One of the city’s top performing charter school networks is again having a war of words with the de Blasio Administration – this time over the Department of Education’s failure to issue subsidized MetroCards a month into the school year.
According to Success Academy (SA) Charter School officials, 2,624 students at 22 of the network’s schools still haven’t received their subsidized MetroCards — costing families, many of whom are low-income, hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Success Academy Bed-Stuy 1 and Success Academy Bed-Stuy Middle School – two of the city’s top performing schools in last year’s statewide math and English tests – are among the schools hardest hit, where 502 children still don’t have MetroCards.
By law, students at all City public schools, including charter schools, are eligible for subsidized bus and subway transportation based on their grade and how far they must travel to school. The DOE delivers fully and partially paid MetroCards to schools at the beginning of the academic year so that children in need can use them.
But SA officials allege entire shipments of the cards to Success schools have gone missing. Others were sent to the wrong location or are incomplete. Staff at the schools have relentlessly tried to track down the missing cards over the course of dozens of emails and phone calls. Many of these messages went unreturned. Success continues to request a meeting with top officials in the DOE Office of Pupil Transportation to resolve the widespread problems, SA officials said.
“This is yet another example of a huge schools bureaucracy being unresponsive to the everyday needs of working parents,” said SA founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz. “We shouldn’t have to beg for the MetroCards that our families deserve and need.”
DOE spokesperson Toya Holness countered that the onus is on SA officials to make sure they complete all the necessary paperwork before the MetroCards are issued. As of Sept. 19, the DOE has provided Success Academy approximately 9,785 MetroCards for this school year, she said.
“The request from Success Academy for an additional 2,624 cards is pending until they provide the DOE with all required verification. Our requirements have not changed and are the same for district and charter schools,” said Holness.
“We are dedicated to providing students with safe, reliable transportation, and work closely with families and schools to ensure students are receiving the services and supports they need. As soon as we receive the required documentation from schools needed to verify students’ eligibility for the program, the DOE issues MetroCards to schools,” she added.
The DOE currently provides more than half a million students with MetroCards daily.
The brouhaha is the latest salvo between the de Blasio Administration and the SA network. They have also battled over issues regarding universal pre-k and the co-locations of some of their schools.
