A New York City judge ruled in favor of children late Thursday, finding that the lawsuit waged by the UFT and NAACP against the DOE – which would have prevented the opening of 16 public charter schools and the closing of 19 failing schools in New York City – should not be allowed to move forward. The judge believes that the co-location of the charter schools fulfills their “obligation of completeness,” a fact the lawsuit challenged, and he found no evidence that the failing schools could be easily turned around.
The co-located charter schools referenced in the suit will provide education for over 7,000 New York City children, the majority of whom are African American and Latino and live in some of the most underserved neighborhoods in the city. As for the schools that will be closed, each has failed to provide their students with even adequate – let alone excellent – education for too long.
We believe that every child, regardless of his or her circumstance or neighborhood, should have access to a public school that will provide excellent academic opportunity. When only 1 out of 4 New York City children will graduate from high school prepared to do college-level work — and the statistic for minority children is drastically lower — we should support any schools that work to close the achievement gap and provide a quality education for every child. We also must find better options for students attending schools that are consistently failing. We, along with Assemblymen Hakeem Jeffries and Karim Camara, applaud the judge for ruling on the side of children.