Charter school deal decried as unfair by those left out.

[Octavia]

Thursday, November 29, 2007 BY KASI ADDISON
Star-Ledger Staff

Charter schools officials from around Newark gathered at City Hall yesterday to discuss the need for financial, planning and facility support for their schools.

Councilwoman Dana Rone convened the meeting to address concerns about a controversial deal between the city and Newark Public Schools that gave two city charter schools space in district buildings for $1 a year.
During the roundtable discussion, several charter officials voiced frustration with lack of a process in choosing the schools that benefited from the deal.

"I asked the mayor, after I thanked him for all the good things he did for charters, what words did you use to have the council vote on it, when you have $3 million and you...give to them, and you give the rest nothing...," said Fredrica Bey, director of Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School. "That's indefensible."

Under the unique two-year arrangement, which was approved by the council last month, North Star Academy was given unused space at Dayton Street School and TEAM was given space on the top floor of Newark Vocational High School.

Both charters pay for security guards, improvements to the buildings and utility costs, but they don't pay the market rent, which totals about $560,000. Instead the city is picking up the lease costs.
Newark Public Schools owed the city $3 million because it paid for the construction of two swimming pools several years ago. Because of the lease agreement with the charter schools, the city's debt will be reduced by $560,000.

Critics of the plan argued the two schools received preferential treatment because they had ties to Mayor Cory Booker, who is a former North Star board member. One of his associates, Modia Butler, served on TEAM's board for a short period.

Booker administration officials denied that the mayor's connections had anything to do with the lease agreements and have pointed out that other charter schools with ties to the mayor did not get favorable treatment.

Booker Chief of Staff Pablo Fonseca is a former board member of Maria Varisco-Rodgers Charter School and his brother, Cary Booker, sat on the board of University Heights Charter School. The mayor's half-brother, John Taylor, is the Development Director at Discovery Charter.

DeShawn Wright, the city's education adviser, said the two schools were chosen because they were among the first to ask the mayor for help, have strong academic programs, and needed help securing space for "start-up" programs as they expanded the grade-levels in their schools.

"North Star, which has two middle schools and a high school, is expanding its program to include an elementary school. TEAM, which has two middle schools, added 75 ninth-graders to its program this year. The city is looking, when possible, to help all the city's 12 charter schools with facilities, teacher recruitment and funding," Wright said.

"This was an entrepreneurial effort; something that has been done in other cities but has not been done in Newark before," he said, adding it wasn't as if the city had "3 million dollars and could say, 'Let's have an (request for proposal) process'."

In spite of his remarks and a brief explanation from North Star's James Verrilli and TEAM's Ryan Hill about how they worked out the agreement with the city, charter officials weren't mollified.

Steve Adubato, who heads Robert Treat Academy, demanded the council rescind the lease agreements.

"I hope someone brings up a motion to rescind this until we come up with a formula to give everyone a chance to be part of this," said Adubato, who acknowledged he didn't need any space for his school. "Let's set a process. We're talking about $3 million."

Others were more measured in their criticism. Jessie Curtis of Discovery Charter School said she has been looking for year for additional space for the 85 students who attend her schools.

"Discovery is over capacity and it's well known to the mayor's office that we've been on a fundraising capital campaign mission for quite some time and have presented at City Hall many times, it's not a secret," she said.
"And we wonder how this happened without any discussion."

What was done is done so though the "process wasn't perfect initially, we can grow from that place and use that process to make a real one that works for all of us," Rone said.

"We don't need to fight each other," she told the group. "When you make an error you need to have room to correct it, this is an effort to correct that."

A preliminary plan to determine how the remaining $2.4 million will be spent should be "on paper" by the time group meets again on Dec. 12, she said.


Kasi Addison may be reached at kaddison@starledger.com or at (973) 392-4154.

[TeachNwk]

...have a lot of nerve. There definitely should have been a process here, but her school is brand new and has zero track record, and while his is very good, they both have gotten massive favors throughout their political careers that weren't put through an open process. This is such a false issue. The real problem is that charter schools don't receive adequate funding, so they end up scrambling for facilities.

[GottfriedK]

The Charter School law does not permit capital expenses, i.e. buildings. If you can't figure out how to get the space with the money allowed, you are in the wrong business.

[TeachNwk]

Charter schools get about 50% as much funding as district schools get, and district schools get free buildings. The NJ charter law is miserable in this regard. In a lot of other states, charters get substantial facility funding and in some places they get free facilities, often predicated on having results.

Charter schools are doing very well in Newark despite this absurd funding. Imagine how well they'd do if they got even close to as much funding or as nice facilities as NPS schools get.

[karimah]

Originally Posted by TeachNwk

...have a lot of nerve. There definitely should have been a process here, but her school is brand new and has zero track record, and while his is very good, they both have gotten massive favors throughout their political careers that weren't put through an open process. This is such a false issue. The real problem is that charter schools don't receive adequate funding, so they end up scrambling for facilities.

