media or general public.
    “We are still in the process of collecting information and anticipate making a final renewal recommendation during the last week of February,” Proctor said. “The renewal options open to the school are a short-term renewal of between two and four years, or non-renewal.”
    Marie Ginter, who has two children in the school, was sorry to hear about Penceal’s departure. “He has done such a tremendous job at that school,” she said, especially with the younger children. “I can’t believe he isn’t going to be there any more.” Penceal was “much more involved” than the two prior directors, she said.
    Penceal and Desira could not be reached for comment. Cheeks declined to provide personal contact information for Penceal. Reed and Doris Belton, the former board president who resigned earlier this month, said they didn’t have it.
    Belton said her resignation was not connected to the current turmoil, about which she declined to comment.
    Reed said she has worked in education for 34 years, most of it as a teacher and administrator in the public schools. She received her master’s degree in education, administration and supervision from Baldwin-Wallace College.
    Cheeks said the board has full confidence in Reed and has not yet decided whether to undertake a search for a permanent director.
    The school’s statement said Reed will continue to oversee the charter renewal application as she did in her previous role as the assistant director and academic dean.
    “We owe it to our students and their parents to ensure that we maintain the highest standards for academic excellence,” board President Tracy Petersen was quoted as saying. “Shirley Reed’s experience as assistant director of ICSS makes her the perfect candidate to provide continuity in leadership and move the school in a direction that lives up to the expectations of our parents, students, staff and community.”
    The ICSS is located in the former Draper School in Rotterdam, but draws most of its students from the Schenectady district.
    Charter schools in New York state are run by private organizations, but receive state aid for each child enrolled. In Schenectady and other localities this has generated opposition from the public school district.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
School appoints acting director Trustees establish student discipline position
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    Shirley Reed has been officially appointed acting director of the International Charter School of Schenectady, following the ouster of Sam Penceal last week.
    The Board of Trustees on Monday also approved hiring a student discipline coordinator following an executive session lasting more than an hour Monday night.
    Penceal and James Desira, the head of information technology, were let go last week. The board said Penceal was released from his contract after failing to meet expectations. The statement did not elaborate on the reason for Desira’s departure.
    The school is seeking renewal of its charter with the State University of New York’s Charter Schools Institute.
    The Charter Schools Institute is to conduct an informational meeting about the charter renewal process tonight at 6 at the school in the former Draper School building, according to Cynthia Proctor, director of public affairs for the Charter Schools Institute.
    Charter Board President Tracy Petersen said after the meeting that the board believes the coordinator of student discipline position is necessary.
    Discipline has been cited as a problem at the school and was mentioned in some preliminary comment by the Charter Schools Institute, according to prior comments by Penceal.
    In those interviews, Penceal had admitted that there were disruptive students and problems with classroom management.
    He attributed those issues to inexperienced teachers and said they were stepping up professional development.
    Reed said Monday the school is going to work to improve classroom behavior by giving teachers more professional development and offering incentives to students to behave.
    Her other top priorities are marketing and improving test scores. “We’re going to put out more information about the school, get more people in so we can increase enrollment for the next school year,” she said.
    Enrollment stands at 584 currently — down from 720 last year.
    She said the school plans to offer study groups, after-school programs and even Saturday school to help students with its standardized math test coming up in March.

Quoted Text

Charter Board President Tracy Petersen said after the meeting that the board believes the coordinator of student discipline position is necessary.

Quoted Text

Charter Board President Tracy Petersen said after the meeting that the board believes the coordinator of student discipline position is necessary.

Quoted Text

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.

Quoted Text

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.

Quoted Text

Charter school has earned more than one more year

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.

Quoted Text

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.”

Quoted Text

EDITORIALS State Ed should settle charter tiff

    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.

Quoted Text

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.

Quoted Text

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.

Quoted Text

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.     

Quoted Text

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

Quoted Text

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.

Quoted Text

Sch’dy district has penalized charter school kids

    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

Quoted Text

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.

Quoted Text

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.

