What do you do with kids who can't read when they get to high school? And how in the world did they manage to do that?
I identified two kids who could not read a few years back, one of whom had been kicking around city schools for years. When I brought this matter to the guidance counselor, he was upset at my disturbing his reverie, and did nothing. When I spoke to a reporter, who called the school, it became a crisis.
I got called into meeting after meeting, in which various members of the administration assured the principal their asses were covered, and gave chapter and verse explaining why. Not one breath was devoted to the welfare of these kids.
I was later told by an ex-administrator working for the UFT that there was no program whatsoever in NYC to deal with such kids. It's about time someone noticed. Too bad this awareness hasn't made its way to NYC, where Mayor Bloomberg is busy protecting the world from cell-phone use.
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