NEST + m CLARITY FACTS
Why is the DOE Considering Putting Ross Global Academy on the Premises?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There was a Math error made that resulted in an assumption that the Ross Global Academy might utilize the building currently occupied by the NEST+m Schools (Low, Middle, High.) This has led the Ross Global Academy to commence their enrollment for the fall semester The New York City Department of Education (DOE) is seriously considering asking a Charter School, the Ross Global Academy, to share space in the building currently occupied by the three highly-successful public schools collectively known as New Expl orations into Science Technology and Math (NEST+m) . The DOE has claimed that they are considering the NEST+m space for the Ross Charter School due to its under-utilization by NEST+m . We have assembled facts that demonstrate that this assessment is incorrect. It appears that DOE is either guilty of a math error, or is manipulating the numbers to justify an occupation of the NEST+m facility by the Ross Charter school . The fundamental fact is that any sharing of the building by NEST+m and Ross will result in dysfunction for both institutions.

In this document we will explore the following points:

- The numbers being propagated by the DOE are clearly the result of flawed logic

- Regardless of numbers it is obvious that the NEST+m facility is being well utilized

- DOE wants to restrict the growth of NEST+m in order to justify the occupation by Ross

- Regardless of the number s it is obvious that sharing the NEST+m building will result in two dysfunctional schools

This leads to questions that the DOE needs to answer:

- Why limit acceptance to a proven successful public school such as NEST+m?

- Why not promote greater expansion of the highly successful NEST+m model?

- Why not seek an alternative solution, such as placing the Ross Charter School in a truly underutilized space ? Why not reach out to Catholic Diocese who are in the midst of closing Lower East Side schools ? There are other solutions for Ross which will allow the school to thrive safely and amicably in the Lower East Side.

THE NUMBERS REPRESENT FLAWED LOGIC

Here's how the DOE calculated that there was SPACE in the school;

The DOE made a basic error: they used an enrollment figure for NEST+m that did NOT include the new student's that have already been accepted for September 2006.  NEST+m will have an enrollment of 1,010 students for September 2006. NEST+m continues to grow, and will continue to grow through its plan. The growth rate of the school can be shown through its enrollment over time as follows;

Enrollment Figures For NEST+m

The comparable enrollment figures for all three years are as follows (on the same report, highlighted as Building Enrollment)

- 10/31/2002 shows an enrollment of 273 (Only K-1, 6-7, 9-11)

- 10/31/2003 shows an enrollment of 425 (Only K-2, 6-8, 9-12)

- 10/31/2004 shows an enrollment of 624 (Only K-3, 6-8, 9-12)

- 10/31/2005 NEST+m Records show enrollment of 734 (K-4, 6-8, and 9-12)

- NEST+m records show an ACCEPTED enrollment at Sept '06 of 1,010  (All grades completely full, from K-12; This is approximately 111 more students than projected by NEST+m for the 2006 semester.)

Ross Global Academy Projected Enrollment

The Ross Global Academy is projecting the following;

- Enrollment for August 2006 : 180

- Enrollment for August 2007 : 320

- Enrollment for August 2008 : 440

- Enrollment for August 2009 : 500

What follows is the listing of the spaces in the 111 Columbia Street NEST+m Campus, and how they are planned to be utilized by the three schools that currently occupying the space.   It is important to realize that the projected use for the 2006/2007 school year includes a fully developed High School (all Grades at maximum projected admission, as well as the inclusion of a Fifth grade for the first time in the campus history.)

An ä denotes that the space is a Shared Space utilized by ALL THREE NEST+m SCHOOLS (Lower, Middle and High) . It is important to understand that in every other school, each of these Shared Spaces would be unique. At NEST+m economic and logistical measures are taken to share as much space as possible between each of the three schools while maintaining operational regulations.

Basement Level (Gym, Shared)

1st Floor (Cafeteria Shared)

2nd Floor (Lower School)

3rd Floor (Middle and Upper Classes)

The distribution and use of all Class-rooms on the 3rd floor is entirely shared.  All specific purpose rooms like Science, Math, English, Art Rooms or Studios double as Advisories (Otherwise known as Homerooms).  Some Advisories SHARE a room due to space constraints by utilizing a staggered advisory meeting schedule.

There is projected to be MUCH more sharing of Advisories to be accomplished through creative scheduling of Cafeteria and Study periods during the 2006/2007 projection for NEST+m.

NOTE: None of the above planning has taken into account any sharing of space with the ROSS GLOBAL ACADEMY.   All of the rooms above are being utilized within the mandates set forth in the NEST+m School planning document approved by the Board of Education on its founding.

On Thursday 4/6/06, two days after the visit to the school by Garth Harries (from the Office of New Schools) and DOE Engineering, the DOE has issued an edict that limits the NEST+m enrollment to 899 .

One must immediately ask, why would the DOE limit the growth of one of the most successful schools in the City? The only logical explanation is that this restriction has been suddenly announced in order to justify the occupation of the building by the Ross Charter. If you start with the DOE's flawed capacity figure for the Building of 140 7 , then you subtract the Ross Charter's planned enrollment of 500, you end up with nearly the exact number that DOE is restricting NEST+m to.

