By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — A neighborhood charter school eyed for closure by the city is suing to keep its doors open.
The kindergarten through eighth-grade Ross Global Academy, which opened five years ago but moved into its current home on East 12th Street in 2009, ranked in the bottom 1 percent of all schools for the 2009-'10 school year based on a Department of Education progress report last month.
The DOE cited the school's below-average test scores and high staff turnover as reasons it would move not to renew the 400-student school's charter. Ross Global Academy was the only charter school to be included in the department's list of more than two-dozen schools recommended for closure citywide.
The lawsuit accuses the DOE of committing "profound violations" during the charter renewal process, claiming that the city did not give the school adequate time to respond to the charges, and did not hold a public hearing before releasing its findings to the public.
The suit also states that the city should not have based its decision solely on the previous year's low rankings, but instead should have taken into account Ross Global Academy's steady improvement over its first three years, based on the DOE's own "required standards" for evaluation.
According to DOE figures, last year just 25 percent of the school's students were proficient in English, compared to the citywide average of 42 percent. Only 31 percent of students were proficient in math, compared to the citywide average of 54 percent.
The DOE also cited Ross Global Academy's high rate of staff turnover, noting that the school has had six leaders in five years and 40 percent teacher turnover each year, including 77 percent last year.
The school admitted in the lawsuit to having "serious problems" last year, but noted that the combination of having to move locations for a fourth time, an influx of students and the addition of three new grades at the school, and installing a new principal all contributed to its poor performance.
The DOE declined to comment on the lawsuit.
