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I was there and am confused. The facts and the data say one thing and the DoE says another. Based in the FACTS this school is a great success. NO ONE but this school addresses the needs of ALL children, special needs or special Ed. DoE recommends closure?! Someone PLEASE explain this to me!!!!!!!

It was beautiful to listen to the students who spoke about being safe and achieving in spite of having an IEP.  Where are the juniors of OCS to go? Could they really find another school who takes students with disabilities and offers all the support needed to receive a regents diploma.  Is the DOE really considering setting these student up for failure?…….so that HSA could have the space.  That is painful to think about.  To throw a wrench into the students life without any concrete explanation.  This story needs to be known….

No kid left behind? Except when Eva Moskowitz needs more square feet. 

There is no other facility in NY that EMBRACES our lower performing children. OCS is the best viable option for them. 

There must be someone out there with the same connections as Moskowitz, who cares about all our kids, not just the small sample she hand picks that ensures good data. 

Saving OCS saves kids. Period. Your help is desperately needed.

During Monday night’s public hearing, a wide range of students, staff, community members, and advocates spoke confidentially about the family centered environment of the Opportunity Charter School.  Many individuals spoke about past educational neglect and discrimination they personally received before OCS at typical public schools and the lack of appropriate learning experiences public schools offers students with learning differences.  The diversity of speakers gave a range of just some of the reasons OCS should remain as the thriving school it has become.
 
OCS students tend to start at OCS below grade level.  Before entering OCS, students are ranked as some of the lowest performing students in all of NYC.  No child is turned away because of their reading or math abilities.  The school works with the students they receive (never turning away a child) and follows through on unique plans of action for each individual learner.  Students make vast strides while attending OCS whether it be academically, psychologically, or behaviorally.  NYC measurements are not culturally sensitive to the unique population of students OCS teaches and develops. It fails to take into account that many of the students come to OCS between the ages of 10 and 19 and are overaged (having been pushed along because no one wanted to deal with them), read well below grade level (because no school cared enough to teach a student with special education services), have limited knowledge of what college is (because schools in the past have told them that college is not for them), and have learning disabilities (in past schools they weren’t even allowed to attend things like assemblies). None of these variables are taken into account when the DOE measures the OCS progress.  Progress is a subjective term and requires careful securitization.  Without looking at a student’s starting point, it is impossible to grasp how much they truly developed. 
 
Until the DOE is prepared to formulate a culturally sensitive instrument of progress measurement, it should be utilizing more qualitative means to unpack the development students have made at OCS.  If such measures were utilized, the City would find a student who came to OCS as a 6th grader never been able to read a word and graduate from 12th grade with a Regent diploma and college acceptances.  The City would find a student who has a severe learning disability graduate on time from OCS and last week called OCS, because he received an A on his first semester college midterm.  The City would find a student who had school phobia and spent months crying in the front door of the school and after receiving love and support from the staff here, today he is a confident 9th grader who is involved in the band, has strong grades, and many friends.  Each OCS student has his or her own story of progress and growth.  Each OCS student has learned to advocate from themselves in a society that shuns disabilities and has learned the skills to be successful in college and life.  This fails to be quantified and is left out of the instrument of progress measurement.
 
Families are often brought to tears when told that we welcome their child despite their test scores, history of behavioral issues, and truancy.  Then after spending time at OCS, they are brought to tears for a second, third, or fourth time as we inform that same parents that their child is absorbing the classroom information, has found a mentor in the school, and is loved by students and staff.  OCS is an innovative place that transforms students who have been classified as a failure to mature individuals who choose to learn and attend college. 
 
The public hearing was a glimpse of some of the accomplishments OCS has made, but in the end it showed nothing.  To fully understand the progression of OCS students as learners and people, one would have to know them.  OCS would not be who they are without the population of students it teaches, but then again, the City wouldn’t be trying to close it down if it wasn’t that population.

It is a travesty that comments make this about Harlem Success than about Opportunity. Why do we accept so much lower standards for our students with disabilities? Why is it okay that Goldberg has abused his staff and condoned abuse of his students? It is okay with all of you because you care more about sticking it to Eva than you do about segregating these kids away in an actually terrible school?

Please. Spend some time at OCS and then interview staff who have left over the serious mistreatment of kids and adults, and tell me whether or not you would really let your own child attend the very worst performing charter in the city. I challenge you to believe that our kids with disabilities deserve better than this.

But we should be thinking about the children at OCS–not your politics. Norm, are they getting an education that you would be proud of? Don’t you think that they deserve better, either in a charter or a public school?

This debate shows that the kids are the last group that anyone is worried about, which proves the sickness of the entire educational system in NYC. It’s just about adults fighting with each other to secure their own jobs/paychecks/politics. It’s not actually about a group of children who need us most and that no public school is willing to serve. So you accept their gross mis-education.

Norm, open a school for the kids.

If you are thinking about the children at OCS, you should walk through the halls of the school and see the learning and the passion that radiates in this exceptional school. If possible, speak with the staff that was “Let Go” about what is important and the expericene these teachers had while working at OCS. These “Let Go” teachers will emphatically state that all OCS students …..learn, grow and thrive socially and emotionally in the OCS environment.
I encourage, yes even beg all those who either doubt or criticize OCS to walk through the OCS halls and experience first hand as these 400 students accomplish in the only school  they and their parents believe will give them the best chance to succeed. They are thankful today and everyday for OCS.