Summit Academy Charter School

Founded in 2009, Summit Academy Charter is a tiny middle and high school that offers dance and violin. It shares a building with Red Hook Neighborhood School. 

Most students enter middle school with low academic skills. Students in 6th grade take longer periods of math and English classes to help them catch up. Many improve during middle school and enter high school on a better footing. The high school is not as established and still has a ways to go to improve student performance, according to the city data known as the performance dashboard.

The school's founder, Natasha Campbell, was director of a youth center run by the Police Athletic League. While working in Red Hook, she noticed students "weren't getting the strongest academic foundations to go on to college," she told us the year the school opened. She set out to give families another option. 

Although the size is tiny, the school manages to offer extras, such as dance, violin, art, African drumming and STEM classes. Parents are invited to attend evening classes on topics such as how help their children study. 

Most students report they feel safe in school. However they are suspended at four times the citywide average. Teachers come and go at a higher rate than other city schools; the school hired 11 new staff in 2018 according to board minutes. 

Admissions: By lottery. Applications are due April 1. Most students come from districts 13, 15 and 20. (Lydie Raschka, web reports, January 2019)