Brooklyn Young Republican Club President Brandon Washington made some GOP inroads in heavily Democratic Canarsie with a forum on Saturday that drew several dozen residents centering around charter schools, parental choice and the options of where one can send their children to school.
The event took place at Beraca Baptist Church, 9602 Flatlands Avenue. It featured representatives from Community Linked and Family for Excellent in Schools (FES), two charter school advocacy groups whose platforms are centered around educating families on quality education from grades K-1 through 12.
“Our staff and team care about school choice, because we believe in giving families options. We don’t believe in coming here and talking about issues, we actually believe in solving those issues,” said Washington.
According to a flyer, the theme of the afternoon was “NYC Charter School Option Forum,” focusing on the “complexity and uniqueness the charter school movement possess.”
FES Parent advocate and representative Shamona Kirkland suggested the mantra “Parent Power” to attendees and to achieve this power the importance of rallying and lobbying local elected officials with concerns about the direction of public education as a direct means to help shape policy.
“Being able to take a child out of an underperforming school and put them into a school of your choice that is fitting for their social and academic needs is empowering,” said Kirkland.
Also in attendance was Brooklyn Republican Party Chair Teddy Ghorra, a father of school-aged children and married to an educator, who encouraged attendees to have an ongoing dialogue about education and other important community-related issues.
“I think that people should have that option for their children,” said Ghorra with regards to educational opportunities. “You want the best thing for your children, in [education], in my opinion, people should have a choice.”
Ghorra was very clear to specify that choice includes traditional public schools, charter public schools and religious schools.
When asked how effective it is for a parent to voice concerns to their local politician, Ghorra instructed the audience to be civil and consistent. “I love seeing big gatherings in front of city hall where people are really voicing their concerns,” said Ghorra.
Leda Narieda, Principal co-founder of Community Linked helped to demystify some of the distinctions between traditional public schools and chartered public schools.
“High performing charter schools emphasize the importance of academic and focus on something specific that they think is important,” said Narieda.
While Narieda’s company, Community Linked has been instrumental with connecting parents and charter schools, her roots are that of a parent advocate with children currently enrolled in charter schools.
Bernida Jackson, the GOP candidate for the open City Council District 41 seat covering Brownsville, and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, East Flatbush, Canarsie and Crown Heights, attributed the decline of traditional public schooling in her area to school closures and lack of funding during the recession, which ultimately resulted in overcrowding.
Jackson, a product of New York City’s public school system reflected on a time when parents and teachers worked more closely to advocate for the youth.
“When I was growing up, parents had a lot to say. There was the Parent and Teachers Association (PTA),” said Jackson, making a point to emphasize the omission of teachers in the current structure of parent involvement throughout traditional public schools.
