Plans underway for three new local charter schools
March 10, 2011 - 10:10 AM / Comment
Proposals for three new local charter schools -- one in Buffalo, one in South Buffalo or Lackawanna, and one in Niagara Falls -- recently made it through the latest round of reviews by the state Education Department.
Each proposal still faces additional steps in the charter application process, so this by no means guarantees that any of them will be granted a charter -- but it does move them closer to the possibility of opening their doors for the 2012-13 school year. Each group has until March 31 to submit a full application to the state.
Here's a bit about each of the three proposed schools, based on information each group of founders submitted in their prospectus to the state Education Department. (Click on the school name to read that school's full prospectus.)
Global Sciences Charter School, a middle/high school for students in the Niagara Falls area.
The folks behind this school are Kevin Donovan and Janice Barrett of the Economic Development Group, who opened the Health Sciences Charter High School in August in the Town of Tonawanda. Their proposal for the Global Sciences Charter School follows a similar format, geared toward preparing students for careers in the sciences.
Plans call for "year-round instruction, including a summer session; state-of-the-art laboratory instruction; industry-specific curriculum; AP and dual college credit courses; mentoring; service learning; internships; individual career guidance; and hands-on instruction from leading industry and educational professionals."
If it gets approved, the school would open with 120 ninth-graders, then add an eighth and tenth grade the following year, gradually expanding until it serves 720 students in grades seven to 12 in 2017-18.
Southwest Key Charter School, which would target students in South Buffalo and Lackawanna.
The project is driven by Juan J. Sanchez, the founder of Southwest Key Programs Inc., a non-profit group serving youth in Texas for more than two decades. For 14 years, Southwest Key has been running Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs, alternative schools in Texas. Two years ago, an offshoot of Southwest opened the East Austin College Prep Academy in Austin, which now serves students in sixth and seventh grade.
If Southwest Key Charter School is approved, the school would open with with 50 students each in kindergarten, first grade and sixth grade. By 2017-18, the school would serve 1,034 students in kindergarten through tenth grade. The school's founders hope to eventually expand it through twelfth grade.
The school would replicate the YES Prep Public Schools model, a five-campus program in the Houston area. Key features: two hours of homework each night for middle and high school; one Saturday a month devoted to community service; a mandatory three-week summer session; and teachers who are on call for students on weekends and as late as 9 p.m. on weeknights.
Wisteria Charter School, a Waldorf-inspired elementary school. In Waldorf tradition, the school would incorporate the arts into daily instruction in a variety of ways and emphasize an appreciation for nature.
The school would also feature: three- to four-week instructional content blocks, each two to three hours long; mandatory parental involvement of at least eight hours for each parent, each year; and looping, which would keep students with the same teacher for up to three consecutive years.
The school would open with 25 students each in kindergarten through fourth grade, and expand to have 25 students in every grade from kindergarten through eighth grade by 2017-18.
- Mary Pasciak
E-mail me at mpasciak@buffnews.com or follow me on Twitter. Check out the Buffalo News' education page at www.buffalonews.com/schools.