Meeting of the Board of Regents | July 2009

SUMMARY

Issue for Decision

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendation concerning the proposed revision to the first renewal charter for Explore Charter School (New York City)?

Background Information

We received a request from the Chancellor of the school district of the city of New York to revise the first renewal charter of Explore Charter School (“ECS” or “the School”).  The School was approved on June 21, 2001 to open in Community School District (CSD) 1 on August 28, 2002.  The School is currently located in CSD 17 in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and serves 425 students in grades K through 8.  The School seeks a revision to its first renewal charter to pay a fee to Explore Schools, Inc., a duly-authorized New York State entity, for specific services including human resource management, strategic planning, governance support, operations support, advocacy and external relations.

The School currently has a waiting list of more than 2000 students.  To meet the needs of families in the community, the leaders of the School sought to open an additional charter school.  Explore Charter School 2 was approved by the Board of Regents in December 2008 and receives support from Explore Schools, Inc.  The Schools seeks to improve its operational efficiency by using a network model organized by the proposed service provider. 

The New York City Department of Education held a public hearing on July 15, 2009 regarding the proposed revision for the school.  No public comments were made. 

Recommendation

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approves the revision to the first renewal charter of the Explore Charter School as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

Reasons for Recommendation

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

Timetable for Implementation

The Regents action for Explore Charter School will be effective immediately.