FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 17, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 27
charter schools
New York City charter school open house month
continues for prospective students and parents
BY ISABEL SONG BEER
February is New York City’s charter
school open house month, and despite the
pandemic NYC charter schools have been
performing incredibly well – off ering educational
support and resources to students
across the city. Charters have been doing
so well, in fact, that this year marks the
sixth consecutive year of growth for the
NYC Charter School Center.
Th is month, prospective students and
interested parents will be able to schedule
virtual and in-person visits to charter
schools within their neighborhoods to see
if the services off ered would better benefi
t the student.
According to data released Jan. 31 by
the NYC Charter School Center, charters
citywide have seen a 1.3% enrollment
increase this school year, 20% growth for
English Language Learners (ELL) – leading
to an overall increase of 63% of ELL
students over the past fi ve years – and an
increase in Black student enrollment, with
current fi gures indicating 25% of Black
students across all fi ve boroughs are now
attending charter schools.
“Despite a cap on the creation of charter
schools in New York City and the historic
challenges of the past two years, the
City’s public charters continued to grow
during the pandemic – by 9%,” said James
Merriman, CEO of the New York City
Charter Center. “Our growth is a direct
result of the incredible work of our teachers,
staff and school leaders across 272
schools to provide a high-quality education
to the students who make up our
diverse and vibrant public charter school
community, and to give families a choice
to fi nd the school that’s best for their child.”
Charter schools are public schools that
run independently like private schools,
but are funded by state income tax, grants,
awards and donations. While “normal”
public schools are federally funded. Th is
allows charters to tailor their curriculum
more personally to fi t the needs of independent
students, while still fulfi lling the
overall mission of educating a community
of students. Charter schools are also held
to a standard they set of advancing student
achievement and if they don’t reach
these goals, they can be shut down.
“Th e diff erence between public and
charter schools at a government level
is that charters are of course run independently
of the district,” said Merriman
in an interview with amNew York in
January. “Th is gives charters the ability
to give more options to parents regarding
class size and curriculum or way in
which the school approaches how they
view parent/student relationships and
parent/teacher relationships or a particular
emphasis on certain school subjects.”
Th is more hands-on approach to learning
seems to be appealing to more NYC
parents, with the ability to be more
informed on a child’s individual needs
and educational development being one
of the reasons parents are gravitating
towards charter schools, and another reason
being racial representation within
educational spaces.
“Th ere are many many Black and Latinx
educators in NYC charter schools, and
there are charter schools that are diverse by
design,” said Merriman. “Because charter
schools oft en cater to low-income families,
they were created precisely to serve
those families because those are the families
where the system hasn’t well-served
all kids historically. So for those students,
it is about making sure that they are performing
well and getting a rigorous education
and getting themselves ready for
college or careers.”
/WWW.QNS.COM
