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SCHOOL CHOICE: Harlem’s opportunity, Kentucky’s dream

Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions

Barbara Morton-Mollette jumped for joy when her son and stepdaughter were chosen by lottery to attend the sixth grade at Harlem’s Promise Academy – one of nine new charter schools opening in New York City.

“I was praying and when they called my child’s name I jumped up and was screaming,” Morton-Mollette said.

The academy is the brainchild of Geoffrey Canada, who grew up in the Bronx and has received awards for his work as the head of the Harlem’s Children Zone, a program offering pre-kindergarten and after-school classes.

The academy will have a rigorous academic program that includes a long school day and tough love in the classroom. The goal is to prepare children for college and lift them out of poverty.

Despite the well-documented closings of other charter schools in Harlem, those involved in starting the academy are confident it will succeed because of high expectations.

“You walk into a classroom and you know the teacher thinks you’re stupid, where do you go from there?” asked Promise Academy Superintendent Doreen Land. “But if you walk into a classroom and you know the teacher thinks you can do anything, you will do anything.”

Critics harp against any form of school choice. Yet parents continue to pray for such opportunities for their children. A few of those prayers are being answered. Nearly 3,000 charter schools have opened nationwide since the movement began in the 1990s.

Who could not be happy that the children of Morton-Mollette will not have to attend schools like Harlem’s I.S. 172 where only 8 percent of students were reading at grade level last year?

Kentucky parents pray for the same chance for their children. Yet because of the fierce resistance of the entrenched educational bureaucracy, those prayers have yet to be answered.

Source:
“New charter school in Harlem aims to succeed where others have failed” by Karen Matthews, Newsday.com

The Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions is an independent, non-partisan association of writers, speakers and thinkers who analyze state and local public policy in Kentucky, and suggest alternatives more in concert with the ideas of our founders: Individual liberty, economic freedom, personal responsibility and a respect for others. http://www.bipps.org

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