BY AMY RUSSO | Tensions ran high during a presentation at a Community Board 3 meeting on Nov. 10 by the New York City Charter School of the Arts, a.k.a. City School of the Arts, which is scheduled to open in fall 2016. Founding Principal Jamie Davidson and Trustee Jim Chu spoke to a table full of locals about their intentions for the school, which is authorized to open in either Community School District 1 or 2.
Davidson, who has a background in language and literacy and received her master’s in education from Harvard, worked with teachers at Bronx Prep after graduating, and was challenged to improve that school’s academic results. While at Bronx Prep, she met Geoffrey Kiorpes and Kate Quarfordt, who would eventually become co-founders of City School of the Arts. Kiorpes was working at Bronx Prep as a piano teacher while Quarfordt was a theater instructor. Together, they developed the idea for an arts-focused charter school.
City School of the Arts will be a middle school, serving grades 6 through 8. It will start with 102 sixth graders, growing by one grade per year for the next two years, reaching 306 students total.
Davidson and Chu want to engage with District 1 and 2 residents to ensure that the school’s opening is transparent. They stated that, contrary to the belief that the opposition has been widespread, the school has a lot of support.
A 42-page informational packet assembled by the District 1 Community Education Council, with data and arguments against the new charter’s opening, was distributed to meeting attendees. According to C.E.C. 1, the charter “claimed support from almost all of the partners listed in the many applications,” yet these partners have “either been totally unauthorized or are in fact interested parties who plan to benefit financially from the charter’s funding stream… .”
City School of the Arts, which received its charter from the State University of New York, will receive 80 percent funding per pupil from the state Department of Education, a figure that has some locals concerned that too many dollars will be stripped from needy public schools.
C.E.C. 1 further claims, “There is no need [for the new charter] according to enrollment data in D1, where 3 middle schools very near the proposed lease location are facing a proposed consolidation next year due to under-enrollment…”
However, when asked about the school’s planned location, it was stated that this information could not yet be disclosed, though it was hoped the school could operate in a privately owned space. One attendee at the meeting, Luke Henry, a C.E.C. 1 member and former candidate for state Assembly, claimed that for the past two years no location has been given.
“We’re still investigating what the options are,” Chu later admitted. “We’ve had a letter of commitment that was withdrawn from us. We currently do not have a space or location.”
Local resident Naomi Peña, who also was at the meeting, offered a unique perspective. As a parent of children enrolled in both a charter school and a public school, she could speak to the differences between both educational systems.
Peña’s two major concerns were that the students and faculty accurately reflect the neighborhood, and that there be adequate resources and fair treatment for special-education pupils. She argued that teachers may experience a disconnect with students if they are from areas with markedly different socioeconomic conditions, citing a Long Island vice principal who was not equipped to connect with students who live in public housing.
Peña worried that the charter might not effectively provide for the 15 percent of its student body it expects to have disabilities.
“You need to create an environment that allows these children to succeed, not just general ed,” Peña said.
Davidson explained that the 15 percent figure mentioned in the school’s plans is a conservative figure. With regard to English Language Learners, she stated, “We want to meet or exceed the E.L.L. target in the district. We have staffed an E.S.L. teacher that is distinct from the special-ed teacher.”
“I think there were many questions that people have and there are some people who feel that they have not been answered,” said Carolyn Ratcliffe, chairperson of the C.B. 3 Arts and Cultural Affairs Subcommittee, at the meeting’s end. Ratcliffe recommended that the school also present to the board’s Youth and Human Services Committee, where more parents could weigh in on the matter.
