THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

SENIOR DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR P-12 EDUCATION

May 5, 2011

Julio Cotto
Executive Director
Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School
295 West 231st Street
Bronx, NY 10463

Members of the Board of Trustees - Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School

(as identified on the attached listing)

Dear Sirs and Madams:

Please see the attached letter from Cliff Chuang, Director of the State Education
Department’s Charter School Office. The purpose of this letter is to clarify information
contained in the letter and material that was sent to you yesterday concerning the decision
of the State Education Department (“Department”) to continue to pursue summary
revocation of the charter of the Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School (“School”).

The Department’s recommendation on this matter remains as outlined in my

May 4, 2011 letter to you to pursue summary revocation of the charter of the Kingsbridge
Innovative Design Charter School at the May 16-17, 2011 meeting of the Board of Regents.

Sincerely,

John B. King, Jr.

Attachment
 Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School
295 West 231 Street
Bronx, New York 10463
(917) 858-1191
info@kidcs.org

Mr. Julio Cotto, Executive Director

Mr. John Torres, Board Chairperson
Mr. Troiyle Sanon
Ms. Nelly Evans
Ms. Molly Lopez
Ms. Nancy Rivera
Mr. Ed Montolio
Mr. Hector H. Lopez
Mr. Jorge Chang
Ms. Dinamary Arvelo
Mr. Christian O. Guerrero
.

Page 1 of 1
 THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

DIRECTOR, CHARTER SCHOOL OFFICE

ROOM 471 EBA, 89 WASHINGTON AVENUE, ALBANY NY, 12234
Tel. 518/474-1762; Fax 518/474-3209; charterschools@mail.nysed.gov

May 5, 2011

Julio Cotto
Executive Director
Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School
295 West 231st Street
Bronx, NY 10463

Members of the Board of Trustees - Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School

(see page 3)

Dear Sirs and Madams:

As you know, the March 24, 2011 Probation Order and Notice of Intent to Seek
Summary Revocation (“Order and Notice”) gave the School until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 29,
2011 to provide the Department with documentary evidence of the implementation of the
remedial action plan included in the Order and Notice. In fact, in order to provide the School
with the broadest opportunity possible to respond to the Order and Notice, the Department
continued to accept and consider documents that were provided by the School in a series of email
communications beyond the April 29, 2011 deadline. In order to complete our analysis of the
material provided by the School, the Department informed the School that communications
received after 9:00 p.m. on Monday, May 2, 2011 could not be considered by the Department.
Based on email messages sent directly to cchuang@mail.nysed.edu, I have counted 42 separate
email messages sent by four different individuals representing the school which contained
material documenting the implementation of the remedial action plan included in the Order and
Notice.

One email communication from John Torres, the School’s Board chair, sent to me at 2:19
p.m. on the afternoon of Monday, May 2, 2011, included a Microsoft Excel file attachment
entitled “KIDCS_CASH_FLOW_YEAR_1_Detail_Final_050211_JT” that I did not notice, and
therefore this attachment was not included in the Department’s analysis of the School’s response
to the remedial action plan included in the Order and Notice. This fact came to light during a
telephone conversation during the afternoon of May 4, 2011 between me and John Torres. This
spreadsheet appears to be a third version of a Year 1 cash flow statement related to the issue of
evidence of sufficient cash flow to sustain operations of the School in May and June 2011, which
is discussed on page 3 of the document you received on May 4, 2011 entitled, “NYS Education
Department Recommendation for Summary Charter Revocation for Kingsbridge Innovative
Design Charter School (May 3, 2011).”

It should be noted that all three of these versions of Year 1 cash-flow statements, which
was to be included as a response to Item 2 of the remedial action plan outlined in the Order and
Notice, were submitted after the original April 29, 2011, 5:00 p.m. deadline, and only after
follow-up calls from me as described below:

Page 1 of 3
 • Version 1: This version was sent at 6:46 p.m. on Friday, April 29, 2011 by John Torres to
me and Jamal Young after a call from me to John Torres at approximately 5:15 p.m. that
evening noting the absence of any cash flow information about Year 1 (only a cash flow
statement for Year 2 was provided).
• Version 2: This version was sent at 9:52 p.m. on Sunday, May 1, 2011 by Ed Montolio to
me after a series of emails between me and John Torres and a call from me to Ed
Montolio on the afternoon of Saturday, April 30, 2011. I requested a new Year 1 cash
flow from Ed Montolio during our telephone conversation given the lack of detail and
clarity in Version 1. Version 2 was substantially different in format, content, and level of
detail than Version 1, and introduced the reliance on a $200,000 bridge loan from Fozan
Pirzada of Regina Catering to ensure continued operations through the week of May 6,
2011.
• Version 3: This version was sent at 2:19 p.m. on Monday, May 2, 2011, from John Torres
to me, after a telephone conversation between me and Mr. Torres earlier that day in
which I asked clarifying questions about particular items noted in Version 2. I did not
request that this subsequent version be sent.

This Version 3 Year 1 cash flow statement shifts some key expenditures in contracted
services for the School’s NYC Park Ranger and facilities rental to June 2011, and eliminates the
use of the $200,000 Regina Catering bridge loan that appeared in Version 2. However, Mr.
Torres’ cover email to Version 3 indicates that the delay of payment to the “Park Rangers”
($70,000 of contracted services) had not yet been requested. In addition, the School did not
provide any independent verification that the landlord of the School’s current facility has agreed
to delay rent payments for March, April, and May 2011 in the total amount of $92,589 until the
week of June 17, 2011.

Though the details have shifted based on this third iteration of Year 1 cash flow, the
School still has not provided clear evidence that demonstrates sufficient cash flow to sustain
operations in May and June 2011. This specific issue notwithstanding, after reviewing this third
version of the cash flow document, the Department has concluded that nothing contained therein
materially alters the Department’s decision to continue to pursue summary revocation of the
School’s charter.

As noted in the May 4 letter to the School from Senior Deputy John B. King, Jr., the
School has the option of voluntarily seeking an order from the Board of Regents revoking the
School’s charter and certificate of incorporation, and dissolving the corporation pursuant to
Education Law §219(3). For more information concerning the voluntary revocation process,
please contact me at (518) 474-1762 or cchuang@mail.nysed.gov.

Sincerely,

Cliff Chuang

Page 2 of 3
 Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School
295 West 231 Street
Bronx, New York 10463
(917) 858-1191
info@kidcs.org

Mr. Julio Cotto, Executive Director

Mr. John Torres, Board Chairperson
Mr. Troiyle Sanon
Ms. Nelly Evans
Ms. Molly Lopez
Ms. Nancy Rivera
Mr. Ed Montolio
Mr. Hector H. Lopez
Mr. Jorge Chang
Ms. Dinamary Arvelo
Mr. Christian O. Guerrero
.

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