‘It’s a no-brainer’: NYC parents give reasons for moving their kids into charter schools

Traditional public school kindergarten enrollment is plummeting in New York City as parents enroll their kids into better-performing charter schools.

Angelina Almonte, mother of three and a public-school administrator, said parents are finding much better engagement from charters than the traditional schools.

“My older daughter was in a charter school, and the teachers were always calling and talking to the parents about behavior, academic stuff,” Almonte said, according to The New York Post. “I think the teachers are more engaged with parents [at the charter school].”

Almonte works at an elementary school in the Bronx’s District 9, the school district with the biggest drop in kindergarten enrollment. In the past six years the district has seen a 17% drop in kindergarten-enrollment, according to the Post.

Almonte said she is now considering sending her 3-year-old daughter to a charter school instead of a traditional public school, despite working for the latter. 

Ruth Arias, a single mother who immigrated to New York from the Dominican Republic, said she’s looking for another schooling option for her children. Arias is concerned with the vulgar words her 7-year-old is learning at his current school. 

“I don’t like the public school. The children have a different education, a bad education. When my kid went to a public school, he adopted bad words,” Arias said according to The New York Post. “He said, ‘F— you’ around the house, and I knew it was coming from his school. The children there fight.”  

Azalia Lopez Volpe chose to send her daughter Violetta to Bridge Preparatory Charter School in New York because her previous public school didn’t have the resources to instruct children with dyslexia.  

“She used to write north and south, for lack of a better term,” Vlope said, according to the Post. “She would write vertically only.” 

Now, Vlope said her reading and writing skills have “skyrocketed” ever since their switch to a charter school.  

Efrem Barriteau, a single father of three, said charter schools are a “no brainer” for no other reason than they outperform public schools academically. 

“If data proves that charter school students are outperforming those in public schools, it’s a no-brainer,” Barriteau told the Post. 

Last year, data showed charter schools outperformed traditional public schools in both the English Language-Arts (ELA) and math proficiency test. Where charter schools averaged 55.3% in ELA, public schools averaged 46.5%, and in Math, 46.3% compared to 39.4%. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has even advocated for more charter schools in New York despite push back from Democrats in the Legislature.  

“Well, there is a groundswell of support for it,” Hochul said, according to New York 1. “I know right now in New York City there is upwards of a thousand, even more parents, who are simply saying what I believe, which is that they deserve to have choice. Children deserve to have options. 

“I can’t tell a parent in a community where they want to have a different option for their children that that option does not exist. That’s why I am pursuing the opportunity to give choice to parents.”