BUFFALO, N.Y. — Parents of children in Buffalo schools gathered at a rally in Niagara Square on Saturday to bring attention to what they feel is a failing school system.
Yomika Bennett, head of the New York Charter School Association, says over the years, school systems across the state have failed students of color and those who are financially disadvantaged.
"We’re talking about Black and Brown students at 11 or 12 percent deficiency, it’s unacceptable, the system has to change," Bennett told 2 On Your Side.
At the rally, Bennett used a quote by the late poet Langston Hughes to describe the outcomes students in New York schools face when they graduate.
"Understand the lived experience that answers the question, 'What happens to a dream deferred?' The lived experience of schooling that puts you on a path to nowhere."
In the crowd were charter school students and their parents, who say the closing of institutions like Westminster Community Charter School will only lead to worse educational outcomes.
"It was so sudden, no one was expecting anything like that," Janira Carrasco told 2 On Your Side.
Carrasco has two children who attend Westminster Community Charter School, and one son who already graduated. She’s concerned about the opportunities her other children will have once the school closes at the end of the year.
"We didn’t even have time to find other schools in the same system, the same charter system, but they didn’t even give the Westminster charter system the chance to prove themselves and show how much we have improved," Carrasco said.
The decision not to renew the Charters for Westminster and Enterprise Charter School came in March. At the time, a statement from the district said, “The Board has directed the superintendent to collaborate and develop a plan with each school to protect the educational stability of the students for next year and beyond,”
Parents like Carrasco feel that’s not enough and they and their children have been left out. "I believe, the board of education just dismissed the main thing."
2 On Your Side did reach out to the Buffalo Public School District about Saturday's rally and specifically about the charter school decision.
A representative forwarded the following quote from Dr. Kriner Cash:
“There is greater access, equity, opportunity, and quality being provided in the Buffalo Public Schools than at any time in its history. Learn about it. Take advantage of it.”