When I was in elementary school, I missed, on average, 60 days a year.
When I was in high school, the number was closer to 30 or 40.
My home life was completely unstable.
School, ironically, was my only constant.
I passed all my state exams with high marks (except Math and Science where I sometimes did well, and sometimes just average).
I read constantly and was always active in my classes when I attended.
I got a full scholarship to college where I attended every day.
Despite myself, I am a relatively stable person.
I was fortunate because I went to schools whose first priority was seeing to it their students had secure futures.
My students are being dollar/cost averaged out of this.
Brooklyn Comprehensive has a register of 275 kids. Given a chance, at least half of these will eventually graduate. However, they have enormous obstacles to overcome.
1) They haven't succeeded anywhere else, and they've usually already missed a lot of school.
2) They are usually self-supporting, or at least, partially so.
3) They are extremely depressed.
4) They have no faith, initially, that they can make it.
It usually takes our students six months to a year to settle into becoming students again. Plus, they have to coordinate their jobs and child care and any other issues.
So, actively, of the 275 on register, 150 or so are on track, the others are on their way to being.
Those who are on track are getting
1) Small classes
2) Access to counseling
3) Tutoring before and after school, if they need it.
4) A school which is welcoming with no violence.
We graduate 120-150 students a year.
But, according to the DOE, it's not enough.
The real objection is two-fold
1) "Why can't these students get it together faster?" Gee, they spent 4 years failing at high school. Why couldn't the DOE get them into alternative programs faster?
2) Why should they PAY ME to teach 20 kids when someone at another school is teaching 38.
A word about class size:
When you teach 38, it's a given that, oh, 10-13 kids are going to fail. That still gives you about a two thirds passing rate which is pretty good.
BCNHS IS WHERE THE 13 GO THAT THE OTHER TEACHER WAS ALLOWED TO FAIL.
Maybe I should ask, "Why couldn't all those other teachers pass this kid and why do you expect me to work a miracle?" And now you are giving me 20 FAILING KIDS. Someone teaching 38 has, at least 5 stars, 5 hard workers, and 5 charming "c's". I get 20 F's I have to turn into D, C, B's and A's. I think it's an even work load. I had a class of 22 in which NOBODY COULD SPELL THE WORD, "CHOIR".
New York, and I'm sure the entire country is replete with private schools for the not-so-academically winning. I have a friend who works at one where each subject has its own period -- so a student who is failing a harder English can just go to the next room and take an English class closer to his/her pace. And the classes are 15 kids or less.
By deciding our school isn't cost effective, we've stopped funding one of the few educational programs which was academically effective at teaching those for whom nothing else worked.
Without BCNHS, many of these students would neither get a High School Diploma or GED. They didn't do it before BCNHS.
So, what's the price of welfare, emergency room visits, social services, etc. for 275 highly needy and unemployable young adults? Someone ought to start calculating because that's part of the NYS new budget courtesy of the DOE.
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