District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Boston Preparatory Charter Public School

The Board of Trustees of Boston Preparatory Charter Public School (BPCPS) requests approval for a charter amendment to fully expand its grade span to include grade 12. The school was originally chartered in February of 2003 to serve a maximum of 300 students in grades 6 through 11. BPCPS opened its doors in 2004 to sixth graders and has expanded by one grade per year. In October of 2005, the Board approved an amendment to the school's charter to increase its maximum enrollment to 350 students. The school currently serves students in grades 6 through 9. This amendment request would allow the school to serve students through grade 12 as proposed in its original charter application.

Superintendent comment: The superintendent of the Boston Public Schools did not submit comment regarding this amendment request.

Innovation Academy Charter School

Innovation Academy Charter School is currently chartered to serve the district of Chelmsford. The Board of Trustees of Innovation Academy Charter School (IACS) requests approval for two charter amendments: (1) to become a regional charter school serving the districts of Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Groton-Dunstable, Littleton, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, and Westford; and (2) to relocate the school's facilities from Chelmsford to Tyngsboro. The first amendment request must be approved for the second request to be approved.

IACS opened in 1996 and most recently had its charter renewed for a third, five-year charter term that expires on June 30, 2011. In April of 2006, the Board of Education granted the school's request to amend its charter to expand from a grade 5-8 middle school serving 300 students to a grade 5-12 middle-high school serving a total of 600 students. The school opened its high school this fall with forty-nine students in grade 9 in a second Chelmsford facility. The Board of IACS hopes to unite both middle school and high school campuses in a new facility in Tyngsborough and to formalize the current regional make up of its student body. IACS currently serves 347 students in grade 5 through 9: 124 (36%) of these students come from Chelmsford; 214 (62%) come from the other districts listed in the proposed region; and the remaining nine students (2%) come from seven other school districts.

IACS is currently working on the details of a purchase and sales agreement to acquire a large Tyngsborough property that would allow the school to fully expand in the same facility and provide access to playing fields and other outdoor educational opportunities that are currently not available to its students.

Superintendent comment: The superintendent of the Chelmsford Public Schools expressed no objection to the amendments requested by IACS. The superintendent of the Dracut Public Schools expressed opposition to the regionalization and move of IACS because it would negatively impact the district's budget and its ability to provide adequate services for Dracut Public Schools students. The superintendent of the Tyngsborough Public Schools and Tyngsborough School Committee question whether the regionalization of IACS would create a more diverse community of students due to the similar racial and income demographics shared by Tyngsborough and Chelmsford. They also express concern that a move to Tyngsborough by IACS would have a negative financial impact on the Tyngsborough Public Schools, particularly in relation to their obligation to provide transportation to Tyngsborough residents. (The Tyngsborough Teachers Association requests the amendment requests of IACS be denied for similar reasons)