By Dan Murphy
YONKERS — The Charter School of Educational Excellence on Warburton Avenue in Yonkers was rewarded for its academic achievement and student success by the New York State Board of Regents last month, when it received a five-year renewal for the school to continue to operate, and also got approval for an additional 39 students to attend the school.
In a memo dated Jan. 11, the NYS Department of Education recommended that the school’s renewal be approved, by the Board of Regents, who wrote in its memo:
“That the Board of Regents finds that the Charter School of Educational Excellence… meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and the applicant can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; granting the application is likely to improve student learning and achievement and granting the application would have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the charter school, and the Board of Regents therefore approves the renewal application of the Charter School of Educational Excellence and that a renewal charter be issued, and that its provisional charter be extended for a term up through and including June 30, 2023.”
The memo continues: “CSEE consistently meets the overall student enrollment projections outlined in the school’s charter… CSEE has met and exceeded its enrollment targets for economically disadvantaged students in each year of the charter term. CSEE’s English language learner student population has been close to, but slightly below, the district for the past two academic years. The school is making good faith efforts to recruit, serve, and retain all at-risk students.”
According to the memo, CSEE has placed emphasis on efforts to recruit and retain students with disabilities. These efforts include partnering with local organizations that serve at-risk populations, a robust education plan with a Response to Intervention plan, a staffing plan to meet the needs of all learners, and a tutoring plan to meet the needs of all learners.
CSEE dedicates significant resources to meet the needs of its at-risk students, particularly through its teaching and support staff. CSEE has a three-tiered Response to Intervention system, and the school employs a special education director, a special education teacher, a Title 1 director, six academic intervention teachers, an ELL services director, a school psychologist, and a guidance counselor to meet the needs of diverse learners, states the memo from NYSED.
Students, parents and staff at CSEE were thrilled with the news.
“The Board of Regents found that we are operating in a sound manner, with educational benefits for the students attending our school,” said CSEE Principal Cindy Lopez. “We have been a reward school for years, so we weren’t concerned about the renewal. Our finances are in order and our student performance data cannot be disputed. We are transparent about what is happening at CSEE and the bulk of our resources go into student learning and technology. Our school revolves around the student community, not around anyone else.”
Included in the NYSED memo is the data the Lopez referenced, which shows CSEE students exceeding the performance of students in Yonkers Public Schools in almost every category, with some CSEE students outperforming YPS students by 25 percent. CSEE also received approval to increase its student enrollment from 690 to 729 students.
Lopez explained that the school has room and classroom seats for the additional students. “Some of our classes have 17 or 20 students,” she said. “We have room for 27 kids per classroom in our 27 different classes, grades kindergarten through eight. We have a waiting list of 550 students, and we will go through that list and try to accommodate some of the parents who want their children in our school.
“We also have a new registration and lottery process coming up, and a lot of parents have been contacting us wanting to apply. The outreach into all parts of our community is important. We have some parents who have one child in, but can’t get their other child in.”
CSEE has submitted a revision to its application for a charter high school in Yonkers. “We are still pursuing a charter high school and have made material revisions, which the State Education Department is reviewing,” said Lopez. “We need to provide continuity to our students and parents who want to continue in our educational environment after the eighth grade. Those 700 students, and their parents, are depending on us and we will not bow down.”
