Charter School Guide
NYC charter schools emerge as new
opportunity for diverse, inclusive education
BY BY ISABEL SONG BEER
With 272 charter schools
throughout the fi ve boroughs
of New York City, many parents
are wondering what exactly
makes a charter school
different from a more traditional
public school.
If there are drastic differences
or benefi ts between public
and charter schools that
suit their children’s learning
styles, is it a good idea to make
the switch? And what exactly
is a charter school?
According to the National
Alliance for Public Charter
Schools, charter schools receive
government funding but
operate outside the previously
established school system in
the area where the charter
school is physically located.
They maintain independent
operation from traditional
school districts, giving them
freedom “to design classrooms
that meet the students’ needs.”
The New York State Education
Department (NYSED)
reports that approximately
145,000 NYC students are enrolled
in charter schools –
roughly 14% of all NYC students.
Charter schools in NYC
also encourage a diverse enrollment
of students. According
to the NYSED, in the
2020-21 school year half of the
student body in the NYC charter
school system identifi ed
as Black and 40% as Latinx.
Additionally, 79% of charter
school students are economically
challenged, 8% are multilingual
and 9.3% live in temporary
housing.
“Charter schools employ
many many Black and Latinx
educators,” said James Merriman
the CEO of NYC’s Charter
school system on Jan. 13.
“I think increasingly we are
having a ‘moment’, and I think
people are beginning to realize
that while it is fi ne to have
a white teacher and white administrators,
it is so important
that Black students see
people like them in positions
of leadership in front of the
classroom, who understand
some of the struggles that kids
come into school with.”
Since charter schools do
not operate in any of NYC’s
established public school systems,
they are able to implement
certain rules and regulations
that other public schools
in the area are not – especially
COVID-related protocol.
“Charters are overseen by
an independent board of trustees,
which itself is overseen
usually by one of three entities
in New York City – either by
the board of education, by the
NYS education department
Board of Regions and also by
the Charter School Institute of
the SUNY Trustees,” said Merriman.
Because of this, charter
schools are not governed by
the NYC Schools Chancellor
or the Department of Education,
and each school is able to
make independent decisions
regarding the safety of their
students as the COVID-19 pandemic
continues to spread.
“Charter schools have to
follow the same health and
safety regulations that district
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 24 JAN. 21-27, 2022 BTR
schools do,” said Merriman.
“They follow what the
department of health NYC and
NYS tell them to do in terms
of testing, vaccination. social
distancing. But on the other
hand, they can also make their
own decisions about whether
it makes more sense to go virtual.
Many of the charters –
not all – stayed open, but many
decided that they would hold
the fi rst two weeks of class virtually.”
Charter schools are designed
to accommodate the
individual learning needs of
students, and this includes students
in need of special education.
“At the NYC Charter School
Center we actually have a collaborative
which almost every
charter school belongs to
better provide special education,”
said Merriman. “Providing
special education well
is very very diffi cult, but charter
schools are stepping up to
that and have basically the
same rates of students who are
identifi ed as needing special
education as those in district
schools.”
With fi ve more charter
schools being planned to open
in the coming year, it is clear
that the popularity of charters
is increasing.
“We are trying to make
sure students actually get the
services they need, and beyond
that succeed as we hope
all students do,” said Merriman.
3 ways educators can use
newspapers in the classroom
The COVID-19 pandemic
had a profound impact on communities
across the globe. No
individual, household or industry
was unaffected by the
pandemic, and the ripple effects
of the virus may be felt for
years to come. Though many
effects of the pandemic have
been devastating, one unforeseen
and potentially positive
consequence of the spread of
COVID-19 was a growing recognition
of the invaluable role
played by local newspapers.
Responses to the virus and
strategies regarding how to
combat it varied greatly, and
local newspapers were a goto
resource for citizens who
wanted to learn about rules
and regulations in their towns.
For example, in England the
Bishop’s Stortford Independent,
a local weekly paper in
Hertfordshire, experienced a
signifi cant monthly web audience
growth during the pandemic.
Prior to the global outbreak
in January 2020, the paper’s
monthly web audience was
260,000. By October, that number
had spiked to 360,000, refl
ecting a growing need for
local news outlets as readers
across the globe sought
to learn about the pandemic
within their own communities
and how local offi cials were responding
to the threat posed
by COVID-19. If the pandemic
illustrated the vital role local
newspapers can play, it’s important
that readers recognize
that role won’t be any less valuable
when COVID-19 is in the
world’s rearview mirror.
Educators can help the next
generation of readers recognize
the importance of local
newspapers by taking various
steps to incorporate newspapers
into their lessons.
1. Employ newspapers
when teaching
current events.
Everyone was directly
affected by the
COVID-19 virus, making
the story of the
pandemic one of the
most unique in modern
history. Though
children are often sheltered
from global news
stories about confl icts
or economic crises, no
such sheltering was
possible during the
pandemic, as kids were
forced to learn from
home and confront life with little
or no access to extracurricular
activities. Educators can
show how local newspapers reported
on the pandemic when
teaching current events, using
that example as the foundation
for teaching current events in
the future.
2. Utilize the newspapers
when teaching ESL.
Students who do not speak
English at home or as their
primary language can benefi t
greatly from their local newspapers.
It might be easy to
learn how to say certain words
in English, but reading them
in a newspaper gives ESL students
a chance to see the words
they’ve learned in context.
And because local newspapers
feature sections on everything
from news to sports to entertainment,
ESL students are
sure to fi nd a few articles that
appeal to their existing interests.
3. Use newspapers to encourage
a love of reading.
Just like ESL students are
bound to fi nd something that
interests them in the local
newspapers, their Englishspeaking
classmates are sure
to fi nd a recap of their favorite
team’s most recent game or a
review of the latest superhero
movie or a local news story
about their town to pique their
interest. Students may not realize
it, but they’re learning
when reading such stories by
developing their vocabularies,
fi ne tuning their comprehension
skills and catching up on
current events. The valuable
role played by local newspapers
was on display during the
pandemic. That role won’t be
any less valuable in a post-pandemic
world, and it’s a lesson
teachers can apply in