According to New York State Law (as well as charter law in most other states and localities), the public must be sufficiently informed about charter schools in their community throughout the process. One of the last steps before the interview process is the public hearing. The purpose of the application hearing is to provide the public a chance to ask questions of the charter group, namely the lead applicant and founding team. Many concerns are raised during these hearings, particularly when charter schools are seeking to share space with district-operated public schools. Prospective charters may have to delay their openings because at the last minute if the district-operated school works to prevent the charter school from entering the building. These discussions can be extremely contentious, and just because there may be open space in a district-operated school does not mean sharing will be welcomed or even tolerated.

The public meeting usually takes place in a location that is common to other schools that are seeking to open in the district. The prospective schools arrive with materials that describe the mission and vision of the school. Each school has the opportunity to speak about the mission and vision of their school, and then respond to public comment. We treated this hearing as a “practice” of our interview with the review panel. One of the most important things to demonstrate to the public and to the review committee is the unity you have with your founding team. You must be in full agreement on how the school is going to run. Your responses should be able to flow seamlessly from one person to the next. You have to show confidence, sincerity and knowledge. You have to respond to tough questions with the same grace. It’s a good place to put that to practice, as the public hearing, though not a factor in getting the charter (in New York State), can cause the review committee to raise questions if there is a serious outcry from the public hearing.

Our public hearing for New Dawn Charter School's application took place shortly before our interview with the review committee. Fortunately, there were no concerns raised at the meeting about our school. This was in great part due to our outreach and engagement of the community in the process of developing the charter application (see a discussion of how to identify the right founding team members to assist with this process in my post on Writing the Letter of Intent). In fact we were honored to have a community member speak positively on our behalf.  But this isn’t always the case. I have attended meetings in the past where charter applicants have to come to these public meetings and not taken them seriously. Follow these easy points, and this hurdle can be easily cleared:

• Dress professionally. While this may seem obvious, it is important to share this point with all of the individuals representing your team. The public hearing is your chance to show you are a professional group.
• Speak clearly and answer questions directly.
• Make eye contact when you speak (I’m not kidding. I watched a presenter never lift his gaze from the floor. This does not project confidence or trust.)
• Do not show you are flustered by tough questions. Getting defensive or giving wrong answers can happen when you get nervous, but this only makes the audience angry.
• Be humble. I’m a big believer that when you are dealing with children, your ego has to get checked at the door. Everyone has an opinion when it comes to teaching and learning, and you must be open to hearing every single one. It’s about the children, not you.
• Be gracious. Thank the audience for the time, be accessible after the meeting convenes if it seems that there might be other questions.

Transparency is the key to being in control. If you show you are willing and able to show the community the ins and outs of your school organization, the more trusting they will be of your presence in the community. Know your charter in and out, and be able to speak to every element in it. Community members will feel good knowing that the applicant group knows their stuff and  are comfortable with each other and their community!

Next time…the big “show”! The Interview.

The views expressed in Charter Notebook blogs represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association or the U.S. Department of Education.