Parents, staff looking to continue Beginning with Children Charter School after board votes to close

School staff members are trying to keep Beginning with Children Charter School going, three weeks after its board of trustees voted to dissolve its charter over a contract dispute.

According to a statement signed “Beginning with Children Charter School Community,” parents and staff will be asking the board to reverse that decision at a meeting on Dec. 12. The statement notes that the group “has secured legal representation.”

Here’s the full statement: 

Parents, staff, students and community will ask Board of Trustees of Beginning with Children Charter School (BwCCS) to recant vote to surrender charter at monthly board meeting on Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 5:00 pm in the BwCCS multi-purpose room located on 11 Bartlett Street in Brooklyn.

This meeting will determine the future of our school and the future of our children.

BwCCS is a K-8 school housed in two separate buildings in Brooklyn and serves about 420 students. Over 95 percent of our students are Black or Hispanic and over 15 percent receive special education services.

In 2001 BwCCS was converted from a traditional district school to a charter school by its board members and management organization- Beginning with Children Foundation. Since last year, the board and the BwCCS Foundation have been threatening to close our school if the staff didn’t renegotiate its UFT contract. On November 2013, the board members voted to surrender the charter and close our school this coming June 2014 even though we have two years left on our charter. Parents, Teachers, Staff and members of our community believe this act did not follow proper board governance and we are fighting to retain our charter.

Please come and support us in our fight to take our school back and keep it open! We have been serving this community for twenty-two years. We provide a nurturing education to thousands of students. Our students have made us so proud and our alumni program can attest to their success. The parent, teachers, faculty, students and community are fighting to keep our school open. We have secured legal representation but your presence will help us move this mountain. Please come and help us.

Respectfully,

Beginning with Children Charter School Community