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APRIL 2003

Harlem Charter School Charts a Road to Success
by Tom Kertes

Chancellor Joel Klein says he hopes to create an atmosphere more congenial to the creation of charter schools in New York City. One can only hope he succeeds because charters, far more often than not, have been a resounding success. And because, in spite of that success, the atmosphere for their creation in New York is anything but congenial right now, according to David Esselman, the Deputy Director of Harbor Arts and Sciences Charter School in Manhattan.

“I’ve found the process far friendlier in California,” said the youthfully enthusiastic Esselman, who hails from the Left Coast. “The New York process for approval was far more laborious and intensive, including a required 1200-page application, as opposed to 2-400 pages in L.A.”

Still, in the end, the application for a five-year provisional charter was approved by SUNY. And a good thing, too: Harbor, which replaced a failing P.S. 50, has been a happy plus by whatever measurement one applies. “We are only in our third year right now, and we’ve already raised our ELA and math test scores by double-digit percentages,” Esselman said.

“In the first two years, the focus was strictly on the sciences and the arts,” added Esselman, who joined the Harbor Charter School, along with new director Noemi Donoso, just last year. “And it was very successful, at least as far as test scores were concerned. But it wasn’t very creative and the teachers were burnt out. I think that Noemi and myself brought in a different, more creative atmosphere, and it’s been working great. Our teachers—and as you may know, the biggest problem for charters is to find and keep highly qualified and experienced teachers—have been extremely loyal and enthusiastic.” That’s in spite of the fact that, after the first few years of a teacher’s career, charter schools are not able to quite keep up salarywise with “regular” public schools.

And that’s been far from the only obstacle to success. “It is an ongoing myth that charter schools draw only outstanding students,” said Esselman. “We get our students from anywhere in New York City, through a strict lottery system required by law. The fact is that we serve a population with a lot of needs. We have a higher preponderance of ADD and ADHD students and many of our kids have been failed by other public schools. The majority of our students in the upper grades that came in were under grade level.”

Donoso, a superstar teacher, has provided extensive professional development—which occurs primarily after school, including late-night classes—to make sure that the teachers don’t feel that they’re lost. “We’ve managed to develop a strong community among our teachers,” Esselman said. “They are all coming back next year.” The class sizes at Harbor are small, averaging 13 students per teacher, and the curricula are extremely free flowing and creative, including a novel-based approach to language arts. “In addition to our flexibility in instruction—we can go with the flow and find what WORKS—all the great aspects of this place come from the fact that we’re a small school,” said Esselman. “We are like a large family. Much individual attention is being paid to each student and we are able to quickly react to unique individual needs. Which may be changing all the time, by the way.”

“And, as all science shows, that is the key to a superior education.”

The charter school, serving primarily East Harlem and the South Bronx, derives extreme benefit—including after-school programs, a health center, and free crisis counselors—from The Boys and Girls Harbor, a well-known $5-million a year social service organization housed in the same building. “It’s a unique arrangement,” Esselman said. “We are so fortunate to have Harbor in the house and Central Park across the street. It’s been nothing less than wonderful for us.”

The Harbor Arts and Sciences Charter School hopes to expand in the future. “We’d like to start another building here in the community, add a class per grade, and go to 300 students,” Esselman said. “Right now we have 176. But we will not defeat our own purpose—the class sizes will be the same. We certainly shall not compromise anything that makes us special.”#

 

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