Bloomberg Puts Charter School Expansion Over Special Needs Children

Not a surprise - after all, this is the Mayor of Money and he does love his privatized charter schools:

A Fort Greene public school's therapy programs for disabled kids could be destroyed if the city expands a charter school, parents and teachers are charging.

Department of Education plans call for Community Roots Charter School to take up more rooms in Public School 67 on St. Edwards St. in the next school year.

The expansion could displace therapy rooms used by students at P369 - a school for students with learning disabilities that also occupies space inside PS 67. Teachers and parents say the impact on students would be severe.

"It's a disaster - our kids are going to suffer," said a teacher at P369 who wouldn't give her name because she fears retribution for speaking out against her bosses.

The city's plans call for Community Roots to take over four additional classrooms in PS67 as it expands from a K-5 school with 300 students to a 450-student K-8 school starting next year.

Two of the classrooms will come from P369; they are currently used for speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

Without those rooms, kids will be forced to have therapy in the hallways and the stairwell, teachers said.

"It's heartbreaking, my daughter needs a private space for therapy," said Yolanda Roque-Genus, 51, an administrative assistant from Fort Greene whose daughter Nyla, 5, has autism and and receives speech therapy at P369.

What's the matter, therapy in the stairwell isn't good enough for your kid?

Hey, charter students ALWAYS get priority over students in traditional public schools.

If you don't like that, move your kid to a charter school.

That's the message the DOE and the mayor are sending.