Meeting of the Board of Regents | March 2010

SUMMARY

Issue for Decision (Consent Agenda)

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendation concerning the proposed revision to the initial charter for Harlem Success Academy Charter School 4 (New York City)?

Background Information

We received a request from the Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) to revise the initial charter of Harlem Success Academy Charter School 4 (HSA4 or “the School”).  The School seeks to create an admissions policy to serve students designated as at-risk, who are defined as students zoned to attend a failing school; and to modify Section 2.2 (a) of the Charter Agreement with SUNY to allow the School “to increase or decrease its Projected Total Enrollment by 20 percent.”  The School defines failing public schools based on “the issuance of an ‘F’ on the New York City school report card and/or the announced closure of the School due to poor performance.  For schools located outside of New York City, a failing school shall be defined as one that has not made adequate yearly progress (AYP) as defined by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) for at least four sequential years.”     

The School will conduct its random selection lottery in the following order of preference:

• Returning students;
• Siblings of returning students;
• Applicants residing within the charter school’s community school district (CSD), who are zoned to attend a failing school;
• Applicants residing outside the charter school's community school district (CSD), who are zoned to attend a failing school;
• Other applicants within the charter school’s CSD; and
• Other applicants outside of the charter school’s CSD.

The New York City Department of Education held a public hearing in CSD 3 on January 13, 2009 regarding the proposed revision.  No comments were made or received. 

Recommendation

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approves the revision to the initial charter of Harlem Success Academy Charter School 4 as proposed by the Trustees of the State University of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

Reasons for Recommendation

              The proposed revision to the School’s initial charter, along with the other terms of the initial charter: (1) meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) will permit the charter school to operate in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; and (3) is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law.    

Timetable for Implementation

The Regents action for Harlem Success Academy Charter School 4 will be effective immediately.