School Spared Closure: New Covenant Sees Incentives to Keep Going

By Scott Waldman, Albany Times Union, N.Y.

Jun. 3–ALBANY — A better financial deal and the promise of more students convinced New Covenant Charter School’s Board of Trustees Saturday to reverse its decision to close the school at the year’s end.

The unanimous decision, coming after a 10-minute meeting with no public discussion, was greeted by an audience of about 30 parents and teachers with “hallelujahs” — but with skepticism, too.

“New Covenant is alive and well,” board Chairwoman Alvania Hill said to cheers from the crowd.

The reversal comes as the Albany school board is struggling to put together a budget after voters rejected its $189.5 million spending plan May 15. New Covenant’s closing would have sent 400 students and more than $5 million back to city schools.

School officials had announced just two weeks ago that the charter school would close after this year — to the shock of parents and staff — because the enrollment had dipped too low to keep it open. That would mean inadequate revenue to run the school and to meet debt payments on the approximately $16.5 million building, they said.

But school officials Saturday said projected enrollment had grown by 28 percent — from 429 to 550 students — in the two weeks since the closing was announced.

Also, bondholders agreed to a 35 percent break on the school’s loan repayments next year and a 30 percent break the year after that, which will allow the school to put more money into educational programs. Bondholders cannot decide to close the school during that two-year period, said James Stovall, general counsel of New York City-based Victory Schools, which runs the school. It is one of several for-profit companies that have tried to operate New Covenant during its eight years of existence.

Stovall said New Covenant would be more aggressively marketed and that more effort would be put into boosting enrollment. He said he did not expect another debate on the school’s future at this time next year.

Stovall said New Covenant can now continue to focus on improving its educational programs, which have been criticized because the school turned in some of the region’s lowest reading and writing test scores. He said scores had already begun to turn around in the first year of Victory’s takeover.

“We have a renewed sense of focus,” Stovall said. “We understand the pressure we’re under.”

Not everyone sees the decision as a victory.

Peter Murphy, policy director for the New York State Charter School Association, said the school has not proved successful. He said the board had been under “emotional pressure” from parents and others who wanted the school to remain open, and that its decision did not do anything to solve the school’s problems.

He said the projected enrollment was overly optimistic and doubted the school would keep enough students to be financially viable.

“My heart goes out to parents who want to keep the school open,” Murphy said. “Most parents have shown their vote with their feet by departing.”

Florence Huntley is not certain which school doors her young children will walk through in the fall. She said the meeting did little to convince her the school will be open long enough for her children, who are in second and fifth grade, to graduate.

“I’m still worried that another announcement will come and we will scramble,” Huntley said. Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at swaldman@timesunion.com.

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