We need charter schools to serve all students — and Coral Academy is a part of that

Re: " Tale of two schools: Unveiling inequity in Washoe County ," July 14:

On behalf of the school I oversee (Coral Academy of Science), and perhaps the greater charter school community, I want to thank the Reno Gazette Journal for publishing Cliff Porter’s column on July 11. Washoe County needs more school choice and more high-quality schools for all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, income level and other factors. That is why CAS supports the Mater Academy project and asks the entire community to stand behind him.

Where we disagree with Porter is in an assumption he made in arguing his case. Coral Academy’s demographics are not “affluent and predominantly white.” Of the nearly 2,000 children CAS served in 2022-23, 62.5% were non-Caucasian, compared to a Washoe County average of just 58.2%. Coral Academy has served more people of color, not less, in our path to 1) our campuses averaging a 4.25-star rating, and 2) our high school earning U.S. News and WorldReport recognition as the second-best in Washoe County and fifth-best in Nevada. Perhaps that is no surprise, given some would regard me and my board chair (immigrants from the Middle East) as people of color.

Coral Academy also serves substantial populations of free-and-reduced-lunch, special education, and English-language pupils — with those numbers rising steadily year-on-year, as noted at the NDE’s online portal, nevadareportcard.nv.gov/di/ .

In short, we agree 100% with Porter that all Washoe County students, including historically marginalized communities, deserve an absolute first-class education, and Coral Academy is in fact a shining example of what that looks like.

Feyzi Tandogan is the executive director of the Coral Academy of Science.

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This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: We need charter schools to serve all students — and Coral Academy is a part of that