DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — A neighborhood charter school eyed for closure by the city is suing to keep its doors open.
The kindergarten through eighth-grade Ross Global Academy, which opened five years ago but moved into its current home on East 12th Street in 2009, ranked in the bottom 1 percent of all schools for the 2009-'10 school year based on a Department of Education progress report last month.
The DOE cited the school's below-average test scores and high staff turnover as reasons it would move not to renew the 400-student school's charter. Ross Global Academy was the only charter school to be included in the department's list of more than two-dozen schools recommended for closure citywide.
The lawsuit accuses the DOE of committing "profound violations" during the charter renewal process, claiming that the city did not give the school adequate time to respond to the charges, and did not hold a public hearing before releasing its findings to the public.
The suit also states that the city should not have based its decision solely on the previous year's low rankings, but instead should have taken into account Ross Global Academy's steady improvement over its first three years, based on the DOE's own "required standards" for evaluation.
According to DOE figures, last year just 25 percent of the school's students were proficient in English, compared to the citywide average of 42 percent. Only 31 percent of students were proficient in math, compared to the citywide average of 54 percent.
The DOE also cited Ross Global Academy's high rate of staff turnover, noting that the school has had six leaders in five years and 40 percent teacher turnover each year, including 77 percent last year.
The school admitted in the lawsuit to having "serious problems" last year, but noted that the combination of having to move locations for a fourth time, an influx of students and the addition of three new grades at the school, and installing a new principal all contributed to its poor performance.
The DOE declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110105/lower-east-side-east-village/east-village-charter-school-ross-global-academy-sues-city-stay-open#ixzz1AGrFZ3Vj
--- On Wed, 1/5/11, Julia McAuliffe
Dear Sir or Madam
We are parents of a Ross Global Academy Charter School child.
This school has the system that is best to educate our children.
We travel up to an hour each day to get him the best education every day.
The public school in Brooklyn at Hart Street did not have room or services he needed.He passed the gifted and talented and the department sent the School information 2 weeks to late to us.
For three years he has been a happy student.
We did try public school a block from our home the school had no services our child was upset to go to school with a poorly trained teacher.
The teacher made him a target for the bullies and clowned with his abilities. Ross Global Academy Charter School was the only School our child would be happy with.
A child happy with school will be an adult happy with how they learn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCb9sUaE6zU
Thank you
Julia and Timothy McAuliffe
No comments:
Post a Comment