This article puts off mentioning a key point until the end: after a meeting, there was "mutual agree[ment]" that the child attend a closer, non-charter school.
Not mentioned: homeless children are harder to educate. Their lives are in flux. They are likely to be underslept and badly nourished. Their families are under stress. It's unlikely that they have a clean, quiet place for homework. It's not just the tardies and the absences: Ascend is saving itself some cash in resources by having this child go elsewhere.
It's unclear to me how New York City schools, what with their ready millions for consultants and educational technology, were not able to come up with school bus service. Providing Metrocards to subsidize a one hundred and fifty minute commute seems like a violation of the spirit if not the letter of McKinney-Vento.
Of course, it could be worse. I read last year that districts tend not to offer families services for which they are eligible under McKinney-Vento since they are expensive and underfunded.
3 comments:
Friends who work at public schools near "miracle" charter schools have reported the student who had been attending the the charter school coming in to the public school to find out how to register, both in tears. This is after the "mutual agreement" that the student should leave the school, of course.
It is impossible for me to understand how changing schools could be construed as better for a child whose life is in flux - unless you are only interested in ADA money and academic success.
Even with her attendance and grades down, the child needs stability, and if she and her mom have been going to such lengths to get to school, clearly the school is a source of it.
But then, I teach at a lousy real public school, where teachers and administrators have driven children to school, or fought to get reasonable bus services. Charter schools don't need to explore these options: they have us for that.
It’s hard to seek out knowledgeable folks on this matter, but you sound like you realize what you’re speaking about! Thanks
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