Paterson Charter School for Urban Leadership

PATERSON CHARTER SCHOOL CLOSED AMID PROTEST; July 22, 2003; NY Times

A group of angry parents and school administrators gathered today to protest the state's closing of their charter school here, and vowed to fight to keep the school open.

The Paterson Charter School for Urban Leadership had been on probation since February. Last week, the state education commissioner, William L. Librera, revoked the school's charter, citing problems with faulty criminal-background checks for employees and administrative accounting difficulties.

''The information that the school has submitted has not met the desired level of detail and/or it has not addressed all of the information and action items requested to ensure compliance and the operation's soundness,'' Mr. Librera wrote…

This is the second time in two years that a charter school in Paterson has closed, according to state officials. The first, Alexander Hamilton Charter School, was open for one year before financial and administrative problems caused state officials to shut it down.

The Paterson Charter School for Urban Leadership opened in 2000, and state officials said it had been operating with a large deficit. An investigation into the school by the Department of Education found that more than 75 percent of the school's employees had not undergone criminal background checks, and two employees with disqualifying convictions were subsequently removed…