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OPERATIONS INFO

DoE Shared Space Campus Management Memo
Schools should have received the DoE’s latest campus management memo in the last month. Thank you to all the schools that worked with the Center and with our Education Pioneer, Katie Ruddy, to document the issues that schools have experienced in utilizing shared space over the years. DoE was very receptive to our suggestions and the memo embeds your feedback in key ways. Firstly, the memo, which went to all principals in DoE buildings, embeds our key philosophical frame, that all principals in DoE buildings are equal stakeholders and tenants under a shared landlord, the Department. We also worked to ensure a binding escalation process, and the Office of Portfolio Development is the final decider on issues of conflict. While this memo and the accompanying tools and agreements are important aspects of facilities equity, ultimately we will need to work hard to implement these documents and make them realities that are ingrained into the bureaucracy. The memo and our shared space study and recommendations are available on the charter portal.

Common Lottery Day Update
Approximately half of our schools have expressed an interest in participating in a common lottery day on April 3. We would encourage all schools to do so voluntarily, as a means to simplify application processes for families, timely enrollment projections for schools and also as a form of positive publicity. On the latter point, we have preliminary indications that April 3 would also serve as the National Charter Lottery Day, and the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools has said they would be interested in showcasing several of our lotteries for the news media. We will have more information on this as it develops. If you have questions about the common lottery day or would like to add your school to the list of participating charters, please send Dirk Tillotson a short note and you will be added to our mailing list on the topic.

ELA SCORING
Attention all schools serving grades K-2:
This winter the Center will host the 2008 NYC Scoring Collaborative, where charter school teachers score the open response portions of the New York State ELA and Math tests.
This is a great opportunity for your staff to learn about the testing process and for your teachers to get experience scoring.
If you are interested in participating please email Nathan Hood by Friday, December 21.

Admissions Workshop follow up
Thank you to the three authorizers and the 40 or so schools that attended our admissions workshop discussing the changes to the law, practical implications for schools, and also beginning the discussion of effective practices in outreach, recruitment and admissions. We are in the process of further developing our FAQ document and getting final authorizer sign off. The FAQ and additional recruitment and admissions information is available on the portal or by emailing Vinice Davis. We also are continuing to collect questions for the FAQ so if you are facing issues that you don’t see already addressed in the document please send them to us. One point that became abundantly clear at the workshop is that these issues can be fairly complex and as the changes in the law are new, resolution is somewhat undefined in practice. Having clear and open communication with your authorizer on the changes to your admission policies and practices is crucial. The FAQ and accompanying documents are available on the charter portal.

FMA – Borough Audit Workshop
As a follow up to the State Comptroller audit training last month, FMA (Fiscal Management Associates) will lead an internal controls audit workshop in January 2008 for charter schools in their borough. The content of the workshops will be sharing and learning fiscal practices from other charter schools, preparation for the State Comptroller Audit, and understanding and responding to an external auditor’s findings under SAS 112 provisions. The workshop will be in peer learning format, where you will share stories and practices on handling SAS 112 letters, implementation of fiscal controls such as petty cash and inventory management. While the workshop will be facilitated by FMA, the goal is for schools to learn from (and meet) each other. All participants are asked to bring copies of their current fiscal policies and procedures. The Center will provide food and beverages.

The workshops will take place on January 29, 30, and 31 at a different borough each night (Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan). We need one school per borough to volunteer their space (a small classroom to hold about 10-20 people) for either the 30th or 31st of January 2008. Manhattan’s workshop will take place at New Heights Academy. The time of the workshop (preferably in the evening) can be set by the school. To RSVP to attend a workshop, please email Vinice Davis by January 15. If you are interested in volunteering your school to host a workshop, please email Vinice Davis which date you will host.

Title I Compliance Training
On, Thursday, January 17 from 3:30 pm-5:00 pm, the Center will host a Title I Compliance training. The purpose of the session will be to help schools understand Title I audits, how to properly track funds, and other compliance-related areas. The NYSED Regional Education Coordinator in charge of Title I for NYC will be presenting and available to answer your questions. The training will take place at the Center, 111 Broadway, Suite 604, NY, NY 10006. Please RSVP no later than January 10, 2008 with the subject: Title I Compliance Training.

SUNY Application Deadline for Winter 2008 Cycle - Jan. 14, 2008
The Charter Schools Institute has announced a call for applications for its Winter 2008 cycle for all those interested in applying to the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York for a new charter school.
The Institute has also issued the 6th edition of its Application Kit which includes new resources for applicants on everything from the changes to the New York Charter Schools Act to insights about the SUNY application review process. The Institute will accept new school charter applications for its Winter Application Submission Cycle on Monday, January 14, 2008.
Applications must be received by 5 p.m. at the Institute's Albany Office:
41 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207. All the information you need is available on the Institute's Web site at:
http://www.newyorkcharters.org.

