Memo to Blas:
A charter saved my kid from your schools
MAYOR de Blasio’s “hatred” of charter schools made headlines this week. One of his claims for this hatred is that traditional public schools are superior because they “take all kids of all needs” and charters don’t.
In my experience, that is not the case. My son is a specialneeds student, and after a tumultuous year at our local district school, he is now thriving at a charter school.
My son, Franlo, was diagnosed with autism before he turned 2. Because of his developmental delays, we were eligible for early-intervention programs until he turned 3, when he could attend preschool.
Each year, he made incredible progress and graduated from the services he was receiving. I tried not to worry as we prepared for him to go into kindergarten at our local district school.
But at the end of my son’s first day, I didn’t see him outside with the rest of the kids. When I entered the building, I heard a kid screaming at the top of his lungs. I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I walked down the hall, hoping it wasn’t my child. It was. And I had never seen him so upset.
Outside, the principal approached me and said, “We can’t handle this [him].”
The next day, I sent him back, hoping he’d become comfortable in his classroom as his teachers got to know him better. But after a couple of months, I just knew our zoned school was not the right fit for him. He was not learning at the level I knew he was capable of, and each day was more stressful than the last.
After asking around about school options, I learned about Success Academy from a coworker. I toured the school and was impressed with how engaged the children seemed in the classroom and how attentive the teachers were with both scholars and parents.
I decided to apply, and thankfully, we got a spot through the lottery.
When I dropped off Franlo for another “first day” of school, I was still anxious, but I knew he was set up to have a good day.
His teachers and school leaders had met with me over the summer to discuss his Individual Education Plan and strategize about how we could best support him as he entered a new school.
Success also organizes a “dress rehearsal” for the first day of school that all its scholars attend to meet their teachers and classmates and practice for the big day.
At the end of his day, he walked out happily with his peers. His face lit up when he saw me, and he immediately began telling me about his new life as a first-grader.
I wouldn’t be telling our whole story if I did not acknowledge that I’ve had to work through challenges with Franlo’s teachers and school leaders a few times over his three years at Success.
As any parent of a specialneeds child can expect, I am on a first-name basis and in regular communication with them. Instead of being told that Franlo’s school “can’t deal with this,” we work as a team to support him.
Recently, I worried that he was getting pulled out of science class too often for counseling, speech and occupational therapy. As soon as I expressed concern, the school put together a new schedule for him that varied the time he’d miss class.
Another time, his teacher alerted me that his reading level was regressing — news no parent wants to hear. But she assured me that as long as we continued to read together for 30 minutes a night and worked through flashcards she provided, he’d be back on track.
Now I’m proud to say he’s reading above grade level.
My son and I are fortunate we found a school so invested in students, no matter their ZIP code, race or disability status. I want more parents to watch their children reach the potential. So I’m sharing our story in hopes that parents with specialneeds children learn that they, too, have a choice.
Instead of hearing de Blasio spew hatred toward “privatizers,” I wish he would instead ensure all children have access to a quality education — especially children from families that can’t afford to live in Park Slope.