Dear Editor:
On April 15, 2010 CREATE’s Board of Trustees received a letter from Bret Schundler, Commissioner of Education, confirming his decision of March 1, 2010 not to renew CREATE’s charter, and on May 10, 2010 the Commissioner denied CREATE’s motion to stay his decision until the matter could be heard before an appellate court; therefore, the Board of Trustees of CREATE has determined to withdraw its notice of appeal because it would be impractical and unfair to students and staff to continue the effort. The school will close on June 30, 2010.
The Board of Trustees and I unanimously disagree with Commissioner Schundler’s decision and believe that it is misinformed and patently unfair.
With regard to test scores, in Commissioner Schundler’s letter to CREATE of March 1, 2010, he represented that “only 4.8 percent of 12th graders [in ‘08-’09] were proficient in Language Arts and just 2.7 percent were proficient in math.” This is misleading. DOE data and the Commissioner’s April 15, 2010 letter show that 71.0 per cent of seniors who took the test in their junior year passed in language arts and 40.9 per cent passed in math. The percentages of seniors passing the test are even higher when one includes the scores from the two other attempts at the test by students in their senior year that did not pass it in their junior year.
It is baffling to read that CREATE does not have a college prep program, when, in fact, every senior who graduated from CREATE was accepted to a college: a 100 per cent college acceptance rate. In 2005 CREATE students were accepted to 32 colleges, and in 2009 they were accepted to 49 colleges, including Penn State. This year, students have been accepted, and in some cases been given scholarships, to Clemson, Cheney, Howard St. Peter’s, NJCU, Seton Hall, and others. CREATE not only had one hundred percent of its graduates accepted to college but also had one of the lowest drop out rates in Jersey City and one of the highest graduation rates in the state.
These academic statistics were achieved while costing the taxpayer far less. According to the DOE comparative spending guides for 2009-2010, CREATE spends $11,078 in total cost per pupil. The state average spending for charter schools, on the other hand, is $12,673 in total cost per pupil. The Jersey City Public Schools total cost per pupil is $17,368.
Commissioner Schundler’s decision is unfair because other charter schools whose test scores are similar to, or worse than, CREATE’s with as many, if not more challenges as CREATE, have been granted renewals or given probations. Golden Door Charter School in Jersey City, which Commissioner Schundler helped start, was placed on probation in March 2000 as well as December 2006, and the DOE website is replete with other such examples; but, CREATE was afforded no such options or courtesies.
The truth is that CREATE is a good and caring school that simply did not deserve to be shut down.
Steve Lipski