History:
In 2000, Foundation for a Greater Opportunity, a foundation funded by Carl C. Icahn, applied to open a charter elementary school in the South Bronx. The application, in partnership with CEI-PEA, was submitted to SUNY’s Charter Schools Institute, which approved the charter in March 2001.
The school was built at 1525
Brook Avenue and opened for K-2 grades in September 2001,
with 108 students. The school has added a grade each year. A
middle school building was built for grades 5-8 and opened
in 2008.
The school’s program is based on the Tennessee Class-Size Study’s findings that small classes in the early grades have long-lasting benefits. Our students’ achievement
was so extraordinary that we expanded to continue through
middle school. We are building on that success and
have opened two more charter schools in the Bronx, one in
2007 and one in 2008. We have been granted a fourth
charter as well. |