Employment Law Update: New Form I-9 Released
Form I-9 is used by employers to verify the identity and United States employment eligibility of newly hired employees. On November 7, 2007 the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") released a new version of the Form I-9. http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf. Beginning December 26, 2007 employers are required to use the new Form I-9.
Changes to the Form I-9: Form I-9 was changed primarily to bring the List A documents into compliance with a 1997 law. A new hire can submit List A documents as proof of employment eligibility without additional documents. The revised Form I-9 removes five documents from List A: (a) Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561), (b) Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570), (c) an out-of-date version of the Alien Registration Receipt Card ("green card" Form 1-151, (d) Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327), and (e) an Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571). The revised Form I-9 also adds a new acceptable document: Form I-766, a new version of an Employment Authorization Document.
Revised Handbook: Along with its release of the revised Form I-9, USCIS released a new version of the Handbook for Employers: Instructions for Completing the Form I-9. This new version includes new information such as sample I-9s, an explanation of the USCIS policy of electronic retention of I-9s, an expanded "Common Questions," and additional information on potential penalties for immigration law violations. : http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/m-274.pdf
Please contact Elizabeth Perez at Lawyers Alliance for New York at (212) 219-1800 x 232 or visit http://www.lawyersalliance.org/ for more information.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

*Please visit our Fundraising Consortium Workshop Calendar

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

The following are federal grants open for schools:

Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems
Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems will provide funds to increase student access to high-quality mental health care by developing innovative approaches that link school systems with the local mental health system. A program funded under this absolute priority must include all of the following activities:

1. Enhancing, improving, or developing collaborative efforts between school-based service systems and mental health service systems to provide, enhance, or improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services to students.

2. Enhancing the availability of crisis intervention services, appropriate referrals for students potentially in need of mental health services, and ongoing mental health services.

3. Provide training for the school personnel and mental health professionals who will participate in the program.

4. Provide technical assistance and consultation to school systems and mental health agencies and families participating in the program.

5. Provide linguistically appropriate and culturally competent services.

6. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the program in increasing student access to quality mental health services, and making recommendations to the Secretary about sustainability of the program.

Award Information:
Type of Award: DISCRETIONARY grants. Estimated Range of Awards: $150,000-$350,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards $250,000. Number of Awards: 19.

Deadlines and Contact Information:
Applications Deadline: January 30, 2008 To obtain a copy via internet, use the following address: http://www.ed.gov/programs/mentalhealth/applicant.html. You may also contact the ED Pubs Toll Free number at 1-877-433-7827 ask for CFDA number 84.215M. For further information contact: Dana Carr, US Dept. of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 3E332, FB6, Washington DC 20202. Telephone: 202-260-0823 or by e-mail dana.carr@ed.gov.

Restrictions:
Former or current recipients under the Safe Schools/Healthy Students program (CFDA 84.184L) are not eligible to receive a Grant for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems. Recipients of Safe Schools/Healthy Students awards are responsible for completing a scope of work under that program that is very similar to the activities required under the Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems program.

Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program
The purpose of the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program is to support efforts by local educational agencies (LEAs) to establish or expand elementary school and secondary school counseling programs. The only absolute priority is to establish or expand counseling programs in elementary schools, secondary schools or both. Please request an application for more information.

Award Information
Type of Award: DISCRETIONARY grants. Estimated Range of Awards: $250,000-$400,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $350,000. Number of Awards: 50.

Deadlines and Contact Information
Application Deadline: January 28, 2008. To obtain a copy via internet, use the following address: http://www.ed.gov/programs/elsecounseling/applicant.html. You may also contact the ED Pubs Toll Free number at 1-877-433-7827 and ask for CFDA number 84.215E. For further information contact: Loretta McDaniel, US Dept. of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW Room 3E214, Washington DC 20202-6450. Telephone 202-260-2661 or by e-mail at Loretta.McDaniel@ed.gov.

CERTIFICATION

State-approved Workshops in Child Abuse Identification and Violence Prevention
The New York State Education Department requires completion of two state-approved workshops as part of the certification process.

Those teachers who are applying for a NYS teaching certification via transcript evaluation or reciprocity must complete this requirement on their own.
Those who are being recommended for certification based on an undergraduate degree complete the workshops as part of the teacher preparatory program.
Those who are being recommended for certification via a Trans B program or a graduate level teacher preparatory program should check with their college/university to determine if they need to do this on their own or if it is included in the collegiate program.

