WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 27, 2010. UPDATED October 28, 1:13 A.M. WITH MUSIC CONSERVATORY STATEMENT:
The proposed Hudson Valley Charter School for the Art and Global Awareness ran into an indignant throng of local opposition Wednesday night from two hundred residents, including anti-charter school administrators from four school districts last night.
Thirty seven persons addressed the issue. Two persons spoke in favor of the possibility the school could be a benefit, and the other person in favor was Seth Davis, a representative of SAGA, the proposed school. Thirty-four others lauded the wonderful White Plains schools dedication to the arts, and achievements and expressed fears that the charter school would take dollars away from White Plains programs. They saw no need for the school in White Plains or the county in general.
The public learned that SAGA had lost its proposed first home for the time being: the Music Conservatory of Westchester, the proposed location for the school. (Michele Schoenfeld, Clerk to the Board of Education reads the Conservatory statement above, text elsewhere in this article).
The Conservatory announced it had infomed SAGA it had put its agreement to allow SAGA to use its faciliies “on hold” because it did not want to jeopardize its relationship with the White Plains City School District in any way.
Seth Davis of the Hudson Valley Charter School for the Arts and Global Awareness, told WPCNR SAGA would move forward seeking other locations. since the Conservatory possibility is on hold.
Davis told WPCNR after the meeting the charter school was told they could not make a full presentation of the school at the meeting and would have only three minutes to speak.
(Many in the crowd complained they did not know enough about how the school would work and affect White Plains, considering what was described by a number of speakers as an charter application that was short on detail.)
Dr. Christopher Clouet, White Plains Superintendent of Schools, told WPCNR, when asked if SAGA had been deliberately limited to three minutes, said the state told the district that the district shoud follow its usual public hearing format. Clouet said the district usual gives a three-minute explanation then opens the hearing.
No questions were allowed to be directed to Mr. Davis, or Catherine Riedel, the SAGA Authorized Representative, who was in the audience.
Preview of the Conflict over Charter Schools to Come
The tidal wave of local opposition over the proposed placement of SAGA in White Plains, gave a serious preview of the local conflicts to come that will only grow as 260 new charter schools will be introduced by the state of New York as the state implements the New Yok State Charter Schools Act.
Parents from White Plains, teachers, and administrators from surrounding school districts: Rye Neck, Harrison, Greenburgh, Mount Pleasant spoke against the charter school and questioned the need for it given White Plains Schools’ reputation for the arts.
Lisa Davis, President of the Westchester Putnam Schools Association, spoke against the location of the school as not being needed and a drain on local district budget dollars and characterized it “as a boutique school.” Davis warned districts throughout the two counties are threatened with location of such schools that she said were not needed “where thare are clearly well-performing schools,” pointing out that other charter schools would be proposed for districts around the area.
Conservatory Moves to Support School District
The hearing began with Michele Schoenfeld, Clerk to the Board of Education reading a letter from the Music Conservatory of Westchester announcing to Superintendent of School Clouet they had withdrawn the use of their building so as not to jeopardize their relations with the White Plains district. This was greeted by cheers and clapping.
Schoenfeld also read memos from the Dean of Students and Faculty and Director for New Initiatives and Prgrams of the Music Conservatory resigning from the SAGA Board as well as a communication from Frances Wills, retired School Superintendent resigning from the SAGA Board as well. Applause also greeted those announcements.
Charter School Statement
Mr. Davis said in his brief statement, in part, “We make no judgment on the educational programming or achievement of any existing school district within the wide area we intend to serve. In particular, SAGA notes its respect for the White Plains City School Distrit; we preliminarily intended to site the school here (in White Plains) merely for central location.”
“…Drawing students from the more than forty school districts in the area will minimize the impact on any single district. The regional approach also allows udent from different distrcts to attend the same school basd upon similar interests; an option not currently available.”
“SAGA,” he said, “will include grades 7-8 in its first year, exanding one grade per year thereafter until 12th grade is reached. Enrollment is limited to 32 sudents per grade. SAGA’s program features the integration of the ars into the core academic curriculum, plus at least 2 hours a day of four arts disciplines; music, theatre, dance and visual arts. At the middle school level these classes will be introductory overviews. At the high school level, students will enroll in more specific electives and pursue an rts major.”
Davis said the proposed school would make “a determined effort to enroll students wih special needs, students who are English language learners, and students eligible for federal lunch programs in numbers comparable to, or greater than, those of the region.”
Apres Le Deluge.
Then with two exceptions, one Steven Reidell who read a letter from a White Plains alumna supporting the school, and another resident saying the school might be a good resource, a parade of White Plains school district personalities, Joan Kass, Susan Altman, Susan Dewey, and various parents stated that White Plains was one district that was very strong in the arts, and speaker after speaker said how effective and wonderful the White Plains District arts programs were and how the had affected their children positively.
The fears voiced most often were that the charter school would draw a great number of White Plains District students drawing away taxpayer dollars from White Plains hurting the district.
The subject of academic performance did not come up, except when Ms. Dewey questioned how the charter school was going to teach the core disciplines, though the school plans to begin in Middle School, when presumably the core disciplines have already been taught.
It was the only time academic performance of students came up during the 2 hour and fifteen minute meeting.
TEXT OF MUSIC CONSERVATORY OF WESTCHESTER
STATEMENT ON DENYING ITS BUILDING TO SAGA (READ LAST NIGHT)
Dear Friends,
We want to clarify our position regarding the proposed arts charter school in White Plains. During the summer, the Music Conservatory of Westchester was approached about housing this charter school in segments of the Music Conservatory building that are not utilized on weekdays before 3:00 p.m. Initial discussions proposed the Conservatory house the school as a landlord and receive rent for the first several years while the school grew. The rent we would receive would be beneficial to our non-profit and our mission. With that in mind, we pursued this, and the Conservatory was the proposed location cited in the charter application filed on September 22, 2010 to the NYSED Office of Innovative School Models.
After this proposal became public, however, our management and board became aware that our long time colleagues and friends in the White Plains and neighboring school districts strongly opposed the creation of this charter school. Throughout its 80-plus year history, the Music Conservatory of Westchester has enjoyed excellent relationships with our fellow music instructors, teachers and administrators. We would not want to do anything to jeopardize these relationships on which we so strongly rely.
Therefore, the Conservatory has withdrawn its offer to house the charter school in our building for now. Our board and management have put our dealings with the charter school on hold until such time as a public determination might be made that starting such a school would be deemed beneficial to the public school community, as well as to the city and county. There is presently no formal relationship between the charter school and the Conservatory. Our Dean, Jean Newton, who had been invited to join the board of the charter school, has resigned this position as of Friday, Oct. 22, 2010.
Thank you.
Music Conservatory of Westchester
