Charter School Fights for Kids to Break Cycle of Poverty

Home Brooklyn Life Charter School Fights for Kids to Break Cycle of Poverty
Parents, educators and politicians meet at a charter school to discuss how to focus students on a future beyond the streets

The teacher-to-student inspirational speech is a staple of education but, as it turns out, teachers can give pep talks to parents too.

The one-year-old Bedford-Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter School hosted a town hall meeting last night that started as a myth-buster about charter schools, with school representatives lauding the benefits of these schools over other systems. But the meeting turned on its head once teachers and parents in the audience got involved in the discussions.

From there, the town hall meeting became an educational spit-balling session, in which teachers, parents, politicians and concerned citizens discussed the most effective ways to get children focused on a future beyond the streets.

“Like they say, it takes a village to raise a child,” said 40-year resident Orlando Russell, who lives next door to the New Beginnings school on Lewis Avenue. “Sometimes that is true.”

The impact of a negative environment on children was a key point as the conversation often drifted to questions of safety, socioeconomics and immigration as factors that influence a child´s ability to learn, especially in an area where NYPD crime statistics show crime is high. Many parents at the meeting said they noted an increase in gangs at the parks. But no matter how the discussion turned, it always veered toward two solutions to improving education: the parents being involved with their children´s studies, and the community´s investment in schools.

Several of the speakers, including co-Principal Karen Jones and board member Victor Rivera, spoke of going past the “four walls” of the school.

“When we say it doesn´t end at the four walls, it´s because we are going into the homes [of the community],” Rivera said.

More than 60 people attended the free event, including New York State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries. Many of the attendees were parents of students, whom speakers thanked enthusiastically for their participation. Others, though, tempered that reaction with the imperative that parents need to do more than attend meetings.

“We want the room to be the community at large,” said Kate Bowling, the teacher liaison for the charter school. “We are dedicated to the success of our community, [but] we need you to read to your children.”

The BSNBCS opened its doors in 2010 after a district school located on the same lot was shut down.

And even though much of the meeting focused on the benefits of a charter school, they are not a guarantee of success. Because 2010 was the school´s inaugural year, there is no progress report to see where the school stands compared to other schools. Many public school teachers are critical of charter schools in general, charging that they do not offer any great advantages. Still, when looking at data for the other 136 charter schools in New York City, there is reason for hope for New Beginnings. Students at charter school generally perform higher than students at normal public schools. Sixty-eight percent of charter school kids meet or exceed state standards in math compared to 57 percent for district schools, according to the New York City Charter School Center. But it is difficult to say if the success is due to the school or the self-selection of students.

Typically, charter schools are independently run public schools that are both accountable to state standards and also allowed to innovate.

This school´s motto shows such an innovative spirit in bringing Latin back to the classroom with the motto Ad Summum, which means To the Top.

In that same vein, Jeffries, a second-term assemblyman for district 57, mentioned how New York City still has a long way to go in closing the achievement gap, which sees a much greater number of white children succeed compared to blacks. That must change, Jeffries said while standing in a school that is populated primarily by black students.

“The status quo is indefensible,” he said. “We will continue to all we can for our children.

The meeting, meanwhile, continually returned to the importance of parental involvement in the community and in the schools, if the children are to get ahead.

“We can´t fail them, so that they can be the best that they can be,” said Rana Roberts, president of the Parent Organization. “Poverty should not be their destiny.”

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