Dear Board of Regents Member:

CAMPA has many stories of success throughout the past 3 school years that have been life-changing experiences for our children. We have witnessed and admired the restorative practices that have been implemented with a level of commitment and sacrifices that are beyond measure. We love CAMPA, the administration, teachers, and staff. We cannot imagine our children attending any other school that will mirror the discipline and love of these educators. We are requesting that our school be granted the expansion to the 9th grade and eventually all high school grades.

Our voices - the voices of the parents, students, and community - are among the primary focal points of CAMPA Charter School. This strong sense of community and extended family that we experience at this school gives us a degree of satisfaction that can only be expressed by parents and community members. We are both grateful and blessed to have this school as a major force in our lives and in a community that continues to be plagued by drugs, gang activity, and poverty. CAMPA is the shining light that many of us rarely see in a lifetime.

Many of the children attending CAMPA who come with limited academic skills and language proficiency, reach the status of meeting standards on the English Language Arts and Mathematics state examinations due to hard work and dedication by both the child and teachers. We have seen our children grow from disliking and performing poorly in school to working hard to improve and enjoying their experiences. Many of us can attest to the improvement in their academic performances and overall development. These achievements were accomplished despite strong barriers and negative influences that are always present in our communities.

CAMPA has grown tremendously in providing the type of academic rigor and socio-emotional approaches that our children need daily. Our school has coupled a personal awareness component to an academic model that has created an excellent small school culture. Students are known and supported by their peers, and teachers know all the students and their families in the school. Students meet regularly to discuss their problems and concerns which strengthens their relationships and enables them to work together to solve problems typically faced by many attending CAMPA Charter School. The faculty and staff help students reflect on behavior, work together to resolve issues, and “restore” faith in our community.

CAMPA receives our full support for exposing our children to regents’ level courses early and giving them the confidence, they seriously need to prepare for college and beyond. We want our children to remain at CAMPA after the 8th grade because we feel that a transition to another learning institution could lead our children into a sea of unpreparedness and negative outcomes. We implore you to grant our request to expand CAMPA to the 9th and 10th grades.

Please offer CAMPA Charter School the opportunity to change the lives of our children beyond Middle School and receive a renewal period that rewards them for all that they do in East New York, Brooklyn as unsung heroes in our community.

We the parents of CAMPA CHARTER MIDDLE SCHOOL, strongly feel that a school should be measured by its academic record and the feeling expressed by the parents within the communities that it serves. Principal Leonard and his staff at CAMPA have a record of success and commitment that our families deserve to benefit from, like in other communities with much fewer challenges for survival as it concerns their children's education.

CAMPA Charter School, Parent-Teacher Association

East New York Community