Do you have proof of this ? If so what are you going to do with the information

[spokenword]

Originally Posted by karimah

Do you have proof of this ? If so what are you going to do with the information

Go ahead future Counsel!

[newarknewbbie]

It seems pretty clear to me from your postings that you are either employed by North Star/TEAM...which is just fine, but at least attempt to be fair-minded.

You are decrying the injustices to charters??? really?? That is absurd to me considering the other perspectives of the function of charters--they are one alternative. I would argue that they are great labs for educational innovation but that they are not the solution.

There are clear reasons why charters don't get equal treatment on things like facilities/funding for them. Charters get a concessions and freedom on many other issues that traditional public schools don't-- particularly in admissions.

While I am skeptical of political power brokers like Adubato getting involved-- I have to agree with him here. He specifically stated he was not looking for space but that the process for awarding this deal to TEAM/North Star was inequitable. According to you, that makes him a hypocrite for some unnamed past deals he brokered. But if you support the how this space was awarded, then it makes you one, as well.

For the record, I think that TEAM is doing a great job with the students they serve, but if this space is to be awarded and this deal is to be legitimate it has to be done through a fair, competitive and TRANSPARENT process. I think there used to be a candidate for mayor in Newark that believed in transparency too...

[Miss Tam-Tam]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/200..._lose_spa.html

Newark charters could lose space in city schools
by Kasi Addison/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday January 15, 2008, 6:52 PM

Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone has proposed repealing several controversial ordinances that allowed two charter schools to lease space in Newark public schools at the city's expense.

Though she initially supported the measures after Mayor Cory Booker's administration promised to find ways to help other city charter schools, Rone said that process appeared to stall, which wasn't fair to those schools looking for aid.

The City Council is scheduled to take action at Wednesday night's meeting.

"The charter school community is looking at what's going on and I didn't see (the administration) keeping their word," she said, adding there was no discussion about the issue until it appeared on an agenda for Wednesday's meeting.

Under the two-year arrangements, which were approved by the Newark City Council in October, North Star Academy was given unused space in the basement of Dayton Street School and TEAM Academy was given space on the top floor of Newark Vocational High School.

In lieu of the schools paying rent, the city agreed to reduced a portion of $3 million Newark Public Schools owed the city for the construction of two swimming pools several years ago. The lease agreements with the charter schools will reduce the debt the schools owe the city by $560,000.

Both charters pay operational costs, including security guards, improvements to the buildings, utility costs and $1 a year to the city for use of the buildings.

Critics of the plan argued the two schools received preferential treatment because they had ties to Booker, who is a former North Star board member. The administration denied favoritism was involved.

Read more in Wednesday's Star-Ledger.

[ForChange]

that the process here was concerning.

I think it's totally appropriate for the city to help charter schools. However, I don't think that it's appropriate for them to have a secret process for helping out two schools over the others. TEAM and Northstar are both famous in the charter school world and Northstar has the test results to back it up, but TEAM scores are -not- the highest in the city (they aren't even second).

Also, it is important to know that both Northstar and TEAM get significant grant money (not because that's bad, but just so that people understand that they do have money that isn't being given to them by the state).

I do have one bone to pick with you, NewarkNewbie, the law says that charter schools have to admit anyone who are chosen in their lotteries (SPED students included). I do think there is a small amount of self-selection in play with charter school admissions. However, if you are suggesting that charter schools get to turn students away, it isn't true. And, in fact, were that the case, it would (for me) invalidate any value they have as a "education laboratory."

I've been open about the fact that I teach at a charter school here in Newark and I am unbelievably proud of our students, test-results, and the community we've built. However, I agree that the expansion of charters to serve all Newark students is not a viable option. What I would like to see the mayor do is think creatively about how to use the practices and expertise in the charter schools to inform what is happening in NPS.

[TeachNwk]

I'm not sure this was a secret process so much as just the absence of process altogether - I think that running too fast without putting process in place first has characterized the Booker administration in many areas so far, though I hear they're getting much better about this.

The idea that the council would rescind this is absurd and unproductive. These are good schools and they deserve the space - NOT at the exclusion of other schools, but rescinding from these schools does not put the facilities in the hands of the other schools. If they rescind it and then make up some process to get it, it's likely that TEAM and North Star would end up getting first dibs on the facilities anyway, given their results. In the meantime, where are the kids who are occupying the NPS buildings supposed to go? Rone should not be playing political games by using the kids as props - that's neither fair to the kids nor is it a productive solution to this problem. Maybe she's hoping that if she makes noise on this, we'll forget that she tried to get the police to play process-less favorites with her relatives.

There is plenty of room in NPS schools to house more charter schools there. The district was built up over the years when the population was nearly double what it is now, and I know for a fact that there are empty or nearly-empty buildings out there. The city should be helping all the charter schools get that additional space, and since charter schools don't get facilities funds, it makes sense for the city to help pick up the tab.