Charter school hopes for fall opening

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Though slow construction has delayed its initial moving plans, the International Leadership Charter High School is set to move into its new building at West 231st and Irwin Avenue in September, Principal Elaine Ruiz López says. 

The school, currently located on Exterior Street in Kingsbridge, had planned to relocate at the start of the 2013-2014 school year after buying the two lots on 231st Street near the intersection with Riverdale Avenue in February 2012. 

But progress at the 16,000-square-foot location, which was the former site of a veterinary clinic, did not go as planned. 

“There were many unanticipated challenges, not the least of which was the inclement weather and multiple snow storms in the winter of 2013,” Ms. López wrote in an e-mail. 

Nevertheless, she expected ongoing construction to finish in time for the 2015-2016 school year. Currently, workers are still building the superstructure, with neither partitions nor windows in place. 

She said the school plans to increase its enrollment at the new site, from the current 300 ninth through twelfth graders to 420 students.

Its initial charter agreement had allowed for 350 students, but the space on Exterior Street was too small to reach that number. 

“We… have had to go without many of the essential resources due to limited space,” Ms. López said. 

Along with additional students, the new building will house two science labs, a library and media center, a café and a recreation space. 

The school also plans to develop a school-based adolescent health clinic, Ms. López said. 

The institution, which was the first charter high school in the Bronx, opened in 2006 and renewed its contract with the Department of Education (DOE) in 2010. 

At the time, it was struggling on its DOE progress reports. The school received a C on its overall progress report and a D for student progress. The DOE renewed its contract on the condition that the school raise its student achievement scores above the 75th percentile of city schools in three years, along with developing a plan for the school’s leadership. 

In May 2012, The Press reported that the school received an A on its 2010-2011 report. 

The charter currently has an average graduation rate of 95 percent, according to Ms. López, with 100 percent of those students going on to attend college. 

International Leadership Charter High School, Elaine Ruiz López, charter schools, Maya Rajamani

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