Quoted Text

State sticks to recommendation that charter school be closed
Friday, February 29, 2008

SCHENECTADY — Despite intense lobbying by educators, parents and even students at the International Charter School of Schenectady, the state agency that oversees charter schools will stick to its recommendation that the school be closed at the end of the school year.
Cynthia Proctor, director of public affairs for the Charter Schools Institute, said this morning the group will recommend to the SUNY Board of Trustees' Committee on Charter Schools that the charter for ICSS not be renewed when it expires in June. That committee is scheduled to meet Monday and pass along a recommendation to SUNY trustees, who are expected to make the final determination of the school's fate at their March 11 meeting.
The institute provided a draft recommendation to school officials earlier this month, and the school responded by disputing some of the findings, submitting additional information and inviting the institute to visit the school to observe what officials consider improvements since SABIS Educational Systems stopped running the school in March 2007. While the institute did consider the additional information, Proctor said it did not change the opinion that the school should be closed.
"The institute carefully considered the very detailed information the school provided in response to its draft report and at the meeting at the school on (Feb. 19)," Proctor said. "In addition to exhaustive review by institute senior staff, the institute engaged external experts to review the curriculum materials and fiscal information provided by the school. Institute staff reviewed carefully testimony and subsequent letters and e-mails submitted by ICSS teachers, staff, parents and community members.
"While the information provided by the school community clarified some important issues, taken overall it did not justify changing the Institute's ultimate recommendation of non-renewal."

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Report slams charter school efforts Sleeping students, poor scores cited
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    The agency that recommended closing the International Charter School of Schenectady is sharply critical of the school in its report — at one point saying that some students in the classrooms its representatives visited last November were “socializing, staring into space, or sleeping.”
    The Charter Schools Institute, the organization that oversees charter schools in the state, provided a copy of the 51-page document to The Daily Gazette in response to a Freedom of Information Law request made last month. The institute had provided a mostly blackened-out copy of a draft report on Feb. 12, arguing that only the contents of the final report could be released publicly.
    The institute’s main reasons Share your for recommending that the thoughts on school close down at the end this story at of the 2007-08 year are that the www.daily  school does not have a strong gazette.com  academic program and its sharp enrollment drop from last year raises question about whether the school is financially viable.
    The State University of New York’s Committee on Charter Schools is scheduled to review the report when it meets at 10:30 a.m. today at the SUNY office in Albany. It will make its own recommendation to the SUNY board of trustees, which is scheduled to meet on March 11 for a fi nal decision on the school.
    The report said that during the last two years, only half of the students were proficient on state math tests and only 40 percent proficient on the English tests.
    “While the school performed about the same as, or slightly below, the Schenectady City School District in the two subjects, it consistently scored lower than predicted when compared to demographically similar schools statewide,” according to the report.
    In addition, the report said the quality of student writing work displayed in the hallways was poor.
    “Posted work in the primary grades appeared to be below grade level and consisted mostly of coloring worksheets. Some student work posted in hallways and classrooms was rife with spelling and mechanical errors, but teachers’ comments included ‘Good Job!’ and ‘Great’!”
    Middle school work also had spelling, grammar and usage errors, but still contained high marks with few or any comments or corrections, according to the report.
    The school had a set aside time called an “enrichment period,” but institute officials said it was not effective. Some classrooms in the lower grades did tasks like group math instruction, while about 50 middle school students in the drama club watched a cartoon during the same time period.
    The report also stated that there were discipline issues in both the elementary and middle schools. Misbehavior in the lower grades included “students talking to each other, making noises, or being off task.”
    The problem was worse at the middle school, with students “wandering around classrooms, leaving the classroom without a stated destination or a pass, wrestling with each other, and using profanity,” according to the report.
    It went on to say teachers routinely did not address the problem.
    “Several middle school teachers displayed a sense of frustration and even resignation with regard to students’ behavior; one teacher reported that in the past she attempted to demand silence while she was teaching, but since that was unsuccessful now she just tries to get their attention and then ‘moves on.’ Another teacher stated to an inspector who was observing his unruly class, ‘You can see what we have to deal with.’ ”
    The inspection team reported that instruction was not tailored to different student levels.
    “The renewal inspection team did not observe teachers engaging their students in a rigorous curriculum, asking probing questions, or developing students’ critical thinking skills; in contrast, teachers in the middle school were observed working on their computers during class, pleading with students to complete a low-level worksheet, and lecturing to disengaged students.”
    It also said that the teachers were not familiar with the methods the school was supposed to use to assess student performance. The report said that curriculum development was lacking. School officials had said they were going to use a Buffalo-based curriculum document, but teachers did not adhere to this format. One teacher told institute officials “I am winging it. I haven’t gotten much guidance since I got here.”
    The report also said that three curriculum coaches were supposed to help teachers in grades kindergarten through second, third through fifth and sixth through eighth. However, it stated that there was not a clear direction about whether then-director Sam Penceal, former assistant director and current Acting Director Shirley Reed or the curriculum coaches were guiding instruction.
    “The confusion about leadership had resulted in a lack of clear expectations for and consistent feedback on classroom practice. Further, both the director and assistant director reported to the inspection team that they have not observed as many classes or attended as many grade level team meetings as they intended,” the report stated.
    The curriculum coaches themselves were also inexperienced. One of the coaches told the site visit representatives. “Nobody taught us how to do this job. We taught ourselves.”
    The report also cited morale issues. Thirty-five of the 50 teachers were new for the 2007-08 year. All but one of the seventh- and eighthgrade teachers resigned from the previous year. Because of the drop in enrollment, some teachers were reassigned, which caused stress and morale problems, the report said.
    It also said the school’s financial situation has weakened because only 587 students are enrolled compared with 685 the year before. Also, the school’s income declined because of the Schenectady City School District’s withholding of aid payments. (Charter schools are privately run but publicly funded. Most of the International Charter School’s student population comes from the Schenectady City School District.)
    The report also faulted the charter school’s board of trustees for not acting more swiftly to raise academic performance. It said board members mentioned the improvement in the school climate since its former educational management company SABIS had left in March 2007 and the school decided to govern itself. However, the institute said the board did not seem to be aware of how much it needed to raise student performance.
    The report also said the board of trustees had not established any criteria for how it would review the director. It also hinted at some discord between the board and Penceal, who was fired on Jan. 21.
    “Several school staff described the board as ‘micromanaging’ since it had moved to self-management. The lack of a formal evaluation protocol for the school director tied to academic achievement indicates a lack of oversight by the board, and was particularly concerning given the quality of the educational program at the school,” according to the report.
    When contacted for comment about the report, board President Tracy Petersen said the institute did not take into account information the board submitted refuting its conclusions, particularly about the school’s financial status. They sent documents from their accountant and First Niagara to back up their claims.
    Also, she said even if the school continues to have a dispute with the Schenectady City School District over aid payments, it can get the money by filing an intercept with the state Education Department.
    In addition, she contends the school’s educational program is sound. “They have no evidence in their report that backs up the reason why they think we don’t have a strong program,” she said.
    Petersen said institute officials only visited the school for a twoday period. Half the school was in the midst of taking the state social studies test, on which students scored 23 percent higher than last year, she said.
    She also criticized the institute’s conclusion that the school has a widespread discipline problem.
    “To say that one visit is indicative of how those classes [are] all the time is ridiculous. There is no behavioral problem in the school at this point,” she said.