In addition, the DOE's action to limit NEST+m's enrollment will breach the DOE's agreement to support NEST+m's mission/program .

Take a look at the NEST+m achievements below and ask yourself if a proven success should be sacrificed for an untested experiment?

The following are some statistics comparing NEST+m to the NYC averages.

Sourced from the 2003-2004 Annual Report for Region 9

TWO DYSFUNCTIONAL SCHOOLS

It seems obvious that the idea of shoe-horning the Ross Charter into the NEST facility was made without any serious thought about logistics. To date, no representatives of the Charter or the DOE have answered any of these questions:

- How is the Department of Education proposing to logistically utilize the space between all Six Schools?

• NEST+m Lower School

• NEST+m Middle School

• NEST+m Upper School

• RGA Lower School

• RGA Middle School

• RGA Upper School

Note: The Upper School/Middle School/and Lower Schools are prohibited from contact, or sharing space. (Students from each school can't “mingle” in the hallway; its considered a hazard.)   If ROSS were to move in, there would be SIX Bodies of Students t hat would be prohibited from “Mingling”.

- How are common areas to be scheduled/shared without disrupting the day's scholastic activity?

• How is the Library going to be used?

• How is Gym going to be used?

• How is Drop-off going to be coordinated?

• How is Pick-up going to be coordinated?

• How is the Cafeteria going to be coordinated?

- The Building, and Occupancy rules and regulations for Charter Schools are different from those for Public Schools.

• How is Garbage pickup going to be coordinated?

• How is building maintenance going to be coordinated?

However, the reality of the enrollment for NEST+m for the 2006-2007 school year, when coupled with the Ross Global Academy's planned enrollment will not only exceed the DOE's stated capacity of the building, but it will also present logistical problems that may jeopardize the success of both institutions.

The facility in question does not have the capacity to fit the proposed sharing of the school between NEST+m and Ross safely.   Current use of the facility by NEST+m already has MANY shared rooms amongst the Three Schools that are housed there.   What is being proposed by the Ross Global Academy is that these spaces now be shared by Six Schools (ie: Auditorium, Cafeteria, Bathrooms, Library, Administrative Offices, etc.)

In addition, the DOE's action to limit NEST+m's enrollment would arbitrarily allow the Ross Global Academy to share the space, but it will also breach the DOE's agreement to support NEST+m's mission/program.   Some of the questions this action raised in the NEST+m community are…

•  Why limit acceptance to a proven successful public school?

•  Why not promote greater expansion of the highly successful NEST+m model?

•  Why not seek an alternative solution, as in placing the ROSS GLOBAL ACADEMY in a truly underutilized space.   Or perhaps negotiating with the Catholic Diocese to use buildings that they are abandoning due to limited resources, for the Ross Global Academy to safely, amicably, and progressively expand into.

The PTA, Administration, Faculty and Students invite ANYONE who is interested to review the school, and the facts stated above in the spirit of clarity.

For information about the above, contact Lou Gasco (Concerned NEST+m Parent)

at 917-834-2402.

ANALYSIS IN SHORT

•  • The First Error ma de by DOE ; : The Total accepted enrollment of NEST+m is 1050, NOT 730.   The DOE utilized the WRONG figure in influencing their decision to let Ross Global Academy share the building.

• The Second Error made by DOE: The NEST+m facility is well utilized. In fact, by sharing certain spaces between the three NEST schools the buildin g's usage is a model of efficiency.

•  • The Second Third Error made by the DOE ; : Without any rational, the DOE seemingly arbitrarily limited the enrollment of a School that is one of the consistently HIGHEST SCORING schools in New York State.   Over 3000 families have sought out NEST+m this year alone.

•  • The Third Fourth Error made by the DOE ; : There has been no precedent for two GROWING K-12 schools sharing the same facility.   K-12 schools are considered THREE SEPARATE Entities.   To consider a plan to share space among TWO separate K-12 schools is to consider sharing space between SIX Separate entities.   The Logistical plan on the proposed sharing of the facility has not yet been provided to the NEST+m community.

It is our recommendation that any thought to share of the facility between the NEST+m schools, and the Ross Global Academy schools in either a short-term, or long term arrangement will result in neither institution being able to fulfill their mandates, and all of the students being endangered educationally, as well as physically.

UN ANSWERED QUESTIONS RAISED BY PROPOSAL TO PLACE ROSS GLOBAL ACADEMY INTO THE BUILDING OCCUPIED BY THE NEST+m Schools (Low, Middle, High)

•  How is the Department of Education proposing to logistically utilize the space between all Six Schools?

•  NEST+m Lower School

•  NEST+m Middle School

•  NEST+m Upper School

•  RGA Lower School

•  RGA Middle School

•  RGA Upper School

•  Note: The Upper School/Middle School/and Lower Schools are prohibited from contact, or sharing space. (Students from each school can't “mingle” in the hallway; its considered a hazard.)   If ROSS were to move in, there would be SIX Bodies of Students that would be prohibited from “Mingling”.