The following two companies are NYS approved providers who offer these workshops on-line for a fee. Please make sure that your teachers request a hard copy of a Certificate of Completion for each workshop which they then must mail to the NYS Education Department, Office of Teaching, 89 Washington Avenue, Room 5N-EB, Albany NY 12234. They should also provide a copy to the school for their personnel file and keep one for their home file.

1. www.laboratoryconsultationservices.com -$30 fee per workshop
2. www.childabuseworkshop.com - $39.95 for one workshop and a $15 discount if taken along with the Violence Prevention workshop.
3. www.violenceworkshop.com -$39.95 for one workshop and a $15 discount if taken along with the Child Abuse Identification workshop.

Teacher Certification Workshops for Current and Prospective Teachers and Teaching Assistants on Tuesday, January 15th and Wednesday, January 23rd from 4:30pm – 8:30pm
To assist charter schools in meeting compliance with state and federal laws regarding certification, the Charter Center announces the first of the 2008 Teacher Certification Workshop Series. Inasmuch as the January workshops will be held after school, there will be two workshops in a shorter time frame than the traditional Saturday/Sunday workshop. The available times slots will be from 4:30pm – 8:30pm on both January 15th and January 23rd.
Current and prospective uncertified teachers and teacher assistants, as well as teachers from out-of-state who need assistance with the New York State certification process, are encouraged to register for one of these workshops. The workshops will take place at the NYC Center for Charter School Excellence.

All workshop participants must show a photo ID to gain building access.
All participants must bring student copies of complete undergraduate (and graduate) transcripts and any other related documents, such as proof of the Child Abuse Identification and Violence Prevention workshops, previous State Ed evaluations, etc.
Those who possess certification from another state need to bring a copy of their college transcripts in addition to a copy of their out-of-state certificate.
Each participant will be pre-assigned a specific 45 minute time slot between 4:30pm and 8:00pm to meet individually with a certification specialist who will recommend a personalized education plan leading to certification. A hard copy of this plan will be given to the participant who is advised to share with his/her school leader.
A list of participants from each school will be provided to the school leader for appropriate follow-up to ensure compliance with state and federal laws.
Refreshments will be available

Please share this announcement with current and prospective hires and advise them that they need to register in advance by emailing Caryl Cohen no later than January 11th for the January 15th workshop and January 21st for the January 23rd workshop. They will then be emailed an invitation with the allocated time slot. They must include the name of their charter school in the email. All questions should be directed to Caryl Cohen at the above email address.

CENTER RESOURCES

CHARTER PORTAL
The Charter Portal is an online data management system designed for charter school leaders. Sign in to the Portal for access to these features [link “these features” to “NYC CCSE Charter Portal Instructions.doc”] and more!

To access the Portal:

1. Using Internet Explorer, go to our Website and click the green box in the upper left corner called “Attention All School Leaders”.
2. Click “Log in Here” and enter your school’s user name and password. If you do not know your user name or password, please contact Nathan Hood.
3. Once inside, right click on the main screen, select “Create Shortcut”, then select “Yes”. This adds a link to the Portal to your desktop for easy access in the future.

One feature of the Portal is the Documents Library, a growing list of informative documents that covers everything from governance and fundraising to operations and teacher certification. Log on to the Portal to view the following new additions to the Library:

Campus Management Memo
from NYC Department of Education (DOE)

Financial Oversight Handbook
from Charter School Institute, The State University of New York (SUNY)

The following documents are from the Charter School Admissions and Lottery Workshop on December 4. Check out our events calendar for upcoming workshops!

Admissions FAQ
from NYC Center for Charter School Excellence

Guidance on Lottery Dates and Admissions Preferences
from Charter School Institute, The State University of New York (SUNY)

Guidance on Student Recruitment
from Charter School Institute, The State University of New York (SUNY)

THE CENTERPIECE

“PROGRESS” ON PROGRESS REPORTS
As those of you who are with schools authorized by the Department of Education now know, after much back and forth, the Department has decided that it will issue progress reports publicly together with grades. These reports and grades will come out this week.

As I had indicated at a meeting of the charter coalition two weeks ago, the Center is opposed to grades being issued this year—though not to charter schools getting grades—for two reasons.

First, charter schools had either not been given the opportunity to administer “learning environment” surveys to parents and staff, or if they had, DoE hadn’t compiled that information in such a way to make it usable. The results from those surveys make up 10 percent of the grade in the formula that DoE uses to grade the district schools; given charter schools’ popularity with parents, the data from those surveys (if they existed) would likely be favorable to charter schools. Not having that data in hand, DoE proposed changing the formula to weight the two state test-based components more heavily.[1] It seemed to us that this was unacceptable on general principles but even more so when the grades are, at their heart, a comparative measure meant to give parents and others an apples-to-apples measure by which they could judge schools’ performance.

