Original Research by School Decision on Amani Public Charter School
Amani Public Charter School is a grades 5-8 middle school in Mount Vernon, Westchester County, serving a student body that is almost entirely Black, with a small number of Hispanic and multiracial students. The school is small, with an enrollment spread fairly evenly across its four middle grades.
State testing data for proficiency was not available, so the school's performance against state benchmarks cannot be assessed from the data on hand. A parent interested in Amani's academic standing would need to request that information directly from the school or look into publicly reported results from the state education department.
Chronic absenteeism is a real area of concern. The school's rate sits in the bottom quartile among Westchester County's districts, meaning a meaningful share of students are missing significant school time. This is worth exploring with the school: what attendance supports exist, what barriers students face, and whether the school has plans to address it.
Spending per student is in the lower range for the county. The school operates on a tighter budget than many of its neighbors, which may shape the breadth of resources, staffing, or facilities available. Again, a parent might ask the school directly how it manages this constraint and what priorities it sets within its budget.
Information on the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, the number of students with IEPs, or the number of English learners was not reported, so the economic need and special-population support picture cannot be filled in from the data provided.
A significant change is underway. The school has been approved to expand from its current middle-school configuration into a full K-8 school, with kindergarten and first-grade classes beginning in the next academic year and additional elementary grades phasing in over the following years. This roughly doubles the school's eventual size. For a Mount Vernon family, it means the option to keep a child in one school from kindergarten through 8th grade rather than moving to Amani only at 5th grade. The school's charter is up for renewal and was subject to a public hearing in the fall of 2025, securing its continued operation if approved.
Parents considering Amani should request clarity on the school's approach to chronic absenteeism, its proficiency rates and state assessment results, and how the planned expansion will affect the quality of the existing middle grades program during the transition.
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