NEWS

Mount Vernon charter school withdraws bid

The Friendship Tech Charter School of Excellence was to serve K-4 students.

Ernie Garcia
elgarcia@lohud.com
The Rev. Collie Nathan Edwers, pastor of the Friendship Worship Center, is an applicant for the proposed Friendship Tech Charter School of Excellence in Mount Vernon.

MOUNT VERNON - A proposed Mount Vernon charter school has withdrawn its application with the state Board of Regents for the fourth year in a row.

The Friendship Tech Charter School of Excellence had proposed a kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school that would have been located at the Friendship Worship Center on Lincoln Avenue, the same location where Mount Vernon's Amani Public Charter School got its start.

The Board of Regents was expected to vote on the proposal in November.

BACKGROUND: Charter schools inch along in application process

Collie Nathan Edwers proposed the Mount Vernon charter and is the pastor of the Friendship Worship Center. Edwers said his group will continue pushing for another charter school in Mount Vernon.

"There's a great need for educational choice because of the challenges facing public education and that's why we're attempting to forge ahead," Edwers said Thursday.

The State Department of Education confirmed on Monday that the Friendship school's application had been withdrawn because the applicants wanted to refine their application.

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Charters are publicly-funded schoolhouses that are privately run and often admit students using a lottery system. Any children who reside in New York can attend a charter school even if they live in a different city.

Mount Vernon's only charter school, the Amani Public Charter School, is located at 60 S. Third Ave. It is a fifth-through-eighth-grade school with 355 students.

In September, the Amani school began its sixth year with virtually all its students coming from Mount Vernon. There are more than 100 children on the school's wait list, said Debra Stern, the school's executive director.

Stern said that this year Amani has made changes to accommodate more special education children. The school is also building up its library, she said.

Staff writer Colleen Wilson contributed to this report.

Twitter: @ErnieJourno