The Developing Innovative Rural Thinking (DIRT) Charter School is a proposed charter school that plans to open its doors in September 2014. DIRT Charter School  will be the first rural charter school in New York State. The school will integrate environmental science throughout their curriculum. Students will use the Orange County environment as their laboratory for hands on, interdisciplinary projects which will serve as jumping off points for other subjects such as English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Foreign Language, Art and Music. DIRT Charter School also plans to have extensive after school programs that meet student's interests.

May 3, 2013 - The DIRT Charter School's application has been accepted and the DIRT Team has been invited to a capacity interview at the NYSED with CSO Director Bill Clarke and other staff and reviewers this month. This is a very important milestone in the charter approval process!

April 6, 2013 - DIRT's Full Application was one of 18 accepted by the NYSED for comprehensive evaluation by panels of expert reviewers. To read the full application go to: DIRT Full Application

February 15, 2013 - DIRT's Letter of Intent was accepted by the NYSED and we were invited to submit our full application. Of a total 49 submitted Letters of Intent submitted to the NYSED, just 27 were accepted (including DIRT's) and invited to move to the Full Application phase of the process. For a look at our Letter of Intent, it is posted on the NYSED Charter School Office Website at: DIRT Charter School

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This is a video from Green Woods Charter School in Philadelphia, that integrates Environmental Science throughout it's curriculum similar to how DIRT proposes to educate children.

Click on the link below to view the PowerPoint presentation:

Purchasing items from our shop will help raise funds for our proposed school.