Charter school facing closure fights for its survival

the closure recommendation, said “the institute found that Heketi has not met its academic goals as related to student achievement over the course of its current three-year charter term and that the board and school leadership are unable to operate the school in an educationally sound manner.”

The decision ultimately lies with the SUNY Charter Schools Committee, which will make its ruling this spring.

Heketi first went on a corrective action plan with SUNY in 2017 for flagging test scores — only 21% of students passed state English Language Arts exams that year, while 26% passed math.

School officials promised to improve scores and surpass the average for the surrounding public schools, but made little progress in 2018. That changed last year, when passing English scores rose to 38% and passing math scores increased to 47% — both higher than the district average.

But in a report detailing their findings, SUNY officials said the 2019 scores were the result of an external tutoring program the school brought in, and couldn’t be sustained.

School officials vehemently dispute that account, noting tutors spent a minuscule amount of time with students compared with teachers, and that even students who didn’t get any tutoring saw gains.

“I think they’re not focused enough on the trajectory of the school and they’re more interested on the averages over the charter period they’re analyzing,” said Jamie Knox, a financial adviser and head of Heketi’s board.

“We think we’ve made substantial improvement.”

SUNY evaluators also found students “regularly engage in low-level off-task behaviors” in class, including one where “only one out of 25 students was independently reading as directed,” and chided teachers for failing to redirect the students.

David Rosas, the school’s principal, said that’s sometimes by design.

“Many of the kids are coming with different forms of trauma. There has to be a different approach to working with kids who carry that,” he said. “So some children are allowed to walk around, some kids are allowed to take frequent breaks. To the external eye it’s going to look like they’re not following the rules, but that’s not something we aim for … obedience and compliance.”

The school has a “no yelling” and “no shushing” policy for teachers, and handed out only three suspensions this school year, officials said. The approach has won admirers among city public schools, some of which have spoken out in support of Heketi.

“Heketi is the only school of its kind in the South Bronx and a vital community resource, as well as a leading progressive school in New York City,” wrote a group of principals from a network of progressive city schools, including Brooklyn New School, City-AsSchool in Manhattan and Lyons Community School in Brooklyn.

“We need to support and nurture schools like Heketi, not shut them down,” the school leaders added.

Jafari Stewart, a parent of two students at Heketi, agreed.

“They cater to the families of the community,” he said, adding that he’s in touch with one of his children’s teachers daily. “It’s like [the TV show] ‘Cheers,’ ” he added. “You want to go where everybody knows your name.”