Uniondale school officials and staff are joining others in Hempstead and West Hempstead in voicing strong opposition to a revised charter school application that could impact public-school funding in nearby districts. Residents, students, staff and elected leaders gathered at meetings on Jan. 20, in West Hempstead, and Jan. 21, in Hempstead to speak out against the proposal.
The plan comes from Diamond Charter School, which received approval from the SUNY Charter Schools Institute nearly two years ago to open in Hempstead, despite widespread opposition from Hempstead and surrounding communities. The school is scheduled to open this September.
The charter school is initially expected to serve 162 students in kindergarten through first grade, adding students in elementary grades each year and eventually serving 486 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to its application.
“The Uniondale School District continues to be impacted by the expansion of charter schools in the Hempstead area,” Uniondale district Superintendent Monique Darrisaw-Akil said in a statement on Monday, “as our District includes parts of Hempstead. The continued expansion and oversaturation of charter schools rob our students of programs and services that support their growth and success and unfairly burden our taxpayers.”
The district is paying $27 million in tuition, as more than 800 students have left the public school system for charter schools — a shift that significantly strains the district’s budget. These figures do not include costs such as transportation.
Uniondale currently offers a wide range of extracurricular programs, and Darrisaw-Akil said she fears that funding could be diverted if more local students enroll in charter schools.
Allison Chaplar, president of the Uniondale Teachers Association and a district technology specialist, voiced her concern at the Jan 21 meeting, and at Monday’s Uniondale Community Council monthly meeting on Zoom.
“What is often overlooked in the conversation about charter schools is the incredible work that’s happening in the public schools,” Chaplar said. “Uniondale has gone above and beyond academically, athletically and in the arts.” She mentioned programs including the Uniondale High School Show Choir and career-oriented study options such as barber training, nursing and real estate.
“What more could we accomplish if these funds stayed in our classrooms?” she said.
“I’d like to bring up, as we’re entering into the budget season, that the more funds that go towards paying charter school tuition will directly impact the services and programs that we have in our school district,” Darrisaw-Akil said at the community council meeting.
A New-York based initiative, Diamond Charter School was founded by Mark Crusante, who serves as its executive director.
Charter schools, like public schools, are publicly funded and tuition-free, but their funding comes from money allocated to local school districts, which in turn comes mostly from local tax revenue. The schools are governed by boards of trustees — and according to DCS’s website, none of its trustees are based on Long Island.
Terrence McLean, DCS’s external affairs director, was the lone voice in support of the school’s application at the two meetings last week.
“We believe every dollar that is involved should go towards the kids,” McLean said. “Every funding that comes into the building is about the kids.”
On Dec. 29 the charter school submitted a revision to its application, requesting temporary approval to operate in West Hempstead for no more than two years while completing construction of its permanent location in Hempstead. Its plan is to open and operate at 12 Westminster Road, in the former religious school building at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, this September, according to DCS’s website. The planned permanent location, at 131 Fulton Ave. in Hempstead, is undergoing renovations.
“The Diamond School was given two years to get prepared, incubate and open up in the Hempstead school district,” Hempstead Superintendent Gary Rush said in formally stating his opposition to the proposal. “But after two years, DCS isn’t prepared to serve Hempstead students, and is coming into the West Hempstead school district instead.”
Numerous other objections were raised to Diamond’s application, including the financial costs of another charter school in the area, the impact it could have on neighboring school districts, and how another charter school could increase racial and economic disparities, as well as concerns about traffic.
Hempstead is familiar with the impact of charter schools on its school district. The Evergreen and Roosevelt charters operate in the district, and the Academy school operates in both Hempstead and Uniondale. The Hempstead district spends over $105 million to support 3,100 students who attend charter schools, according to Rush.
“When students leave, our district’s funding follows them,” he said.
Rush explained that the district remains financially responsible for costs like transportation and special education — even when students are enrolled elsewhere. “The cumulative effect of this model is destabilizing, and directly impacts the educational program of the students who remain in Hempstead schools,”headded.
State Sen. Siela Bynoe, who represents Uniondale, Hempstead, West Hempstead and Freeport, described her district as “the epicenter of charter schools.”
Bynoe highlighted the percentages of students in the 6th Senate District who attend charter schools: 40 percent of students in Hempstead, 18 percent in Roosevelt and 13 percent in Uniondale.
“That’s actually kind of criminal, if you ask me,” Bynoe said. “They are coming into the community and not only are they siting here; they’re actually creating more imbalance and disparity.”
In 2018, the State Education Department added Hempstead High School to the list of Schools Under Registration Review, a statewide accounting of failing schools that required the most improvement. In June 2019, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that approved monitors to help oversee the district, a program that ended in 2023 after the district showed significant academic improvement.
Despite the community opposition, school officials acknowledged that since the SUNY Charter Schools Institute had approved Diamond’s original application, a denial of the revision was unlikely. SUNY trustees and the SUNY Charter Schools Committee were expected to vote on the revision as early as this week, according to the SUNY Charter website.
Comments or questions about the application can be sent to charter.legal@suny.edu with the subject line “Diamond Charter School Revision Application.”
Have an opinion on Diamond Charter School? Send a letter to mgusler@liherald.com.
