Still no lease for charter school, but hope looms

Elmira's new charter school is still without a home, but there may be reason for hope.

During an Elmira school board meeting Wednesday morning, President Sara Lattin said the school district delivered a lease proposal to Finn Academy lawyers Tuesday afternoon.

"You have our lease proposal, and hopefully we will hear from you very soon," Lattin said to Finn backers, who hollered out questions to her after the meeting. "We have lawyers. We need to negotiate through our lawyers. We have every intention of doing this with you in the right way."

The charter school, planning to open Aug. 17 for 216 students in prekindergarten through second grade, wants to lease the former Ernie Davis Middle School, at least for its first year of operation. The tuition-free public school needs a temporary home because it has not yet purchased its preferred facility, Our Lady of Lourdes School in West Elmira, nor secured an estimated $2.5 million it needs to renovate that facility.

Maggie Thurber, Finn Academy head of school who has spearheaded its opening, used two words to describe Wednesday's meeting, which lasted 105 minutes: "amazing" and "disappointing."

"Amazing" was her compliment to the 50-plus parents wearing special blue shirts who attended, with many telling the board why they want to send their children to the new school. They could make statements but could not ask the board questions, as per meeting policy.

"Disappointing" was her reaction to the board's lack of action.

"It truly is a disappointment that our own school board, whose sole role is to ensure the public education of its children and to utilize taxpayers' resources appropriately, chose not to act," Thurber said. "We have asked to have our proposal placed on the agenda, and we hoped for it to be voted on."

Lattin, who was presiding over her last regular meeting, said, "You can't vote on something you don't have."

Her reference was to the lack of a legal document that spelled out all terms and was agreed to by both parties.

"It is a very fair lease (offer). We would absolutely welcome to see students in there again," Lattin said.

Thurber said she doesn't understand Lattin's indication that Finn needs to make the next move.

"Our attorneys worked all night in order that it be ready today," Thurber said. "We informed Sara Lattin of the expectation that our attorneys were ready to execute a lease immediately today."

In response to a media question whether Finn Academy, now that it has the district's offer, had its own complete and legal lease offer to present to the district for board action, Thurber said, "I am quite certain there is quite a bit we need to do formally and legally."

Lattin tried to assure Finn Academy there is no opposition to its school, but said there is a legal process that has to be followed regarding a lease.

"We have spent a tremendous amount of resources and time dedicated to this process since finding out in the last couple weeks that Finn is interested in our building," Lattin said. "A process that normally takes months to negotiate, we were able through our attorneys to (quickly) turn around a proposed lease.

"We have jumped through hoops to get that out in a matter of days. We are committed to what you would like to do for your kids. It is not about opposition," she said.

Both Lattin and board member Randy Reid made reference to a June 19 letter that the SUNY Charter Schools Institute sent to Thurber and Finn trustee chairwoman Martina Baker, saying the institute was concerned about Finn securing a building and being able to open on time.

The letter is signed by Ralph A. Rossi II, institute executive deputy director and general counsel, and was obtained by the Star-Gazette.

When Finn Academy could not produce requested facilities information by the May 15 deadline, the institute extended the deadline until June 25, after the June 24 school board meeting, the letter read.

"Given the timing and multiple iterations of facilities solutions presented by the school that have then fallen through, we have several concerns. These include the school facing insurmountable challenges in getting properly established both from a facilities and a program perspective in time for a solid August 2015 opening," the letter read.

Thurber, following the meeting, said they did a walk-through tour of the Ernie Davis building on Tuesday with architects, the fire chief, fire marshal and others, and said they were told there is no reason the building, now used for storage, couldn't be readied into a school in a matter of weeks.

The letter expressed sympathy to the challenges new charter schools face, especially because they receive no facilities funding, but added, in part: "We are concerned that parents and school district must properly plan for fall enrollment."

"We urge you to work with your financial and legal professional to be certain all requirements set forth in our June 1st letter, as applied to the latest facilities option, will be met on June 25th," the letter read.

"We have not yet received any details as to the action of the board (Wednesday) and cannot comment any further," institute spokesperson Mahati Tonk said Wednesday afternoon.

Finn Academy trustees passed a resolution June 9 to offer the district $105,000 to lease Ernie Davis for one year. The one-page offer also asked for four additional one-year options, and it was titled "preliminary."

The district said it received that offer June 11, and Finn Academy had requested a reply by the next day, and that the district would take the offer seriously and vote to approve it at the June 24 meeting. The district said terms would have to be negotiated first, and negotiations on a lease began June 17.

"It would be reckless for us to vote on something we haven't negotiated," Lattin said after the meeting when asked why the board hasn't taken action.

"The terms have been set forth in a document. What we received from Finn after they announced initially they were interested in our building, which I think was June 10, was just one page," Lattin said. "What we turned around was a full lease with terms to propose to them."

Lattin said the only way the school board could have acted on the lease Wednesday was if Finn Academy's lawyers had communicated beforehand that lease terms were OK and negotiations were complete.

If such as agreement is produced?

"The board can hold a special meeting, and they are ready to do it," Lattin said, explaining the nine-member, volunteer board could likely meet with just 24 hours' notice.

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