Six New Charter Schools To Open in Brooklyn
At least six new charter schools are expected to open in Brooklyn within the next two years. Park Slope’s Brooklyn Prospect Charter School has already been reported by the Daily News, but applications for four other K – 8 charter schools were approved by SUNY on the same day, all to be managed by Uncommon…
At least six new charter schools are expected to open in Brooklyn within the next two years. Park Slope’s Brooklyn Prospect Charter School has already been reported by the Daily News, but applications for four other K – 8 charter schools were approved by SUNY on the same day, all to be managed by Uncommon Schools. Mini “scholars” at the four schools can expect rigorous instruction from 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Excellence Charter School for Girls, in the Bed-Stuy school district, and Leadership Preparatory East New York are scheduled to open this fall. Leadership Preparatory Flatbush and Brownsville are scheduled to open the following school year. Uncommon Schools also announced plans for their first charter high school in Crown Heights, located at 1485 Pacific Street at Kingston Avenue. Uncommon Schools spokeswoman Megan Zug said the organization purposefully chooses low-income neighborhoods “to close the achievement gap between low-income and high-income students.”
The private and publicly-funded high school designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects would have “four floors of brand new classrooms, science labs, art studios, a library, a technology center, a thousand-seat ‘cafetorium,’ several full-size gymnasiums, and a rooftop playfield,” according to the announcement. Up to 1,600 students from four existing charter middle schools would attend. One of those schools, the Excellence Charter School for Boys in Bed-Stuy (pictured), had SUNY’s third-largest difference from its local district in proficiency on the standardized English Language Arts exam, at 94 percent proficient versus 48 percent. In Math, 100 percent of the students passed versus 72.1 percent in the district, according to a SUNY annual report. Almost all charter schools fared better than their local district counterparts in the report, which detailed some pretty crisis-level proficiency rates. Do you think charter schools the solution to this crisis? What about the long days for elementary and middle school kids? Are they necessary, or should the kids be getting more downtime?
New Brookyln Charter School Recruiting Students for Fall ’09 Opening [Daily News]
Teaching Boys and Girls Separately [NY Times]
1. Charter schools generally pay teachers more in salary, but no pension. Also the school hours are longer and they get less time off (in the summer and also in ‘sick and personal’ days off)
2. Many private schools pay less than DOE and get better teachers who are attracted to better facilities and a more engaged parent pool
3. Most countries have longer days and longer school years and the kids thrive.
The only tranches that charters create is between kids who have a caring adult that is interested in their well being enough to fill out an application for a school, and ones that do not.
No, although that’s another example. I read some of the PR written by both sides of that one. PS 86, correct?
And no you can’t. What I have a lot of trouble understanding though is why elementary education has become so complicated. My concern about charters is I’m afraid they’ll go the way of HMO’s — while they start out offering affordable care for everyone, they’ll end up dividing kids into tranches.
Heather, are you talking about the williamsbrug school that the recent “immigrants” tried to change (i.e. increase standards at) and where the established parents fought against them? So they then pushed for the charter school?
You can’t win.
Oh, I didn’t know they all paid more. Do they offer comparable benefits as well? I’m not anti-charter school, although I have some reservations… in Williamsburg, for example, there’s a whole pack of parents afraid to send their kids to the local schools who want to start charters…it’d just be nice if all kids in a community got the same opportunities, that’s all. Then again, in neighborhoods where the publics are really failing — I get that it’s complicated.
Most charter schools pay MORE than DOE, not less. Except for the ones that are union schools, then they aren’t allowed to pay more.
6:05: As for a longer day/year not equating to academic success, how would you explain that many charter schools out perform their neighborhoods, districts, and the city over all? You can definitely credit the excellent teachers, engaged parents, and high expectations, but it’s silly to think that spending more time learning doesn’t equal more learning.
And as per the other thread, the teachers make less money, correct? And work longer hours? And… that attracts quality staff how, exactly?
I know there was some charter school in Manhattan offering $120K to start or something, but I’m assuming that’s an anomaly.
to this male, it sounded like a complaint.
I’m a grade school teacher and am only going to comment on the length of the school day. Expecting children to remain focused and on task for 8.5 hours a day is not “rigorous” it’s completely unrealistic. Even taking into account a 45 minute lunch break. Do they expect five to eleven year olds to really be learning for such an extended period of time. By 2pm every day I’VE lost my energy( I can only equate teaching to being on stage, you’re “on” for seven hours) and and so have my students. Extended time in school does not equate academic success.