New charter school to open

By Tanya Heyward
Contributing Writer

When her son Johnny Decastro starts Kindergarten this fall, Highbridge resident Selome Herrera worries that he might get lost in a class of 35 students, a typical class size for the local public elementary schools. A few weeks ago she found out he may not have to: Herrera has applied for a seat in the new Grand Concourse Academy Charter School, where administrators promise there will be no more than 20 kids per classroom and students will get extra attention during an extended eight-hour school day.

The first charter school in the Highbridge area, the Academy, based in a new building on East 169th Street off the Grand Concourse, will open in September for 175 students in Kindergarten through second grade. In late May, the State University of New York’s board of trustees, one of the government entities that oversees charter schools in New York, approved the school’s application.

“It expands upon the SUNY trustees’ efforts to expand public school choice to the families of the South Bronx,” said L. Jeffrey Perez, director of public affairs for SUNY’s Charter School Institute.

Under the state’s charter school law, parents, teachers and community members can establish and operate charter schools independently of existing schools and school districts for the sake of trying to improve student achievement. District 9 has two other charter schools: The Carl C. Icahn Charter School on Brook Avenue and the Harriet Tubman Charter School on Third Avenue. The state gives each school five years to prove it can meet state standards of student performance.

Reverend Dr. Joe Bush, Sr., of Walker Memorial Baptist Church is the Grand Concourse Academy’s visionary. During his 22 years as the church’s pastor, he says he has counseled many parents and their children about problems they have had with the local schools. “It was out of that frustration that I wanted to do something about it,” Bush said in a recent interview. So he and his church congregation raised $1.5 million to construct a school building next to their church.

Bush hopes to raise $150,000 a year for an after-school program.

The school will operate with some support from Victory Schools, a private manager of public schools that opened the state’s first charter school, Sisulu Children’s Academy in Harlem, in 1999.

“We intend to produce kids that will be able to get into any high school in the city,” Bush said.

To try to do that, the academy will have eight-hour school days instead of six. According to the academy’s charter application to the state, the school plans to use a range of teaching styles, from individual instruction to group work and hands-on projects, to teach students the basic subjects of reading, writing, math, social studies and science. Classes will also offer music and art lessons as well as foreign languages. The school plans to hire paraprofessionals to give individual help to students who are struggling in certain subjects, and will bring in experienced educators to regularly coach and train the teachers. The goal, said Bush, is to have one teacher and one assistant per class.

Finally, students will be required to wear uniforms to present “chemistry and togetherness,” said Principal Ira Victor. Previously principal at C.E.S. 47 on East 172nd Street, Victor says he aims to get parents very involved in the school.

As of June 8, the academy had received 150 applications for the 175 seats. Parents have until Monday, June 21, to submit applications. The lottery will be held on June 28. Interested parents should call (212) 786-7900 for more information.