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School Tells Parents They're Required to Contribute, Violating DOE Rules

By Amy Zimmer | March 23, 2015 7:24am
 P.S. 212, also known as Midtown West, at 348 W. 48th St. Prospective parents visiting P.S. 212 are told they must contribute to the school, a form shows.
P.S. 212, also known as Midtown West, at 348 W. 48th St. Prospective parents visiting P.S. 212 are told they must contribute to the school, a form shows.
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DNAInfo/Amy Zimmer

MANHATTAN — A Midtown public elementary school asked prospective parents on open house tours to list how they would raise money, serve as chaperones or perform other duties to help the school — in violation of Department of Education rules, DNAinfo New York has learned.

P.S. 212, on West 48th Street, gave a form to potential pre-K and kindergarten applicants that said, "It is expected that all families will find a way to participate that fits their abilities and schedules — six hours of services per year should be considered a minimum."

The small high-performing school, also known as Midtown West, then asks parents to check off boxes in specific areas they can help, like accounting, jewelry/fashion industry connections and graphic design. The information about skills will be given to the PTA for coordinating volunteer efforts if their kids are accepted, the form states. 

Another page of the form states that parent involvement is "central to the mission and success of our school" and then asks families to "briefly describe how you will be able to contribute to the life of our school community."

Collecting such information from applicants is not allowed, nor can it be a factor in admissions decisions, DOE officials said. Schools cannot require parent involvement.

“Schools cannot mandate families to volunteer or give a donation," DOE spokeswoman Yuridia Pena said. "If we learn of any improper solicitation, we address it with the school immediately."

Schools don't select their own students, and Midtown West's form notes that applications are processed centrally using a DOE algorithm.

Individual schools do, however, manage their own waitlists.

Midtown West's 360 students come from all over District 2 — which spans from TriBeCa and the Village to Chelsea and the Upper East Side — and are selected by lottery. But the questionnaire — which also asks parents how they think their child would fit in at the school — has raised eyebrows.

"They have an application that asks multiple questions about fundraising and what you like about the philosophy of the school with regard to social studies. How does that make it a lottery?" one anonymous parent asked on the popular website InsideSchools.

"When we were applying, a parent friend of ours told us to write in our application how we'd help with grant writing and running fundraising events," the parent continued. "We did that, and then got in. Maybe it was just a fluke, but it sure sounded like they had insider knowledge."

The school's PTA raises about $225,000 a year (roughly $625 per student), according to recent tax filings.

P.S. 212 Principal Ryan Bourke and the school's parent coordinator did not respond to requests for comment.

Bourke was the assistant principal at Park Slope's renowned P.S. 321, a fundraising powerhouse, whose PTA raised about $1.1 million (roughly $743 per student), according to its most recent tax filings. 

Schools sometimes consider parent involvement a proxy for student achievement, Teachers College professor Jeffrey Henig explained.

"There is reasonably strong evidence that parental involvement benefits the children of the parents who get engaged, and some, but less well documented, evidence that it can benefit the school at large including children of less active parents," he said. "It also can serve as a convenient screening tool that schools can use to steer away some families whose children on average are likely to do less well on standardized tests."

Many charter schools are explicit about expectations of parents, he noted, including some that require parents to sign a contract committing to a specified level of involvement.

"Traditional school districts often frown on this, though," he said, "believing that it can discriminate against children whose families simply are unable to commit time or money due to economic circumstances or family demands."