All-Boys Charter School Opens On Dixwell

by Maya McFadden The New Haven independent

The merger of Wexler-Grant and Lincoln-Bassett – plus the appeal of uniforms, smaller class sizes, and a single-sex student body — led Tiffany Baines to send her son Royal to New Haven’s newest school this academic year, an all-boys charter school on Dixwell Avenue called Edmonds Cofield Preparatory Academy (ECPA).

Baines, a mother of three boys, and her son Tyrique ​“Royal” Noyan told the Independent on Wednesday that they’ve been loving the new school so far. 

Wednesday marked the school’s third day of classes. ECPA Dean of Student Affairs and Auxiliary Programs Tyree Hughey said that the school has 60 fifth and sixth graders enrolled so far. 

While ECPA began its school year on Monday, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) formally kicks off its academic year on Thursday.

The new all-boys charter school was founded by Rev. Boise Kimber, and operates out of rented space at a former school building at 794 Dixwell that is now owned by the children’s mental healthcare nonprofit Clifford Beers.

Kimber first won permission from the state Board of Education back in March 2023 for an initial certification for the new charter school, which is named after two late New Haven Black community leaders, the Revs. Edwin Edmonds and Curtis Cofield.

Baines picked up her sixth-grader at around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, as the school is scheduled to have early dismissals each day of its first week. She told the Independent about how supportive the school’s administration has been so far. 

Baines said that one of the main reasons why she decided to enroll Royal at ECPA was because NHPS decided to close his former school, Wexler-Grant School on Foote Street in the Dixwell neighborhood, and merge it with Lincoln-Bassett School on Bassett Street in Newhallville, to create a single PreK‑8 school based out of Bassett’s campus.

While she didn’t mind Bassett as a school, she said she worried about the neighborhood it’s in. That’s when she started looking into ECPA as an option. 

She struggled however to convince her son that it would be a good fit. He worried about being separated from his brother, who plans to attend the charter school Booker T Washington Academy this year. 

Baines said she reached out to ECPA administrators for support. When she told them her son had some hesitancy about attending a new school without his brother, the school’s principal, W. Bilal Muhammed-El Shabazz, arranged a home visit to answer any of Royal’s questions about the school. 

“He let my son know that separation from his brother is ok and just made him more comfortable because they have both been close all their life,” she said. 

When asked how he feels about being apart from his brother now, three days into the 2025 – 26 school year, Royal said, ​“I don’t care now, it’s ok.” 

Baines added that she has always wanted to try out an all-boys school that requires uniforms and ​“preps them to be gentlemen.” 

She said she is a strong advocate of uniforms for youth. ​“It helps them focus rather than worrying about Jordan’s or the newest brands.” She added that she loves the small school setting and that the location is ​“perfect” because it’s five minutes away from some of her family as well as other resources.

She hopes that, while Royal attends ECPA, he’ll learn how to get along with other boys and find a ​“brotherhood” that will encourage him to seek out healthy friendships with other boys as he grows up. 

Royal told the Independent Wednesday he enjoys lunch and recess and doesn’t mind the uniforms because they are comfortable. When comparing it to previously attending Wexler-Grant, he said the kids are nice and there are no fights so far. When one minor conflict came up Wednesday, Royal said the staff immediately encouraged the boys to talk it out.

After walking students to their buses Wednesday, Principal Muhammed-El Shabazz told the Independent the first two weeks at ECPA will focus on staff building bonds with the students and informing them of the academic standards and behavioral expectations for the year ahead. 

When Muhammed-El Shabazz got the job to lead the new school he decided to move to Newhallville to be sure he was a part of the community he is working with. He said he’s going to focus this year on showing that ECPA is a community school that will teach its boys about brotherhood, leadership, and global innovation. ​“That’s our promise here. Community is at the forefront,” he said. 

He added that community walks were a part of the staff’s professional development to give those not living in New Haven context of what the community has to offer. 

Teachers: “A Brotherhood Being Built”

Joshua Jenkins: This school is “something that’s needed.”

Sancia Morgan in her ELA classroom.

In a separate interview Wednesday, ECPA music theory and expression teacher Joshua Jenkins told the Independent that he has been teaching for more than a decade. He said teaching at an all-boys school is a brand new experience for him. 

As of Wednesday, Jenkins and his wife all of their belongings out of their apartment in Philadelphia, he previously worked as a teacher. He’s now moving to Hamden. This summer he was in search of a new work experience and applied to ECPA after learning about it on the job-posting Indeed. 

He said three days in, his students have already displayed significant musical talent. So far, the main difference he’s noticed in teaching at a school with all boys is the students’ high energy. 

“They are so much more focused without any distractions of showing off for girls,” he said. 

He added that the boys are receptive to reminders like one he gave Wednesday, when his students were talking to each other with a lack of respect. He told them why it’s not ok to talk to their peers that way. He said it was a learning experience for his entire class. 

As Jenkins and his students dive into learning instruments like the piano, drums, and flute, he said he’s already gotten requests for his class to host a talent show. 

He said he looks forward to connecting further with the students because ECPA ​“is something that’s needed.”

ECPA English Language Arts teacher Sancia Morgan said on Wednesday that one of her top goals for the year is improving her students’ interest in reading and their abilities to connect their personal interests to her classroom. 

She created a reading nook in her classroom filled with books and graphic novels ranging from topics like Pokemon to robots to sports. 

Morgan said at past schools she’s worked at, she’s had classrooms with as many as 34 students. Now at ECPA she has about 16 kids per class for her 50-minute ELA periods. Like other staffers, Morgan is spending the first weeks doing regular check-ins with her students and building up the classroom community to help them get to know each other and her. 

“It’s great to see a brotherhood being built. That’s only going to get stronger here because they’ll be really on respecting each other and having fruitful conversations and debates,” she said. 

Since getting the job she added that she has done research about the ​“disparity and big gap there is for literacy with boys compared to girls.” 

She also said her students are high energy and said she plans to work off of that strength. She has students who like to walk around the classroom rather than sitting for the entire period. She has ideas already to host frequent gallery walks in her class to keep the students engaged.

She spent a recent English period with her students having her students write on sticky notes about what helps them to learn with their peers and the teacher. Many students noted that they learn best when their peers are quiet and when the teacher is not stressed out. Another note stated they don’t learn when they’re mad and when their classmates distract them. 

Principal Muhammed (third from left) with ECPA educators.

Poster from a recent class assignment in Morgan’s room.

Morgan’s reading nook, only to be used when a student is reading.