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New Jersey’s education department blocked a Newark charter school’s request to add grade levels and reduce seats while approving the expansion and renewal of a small-scale charter school after denying the request for the last three years.
Roseville Community Charter School, located in the city’s North Ward, reached a long-awaited milestone after getting state approval to add a fifth grade next school year. The state also renewed the school’s agreement to operate for the next five years – through June 2030 – and include an extra 66 seats.
Meanwhile, the state shot down Newark Educators Community Charter School’s request to add three new grade levels and reduce its maximum enrollment by the 2027-28 school year. The school has been in probationary status since 2023 due to concerns over student performance in the state’s standardized testing and the school’s organizational capacity.
Last month, the Newark Board of Education submitted comments to the state opposing Newark Educators Community Charter School’s request to expand because there was no evidence for the school’s proposed increase and cited “the fiscal burden and impact of charter school expansion on district schools,” according to board committee reports.
Acting Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer sent charter school decision letters on Jan. 31 to schools statewide seeking renewals or amendments to their charter agreements, including requests to renew charter applications, add a grade level, or increase seats. The department evaluates requests by reviewing a charter school’s academic, operational, and fiscal standing outlined by state guidelines.
During this year’s amendment process, the state made decisions on 14 charter school requests. In addition to approving the Roseville expansion in Newark, the state also approved a charter school expansion in Kearny and approved a grade-level decrease in Millville, according to the state education department’s approval letters obtained by Chalkbeat.
New Jersey denied five charter school requests to expand in Paterson, Passaic, Woodland Park, Elmer, and Somerset and renewed charter agreements for schools in Asbury Park, Jersey City, and Plainfield. The state also revoked the charter agreements for STEM-to-Civics Charter School in Trenton and Academy for Urban Leadership Charter School in Perth Amboy, which must close on June 30 due to concerns in complying with its agreement, state laws, and regulations.
This year’s charter school decisions are on par with previous determinations made under Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration to deny expansion requests – a shift from Murphy’s predecessor Chris Christie. State voters will elect a new governor in November and the change in leadership, along with looming changes to education at the federal level, could bring a shift to the charter schools in New Jersey, which are privately run but publicly funded schools.
The new charter decisions also come as Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León continues his strategy to reclaim public school buildings and expand the district as student enrollment has increased over recent years. Last February, the public school district won a four-year legal battle that forced People’s Preparatory Charter School out of the Bard Early College High School.
Roseville leader says parents requested a grade-level increase
Roseville Community Charter School, which serves kindergarten through fourth-grade students, will welcome a fifth grade and increase enrollment to 396 students next year. Dionne Ledford, the superintendent and executive director at Roseville, said “parents are over the moon” to have their children continue to fifth grade at the school. Ledford said 95% of fourth grade parents would keep their child at Roseville next school year, according to a poll conducted by the school.
“We pride ourselves on being an elementary school that meets the needs of our learners,” Ledford added.
In 2022, 2023, and 2024, the school’s request to expand was denied due to “continual decreases and relative stagnant levels” of achievement on state tests.
In 2023, proficiency levels in English language arts dropped across the board and 33.3% of Roseville students reached proficiency levels. Students across the state achieved a 51.3% proficiency rate and 32.2% of Newark Public Schools students attained proficiency levels in the subject that year.
Ledford said student performance has grown over the last three years thanks to its staff and local partners. The addition of a fifth grade will allow students to complete their elementary education at the school before transitioning to middle school, Ledford said.
Roseville has outperformed Newark Public Schools in the state’s Student Learning Assessments in English language arts and math for the last three years, according to state data. It has also exceeded state student growth goals in math over the last two years, and in English language arts in the 2023-24 school year. Overall, 92% of Roseville students met or exceeded expectations in the state’s Student Learning Assessments in English language arts and math, particularly among those who have been with the school since kindergarten, Ledford said.
“RCCS’ documented academic growth throughout the charter term affirms the school’s ability to provide high-quality instruction across all content areas and supports the approval of the requested expansion,” Dehmer said in his Jan. 31 decision letter.
Ledford attributes the growth in student performance after the pandemic to new partnerships and grants that have helped support the social and emotional development of students and encouraged them to build relationships at school. The school also educates students with disabilities and offers support services for them along with a high-intensity ESL program for multilingual learners, Ledford added.
Roseville partnered with the New Jersey Tutoring Corps to provide high-impact tutoring to students during and after school through the instruction platform iReady. The school also made curriculum changes to integrate phonics and phonemic awareness, the ability to identify and decode sounds in words, into English language arts instruction. Roseville also launched a unique read-aloud program in 2019 that turned into the "Kings Who Read” and “Queens Who Read” annual events to promote literacy between parents and young students, Ledford added.
“This grade five is really exciting, because what we think we’re going to see, and that’s something that our staff has always said, is we never really get to see the fruits of our labor, because [students] leave beforehand,” Ledford said.
The school anticipates a cohort of 55 students in fifth grade next year and is planning to hire between two to three teachers and a special education assistant teacher.
Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.