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School closure 'like a death'


Teachers, students stunned by news that New Covenant Charter will close after troubled seven-year existence. Where are all the politicos now?

By Rick Karlin and Tim O'Brien

ALBANY - New Covenant Charter School, which was one of the state's first charter schools and quickly went from a symbol of reform to poster child for failure, will close its doors at the end of this school year.

"It's like a death to me," a tearful Alvania Hill, board chairwoman, said in confirming the school's fate, which was sealed during a meeting Monday night.

Ultimately, the school's kindergarten-through-sixth-grade enrollment, estimated at 429 for next September, wouldn't bring in enough money to operate the school and meet debt payments on the approximately $16.5 million building, built under the auspices of Edison Schools, one of several for-profit companies that since 1999 have tried to operate New Covenant. The school is currently run by New York City-based Victory Schools.

"Even at 600 (students) it would be difficult," said Kevin Quinn, New Covenant's lawyer.

News of the closure apparently was unexpected by teachers and parents alike. Students were stunned when the decision was announced over the public address system, which one school official said was a mistake.

"I'm angry," said parent Latisha Sanchez as she picked up her kindergartner on Tuesday afternoon. "I'd like to know why. I like the school. I thought it would be a better choice for my son. If they had better schools, we wouldn't be taking kids out of regular schools and putting them somewhere else."

Samantha Davis' son, Oshayne Davis, has attended the school since it was in portable classrooms. He is now a sixth-grader and his younger brother, Kemore Johnson, is in kindergarten. Davis liked the school's requirement for uniforms.

"I think that's a better environment," she said. "They don't go looking for name-brand stuff."

A letter sent home with students Tuesday, signed by Principal Geraldine F. Wolfe, said the board was concerned low enrollment would cause the school to either close mid-year or suffer drastic cuts that would affect the children's education.

Erin Losee, a first-grade teacher finishing her third year in the school, said she was "completely shocked."

"We got told early this morning. My students didn't really understand," she said. "I am so sad to say goodbye to the students."

New York State United Teachers President Richard Iannuzzi said the closing will add to the city school district's problems as it tries to absorb several hundred students in the fall "without reasonable preparation or planning."

In a statement, city school district spokeswoman Penny Vavura said it planned to work with New Covenant to ensure a "positive and supportive transition" and was still determining how the closure would affect its budget.

The district learned last week -- after taxpayers rejected the public school budget -- that the State Education Department far underestimated the size of its contingency budget because of a miscalculation on charter school costs.

"The New Covenant Charter School's abrupt decision to close is a troubling end to the school's troubled seven-year existence," said Iannuzzi, whose union has opposed charters. He called for state lawmakers to revisit the way charters are "authorized, held accountable and funded."

"Maybe this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back with respect to seriously looking to see whether we are moving too quickly with charter schools."

But Peter Murphy, policy director for the state Charter School Association, said New Covenant's closing proves charter schools are accountable, since poor performers actually close -- something almost unheard of in regular public schools.

"It's being held accountable," he said, adding that parents in Albany can put their children in any one of several other local charter schools.

New Covenant was among the first charter schools to open in 1999 after former Gov. George Pataki pushed through a law allowing the schools in New York.

Charter schools operate without many of the restrictions, such as those governing construction and labor contracts, that apply to mainstream public schools. They were promoted as a way to foster innovation and had been popular in other states since the early 1990s. New York was one of the last states to allow charters, and authorities helped New Covenant open on a fast-track basis shortly after the law was passed.

Because it was in the state capital, some observers saw New Covenant as a symbol of how New York was moving to overhaul some of the troubled and ossified urban school systems, where poor and minority students were struggling to learn the basics.

In the first few years, politicians like Pataki and education luminaries such as former Yale President Benno Schmidt, who helped run Edison, came to New Covenant to praise its establishment.

Even at the outset, though, New Covenant had problems that some said may have sprung from the rapid opening. The school opened in modular classrooms, like trailers, as no permanent building had been found, and staff turnover was high almost from the outset.

New Covenant frequently turned in some of the region's lowest reading and writing test scores, and was plagued by reports of disorder and fights in halls and classrooms.

One founder, Aaron Dare, ended up taking his organization, the Urban League of Northeastern New York, into financial ruin, and later pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with a real estate firm he had started.

By 2004, the State University of New York, which granted New Covenant its charter, or license, forced it to close its seventh and eighth grades due to poor test scores and what was described as a chaotic environment.

James K. Stovall, general counsel for Victory Schools, said the school's test scores had started to rebound in every grade, but it was hard to overcome its troubled reputation.

"That reputation, it's slow to catch up with reality," he said.

In 2005, Eleanor Bartlett, a former Regent and Albany school administrator who chaired the board left, saying the school, which at one time had more than 800 students, was simply too big to manage effectively.

Last year, SUNY trustees warned the school was in danger of closure due to ongoing problems, including missed financial reporting deadlines.

Despite the struggle, Hill said she believed the effort was worthwhile as it shook up the city school system and sparked some competition.

"I don't think it was all for the bad," she said.

Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

— Rick Karlin and Tim O'Brien
Albany Times-Union
2007-05-23


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