Second, we opposed issuing grades this year because the Department had begun this exercise earlier this year indicating that it would not grade schools this year—or even make progress reports public. Switching course mid-stream did not and does not seem fair.

The Center made its opposition known to the Office of Charter Schools, the Office of Portfolio Development and to the Chancellor personally. We had frank and candid exchanges of views (as the diplomats say) and I know that our arguments were considered carefully. In the end, however, the decision was made not just by the Chancellor but at the highest level of the municipal governmental food chain. So, despite our efforts, some charters will receive grades this year.

This is not to say that taking on this issue was entirely in vain. Due to our arguments (and similar arguments made by some individual schools) the formula has changed and, it appears, for the better. Now, 15 percent of the grade will be based on a school’s attendance rates; we understand that the net result of this change was that two schools’ grades improved and none was reduced. Of course, charter schools, and the public, will never know whether the scenario would have been even more favorable if survey data had been generated and used in the same way it was for district schools. We suppose theoretically, but sincerely doubt it, that it could have been worse. And we must still contend with the inevitable disclaimer that the grades are not comparable, which begs the question of what the exercise is about.

Whatever our disappointment at the outcome (and of little comfort to those schools that oppose issuance), the fact is that the overall picture for charters is enormously favorable and yet another indicator of charter school success here in New York. When the grades come out it will be clear that the percentage of charters that received A’s and B’s far exceeds the comparable percentages for district schools. We should celebrate that fact loudly given that the press will take note of it.

The question now becomes how best to move forward. Clearly, the grading system has its flaws, those generally, and those that may be of particular issue to charter schools. It has, in the last two weeks, come in for quite a lambasting, (please click here to read articles on progress reports). Clearly as well, the Department has indicated publicly a willingness to reassess both the formula it uses and the process it employs in gathering data. There is even a hint that grades might be multiple.

Charter schools should have an active voice in seeing that the grades are done right. At the same time we must ensure that if district schools are graded, charters should, at the very least, have an opportunity to get graded too, using the same standards, the same data and the same process. Over the next month, the Center will be looking to establish a working group made up of charter schools and experts, who can help us make our arguments. The alternative to engagement and active involvement is a system in which charters will be perceived as the accountability movement that eschews accountability. That the movement can ill afford.

* * *

As we close out 2007, we continue to see signs of opposition around us. Charter applicants continue to be asked to jump through ever more hoops, most of which have little to do with determining capacity—and many of which appear designed to shove them into the same box in which district schools are stuck. Schools are often over monitored by too many entities; and upstate, districts continue to blame us for the woes that preceded charters and that would succeed them if charters went away.

Still something has shifted in this state from 1998 to 2007. Charters are more and more accepted as having a place at the table—if only the one for kids (which seems oddly appropriate). We have gone from a movement in which people thought they could make us disappear, to one in which the efforts are now more focused at taming us and containing us. Your unbelievable energy, talent and obstreperousness will make sure they do not succeed.

With that happy thought in mind, we wish you a very restful holiday break. See you in the New Year.

James Merriman

jmerriman@nycchartercenter.org

[1] The grades are a result of four measures: outcomes from the learning environment surveys (10%); attendance (5%); percentage of students at proficient as compared to “peer” schools and schools city-wide (30%); and aggregate improvement of cohorts as compared to “peer” schools and schools city-wide (55%).

NEW SCHOOLS

La Cima Charter School
La Cima Charter School, whose charter application was officially approved last Friday by the State Board of Regents, will open next fall with 160 students in Kindergarten and First Grade. The K-5 elementary school will grow to 480 students by year five and offer a rigorous, standards-based curriculum focused on high academic achievement and English and Spanish literacy for all students.

SUNY Charter Schools Approved
In October, SUNY's Board of Trustees voted to approve seven charter schools for New York City. They are: Harlem Success Academy Charter School 3, 4 and 5; Green DOT New York Charter School; Achievement First Brownsville Charter School; Collegiate Charter School (Brooklyn) and Carl C. Icahn Charter School Far Rockaway (Queens).

CURRENT EVENTS

Women Who Empower Through Education
The Center would like to congratulate East New York Preparatory Charter School Executive Director Sheila Joseph for being the recipient of the Women Who Empower Through Education Award. The Award, which comes with a $10,000 grant given by Maybelline New York, honors women who influence their communities through educational initiatives.