8/10/2019 Oct 14 Letter to SUNY protesting last minute switch to1/D6 Re Success

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October 14, 2014

Mr. H. Carl McCallChairman, Board of Trustees

State University of New YorkState University Plaza T-11Albany, New York 12246

Dear Mr. McCall,

We were very disturbed to learn that the SUNY Board of Trustees voted on October 9, 2014 to

approve a change in application for Success Academy Charter School from District 2 to District 1and District 6 without advance notification to the public. This change was based on a letter receivedfrom Success Academy only one day before the hearing on October 8, 2014. Local communities who

face the impact of this change had no knowledge or opportunity to submit comments to the Board.

According to Board Members comments, this change is viewed as a non-material change becauseit is within the borough. During discussions at the meeting about whether it was permissible to allowthe change without requiring formal re-application, Board Members agreed that this procedure hadprecedent. While there may be precedent, this policy raises very serious concerns about thetransparency and openness of the SUNY charter review process.

School districts within a borough are inherently different populationsdifferent density, diversity,language, culture, and socio-economic needsand require distinct notification and outreach efforts.

As such, District 1 and 6 must be given an opportunity to comment on proposals that affect their

communities. Using comments from the District 2 public hearing (if they were considered at all) is apoor substitute.

Given the new state law requiring the city to accommodate charter schools within public schoolspaces or to pay market rates for private space, your approval of charter applications nearlyguarantees that a charter school will be co-located in a school building of a designated district.

We have seen again and again the real and destructive effect that co-locations can have on our local

schools, and therefore, it is all the more important that local communities be notified in advance andgiven full opportunity to comment when a charter school is being considered for a specific district.

8/10/2019 Oct 14 Letter to SUNY protesting last minute switch to1/D6 Re Success

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We only learned about this change ourselves because a parent advocate was watching the hearingonline; when she saw the change, she notified us immediately.

This change in location comes on top of other serious concerns about process. You will rememberthat the state-mandated DOE hearing originally scheduled for September 16, was not properly

noticed. At the request of our CEC for District 2, the hearing was rescheduled for September 29, due

to the fact that the District 2 community had not been properly made aware of the original hearingdate. We are further concerned because nobody from SUNY attended this hearing, and thoughSuccess Academy representatives were there, there was no presentation at this hearing on theapplication.

This seems to be general practice, and it raises the real question of whether SUNY even reviews thecomments made by the public during the mandated public hearing.

The fact that your board has now met and voted on this issue withoutany acknowledgement of thecomments made at this hearing seems an extreme and marked disregard for a transparent, democraticprocess.

As representatives to School Districts 1 and 6 in Manhattan and the Chair of the City CouncilsCommittee on Education, we strongly protest your decision to approve this change in District as anon-material change and ask that you require Success to re-submit this as a formal change. We alsoask that you treat all future changes in district as a formal material change.

Sincerely,

Council Member Margaret S. Chin Council Member Rosie Mendez

District 1Manhattan District 2Manhattan

Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez Council Member Daniel Dromm, Chair

District 10Manhattan Committee on Education

District 25Queens

Lisa Donlan, president, Community Education Council District 1

Shino Tanikawa, president, Community Education Council District 2

Miriam Aristy-Farer, president, Community Education Council District 6