Matter of M.C. and Henry Johnson Charter School

            IN THE MATTER

                        OF

THE COMPLAINT OF M***** C***** CONCERNING THE HENRY JOHNSON CHARTER SCHOOL

 

 DECISION

________________________________________

            M***** C***** (“complainant”) brings this complaint pursuant to Education Law §2855(4) against Henry Johnson Charter School (“School”), a charter school authorized by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (“SUNY”) and chartered by the New York State Board of Regents (“Board of Regents”).  Complainant first presented a complaint to the School’s Board of Trustees, then to SUNY, and now presents this complaint to the Board of Regents.  Section 3.16 of the Rules of the Board of Regents (8 NYCRR §3.16) delegates to the Commissioner of Education the authority to respond to complaints brought pursuant to Education Law §2855(4) and issue appropriate remedial orders to charter schools.  In accordance with that authority, I have reviewed the complaint and find that it must be dismissed.

            Complainant was a teacher at the School during the 2011-2012 school year.  On November 17, 2011, she received a Letter of Termination from the Principal of the School, terminating her employment effective that day.  The letter cited the rationale for the determination to terminate her.  In her complaint to the Board of Regents, the complainant asserts that the allegations she raises in her complaint involve a violation of charter school law, that the School’s due process for addressing personnel matters was not followed and that the termination process was not consistent with “Charter School policy.”  She seeks, among other things, the opportunity to resign from her position.

            Education Law §2855(4) provides in pertinent part that  “[a]ny individual or group may bring a complaint to the board of trustees of a charter school alleging a violation of the provisions of this Article, the charter, or any other provision of law relating to the management or operation of the charter school.”  Here, complainant does not identify any provision of the New York Charter Schools Act or other provision of law relating to the management or operation of the School that allegedly was violated.  Nor does she identify any provision of the School’s charter (i.e. collective bargaining agreement, employment contract, Personnel Policy) the School’s actions allegedly violated.  Therefore, the complaint must be dismissed.

 

            THE COMPLAINT IS DISMISSED.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I, John B. King, Jr., Commissioner of Education of the State of New York for and on behalf of the State Education Department, do hereunto set my hand and affix the seal of the State Education Department, at the City of Albany, this       day of                                      , 2013.

 

Commissioner of Education