Did new charter fake community outreach?

Arturo Toscanini Charter School doesn’t plan to open its doors before September 2014, but community leaders have already given it poor marks for community outreach. 

In the elementary school’s proposal, applicants wrote that they met with or discussed their plan with several politicians, two who said they never heard from anyone affiliated with the school. Several of the community and educational leaders that applicants said they mailed informational material to also had no record of the outreach.

“I haven’t seen anything from them,” said Marvin Shelton, President of District 10 Community Education Council, noting most other charter applicants have called or e-mailed him directly. “Everybody that has applied for a charter came to the CEC meeting, introduced themselves, ran through the game plan.”

Riverdalian Dita Wolf, an educator with more than 40 years of experience in public schools, filed a letter of intent with the State University of New York Charter School Institute in February. The document outlined her plans to open the Arturo Toscanini Charter School, which would emphasize Italian language, culture and history. Named after the famous Italian musician, Arturo Toscanini would serve students in districts 8, 10 and 11.

Andrew Wolf, publisher of Riverdale Review and owner of Bronx Free Press, said he believes the criticism is motivated by a political vendetta and that it’s unfair to attack him through his wife, Ms. Wolf.

In the letter of intent, Ms. Wolf noted that she’d met with “many community stakeholders including parents, community groups and public officials or their staff representatives.” These officials included Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., state Sens. Jeff Klein and Ruben Diaz Sr., Assemblymen Jeffrey Dinowitz, Carl Heastie and Mark Gjonaj and Councilman James Vacca. The document also noted that letters about the school would be sent to CECs in districts 8, 10 and 11 and to community board and education committee chairs in district 6, 7, 8, 9 10, 11 and 12 before Arturo Toscanini submitted a full proposal in April, so that comments, suggestions and other feedback could be included.

The full proposal noted that the letters had been sent and said the applicants expanded their outreach efforts by purchasing six full-page ads in the Bronx Press Review, placing fliers in community centers and starting a website. It described the public’s responses as “uniformly positive.”

Of the seven politicians listed in the documents, two submitted letters of support on behalf of the school and three confirmed that they or a representative spoke with the applicants. However, Mr. Diaz Sr. and Mr. Heastie’s office said they had no record of any exchange with a representative of Arturo Toscanini Charter School.

“I have no information about that school. No one has contacted me from that school,” Mr. Diaz Sr. said. 

The District 8 CEC Office could not recall if it received information on the school; District 9 and 10 CEC leaders said they never received anything from Arutro Toscanini Charter School applicants. 

Two community boards could not be reached. The other four community boards had no record of receiving anything from Arturo Toscanini representatives, including Community Board 8, which represents Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Marble Hill and Van Cortlandt Village.

Mr. Shelton said Alec Diacou, who is applying to open a charter school in District 10, contacted him directly. Mr. Diacou, a Riverdalian, presented at a Community Board 8 Education Committee meeting this winter.

Community Board 7 chair Paul Foster said had the applicants successfully reached him, they may not have described community feedback as strictly supportive, because he believes charter schools are union-busting organizations and generally disapproves of them.

Ms. Wolf said she and other applicants mailed a package to community board and CEC offices with one letter for each individual. She said that unlike companies that run chains of charter schools, she and her colleagues have a tight budget and put forth their best effort to reach as many community liaisons as possible.

“We cannot vouch for the disposition of these letters, nor is there any provision of the charter law that requires that members of the particular boards you mentioned be included among those we reached out to. We simply gave it a good faith effort with the limited resources at our disposal,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Bronxites will have their chance to their thoughts if SUNY officials approve the preliminary proposal in September, at which point, Mr. Shelton said Arturo Toscanini applicants will be required to attend a public hearing.