•  How are common areas to be scheduled/shared without disrupting the day's scholastic activity?

•  How is the Library going to be used?

•  How is Gym going to be used?

•  How is Drop-off going to be coordinated?

•  How is Pick-up going to be coordinated?

•  How is the Cafeteria going to be coordinated?

•  The Building, and Occupancy rules and regulations for Charter Schools are different from those for Public Schools.

•  How is Garbage pickup going to be coordinated?

•  How is building maintenance going to be coordinated?

•  Why have representatives of the Ross Global Academy, or Ross Institute not yet approached the School's administration to understand what has happened?

•  Why has the DOE not yet revealed the details about how their Occupancy Capacity calculations are generated?

•  Why did the capacity of NEST jump from 868 to 1334 in 2003?

•  Why does the capacity change every year?

•  Why is the DOE ignoring NEST+m's own agreement with the Board of Education?

•  When NEST+m was founded, the BOE at the time accepted their proposal which indicated “Sole use of the premises”, and promised an average class size of 20 students.

•  The ROSS GLOBAL ACADEMY proposes 20 students per class as a necessary element of their success, is the DOE stating that the ROSS 20 student per class average takes precedence over their promise to maintain NEST+m's 20 students per class average.

•  Why is the DOE proposing an untested, untried, experimental charter school with a model very similar to NEST+m's model in the SAME Building as NEST+m?

Here's how the DOE calculated that there was SPACE in the school;

THE ERROR

However, they used an enrollment figure for NEST+m that did NOT include the new student's that have already been accepted for September 2006.  NEST+m will have an enrollment of 1,010 students for September 2006.   NEST+m continues to grow, and will continue to grow through its plan.   The growth rate of the school can be shown through its enrollment over time as follows;

ENROLLMENT FIGURES FOR NEST+m

The comparable enrollment figures for all three years are as follows (on the same report, highlighted as Building Enrollment)

- 10/31/2002 shows an enrollment of 273 (Only K-1, 6-7, 9-11)

- 10/31/2003 shows an enrollment of 425 (Only K-2, 6-8, 9-12)

- 10/31/2004 shows an enrollment of 624 (Only K-3, 6-8, 9-12)

- 10/31/2005 NEST+m Records show enrollment of 734 (K-4, 6-8, and 9-12)

- NEST+m records show an ACCEPTED enrollment at Sept'06 of 1,010  (All grades completely full, from K-12;  This is approximately 111 more students than projected by NEST+m for the 2006 semester.)

THE ORDER TO LIMIT THE NEST+m CAPACITY

On Thursday 4/6/06, two days after the visit to the school by Garth Harries, and DOE Engineering, the DOE has required that NEST limit its capacity to 899. 

ROSS GLOBAL ACADEMY PROJECTED ENROLLMENT

The Ross Global Academy is projecting the following;

- Enrollment for Sept'2006; 180

- Enrollment for Sept'2007; 320

- Enrollment for Sept'2008; 440

- Enrollment for Sept'2009; 500

What follows is the listing of the spaces in the 111 Columbia Street NEST+m Campus, and how they are planned to be utilized by the three schools that currently occupying the space.   It is important to realize that the projected use for the 2006/2007 school year includes a fully developed High School (all Grades at maximum projected admission, as well as the inclusion of a Fifth grade for the first time in the campus history.)

An ä denotes that the space is a Shared Space utilized by ALL THREE NEST+m SCHOOLS (Lower, Middle and High)   It is important to understand that in every other school, each of these Shared Spaces would be unique.   At NEST+m economic and logistical measures are taken to share as much space as possible between each of the three schools while maintaining operational regulations.

Basement Level (Gym, Shared)

1st Floor (Cafeteria Shared)

2nd Floor (Lower School)

3rd Floor (Middle and Upper Classes)

The distribution and use of all Class-rooms on the 3rd floor is entirely shared.  All specific purpose rooms like Science, Math, English, Art Rooms or Studios double as Advisories (Otherwise known as Homerooms).  Some Advisories SHARE a room due to space constraints by utilizing a staggered advisory meeting schedule.

There is projected to be MUCH more sharing of Advisories to be accomplished through creative scheduling of Cafeteria and Study periods during the 2006/2007 projection for NEST+m.

NOTE: None of the above planning has taken into account any sharing of space with the ROSS GLOBAL ACADEMY.   All of the rooms above are being utilized within the mandates set forth in the NEST+m School planning document approved by the Board of Education on its founding.

NEST+m TESTING ACHIEVEMENTS

The following are some facts that set NEST+m compared to the NYC averages.

Sourced from the 2003-2004 Annual Report for Region 9

The PTA, Administration, Faculty and Students invite ANYONE who is interested to review the school, and the facts stated above in the spirit of clarity.

For information about the above, contact Lou Gasco (Concerned NEST+m Parent)

at 917-834-2402.