Original Research by School Decision on Growing up Green Charter School Ii
Growing Up Green Charter School II is a kindergarten through eighth-grade charter network operating in Queens, with campuses in both Long Island City and Jamaica. The school serves a student body that is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with smaller shares of Asian, multiracial, American Indian, and white students. The enrollment is distributed fairly evenly across grades, with slightly higher numbers in kindergarten and seventh grade.
The network underwent a significant structural change in mid-2022 when the original Growing Up Green Charter School merged into Growing Up Green Charter School II, making the latter the surviving education corporation. This consolidation unified what had been separate schools into a single four-school network spanning both neighborhoods, now offering families a continuous K-8 pathway within a shared curriculum and organizational identity. The Jamaica campus includes both elementary and middle school grades, allowing students to complete their middle school years without changing schools.
State assessment data and proficiency results are not available in the reporting provided, so a prospective parent cannot assess the school's academic performance against state benchmarks or peer comparison. Similarly, graduation and attendance figures that would typically characterize a school's performance profile are not reported here. This is a gap worth addressing directly with the school, as these metrics would shape an informed enrollment decision.
One noteworthy context: the school's charter term expired at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, and a renewal site visit was conducted in early 2025. Charter renewal determines operational continuity, and the outcome of this process is a stability factor families considering long-term enrollment should understand. Checking the school's renewal status with New York State Education Department would clarify the school's standing.
Among Queens County's districts, the school operates with notably higher per-pupil spending than the median district, reflecting the resource intensity of charter operations. However, the school reports a chronic absenteeism rate in the bottom quartile among county districts, meaning absenteeism is significantly higher than most neighboring districts. This warrants a direct conversation with school leadership about the drivers of absences and what supports exist to improve daily attendance, since chronic absenteeism correlates strongly with academic outcomes regardless of school quality.
The school does not report enrollment counts for students with disabilities or English learners, and free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility data is not provided, leaving gaps in the profile of economic and language access needs the school serves. These are questions a parent might pose to admissions or leadership to understand the school's student support infrastructure.
For families considering this school, the key strengths are the established K-8 continuum and the unified network structure, which can reduce transitions and create coherent curriculum scope across grades. The main areas requiring clarification before enrollment are the academic performance data, the outcomes of the charter renewal process, and the school's strategy for supporting daily attendance and engagement, especially given the absenteeism context.
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