On the evening of July 30, 2024 in the Linda E. Kelly Theatre at New Rochelle High School the Board of Education held a public hearing on the application of the Capital Preparatory Charter School to establish a new charter school in New Rochelle in August of 2025.

To an audience of school district employees, community stakeholders and a few parents, district Superintendent Dr. Corey Reynolds read an opening statement informing those present that  Rev. Dr. David Holder had submitted an application to the State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees on behalf of Capital Preparatory Charter School. This new charter school would open with 150 students in kindergarten and grades 6 and 7 the first year and grow to an enrollment of 600 students with grades K through 4 and grades 6 through 11 by year five.

Dr. Reynolds went on to say that the City School District of New Rochelle was obligated by the NYS Commissioner of Education to hold a public hearing and receive comments from the public via letters until August 3, 2024, at which point all of this would then be forwarded to the SUNY Charter School Institute Legal Department and to the New York State Education Department.

Of the many speakers that night only a few came out in support of a charter school coming to New Rochelle. The predominant, and often repeated, message that evening was that charter schools in practice are just as problematic as public schools and that bringing a charter school to a public school system as small as New Rochelle’s, serving approximately 10,000 students, would only intensify the problems that already exist within the public system.

New York State Senator Shelley B. Mayer read a statement from herself, NYS Senator Nathalia Fernandez, Assembly members Amy Paulin and Steve Otis that focused on the deficiencies of Capital Preparatory Charter School. Their statement is posted below.

This statement, presented by Sen. Mayer, resonated loudly with many of those who attended. It was well known that Capital Preparatory Charter School had to recently break up with a once famous, now infamous, music mogul. It was news to many the reported level of dissatisfaction from the community that this charter school currently serves.The fact that, by law, the SUNY Charter Institute and the Board of Trustees are plainly charged not to approve an application submitted by an entity that is not “educationally and fiscally sound” requires them to look at Capital Preparatory Charter School critically, in real-time.

The deadlines for community engagement have all passed and now the New Rochelle community  waits for SUNY to communicate their decision in November. Regardless of the outcome, the New Rochelle School District is positioned for change. The well documented educational disparities experienced by African-American and Latinx students is what attracted this charter school to New Rochelle. Many believe this prevailing obstacle in the public school system must be fixed or else it is only a matter of time before another application to establish a charter school in New Rochelle is submitted.