A single mother living in Harlem knows the plusses and minuses of charter schools firsthand — because she has one son in a public school and another in a charter school.
“I love both my sons equally and think they deserve the same opportunity for a good education,” Quintasha Bullock said. “So I’m disappointed that [lawmakers in Albany] will only let one of my boys go to charter school.”
Her 7-year-old, Quinzaire, “was lucky enough” to get into Promise Academy 1, a charter school, this year, she said.
But her other son, Nashon, 11, attends PS 46 in Harlem.
He “has special needs, but there are very few charter schools out there that have programs for kids like him,” the mother said.
Quinzaire spent three years on a waiting list to get into Promise Academy, “but it was worth it,” she said.
“He says that when the work gets too easy, they give him harder work,” she said. “He’s already talking about going to college, although he’s still only in second grade.”
Nashon, on the other hand, says his teachers don’t challenge or motivate him.
“They give me baby work,” he said. “I want to work hard and get smarter, but my teachers don’t want to help me.”
The difference between the schools is reflected in the boys’ outlooks, their mom said.
Quinzaire says he wants to become a professor. Nashon’s dreams are far less lofty.
“I’m a single parent, and it’s hard to pay for private school when you have no help,” Bullock said. “My only hope is an expansion of the charter-school system so that there would be more options for special-needs children.”
