New Roots has 82 students enrolled for this September

April 3rd, 2009

Ithaca Journal, April 3 2009

New Roots Charter School has recruited 82 students for the opening year as of April 1, Principal Tina Nilsen-Hodges said Thursday.

Nilsen-Hodges said 53 of those students come from the Ithaca City School District, with other students coming from the other districts in Tompkins County and from as far away as Horseheads, Corning and Binghamton.

She said students were fairly evenly divided between ninth and 10th grades.

The current enrollment is 43 students short of the maximum enrollment for the school's first year of 125 ninth and 10th graders. Over the next three years, the school will grow to 225 maximum students in ninth through 12th grades.

The number of students from Ithaca indicates that the district will not be eligible for transition aid from the state. Two percent of a district's total enrollment, including grades not eligible for attendance in the school, must transfer to a charter school for the district to be eligible for transition aid. In Ithaca's case, this would be about 108 students.

Ithaca Superintendent Judith Pastel said she hadn't run any numbers to get a better sense of how much money the district will have to transfer to New Roots because much information is still lacking.

"To run numbers, I need a little more information," Pastel said. "We need to know if any of the kids have (Individualized Education Programs). We don't know yet what services they need."

The district will be responsible for providing special education, a nurse and transportation within a certain distance for the students within its boundaries, including currently home schooled and private school students. New Roots' enrollment numbers can continue to change over the summer and into the school year, as long as there are slots left open.

"New Roots Charter School will be open in the fall and we'll continue to collaborate with them," Pastel said. "I don't know how many students they'll have. There are still a lot of months before September."

Nilsen-Hodges said she feels good about the number of students the school has attracted so far.

"We are excited to have such strong enrollment at this point," she said. "Compared to a lot of schools just starting up, we are in a very strong position."