New Charter School Lands $2M From State

Rev. Boise Kimber’s plan to open a new boys-focused charter school has received a $2 million state boost — to help try to buy and renovate a vacant former public school building on Valley Street.

On Friday, the State Bond Commission approved a $2 million grant-in-aid to Kimber’s planned Edmonds Cofield Preparatory Academy for Young Men. 

That money will be used ​“for acquisition and renovation costs,” according to Friday’s bond commission agenda and a Monday email press release sent out by New Haven State Sens. Martin Looney and Gary Winfield. The legislators’ press release also touted an array of other newly funded local projects, including $1.4 million for the housing authority’s Glendower Union Square Transformation Plan and $5 million to support ​“property acquisition, public infrastructure, and housing development as part of the Mill River Municipal Development Plan.”

The $2 million state grant for Edmonds Cofield Academy, meanwhile, comes nine months after Kimber won permission from the state Board of Education 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.

During a phone interview on Monday, Kimber said he’s still looking to open the new charter school in August 2024 with an initial cohort of 75 students. While the school will serve primarily boys in grades five through eight, Kimber said, it will ​“not turn females away” as students.

Kimber said the charter school will initially open in rented space at 794 Dixwell Ave., which is an ex-school building that Clifford Beers is looking to acquire from the APT foundation for its own ​“resiliency academy.” The charter school will rent space at the Dixwell Avenue building for only a year, Kimber said, before, hopefully, moving into a more permanent home on Valley Street in West Hills.

That’s where Friday’s $2 million grant comes in. 

Kimber said the school plans to use this newly approved state money to buy the former West Rock STREAM Academy school building at 311 Valley St. The city’s public school district closed that school in 2021 due to HVAC issues.

“We need playground space. We need more classrooms. We get all of that there,” he said about the Valley Street school site. He said he hopes to eventually build the school’s enrollment up to 375.

Kimber noted that in July he sent a letter to New Haven Public Schools Superintendent Madeline Negrón detailing his charter school to-be’s hopes to purchase 311 Valley.

“[We] are committed to maintaining the property’s integrity and ensuring that it continues to serve the community in a positive manner,” he wrote in that letter. ​“Our plans for the property include renovating and repurposing it into a state-of-the-art charter school facility, equipped with modern classrooms, a library, science laboratories, and recreational spaces. We envision creating a safe and stimulating environment that fosters academic excellence and personal growth.”

NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon said on Monday that the district has communicated with Kimber, but has no comment at this time about his charter school’s plan to purchase 311 Valley.

Asked for a comment for this article, Mayor Justin Elicker, ​“NHPS is working to understand the long-term needs of the district. At the moment there are no specific plans for the site. Of course we would like it to be an important asset for the community.”