Copyright New York Post
A month ago, I joined 15,000 other parents to march across the Brooklyn Bridge and demand what every family deserves: the right to choose an excellent public school for their child, and the right to be treated equitably as a public-school parent. Today, we are still waiting for electeds to take action. I grew up in The Bronx, went to the local district schools and was the first in my family to graduate college. That wasn’t guaranteed. And it was possible only because my mother, who couldn’t read herself, forced me to go to school every day. My mother never admitted her illiteracy to me as a child. Instead, she’d “fake read” books to me, inventing stories from the pictures, hoping to instill in me a love of reading. Despite a system that failed her, she believed education was the only escape from poverty. Thanks to her, I had a fighting chance. But many of my peers — just as bright as me — weren’t so lucky. They lacked adults who pushed them, believed in them or paved a path to college. That’s why, when I walked into a local charter school as a teacher right out of college, I was shocked. In the very same neighborhood where I grew up, every single first-grader in that school could read. Every. Single. One. This wasn’t luck. It was thanks to the charter school. It’s what happens when adults believe in children and refuse to let them fail. I stayed and worked my way up. Today, I am a manager of 13 Bronx charter schools. My son attends one of the schools I manage, and I even helped my younger sister become a teacher at the school where I started; she’s now an assistant principal at another charter. I believe in charter schools because I see what they do — not just for my family, but for thousands of children. Yet politicians who claim the progressive mantle, and insist they stand with working-class, minority and lower-income communities, demonize the charters, saying they “siphon money” from “public schools.” That’s insulting. Charters are public schools. They offer a free and excellent education to our communities. And far from “siphoning resources,” they receive less from government — thousands of dollars less per student — than district schools. That is discriminatory and unfair, and hurts the very communities these politicians claim to want to help. We marched for children whose parents don’t have the resources to move or to pay private tuition for an excellent education. We come from neighborhoods that get told “no” too often. But last month, we stood up to demand an end to the “no’s.” If our elected officials care about low-income, minority and working-class families, it’s time to say “yes.” They must protect, support and expand the schools we want for our children. And let’s be honest about what’s at stake: If elected officials succeed in blocking or shrinking charters, what’s the alternative? Schools that are unsafe, underperforming and failing generation after generation? That was my mother’s story. I fought for it not to be my sister’s. It cannot be my son’s. Or anyone’s. Parents understand this. They may not know all the politics, but they know what’s real. They know their child will be safe in charter schools. They’ll learn to read, and will be challenged and supported. That’s why families line up for charter schools and go on wait lists for seats. That’s why 15,000 of us came out to march. Some people forget the history. They assume charter schools were always here. They weren’t. Parents and educators had to fight tooth and nail for these schools. Now, we’re redoubling our fight to protect and, we hope, expand them. We won’t accept a system that says our only option is a failing school, and we won’t settle for politicians who treat our children’s education as a political football. My mother couldn’t read. She believed in education anyway. She passed that dream to me. Now I pass it to my son. We marched so that every family can do the same. Every politician, especially those who say they stand for us, must listen. We are many. And we are watching. Bianca Rosa is a manager and parent at New York City’s Success Academy Charter Schools.
