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The Ark's name is incorporated into the name of the charter
school as an indication that the school is envisioned as
an extension of that community based, grassroots organization.
The Ark's core values of respect and personalization hold
true at the Ark Community Charter School.
Traditionally,
the Ark signifies a vehicle of safety from the storm to
a haven from surrounding dangers. The Ark evolved at the
Taylor Apartments as that kind of a safe place from the
dangers of hopelessness and failure, a haven that encourages
and supports children and young adults as they discover
and celebrate strengths they have and become part of an
educational and arts community.
The
Ark's experience has been that an early intervention program
can ensure that a child's first experience of education
is one of success; this is the belief of the Ark Community
Charter School as well.
The
initial founding team, Jay
Murnane, Taeko
Onishi and Mary
Theresa Streck began planning the school in the fall
of 1999 in anticipation that the charter school law would
be passed in New York State. In 2000, Steven Axelrod, joined
the founding team and worked with the initial team to develop
our revised charter. Steve helped to organize our Board
of Trustees and served as the first chair of this board.
In March 2001 the Charter School Institute, one of New York
State's chartering entities, granted us a five-year charter.
Our continual planning went into high gear. We hired and
started meeting regularly with our staff. Over the summer
renovations were done to our school building. Our doors
opened for students on September 4th, 2001.
This
website documents many accomplishments since we opened the
school. In August, 2004 we moved the school from 2247 Thirteenth
Street to our present home at 762 River Street.
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