A proposed Queens charter school that would enroll only struggling high school students could not open – because the state legislature would not raise the charter school cap on expansion.
Urban Dove Team Charter School III was planned to open in the district of powerful Senate Deputy Chief Leader Mike Giannaris in Western Queens.
But the school could not go further as New York has hit the cap for more charter schools, and lawmakers rejected a petition for expansion as part of the recent state budget.
Urban Pigeon CEO Jain Nanda said the charter school is a pressing need – there are only five other second-transfer schools in all of Queens, and none in District 30, where the alternative school will be located.
Nanda said, “There is a huge need and we can no longer meet that need.”
Nanda said, “This is the worst example of politics, it is shameful.”
Urban Pigeons operates two other successful transfer charter schools in the South Bronx and Brooklyn, among students who fail, in credits, and are in danger of dropping out.
All students are required to participate as a group on sports teams and health and fitness programs. Boys and girls are placed in separate classrooms to avoid being distracted.
The urban pigeon also has a school day, from 8:15 am to 4:30 pm.
According to officials, 300 students will be enrolled in the planned Queens school and class sizes will be as low as five students as a teacher to help get students back on the academic track toward graduation.
Kendell Herrin, 22, an urban pigeon graduate, told The Post that a second-chance charter school saved her life.
“I left back in ninth grade. I had less than 10 credits, ”said Herrin, now an assistant coach at Urban Pigeon in Brooklyn.
He said he was lost in high school and transferred to Urban Pigeon and graduated in 2016.
“It was a very family oriented place. They treated me as if I were a family. If I did not go near the urban pigeon, I would have passed out.
“There were a lot of staff members who kept up on me to do my work,” Herrin said.
Herrin urged state lawmakers to raise the cap so that urban pigeons could help the teenager.
“I am disappointed with the legislature. The cap is preventing more children from getting better education, ”he said.
“You can’t stop greatness.”
According to Nanda, the overall graduation rate for all urban pigeon students is 57 percent over five years, which is significantly higher than students with similar profiles in other high schools.
Nanda said the graduation rate for 15-year-old students with less than 11 credits is 71 percent compared to transferring to Urban Dove, while other high schools have 32 percent for a “peer” student in the same category.
Ironically, in a letter from the state DOE on January 2, 2019, Giannaris said about the proposed school and mission, and said that he would welcome it in his district.
Giannis wrote, “Urban Dove’s commitment to serving students in education in the urban city is to fill a gaping hole in New York City.”
“I look forward to working with Urban Dove to help students reach their full potential and I applaud their determination to improve education in Queens.
Giannaris – no. 2 leaders in the Senate – refused to comment on whether he would push to raise the charter school cap in the Big Apple before the legislature adjourned for the summer.
The Democrats, who control both the Senate and Assembly, refused to amend the law to allow the expansion of the charter school as part of the state budget.
But State Sen. Leroy Komi, another Queens Democrat, wants to revisit the charter school cap issue.
Comrie told The Post on Sunday that he was “disappointed” that any talk of raising charter schools under the leadership of the Democratic-run Senate and Assembly was closed.
“I am disappointed by it. We have to put everything on the table in education.
He said that including parent and student “choice” charter schools should be part of the discussion.
“I think we should do some work,” Comrie said.
The charter school cap is set at 460 statewide, with 290 sets set aside for New York City, which has already hit that limit.
There are 92 unused charters left for the rest of the state, but they cannot be used in the Big Apple – where there is demand – without a change in state law.
Instead, Andrew Scumo, a scandal-weakened government, called for a much more humble proposal: the beautification of 20 so-called “zombie” licenses – surrendered by schools that closed – to new charter school applicants. MPs also turned down that minor proposal.
Other proposed charter schools that received initial approval – including one sponsored by The Mission Society, a Harlem-based anti-child poverty group, have also been abandoned by CAP in Larch.
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