Autonomy Zone

special district of Public School-s in NYC (Educating Kids In Nyc)

They (mostly new small High School-s), must follow all laws, as well as federal, state, and union (Teachers Union) regulations. However, they no longer work under a Local Instructional Superintendent (LIS), and have more control over their school budgets... Lengthy bureaucratic paperwork is also reduced in the Autonomy Zone. Nancy Gannon, principal of School for Democracy and Leadership in Brooklyn Ny, recalls the days when 17 papers and a police report were needed to transfer a child to another school. "In the Autonomy Zone, I only needed twenty minutes and it was done," she said. Tretorola says he no longer writes 10-15 monthly reports to the region... The freedom to assign staff and to design a schedule and a curriculum are considered great benefits for Autonomy Zone principals and their students.

list of schools

They opened in September'2004 with 30 schools in autonomy zone: 14 new small schools, 13 existing schools, all secondary schools. The remaining three were Charter School-s that already had autonomy and chose to work with us because they wanted to be part of something larger with like-minded schools

Jan'2006: Joel Klein's plan to add 150 more schools to the program.