Quoted Text

Charter school closure justified but still sad

    Troy’s charter school, the Ark, is still afloat after the SUNY trustees’ Charter Schools Committee meeting yesterday in Albany, but Schenectady’s International Charter School appears to have drowned. The committee endorsed a recommendation made last month by the Charter Schools Institute that the school be shut down at the end of this term. We have mixed feelings about the recommendation, which there’s every reason to believe the SUNY Board of Trustees will act on at its March 11 meeting.
    While we could have seen giving the six-yearold school a second one-year reprieve to get its act together, the report of the Charter Schools Institute contains justification enough for closure. Still, it’s sad that children in the school will face such disruption; that all children in Schenectady will have one less educational option; and that the school district, which to its discredit has done everything possible to undermine the charter school, will have no competition to keep it on its toes.
    The school’s problems — or “failures,” as SUNY Trustee Randy Daniels repeatedly called them yesterday — were widespread. They included a spotty academic record: encouraging test scores the first year, where the school’s mostly minority students outperformed students in the Schenectady district and comparable students elsewhere, followed by years of discouraging test scores, where they slightly underperformed students in the Schenectady district and badly underperformed comparable students elsewhere. Charter schools, which operate with fewer bureaucratic rules than other public schools and have a student body that wants to be there, are supposed to be different and somehow better. If they can’t distinguish themselves from the rest academically, what’s the point?
    The charter school complains that students are now doing better in English and social studies but the Charter Schools Institute used data from past years, before management and curriculum changes were made. The institute says these gains have not yet been documented, but even if they can be, based on the curriculum used and other things it saw in the school during a visit in November, they are unlikely to last.
    The institute also was concerned about the school’s frequent shake-ups, including getting rid of a management company and seeing a series of directors either leave or be fired. The key to a good school is strong, consistent leadership. The lack of this has very likely played a part in the school’s high teacher turnover, the discipline problems it has had in the past (and which it now claims to have overcome), and poor student performance. The institute acknowledged that the board has tried to address these problems, but concluded that it was too little too late.
    Also, without directly assigning blame, the institute points to the role the Schenectady district played in the school’s fiscal problems that have hurt it in the past year. First, when confusion from management changes caused many parents to miss the deadline for requesting transportation in April, the district took a hard line and denied their students transportation this school year. That cost the charter school many students, and a lot of money.
    The district also refused to pay the school nearly $750,000 for disputed students, when state Education Department policy says that districts should pay and then settle such disputes at the end of the school year. And finally, on the eve of yesterday’s SUNY Charter Schools Committee meeting, Superintendent Eric Ely couldn’t resist sending an e-mail to the trustees calling attention to the charter school’s shortcomings.
    So, it appears the school system has got back its monopoly, and the state aid that comes with the charter school students. It should use it to overcome the logistical problems, successfully integrate these kids into the district and give them the education they deserve.

