The Covid-19 pandemic has turned schools upside down, maybe none more than Westminster Community and Enterprise charter schools. Their very existence is now at stake.
Two years ago, Westminster and Enterprise – home to close to 1,000 students – had their charters renewed with the expectations that they needed to improve their reading and math scores if they were to remain open. Then came Covid-19, and the cancellation of the state’s standardized tests, leaving the two schools with little chance to prove themselves.
Buffalo Public Schools has long complained about growing competition from city charter schools, but is now in the unusual position of being able to get rid of two of them.
They are hoping that the Buffalo Board of Education takes that into consideration Wednesday when it is expected to vote on whether to close the schools or recommend their renewal.
“I’m praying things go well,” said Robert Ross, the principal at Westminster. “We knew right away from that last charter renewal that we had work to do to build a really clear plan – and we did that. We started implementing it. And then, Covid hit.”
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“For students to be out of a building for almost a year now, and then possibly close the school and put them somewhere unknown – I’m not sure that’s best for kids,” said Julie Schwab, the superintendent at Enterprise.
Parents looking for an alternative to the Buffalo Public Schools are going to have an easier time finding one.
Amid the backdrop are growing hostilities within the city school system over the expansion of charter schools in Buffalo, luring away students and with them tens of millions in state aid that get steered to the charters they attend.
What’s unique in this case is that the School Board has the chance to do something about it. While the state Board of Regents or the State University of New York would normally make the determination on renewals, Buffalo Public Schools sponsored Enterprise and Westminster in the early days of the charter movement and has the final say on whether they should be closed.
“In my opinion, the board has three options: renewal, renewal with conditions or closure,” said Park District Board Member Lou Petrucci, vice president of executive affairs. “Both schools have been reaching out to board members explaining why we should vote to renew.”
Enterprise, at 275 Oak St., opened in August 2003, and was touted as the only charter in the state authorized by its local school district. The school has more than 400 students in kindergarten through eighth grades.
Westminster, at 24 Westminster Ave., was once part of the city school system, before being converted to a charter school in the fall of 2004. The school, which has long had a partnership with M&T Bank, has roughly 550 students in kindergarten through eighth grades and its staff are still members of the district’s unions.
The School Board has been critical that Westminster and Enterprise have proficiency rates in math and ELA that are lower than the district-wide average.
Westminster and Enterprise argue that the most recent state scores are from two years ago and are better than those at many district schools with a similar percentage of disadvantaged students.
After its renewal in 2019, Enterprise partnered with the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education to assist with math and started using a comprehensive program to test student proficiency in math and reading on a regular basis, Schwab said. Enterprise has been up and down in those key metrics over the years, she acknowledged, but the school has submitted its own supplemental data from the past year showing progress in student performance.
That is despite Enterprise remaining fully remote, based on the desires of parents, she said. The school will reopen to in-person instruction on April 12 for about 150 students who want return.
“I honestly believe we were well prepared and that the 2020 New York State assessments would have shown tremendous growth,” Schwab said.
After its renewal in 2019, Westminster, too, began more regular assessments to track student progress, Ross said. An educational consultant group was hired, as well.
“We built a plan because we saw our results were not where we wanted to be and where we know students can get,” Ross said. “We feel we are on the right track.”
Westminster reopened in September, but only about 40% of its students have opted to resume in-person instruction, Ross said.
“I really don’t want to see that school get closed,” said Shontel Tucker, a parent with a son at Westminster. “It would be a huge disservice to us as a community for Westminster to be closed by Buffalo schools because they’re looking at old data.”
