By: Benyamin Davidsons
In a speech, a Long Island politician showing his distaste for Charter schools, likened their spread to the deadly Coronavirus.
As reported by the NY Post, State Assemblyman Phil Ramos went off on a rant when speaking virtually at a NAACP-sponsored event, at the education forum on Jan. 24. “I am in vehement opposition to charter schools. From what I’ve seen, it’s just another system created that imposes a discriminatory system on our people,” Ramos said. The 65-year-old Democrat, represents the 6th district in the NYS Assembly, including parts of Islip, including Bay Shore, Brentwood, Central Islip and Islandia in Long Island’s Suffolk County.
The lawmaker griped that the popular charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, are taking away funds needed for the traditional public schools and creating “disparity in our communities.” “Charter schools have kind of taken on the characteristics of coronavirus. We create a vaccine and they morph into something else,” said Ramos, who has served on the Assembly since 2003, and has been Deputy Majority Leader since 2015.
The comparison to the virus is being criticized, as COVID-19 is now responsible for a total of 68,000 deaths in New York State and has claimed over 900,000 lives across the United States, as per recent federal data. Ramos, a retired Suffolk County cop, was trying to demonstrate his opposition to the new charter schools—namely the South Shore Charter School which was approved by SUNY and is set to open in his Central Islip district.
“And every time we challenge charter schools, they find another sophisticated way to just kind of cloud up the issue,” Ramos continued. Even though state law prohibits charter schools from operating as for-profits, he alleged that charter schools are “monetizing the education of our children into a private business” and “prey on our communities.” He also took up the issue of student selection, at the charter schools- though pupils are accepted based on a lottery. “When people pushed back on that, they morphed again — just like the coronavirus. And they morphed and said, ‘We except all students,’” he griped.
He also claimed that the schools push out struggling students, to demonstrate higher overall performance. “When they [students] don’t perform well, they find every excuse to try to expel them and put them back into public schools who are forced to accept them.”
Yomika Bennett, executive director of the New York State Charter School Association, pushed back commenting she “was extremely shocked, disappointed”. “We all should be doing everything we can to support quality education for all students and bring communities together. I hope he’s thought better of his comments today and will apologize,” she said.
