The Problem with Charters

Charter Schools take up room in existing NYC schools. NYC schools are already overcrowded adding more students to it just does not do the trick, no matter what you think cough Joel cough Mayor Mike.
Take the case of yesterday's school that made the attention of the media because it was booted out of the school they overtook in a coup. What not a coup? To me when a school comes into another school uninvited because our leaders say that the way it is, it is a coup.
Now lets read between the lines from yesterday's Daily News article entitled,
Our School full, booted Brooklyn Charter told
lets start shall we?
"All though it was promised a school for 2 years, Although it was promised a home at Public School 158 in East New York, Brooklyn, for two years, the East New York Prep charter school was forced out over the summer and must move temporarily to PS 323 in Brownsville"

okay so it was promised a school, how about some raw space Joel
not a school already being used by students? So now you are going to inconvenience another school and make parent's scramble for alternative ways to get to yet another school. Anyway hear the small voice in their heads school bus scandal?

There are tensions between parents.
I can understand this. How would you like it if you child was in a school receiving an eduction and then all of a sudden you are told that 200 additional children would be brought into your school, but it would not be your school but a Charter, and with that your children could not use certain rooms because they are for the charter.
Its a classic example of dividing the classes so to speak.

My favorite part of the article is this:"While the charter's parents point out that PS 158 has been nearly 300 students below capacity for several years, the Education Department said the school saw an "unanticipated spike" of 60 students in its enrollment."

Now remember I used to be a PTA President, a former SLT member and I remember vividly when the BOE, before Klein, came into our school
to see if our elementary school was under capcity. They were looking to see where children can be sent since Queens needs more seats.
Our school was also found to be under capacity. Why? Well there was a bathroom or two and an attic space that was not being utilized as classroom and it was found that we too could add 300 more students.
We already were full, we had Pre-K in the building and Reading was taught in the auditorium but there was a closet somewhere we could teach a class or two.

So the under capacity theme has to be taken with a grain of salt. 60 more children can break your school if you don't have a place to put them. Oh I forget class size of 40 is acceptable.
If P.S 158 was not over capacity then why was the speech teacher, teaching in the bathroom? Because the principal was trying to boot out the Charter? I don't think so.

The DOE is playing a shell game with our children's future. While they want more Charters there is no room at the inn for them. Oops wrong story.
Joel and Mike please stop sacrificing the education of children and start to realize that ALL of our children matter.