Do Not Renew Ross Global Academy's Charter - It is a failing, bad charter school!

Ross Global Academy Charter School, a failing, bad charter school

Dear Members of the Board of Regents,

I am writing to urge you to follow the recommendation of the NYC DoE and NOT renew the charter for the failing, bad, poorly managed, Ross Global Academy Charter School (Ross Global).

Ross Global was founded by Courtney Ross in 2006. Ms. Ross is the wealthy widow of Steve Ross, former head of Time Warner.

There have been numerous problems with this school, chronicled in magazines and newspapers. NY magazine ran a profile, describing Ms. Ross’ imperious and impulsive leadership style (said one ex-employee, “It was as if Donald Trump were a school principal.” The NY Sun reported on a scandal linked to test tampering.

Even worse, the school has had 20 percent student attrition rate for each of the first three years of its operation. During 2009-2010, the year my children first enrolled, the attrition rate soared even higher. As the NY Post reported, “Village school students take charter flight”, 91 out of 410 students had left Ross Global by February of 2010, because of bullying and the counseling out of special education students.

There has also been extremely high turnover of teachers, according to the NY state school report cards -- 82% and 75% during the first two years of operation. RGA is currently on its 7th principal in four years! Other teachers and top administrators have vanished, including the assistant principals from the middle and lower schools. 77% of its teachers left and 24% of its students left last year.

Moreover, Ross Global's test scores for 2009 show it's one of the city's three worst-performing charter schools. Only about 30% of its students were proficient in math or English.

It was rated the worst public school with an "F" rating by the NYC DoE this year.

President Obama and Arne Duncan while supporters of charter schools, continually urge charter authorizers to shut down failing bad charter schools like Ross Global.

The premise of charters is freedom in exchange for accountability for student success outcomes.

Ross Global is a failed five (5) year experiment and must be shut down. Our children deserve a quality education and Ross Global has failed miserably in serving our children.

RGA facts and data supporting the NON-RENEWAL of this failing, bad charter school.

School Instability: high turnover/ low demand

High turnover of leadership:
Since opening in 2006, Ross Global Academy Charter School has had 7 principals in just 5 years, losing 4 in the first year alone.

The first three left before the school was 6 months old. I have only listed the principal's initials, in respect of their privacy.
First year Principal/Salary/length of stay
FM/60 days/$53,704
JD/47 days/$24,923 (left before school started)
ME/4months/$22000

These changes were NOT communicated clearly to parents, creating confusion and uncertainty among the families that had chosen RGACS.

High teacher turnover:
2006-07= 92%, or 13/14 left
2007-08 = 75%, or 18/24 left
2008-09 = 42%, or14/33 left

During RGACS’s first year (2006-07), teachers reported chaotic working conditions; many quit/were fired in the middle of the year (8 before the middle of the year) and only 1/14 returned in 2007-08.

During the school’s second year, there were documented reports from staff of fear of retribution and exclusion from secret meetings; other complaints ranged from inconsistent instruction, to lack of data/benchmarks/measures of accountability; from there being no plan aligning RGA curriculum to NYS standards, to the failure to monitor that curriculum was progressively developing through the grades.

Comparing RGACS with national teacher attrition rates, we see that the RGA rates
are unacceptably high, indicating serious administrative issues.

Leaving profession, including retirement
Regular public schools: 7.9 percent
Charter schools: 12.5%

Moving (switching schools):
Regular public schools: 7.5%
Charter schools: 11.4%

High student attrition:
According to the Department of Education, by February 2010, the middle of the 2009-10 school year, some 91 of the 410 students enrolled at Ross Global had left, at a rate of more than 22%.

(Note- total enrollment was reported as 420 on 1/12/10 by Forbes).

In 2009-10 more than 100 students transferred out from a total enrollment of 415 students (24%)

In 2008-2009, the self reported attrition rate = 20.1% (80/399 students left).

In 2007-08 = 24% (64/268 students left)

And 2006-07= 20.5% (39/190 students left).

Again, we urge you to heed the NYC DoE's recommendation, put our children first and NOT RENEW the charter for Ross Global Academy Charter School.

Respectfully yours,

[Your name]