Tapestry Charter School presents K–12 outcomes and asks authorizer to note academic, financial strengths
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Summary
Tapestry Charter School presented its K–12 profile, academic highlights and financial standing at a Buffalo Public Schools authorizer hearing; the school reported a 94% graduation rate, a K–12 enrollment of 1,145 and strong cash reserves, and agreed to follow up with staff-diversity and suspension/retention data requested by the board.
Tapestry Charter School representatives presented K–12 enrollment, academic outcomes and financial information at a public renewal hearing before Buffalo Public Schools authorizer staff and board members. Executive Director Jeremy Esquisito outlined the school’s model of experiential learning, community engagement and a K–12 continuum that serves students from across Buffalo and from 17 outside districts.
Tapestry reported total enrollment across its campuses of 1,145 students: 434 in the lower school, 373 in the middle school and 338 in the high school. Jeremy Esquisito said the school operates programs to support English-language learners and students with disabilities, including one K–8 ELL teacher, one 9–12 ELL teacher, an ICT model for grades 3–12 and a 12:1:1 classroom in the middle school. The presentation singled out multiple grade-level gains and said the school exceeded state averages on several measures; the team also reported a recent graduation rate of 94%.
Esquisito described attendance and chronic-absence work as a strength and cited significant academic gains in specific cohorts (for example, eighth-grade math and several doubled proficiency rates in middle grades). On finance, the school said it completes clean audits each year, meets bond covenants and reported a cash-on-hand metric of 133 days. "We have a stable, strong operation supported by a strong balance sheet," Esquisito said.
Community members, staff and alumni spoke in support of the school’s culture and approach. Several parents and staff praised the school’s experiential "intensives," student-led conferences and athletics programs; a parent who transfers from outside the district said family embrace and social-emotional support were deciding factors for continued enrollment.
Board members sought additional data. Board member Everhart asked whether staff and administrative diversity matched student diversity; Esquisito said he did not have specific staff-diversity numbers at the hearing and agreed to provide them as follow-up. Other board members asked for suspension-rate, staff retention and the number of students who return to Buffalo Public Schools; Esquisito and staff said they would provide those figures. The record shows authorizer staff requested documents and that Tapestry agreed to follow up with the requested datasets.
One board member raised a concern about a temporary leadership transition at another charter (Enterprise) and whether Tapestry staff were supporting that transition. Esquisito said the support is temporary transition assistance and that he would follow up with the authorizer on any outstanding questions related to Enterprise; the hearing did not include a vote or formal action on that topic.
No formal decision on renewal was recorded in the hearing. Authorizer staff said they would compile the Tapestry presentation and community comments and include the requested datasets in the renewal package to the decision-making office.