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
District wants aid money back School officials plan to file suit to recover funds sent to ICS
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    The Schenectady City School District plans a lawsuit to recover money sent to the failing International Charter School of Schenectady in pupil aid.
    The state Education Department sent money to the Rotterdam-based school in January to make up for money the city district withheld because it challenged the accuracy of the school’s enrollment figures.
    The charter school is under imminent threat of closure by the SUNY Board of Trustees due to underperformance. A final decision is expected on Tuesday from the State University Board of Trustees.
    The Board of Education on Wednesday authorized Superintendent Eric Ely to proceed with a lawsuit, which would aim to recover some of the funds.
    Last fall, Ely withheld some of the money owed to the charter school because he said charter school officials did not provide proper proof of residency of the students enrolled.
    In December, charter school officials petitioned the state Education Department to obtain the $741,000 they claimed was owed. The state sided with the charter school in late January and sent it the money directly — bypassing the city school district. That money otherwise would have gone to the Schenectady district.
    This decision did not sit well with Ely, who said previously that he believed a “fraud” is being perpetrated on the Schenectady taxpayers. Ely said Wednesday the Education Department did not follow the required process.
    “They didn’t verify the addresses of the children; they didn’t even have the names and addresses of the children. All they had were the names,” he said.
    The money sent to the school — which is roughly $9,500 per pupil per year — comes from both state aid and local taxpayer dollars.
    Ely said the district still does not know the exact amount of money the charter school should have received. He said he knows it is less than $741,000 because the district sent the school a $73,000 payment. “We believe it’s probably less than half of that,” he said.
    School Attorney Shari Greenleaf said the lawsuit would be filed in Supreme Court — in either Schenectady or Albany county.
    Greenleaf said school officials believe the Education Department’s action was “arbitrary and capricious.”
PREPARING FOR INFLUX
    Ely also informed the school board on Wednesday that he has formed two staff committees to deal with the potential closure of the charter school. One committee would continue the search to find space to accommodate the students. The second committee would explore how to help students readjust to a new setting.
    He said in some people’s minds, the closing of a school is like a “death in the family.”
    Ely plans to have counselors and social workers to help welcome these parents and students back into the district community. Charter school officials are preparing for Tuesday’s meeting of the SUNY Board of Trustees, where a final decision on the school’s future will be made. School spokesman Saleem Cheeks could not comment on any pending action by Schenectady.
    “All of our efforts and focus is on the trustee meeting on the 11th,” he said.
    Charter school Business Manager Lori Veshia said previously that the school stands by its enrollment numbers.

Quoted Text

Review of Schenectady charter school not comprehensive enough

    I’m a teacher proud to be part of the many and significant positive changes that have occurred this year at the International Charter School of Schenectady [ICSS]. Despite what’s been said, despite the votes cast, and despite what many have come to believe based on statements by the Charter Schools Institute, I can assure you that our students now are learning at a pace comparable to, if not better than, many of their peer institutions throughout the region.
    I believe it’s an incredible injustice to the current team of dedicated administrators, teachers, concerned parents and students to recommend closing our school based on the limited information CSI has chosen to act upon. I’m not writing to discredit the institute’s report based on a two-day observance in November; what I do question, however, is why we were never observed again after making the changes CSI had recommended.
    According to CSI Senior Vice President Jennifer Snead [March 4 Daily Gazette], it’s the policy of the institute not to make return visits to schools because there is always another set of test scores and improvements that they could make. Let me try to understand this logic: The people (CSI) who initially determine how well a charter school is perform