Brentwood and Central Islip charter school applications sent back for review, citing community opposition
The Academy Charter School in Uniondale. Three new Academy schools have been proposed in Brentwood and Central Islip. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
The state’s Board of Regents has sent Academy Charter School’s applications to open three new schools in Suffolk County back to the State University of New York for further review, citing what it called an insufficient response to strong community opposition.
The Regents’ unanimous vote Tuesday came two months after SUNY trustees approved Academy’s request to open an elementary and a middle school in Brentwood and a high school in Central Islip.
The Regents, who share charter approval authority with SUNY trustees, cannot deny proposals approved by SUNY, said Angelique Johnson-Dingle, deputy commissioner for prekindergarten through 12th grade instructional support at the state Education Department, during a committee meeting Monday.
But the Regents can call on SUNY to reconsider the applications by returning the proposed charters with comments. The SUNY trustees could then resubmit the proposals with or without modifications, or abandon them.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- The state Board of Regents voted Tuesday to send applications to open three charter schools in Suffolk County back to the State University of New York for further review.
- The regents cited what it called an insufficient response to community opposition to the proposals to open an elementary and middle school in Brentwood and a high school in Central Islip.
- The SUNY trustees could resubmit the proposals with or without modifications, or abandon them.
If the trustees do resubmit the proposals, the Regents must approve them and issue proposed charters within 30 days, according to a summary from Johnson-Dingle. If the Regents do not do so, and absent legal action, the charter will still be considered approved.
Academy founder Barrington Goldson said in a statement Tuesday that the Board of Regents' vote did not come as a surprise and “will not have a strategic impact on our planning or long-term direction.”
His statement read in part, “The need for our school remains strong, our support from families and the broader community continues unchanged, and our commitment to delivering high-quality academic programs and outcomes for students remains unwavering.”
The Academy’s plan to open three schools in Suffolk has drawn fierce pushback in the Brentwood and Central Islip districts, where teachers, students and parents spoke at hearings of charters draining resources from traditional public schools.
Roger Tilles of Manhasset, a Regent at-large, said at Monday's committee meeting that charter schools “have almost bankrupted” the Hempstead district.
About a quarter of the Nassau district's 2024-25 budget — $87 million — went toward tuition reimbursements for Academy and other charters in the area. Hempstead school officials have said they nearly had to shutter a school to close a budget deficit for the 2025-26 school year.
The Charter Schools Institute, in its recommendations to SUNY trustees to approve the new schools, had cited Academy schools’ strong student outcomes, including higher academic proficiency and graduation rates than neighboring district schools.
Critics have said Academy “cream-skims” the highest-performing students from traditional public schools and serves a lower proportion of English language learners and students with special needs than the districts from which it draws students.
“It's a tragedy when somebody is parroting and trumpeting the wonderful results that their school had, when they probably pared down all the difficult students in school and so they get the best students that are giving the best test scores,” Tilles said.
He added, “It is a travesty for SUNY to accept that as one of their requirements. ...It's just atrocious.”
Mike Lesczinski, a spokesman for the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, said in an email Tuesday that the institute’s “robust and rigorous” review process also required applicants to provide “strong evidence of community demand.”
Felicia Thomas-Williams, a retired Brentwood principal who represents Long Island on the Regents board, praised Brentwood and Central Islip for their “extraordinary strengths” and said the districts “consistently deliver strong outcomes for children.”
“What their communities have repeatedly and clearly asked for is sustained investment in their traditional public schools — not the diverting of critical funding and human capital to outside charter operators,” she said.
Brentwood schools Superintendent Wanda Ortiz-Rivera said in a statement, "We are grateful to the Board of Regents and the New York State Education Department for thoughtfully considering the voices of the Brentwood community. While we understand that this discussion is ongoing, this action acknowledges the very real concerns raised by our families and educators about the potential impact these proposed charter schools could have on our public schools. ...We are hopeful that SUNY will reconsider and allow us to continue the important work we are doing on behalf of the students and families of the Brentwood school district."
Central Islip district Superintendent Sharon Dungee said in a statement that financial resources are best used in supporting programs in her district and also expressed gratitude for the state’s decision.
Referring to the state Education Department, her statement read in part, "We are most thankful that professionals in the SED recognized community input as paramount in considering the application of a non-community charter school seeking to install itself within a community that strongly expressed its veto of that quest."
In December 2021, the Regents returned an Academy application to open a school in Wyandanch and another from South Shore Charter School to operate one in Central Islip. The SUNY trustees in January 2022 voted to resubmit both proposals and the schools opened in 2022 and 2023.
SUNY’s next steps will be discussed at a future meeting, Lesczinski said. The next meeting for the charter schools committee is scheduled for Jan. 22.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
