At King Charter School, a Major Turnaround

By Peter Simon

Just last school year, the King Center Charter School barely managed to persuade the state to renew its operating license.

Today, it’s a poster child for the local charter school movement, with dramatically improved pupil performance, a small and intimate learning environment, a reputation for innovation and strikingly beautiful facilities in a former Catholic church on Genesee Street.

In 2002, just 5.6 percent of the school’s fourth-graders were proficient in math. Last year, that rate jumped to 88.2 percent. During that same time, proficiency in fourth-grade English rose to 58.8 percent, from 11.1 percent.

“We’ll just not accept that a child can’t do it,” said Carol Stewart, a first-grade teacher who left the Buffalo Public Schools for King Center so she could have a full-time classroom assistant and smaller class sizes. “We find a way.”

That was the hope of the State University of New York earlier this year when — despite concerns about test scores — it granted the school a two-year renewal, rather than a full five-year license. The gamble paid off when test scores soared.

Part of the answer was taking standardized tests more seriously. But King Center’s success story cuts much deeper. For example:

More than 80 percent of the school’s kindergarten through third- grade pupils attend a voluntary five-week summer reading camp. The school offers instruction through fourth-grade, and fourth-graders have other summer options.

The school grants “early admission” to 3-year-olds and works with those pupils in their homes for two years before they enter kindergarten.

A social services program available to the school helps parents with financial, housing or counseling needs so they can remain focused on the education of their children.

“Once a child and family walk across our doorstep, we embrace them,” said Claity Massey, the school’s director. “We all feel very much part of a family.”

That’s the atmosphere that’s attractive to Kim DeJesus, who has two children at King Center and an older daughter who attended through fourth grade.

DeJesus, who works during the day, gets to talk to teachers at Saturday reading programs and schedules formal parent-teacher conferences during the evening. Rather than volunteering during the day when she’s busy, DeJesus stays involved by making phone calls about upcoming events for the “Parent Posse.”

“I like the smallness and the closeness of it all,” she said. “I’m so proud and comfortable with everything they’re doing.”

e-mail: psimon@buffnews.com