Published: August 13, 2007 08:26 pm      

EDUCATION: Second year at Niagara Charter School off to smooth start

If nothing else, year two at Niagara Charter School had a much drier start than did year one.

“My point of reference is we had two kids cry this year,” business manager Greg Norton said of the Lockport Road school’s kindergartners. “Last year, we had at least a dozen kids cry.”

A less teary beginning isn’t the only thing new at the charter school, which opened for the year Monday. The school has expanded from 264 students to 288, with last year’s fourth-graders forming the first fifth-grade class for the facility. Plans are to expand to a K-8 school over the next several years.

Adding to the ease Monday was the fact that most students are now familiar with the school, Norton said, as opposed to last year when everyone was new.

“It feels like it was last year continued,” he said.

One other trend similar to last year was a high absence rate. About 60 students missed the first day of class this year; 39 were reported absent on opening day in 2006-07. Norton attributed this to a combination of factors, among them students not being familiar with new bus routes and families still being on vacation.

“I’m expecting most of them to show up tomorrow,” he said Monday afternoon. “It was just a matter of just getting going for the new year.”

At 204 days, the charter school calendar is about 24 days longer than those of most public schools; all three local school districts start classes the week of Sept. 3. With last year having ended in late June, that gave charter students a break of less than two months — but no one seemed to mind, assistant principal Darci Novak said.

“I really do feel that having the students have not as long a break ... that made the transition all the more easier for them,” she said. “Six weeks (of vacation time) was more than appropriate.”

Most of the school’s students still come from Niagara Falls, but children from as far away as the Sweet Home School District in Amherst are now in the student body, chief academic officer Karen Marchioli said in an e-mail. Other districts sending students include Niagara-Wheatfield and Lewiston-Porter, she said.

Even with the expansion, the school’s expenses dropped about $65,000 from last year to this one, according to the school budget obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

The school has total expenditures for 2007-08 of roughly $3.08 million, compared to $3.14 million last year. There was an increase in personnel spending for this year of about $395,000 to $2.04 million, which Norton said was due to the addition of fifth-grade teachers, teaching assistants and a 3 percent raise for all employees. That was offset by a $140,000 decrease in supplies and a $205,000 decrease in contractual obligations.

“We didn’t have to startup costs we had last year,” said Norton, referencing everything from desks to phones that had to be purchased. “There was tons of investment made in capital.”

Despite a 23 percent increase in health insurance costs (to $152,140 for health insurance and $30,000 for dental), the school will see little increase in that budget line because of a switch to insurance with a higher deductible, Norton has said.

This year’s budget carries an expected surplus of $91,901. Spending for 2008-09 should be closer to last year’s total, Norton said, because the new sixth-grade classrooms will require an addition to the structure, which will cost more in construction and rent.