New York Charters Enroll Fewer Homeless Pupils Than City Schools
12.09.2016 | The New York Times | Last year, 99,196 students in the city’s traditional public schools, or nearly 10 percent of students, were classified as being in temporary housing, according to data from the New York State Technical and Education Assistance Center for Homeless Students, known as NYS-TEACHS, which is funded by the State Education Department and administered by Advocates for Children, a nonprofit group. At the same time, 6,249 students, or roughly 7 percent, in city charter schools were in temporary housing.
The major cause of the disparity, most people agree, is the way charter schools admit students… Charter enrollment “will always disadvantage kids in temporary housing,” Jennifer Pringle, the director of NYS-TEACHS, said. “You have a kid who’s placed in a shelter where the local traditional public school is co-located with a charter school,” she explained. “You can enroll midyear in the traditional public school, but you can’t enroll in that charter school if they don’t have available seats.” Read article