The Academy is located within the Roosevelt Union Free School District, which has been under special supervision of the State Education Department for the last five years. The Amber Charter School is at 310 Lenox Ave. These two schools were chosen, with 15 other schools, from more than 90 applications received in 1999 by the Charter Schools Institute. The schools survived one of the nation s most rigorous and thorough review processes, involving detailed review by the Institute, the University Trustees as well as the State Education Department and the Board of Regents. The other new charter schools are in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Charter schools are public schools that are publicly funded and independent of school districts.
In exchange for flexibility from many state rules, they are held to a higher level of accountability and operate under five-year licenses granted by the State University of New York and the Board of Regents.