Founding Principal W. Bilal Muhammed-El Shabazz: "We prepare young men to think critically, lead boldly, and live with purpose."
An all-boys charter school is on track to open its doors later this month to its first class of nearly 75 5th and 6th graders in rented space in Newhallville, according to the newly hired principal.
That’s the latest with the Edmonds Cofield Preparatory Academy for Young Men (ECPA), a charter school founded by Rev. Boise Kimber.
The school’s principal, W. Bilal Muhammed-El Shabazz, told the Independent in an interview this week that the school’s first day of classes is on schedule to be Aug. 25.
Muhammed-El Shabazz was tapped by the school in June to be its first principal.
The school has a target enrollment of 75 students. It currently has around ten seats left to fill for its inaugural 5th and 6th grade classes.
The school will operate out of the 794 Dixwell Ave. building which previously housed Elm City College Prep Middle School, and that the APT Foundation had bought with plans to turn into a methadone clinic before selling to Clifford Beers, which is renting out second-floor space to the school.
Kimber first won permission from the state Board of Education back in March 2023 for an initial certification for the planned new charter school, which is named after two late New Haven Black community leaders, the Revs. Edwin Edmonds and Curtis Cofield. In December 2023, the state awarded Edmonds Cofield a $2 million grant to help the school buy a building of its own — money that the school has yet to spend.
Muhammed-El Shabazz described the new school as a “community-centered organization.”
John Taylor, who is working as a launch consultant for the new school, told the Independent in a separate message that, “unequivocally yes,” Edmonds Cofield will be opening this year.
Taylor told the Independent that more than 30 people applied for the job of principal at Edmonds Cofield; the school picked Muhammed-El Shabazz because he is “clearly mission aligned.”
Ten applicants made it through screening and five received finalist interviews.
Taylor said Muhammad-El Shabazz “understood the value proposition of a single gender school in ways that other candidates did not. He had real clarity around how to create an exceptional learning environment for young boys, that would lead to their achievement of high academic outcomes and their development of character and preparation for future success.”
Founding Principal: "A Space For Boys To Have More Focus"
Thomas Breen photo
Click here to read a recent message posted to Edmonds Cofields’ website by Muhammed-El Shabazz, who described the school as a place designed to “prepare young men to think critically, lead boldly, and live with purpose.”
Muhammed-El Shabazz told the Independent he is excited to help lead the new school, which will aim to empower middle schoolers through a curriculum focused on “global innovation, college preparatory education, and social emotional development.”
“We want to provide a space for boys to have more focus and provide a brotherhood because many boys of color throughout one point or another are over represented in suspension rates and lower levels of academia,” Muhammed-El Shabazz said.
The school has a total of 15 staff and the school day will run from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
When asked what the daily instruction will look like for ECPA students, Muhammed-El Shabazz said several times a week the students will participate in an “innovation lab” that will offer skill development with podcasting, entrepreneurship, and STEM. He added that civic engagement and leadership development will also be heavily a part of the school’s curriculum.
Students will also take time during the day to strengthen their social and emotional skills during blocks in between academic courses.
Muhammed-El Shabazz is still finalizing a group of community partnerships that will help to support the school.
He added that middle school is a key time to address youth violence. In co-ed spaces, he said, boys sometimes “see each other as enemies instead of collaborators.”
Muhammed-El Shabazz declined to say where he has worked in the past, though he did note he’s held several leadership positions in different charter school networks and that he went through Clark Atlanta University’s National Aspiring Principals Fellowship. His LinkedIn profile states that he previously worked for the Achievement First charter school network in Rhode Island, and for KIPP Colorado Schools in Denver.
“We’re here to provide a physically and psychologically safe environment to engage with college prep, innovation, and SEL and a pathway to post secondary success and productive contributors to society,” he said.
The school’s funding sources include startup funding from Great Schools for Connecticut, which receives its funding from the federal charter school program grant.
The bulk of the funding for the upcoming school year comes from the state’s per-pupil funding allocation. A smaller portion also comes from federal funding under Titles 1, 2, and 4.
“In the charter space, any gaps in funding require additional fundraising from private philanthropy,” Taylor said. “The school was able to acquire enough funding to make the budget work. Total cost for year one is approximately $2 million to serve 75 students in grade 5 and grade 6.”
He clarified that the school will receive no funding from New Haven Public Schools or from the City of New Haven.