Whenever a charter school authorized by the New York State Education Department requests changes to a part of its charter, it submits a request to its authorizer for approval. On August 15, 2023, Rosalyn Yalow requested its authorizer approve the following changes:
- Revised Student Enrollment Policy: Rosalyn Yalow wants to take steps to increase enrollment of students. One way to do this is to increase these children’s chances of getting a seat during the lottery process by “weighting” their applications. For example, a student with a disability may get two chances at a seat for every one chance given to a general education student.
- Revised Mission Statement: The board of trustees feels the purpose of a mission statement is to articulate the school’s primary goal or objective. The board proposed adding the underlined to the existing mission statement: “The Rosalyn Yalow Charter School will strive to eliminate the learning achievement gap for urban children—including special needs students and English language learners—by using an engaging and demanding curriculum to graduate students at or above grade level in literacy and math.”
- Amended Bylaws: Revised A Bylaws are the rules that charter school boards of trustees follow when carrying out their obligations. The board recently reviewed its bylaws with its attorney and is requesting a few changes including but not limited to:
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- Reducing the minimum number of trustees from seven (7) to five (5), which is the legally required minimum;
- Clarifying that employees cannot serve on the board of trustees Removing the sections that have to do with electing the school’s founding board members;
- Setting the regular board meeting as the third Tuesday of each month;
- Updating the rules for voting without a quorum when a member has a conflict of interest Explaining procedures board committees must follow; and,
- Removing rules that do not pertain to board members.
If you have questions, would like to provide input about these requests, or would like a copy of the full request, please contact Alec Diacou, Executive Director, at [email protected]