News
06.23.09 13:18
ALBANY LEADERSHIP CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL for GIRLS RECEIVES FINAL APPROVAL; TO OPEN IN AUGUST 2010
For Release, Immediate: | Contact: |
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 | Margarita S. Mayo, Co-Applicant |
| (518) 369-6347 |
ALBANY LEADERSHIP CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL for GIRLS RECEIVES FINAL APPROVAL; TO OPEN IN AUGUST 2010
** State Regents Follow SUNY Approval of First All-Girls HS for Albany **
Albany, N.Y.-The New York State Board of Regents today voted unanimously to approve the Albany Leadership Charter High School for Girls, representing the final step in a the state's lengthy and rigorous review process for charter schools. The Regents' action followed initial approval last March by the State University of New York Board of Trustees.
"This school provides a unique opportunity for Albany's young women to have a small and safe alternative in which to prepare for college and their future," said Margarita S. Mayo, the co-chairperson of the charter school's board of trustees. "We are grateful to the Regents and SUNY Board for approving this school, and making this opportunity available for Albany's high school girls."
"We are committed to providing that college preparatory high school education in an all-girl, public school setting," said Barbara J. Pryor, the lead applicant and co-chairperson of the school's board of trustees. "Many private high schools offer a single-gender education; it's only right that this opportunity be given in the public schools making it within reach of all families in Albany."
"This high school will be structured to meet the unique educational and social needs of girls to get them a Regents' diploma, leadership skills and entry to college and the career of their choosing," said Melissa Jarvis-Cedeno, who will be officially appointed to be the school principal by the charter school's board.
Albany Leadership Charter High School for Girls will be Albany's first all-girls public high school and will open in August 2010 with 125 girls in grades 9 and 10. The school will add grades 11 and 12 in the subsequent two years as students matriculate toward graduation, growing to 375 students.
The school will locate in a newly-constructed, state-of-the-art facility constructed by the Albany-based Brighter Choice Foundation, which will lease it to the high school at-cost.
Albany Leadership High will have a longer school day and a 200-day school year. The school staff will receive professional development and other support services from the well-regarded Young Women's Leadership Foundation, which also provides services to public all-girl high schools in New York City.
The opening of Albany Leadership Charter High School will enable girls to have a single-gender public high school option that is similar to the high school option available to Albany males at Green Tech High Charter School.
The lead applicant for the Albany Leadership Charter High School, Barbara Pryor, is an Albany resident who has served the community for more than 30 years on numerous boards and committees, including the Capital Region Center for the Arts in Education and St. Peter's Hospital. Margarita Mayo, a co-applicant, is retired from the Business Council of New York State where she did policy development for education and job training issues. The school's Principal, Melissa Jarvis-Cedeno, previously served as the principal of the Brighter Choice Charter School for Girls.
Today's unanimous approval by the Board of Regents was made at the recommendation of the State Education Department. State Education Law requires that a proposed charter school to be located in a school district that has or will have more than 5 percent of its students enrolled in charter schools must provide a "significant educational benefit" to the students attending the charter school. Both SUNY and Regents made this finding of a "significant educational benefit" with their respective approvals.
Albany Leadership Charter High School for Girls can be contacted by calling
(518) 694-5300 or on-line at www.AlbanyLeadershipHigh.org.
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