Hundreds of charter school students, parents and educators rallied at Cadman Plaza yesterday to celebrate the impact of Brooklyn charter schools on local communities and demand education equality for every student.
Fatimah Barker, Chief External Officer at Achievement First, led this year’s annual rally and embraced a theme of educational equality and access, with a rallying cry of “Equality Is Possible.”
The march was a call to action for Mayor Bill De Blasio’s office and educational policy-makers to change their politics toward charter schools and let them expand to reach every child in the city.
“For all the challenges we face as a nation, the road to equality begins in our schools and each and everyone one of us is part of that movement for justice” said Barker.
Currently, Brooklyn’s charter schools serve 43,172 students, with a focus on the borough’s highest need students and communities, particularly in Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant where just 18 percent of children can read or do math on grade level and where just 22 percent can, respectively.
However, 10,000 students in the borough are still on public charter school waiting lists, along with over 37,000 other students citywide.
Cynthia Cummings, a mother of two children at Success Academy Schools in Bedford-Stuyvesant, echoed the pride in the charter school system that many emitted during the rally.
“I’m here today because I know just how a big difference great teachers and a love of learning can make in a child’s life. I’ve seen how Success has transformed my kids’ lives and I will continue to fight for every child to have the same opportunity,” said Cummings.
Brooklyn’s public charter schools now make up 9 of the top 25 schools in the borough. The borough’s top public charter schools include Leadership Prep Ocean Hill, which was a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School; International Charter School of New York, a member of the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition; and Coney Island Prep, which sent 100 percent of its first graduating class to college.
Parents and educators at the rally also stood up in support of undocumented students who attend their schools by encouraging rally attendees to support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.There are currently an estimated 30,000 DACA students across the five boroughs.
In September, President Trump, under a looming deadline, ordered the end of a five-year-old executive action protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation. The president declared a March 25, 2018 deadline for the Obama-era program and prohibited future DACA applications from being accepted.
“As we rally in support of equality for our students at the city and state level, we also need to take action to defend our students from threats at the national level. We stand with DREAMers across the country who embody the American Dream,” said Barker.
