We, the parents and teachers of the Central Islip School District are opposed to the opening of the Long Island Children’s Academy Charter School (LICACS), in our neighborhood.

There is no need to add a charter school such as LICACS to the Central Islip community. Central Islip UFSD offers numerous programs for our children that will be adversely affected by allowing LICACS to operate. Substantial budget monies - potentially millions of dollars - will be taken from our district budget, leading to cuts in staffing and programs for our children. The approval of this charter school will undermine our district’s ability to move forward and improve. The proposed charter school has no proven record that demonstrates it can better address the needs of our students.

Central Islip schools provide students of all backgrounds with a wide variety of educational and extracurricular programs that a charter school cannot provide. Residents of the Central Islip community know this and take pride in all the district offers, such as:

•  Our award winning music program, including the internationally famous Concert Choir

•  Athletic programs such as the league champion soccer and basketball teams to name just a few

•  Tremendous support for English Language Learners throughout all grade levels

•  Robotics team

•  Science Research Program

•  Numerous AP courses

With the challenges Central Islip faces educating a diverse population, our excellent staff of dedicated teachers and administrators continue to close the "achievement gap" in ELA and Math proficiency. Our 2014-2015 graduation rate of 83% is significantly higher than NY State schools with similar student populations. Allowing a charter school to open in our area would drain resources away from our public school system, adversely affecting the great majority of our district's children. We need to support and strengthen our schools and focus on ALL our children.