- By Pat Ehrich
- Opinions
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An Open Letter To The Lansing CommunityI am a co-petitioner and one of a large group of residents in Ithaca, NY who are in opposition to the scheduled opening of New Roots Charter School in the Ithaca City School District. New Roots Charter School's proposed opening is September 2009 and has a target enrollment of 125 9th and 10th graders in its first year. By the third year of its operation, it plans to enroll 225, 9th through 12th graders from ICSD and surrounding school districts.
Over 1000 residents within Ithaca City School District recently signed a petition asking the SUNY Board of Trustees to withhold final approval for the opening of New Roots Charter School at this time. The concerns of these residents have centered on the detrimental financial impact on our public school district in these hard financial times, and questions about the schools mission as a model school for sustainability education without targeting any under served population at risk for academic failure within our community.
Despite the wide-spread community opposition to the opening of the New Roots Charter School at this time, and the fact that ICSD is not a failing school district the SUNY Board of Trustees has approved this charter.
School districts which surround Ithaca are also being targeted for students to leave their home districts and enroll in New Roots Charter School. All school districts in the surrounding area will suffer the loss of state and local taxpayer dollars for their districts in proportion to the number of students who enroll in New Roots.
We hope to educate and inform nearby communities of the process whereby New Roots Charter School came into existence, our community response, and ongoing actions that we are pursuing to try to limit the enrollment and negative impact of New Roots, and help keep students within their home school districts. One of our concerns is that this school is targeted to high school students who are at the end of their secondary school experience and for whom there will be few remedies for their future if this school fails.
You may view our petition online at the following link:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/20099nrc/petition.html
Members of your community are welcome to add their signatures to the petition online. When signing, please indicate Lansing Central Schools as your home district in the "comment" section. We would also like to keep you informed of any further developments regarding New Roots Charter School opposition. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Sincerely yours,
Pat Ehrich
Parent / ICSD & Petition Co-Author
http://sites.google.com/site/newrootspostponement