Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School

FACING CLOSURE, CHARTER SCHOOL FIRES TEACHERS; April 2, 2011; Wall Street Journal

A Bronx charter school that the state has targeted for possible closure laid off nearly half its classroom teachers in a move meant to shore up its finances.

The Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School, which opened seven months ago, was put on probation last month. State officials told the school that without big changes, they would seek to revoke its charter at the end of the academic year.

The state said its actions were based on "serious violations of law and material and substantial violations of the school's charter, including fiscal mismanagement."

The school's founder and executive director, Julio Cotto, disputed the characterizations and said the school is well on its way to addressing all the state's concerns…

Meanwhile, Mr. Cotto took issue with the state's position that his salary increased from the $65,000 included in the school's charter application to $85,000 during the school year. Mr. Cotto said the board raised the salaries of several positions before they were filled, including his, after determining the compensation should be higher…

One laid-off teacher, Rhyland Gillespie, said the job cuts targeted the most vocal supporters of a plan teachers announced in February to join the United Federation of Teachers.

Mr. Cotto denied any retribution was behind the cuts…

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7-MONTH-OLD CHARTER SCHOOL MAY BE CLOSED; April 1, 2011; Wall Street Journal 

The state Education Department took the unusual step of putting a seven-month-old Bronx charter school on probation and is threatening to close the school for financial and educational mismanagement.

The Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School opened 10 days late in September and has struggled ever since to pay its bills and to provide the education it promised in its charter application, according to the state Department of Education. It has about 150 students.

In a "probation order," the state said it was taking its actions "for serious violations of law and material and substantial violations of the schools' charter, including fiscal mismanagement."…

Kingsbridge was authorized in January 2010 by the state Education Department…

To date, the school has received $1.6 million from the state to fund the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms of the school. Mr. [Julio] Cotto's salary increased during the year to $85,000 from the $65,000 that was in the charter's application. Mr. Cotto said the pay raise was a board decision…