HCSC JOINS PRESTIGIOUS COALITION OF DIVERSE CHARTER SCHOOLS

New York City – The Hebrew Charter School Center, which is working to build a national network of public, dual-language charter schools, has joined the National Coalition of Diverse Charter Schools.

The Hebrew Charter School Center’s first network school – the Hebrew Language Academy in Brooklyn – opened in 2009. The Center now supports six schools in its network (in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and California) and is working to help open a seventh school next fall in Minneapolis.

The Coalition’s members include nearly 60 charter schools around the country. All member schools (which include, among many others, High Tech High School and Citizens of the World Charter Schools), are committed to having “racially, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse student populations.”

“Being a part of this Coalition puts us in great company, and we are quite proud to join this movement of diverse charter schools. The Coalition’s mission truly reflects our reality,” says Jon Rosenberg, president and CEO of the Hebrew Charter School Center. “For example, our schools in New York City are considerably more diverse than the great majority of New York City public schools – and that diversity extends to our schools around the country as well.”

As stated on the Coalition’s website, its members believe that diverse schools:

• Provide greater opportunities for students to learn from one another;
• Are a cost-effective method of boosting student achievement;
• Promote the celebration and understanding of other cultures and viewpoints;
• Invigorate and strengthen urban neighborhoods by bringing community members together; and
• Promote equality by ensuring that students from different backgrounds have the same high quality educational opportunities.

“We’ve made true integration a vital part of our educational program – which is to say, we are diverse by design,” says Rosenberg. “We strive to locate our schools in places that include great diversity – racially, culturally, and socioeconomically. Our programs are meant to appeal to and meet the needs of the full diversity of those communities. And we have worked hard at community outreach to ensure that all families learn about our work and feel welcome and well-served in our schools.”

The Hebrew Charter School Center (HCSC) is building a national network of academically rigorous dual-language charter schools that teach children of all backgrounds to become fluent and literate in Modern Hebrew and prepare them to be productive global citizens. (www.hebrewcharters.org)