Historic Reflections 2015

the application to the school. A second copy of the application was delivered to the Hempstead School District. Gil

Bernardino personally delivered the application and waited while district personnel typed a letter indicating that this

second application had, in fact, been submitted.

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During this process a founding Board of Trustees was established to flesh out ideas and concepts for the charter school.

The Founding Board consisted of Gil Bernardino, Sarah Brewster, David Boone, Luis Ras, Gladys Rodríguez, Rebecca

Sanin, Gerry Vázquez, Maritza Meyers, Eliazer Reyes and Ariel Sotelo.

Settling on a name for the Charter School was not easy. We did not want to call it Círculo Charter School. The

school was to become its own entity separate from Círculo. We wanted a name that would reflect reverence, respect

and resilience. There were several names in the running but in the end, Evergreen was chosen and it fit our vision.

Unlike deciduous trees that lose their leaves in the winter, an Evergreen kept its “green”. It represented resilience and

strength. In addition, it reflected our vision to connect children to the earth and its resources so that children could

learn to become global citizens.

The next step in the approval process was an interview with the Office of Public School Choice and curriculum

specialists in Albany. Mock interviews were held at the Center for Educational Innovation in New York City

with Gil Bernardino and Sarah Brewster. Gil and Sarah then prepared members of the founding board including

Gerry Vázquez and Gladys Rodríguez who accompanied them to Albany along with consultant Linda Vergara. The

interview lasted several hours with questions about curriculum, oversight, management and operations. There

were approximately ten representatives from the Education Department representing curriculum areas and

management, finance and other areas pertinent to the school operations. Overall the interview went well. On the

way back, passing Kennedy Airport, Gladys Rodríguez saw a cargo airplane called Evergreen and called it a sign that

“things were going to come through for Evergreen Charter School”.

After the mock interview and final modifications to the curriculum and narrative for the charter, the Office of Public

School Choice informed Círculo that it was recommending its school for approval to the Board of Regents. The

meeting for the Board of Regents was to occur on Monday December 15th and Tuesday December 16th, 2008. At

this time, the Regents would vote on the schools identified by the Office of Public School Choice for approval.

Gil Bernardino and Sarah Brewster waited anxiously the week of December 8th, 2008. All week long schools

were added to the Board of Regents agenda for approval for the Monday and Tuesday December 14th and 15th

meetings. Despite confirmation from the Office of Public School Choice that they had submitted Evergreen’s name for

inclusion on the agenda, Evergreen’s name was notably absent from the list of schools they had approved. By 5:00

pm on Friday, December 12th, Evergreen’s name was still not included on the agenda for approval for the December

Board of Regents meetings.

In private conversations with representatives from the Office of Public School Choice, it became apparent that there

were individuals in high positions of political power that were working to keep Evergreen’s school off the agenda.

Círculo’s holiday party was Friday, December 12th. Sarah Brewster stayed in the office late that evening preparing a

draft letter to send to political leaders and making phones calls. Over the weekend Gil and Sarah worked to finalize

a letter that was faxed and emailed to over forty political leaders and individuals in position of power including the

Governor, the Commission of the Department of Education, and many others.

The question Círculo wanted to

know was why it was being kept off the agenda when every other school recommended by the Office of Public

School Choice for the December Board of Regents meetings was put on the agenda.

Gil and Sarah drove up to Albany on Monday morning together with our friend, Welquis López. At 8:00 am

they received a call from a representative in the Office of Public School Choice who informed them that whatever

advocacy efforts were done by Círculo over the weekend, they worked. Evergreen was back on the agenda! That person

indicated that a call had been received from the Commissioner’s Office and he wanted to know personally why

Evergreen was kept off the agenda.

Someday we will write the complete story of how Evergreen School was blocked by people in positions of power who

did not want a Hispanic sponsored institution to have a charter school in Hempstead. There were also significant

protests by union representatives and others who did not want to have another charter school on Long Island,

especially one sponsored by a Hispanic organization.

We met with several members of the Board of Regents on Monday December 15th to discuss the situation. It was

apparent that even though we were put back on the agenda, there were strong political forces at work that were

determined that our school was not going to be approved. In consultation with several Regents who agreed to meet

with us after the scheduled meetings for the day, they explained that our best strategy was to postpone a vote on our

school until the January meeting. If Evergreen received a no vote, it would be removed from future consideration.

Because of the strong opposing forces that were very present, Gil and Sarah followed recommendations and agreed

to wait until the January meeting. They returned to Albany the next day, December 16th, with Welquis, to hear

the Board of Regents vote yes for every charter school that was recommended by the Office of Public School Choice.

Only the vote for Evergreen was tabled and postponed until January. It was certainly an eye opening experience to

understand the power of unions and people in political power could keep our school off the agenda and stop our

school from ever getting approved.