Securing a quality education is a concern for all families
Why I’m marching for charter schools
A mother urges Democratic Mayoral candidate; Bill de Blasio, to rethink his plan to collect rent from NYC Charter Schools that are housed in Public School buildings.
By Regina Dowdell, New York Daily News/ Opinion
I like a lot of what Bill de Blasio says. I believe he wakes up in the morning thinking about people like my family and our friends — people who are working hard but find it harder than ever to make it in New York.
But when it comes to schools, I could not disagree with him more. I’m a working parent, but he treats me like I’m a member of the elite.
Like most of my family and friends, I am relying on New York City public schools to give my daughter Kendall a solid education. Unlike most of my family and friends, my daughter is getting just that.
Why? Because the public school she goes to, Girls Prep Bronx, happens to be a charter school. This fact has made her and the 70,000 other kids who go to charter schools, along with the 50,000 on waiting lists, a target of some proposed policy reforms by the mayoral front-runner — reforms that would slow the growth of these schools and maybe even force existing schools to scale back or close.
Yes, it’s true; charter schools educate a small percentage of all the kids in our public schools. But for so many parents, these schools are working brilliantly.
I don’t understand why he would mess with a good thing.
I think de Blasio is right that there are two New Yorks. In one, parents get to choose the best school for their kids — and schools are held accountable for the kind of education they deliver. (De Blasio and his wife, well-off public-school parents, have had the luxury of sending their children to high-quality schools.)
In the other New York, parents get forced into sending their kids to whatever school is closest, and kids don’t come close to getting the education they deserve.
Even though I am no wealthier than any of my friends or family, I am lucky enough to be in the “first” New York — because there was a spot in a public charter school for my daughter.
Everyone should be as lucky as me. In fact, it shouldn’t have to be about luck. Every student in New York City deserves the same chance at the best education he or she can get.
But some of the policies proposed by de Blasio will make it harder to do just that. My daughter’s school is co-located with a district school, Middle School 302. We get along well. We’ve even worked together on projects in the community, something I believe we all benefit from.
Yet de Blasio talks often of imposing a moratorium on new co-locations, something that could very well restrict my daughter’s ability to go to a great middle school, and my neighbor’s ability to choose great new schools.
De Blasio has also talked about charging charter schools rent — something no other public schools have to do.
That would price our public charter schools, which don’t get money for facilities, out of public school buildings and perhaps out of the city entirely. A free public education is our right. I don’t understand why we’d be charged for it.
All of these proposals boil down to one thing — more kids like my daughter would mostly be stuck in poor performing schools with no way out.
All students deserve a school with high-quality teachers, one that graduates its students on time and prepares them to go on to college and careers. Until every public school in New York City provides that kind of quality education, we cannot afford to limit choices.
That’s why on Tuesday, I am going to make my voice heard, and I hope that the mayoral candidates listen. I am going to be one of the thousands of parents, teachers and students marching across the Brooklyn Bridge to stand strong with one message: Every student deserves a great school and every parent deserves a choice.
I’m hoping that when I march on Oct. 8, that the real de Blasio will hear me — the one that believes in ending the tale of two cities, in strengthening all schools.
Dowdell is a parent at Girls Prep Bronx in the South Bronx, and a chapter leader with Families for Excellent Schools.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/marching-charter-schools-article-1.1476867#ixzz2hDkKQrdf
