Parents reveal why charters are luring kindergarteners away from NYC public schools

[Kamaji]

Parents reveal why charters are luring kindergarteners away from NYC public schools

By Jared Downing and Jesse O’Neill
August 7, 2023

Some moms and dads in city public-school districts with plummeting kindergarten enrollment say it’s parent engagement that is prompting people to put their kiddies in charters.

“My older daughter was in a charter school, and the teachers were always calling and talking to the parents about behavior, academic stuff,” said Angyelina Almonte, a 38-year-old mom of three and public-school administrator in the city school district with the biggest drop in kindergarten enrollment.

“I think the teachers are more engaged with parents [at the charter school],” Almonte said.

The mom works at Community School 55, a Morrisania elementary school in the Bronx’s District 9, which includes Morris Heights and Mount Eden.

The district has seen the largest decline in kindergarten enrollment, as city public-schools reel from a startling overall 17% kindergarten-enrollment drop in the past six years.

According to city Department of Education data obtained by The Post, 12,000 fewer kindergarten students were enrolled citywide this past school year than in 2016-17.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/07/parents-reveal-why-charters-are-luring-kindergarteners-away-from-nyc-public-schools/

[PeteS in CA]

In NY, are charter schools also public schools? Mixed public-private? Private?