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The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Applications for New Charter Schools

To:
Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
From:
Mitchell D. Chester, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education
Date:
January 13, 2012

By statute, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (Board) votes on the approval on new charter schools at its February meeting. After the January 2010 amendments to the charter school statute (G.L. c.71, § 89) a number of changes to the application process were made. These changes were reflected in the amendments to the charter school regulations (603 CMR 1.00) that the Board adopted in May 2010. As you may remember, these changes include:

The Department received 7 prospectuses in August 2011 - two for Horace Mann charter schools and five for Commonwealth charter schools. Based upon the review of these prospectuses by the Department's staff and external reviewers, I invited the founding groups for all seven of the applications to submit final applications. One applicant group withdrew from the process. Six final applications were filed by the November 7, 2011, deadline. The six proposed schools are as follows:

Proposed School NameDistricts to be ServedProposed Grade SpanProposed Max Enrollment
Baystate Academy Charter School Springfield 6-12560
Lowell Collegiate Charter SchoolLowellK-121,200
Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School (Horace Mann)BostonK1-5325
Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School Holyoke, West Springfield, Chicopee, Westfield, South Hadley, and Northampton9-12500
Springfield Preparatory Charter School Springfield 5-121,070
Somerville Progressive Charter School SomervilleK-8425+

Executive summaries for each of these final applications, as prepared by the applicant groups, are attached for your review.

Attached you will also find a detailed description of the charter school final application review process and criteria. Briefly, the charter school final application review process includes the following components:

I will forward to the Board, prior to the February 28th meeting, my recommendations on which applications should be approved. In the meantime, if you have any questions on the applications or the review process, please contact Jeff Wulfson, Deputy Commissioner, at 781-338-6500; Marlon Davis, Director of Charter Schools, Innovation, and Redesign at 781-338-3222; or me.

Enclosures:

Download PDF Document
Executive Summaries of Final Applications
Download PDF Document
Description of the Charter Application Review Process and Criteria for Review