Brentwood, Central Islip charter school applications can move forward after SUNY vote

Academy Charter School’s efforts to open three new schools in Brentwood and Central Islip are back on track, after a State University of New York panel voted unanimously in favor of the applications.

The approval by the SUNY trustees’ charter school committee on Thursday came despite strong community opposition to the three Suffolk County schools, and despite a vote against them in December by the state’s Board of Regents.

The committee’s green light means Academy’s submissions will go back to the Regents, who share authority over charter school applications with the SUNY trustees. The Regents can either take action to approve the applications, or allow them to become effective by default, state officials said.

“Under state law, the Regents have the duty 'to approve and issue a proposed charter resubmitted by the charter entity’ within 30 days,” Michael Lesczinski, communications director for the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, said in an email after the vote. “If they do not take action to approve the resubmission, then it becomes effective by operation of law.”

Academy's founder and chief executive, Barrington Goldson, said in a statement: "We are obviously pleased with this decision as it allows us to sustain and strengthen our mission of providing an educational experience where students succeed ... The test results, the graduation rates and the pride of our parents underscore the role the Academy continues to play and we are grateful for this vote of support."

The stark division between the SUNY panel and the Regents over Academy's request to open the three schools was on display at the meeting Thursday.

SUNY trustee Joseph Belluck, who chairs the charter school committee, noted that last month, the Regents sent the applications back to the committee for reconsideration. At the time, Roger Tilles, of Manhasset, a Regent at-large, said Academy had "almost bankrupted” the Hempstead school district, which must pay tuition reimbursements to local charter schools.

“The Board of Regents returned those charters to us with the message that they believe we did not appropriately consider the community input related to these schools,” Belluck said. However, he said, “we have determined that the process that SUNY followed did, in fact, consider community input and involvement, that there were opportunities for the community to weigh in on this, that they were considered by us at the time that we voted to approve the schools.”

The SUNY trustees in October originally approved Academy's applications to open an elementary and a middle school in Brentwood and a high school in Central Islip.

Tilles said Thursday, referring to the SUNY panel, “I don’t understand why they continue to approve what the Regents have seen as flawed applications.”

The opening of charter schools such as Academy has “created some very difficult problems in other areas of Long Island, and I assume it will cause problems here,” Tilles said.

Sharon Dungee, Central Islip schools superintendent, said in a statement that the new charter school "will redirect millions of dollars annually from our public school district, placing vital programs and services in jeopardy."

The green light, Dungee said, "disregards local input and threatens the stability of a public school system that serves the vast majority of our community’s students."

Brentwood school officials did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The SUNY Charter Schools Institute, which provides oversight for charter schools, had recommended that SUNY trustees approve the new Academy schools, citing Academy students' academic proficiency and graduation rates, which exceed that of their neighboring district schools. Academy operates schools in Hempstead, Uniondale and Wyandanch.

However, Academy’s requests to open the new schools has sparked widespread opposition in the Brentwood and Central Islip districts, with parents, teachers and students turning out at public hearings to argue that charter schools siphon resources from traditional public schools and take the best-performing students, leaving those with the most challenges behind in district schools. The Hempstead district paid $87 million in tuition reimbursements for charter schools including Academy last year, and the district had considered shutting down a school due to a budget deficit for the current school year.

Academy officials have argued in the past that long waitlists for their schools is an indicator of community support. Academy students are chosen by lottery, and charter schools cannot refuse a student.

The Charter Schools Institute previously determined that the fiscal impact of the schools would be “limited.”

Felicia Thomas-Williams, a retired Brentwood principal and a Long Island representative on the Regents board, last month said the Brentwood and Central Islip districts “consistently deliver strong outcomes for children.”

Local communities, she said, want “sustained investment in their traditional public schools — not the diverting of critical funding and human capital to outside charter operators.”

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.