The Problem with District Family Advocates

Today, the New York Post reported that dozens of heartbroken kindergarteners were turned away from overcrowded Queens elementary schools and told to "try again in a couple of weeks". Calls placed to the district's Family Advocate Office went unanswered.

This comes as no surprise to the Office of the Public Advocate: Last week, our office released the results of a survey that showed that of the 96 calls we made to District Family Advocates two weeks prior to the start of school, almost 70% of the time they could not connect with staff, and of the 49 voicemail messages, only 6 returned. In 24% of the calls, surveyors were unable to leave messages because of non-working, non-existent or full voicemail boxes. In fact, surveyors were unable to make connect with 12 of the 32 District Family Advocates.

This is why the Public Advocate launched her Parent's Education Hotline (212-669-7250) to help public school parents receive the answers and support they need with school-related problems. This morning's incident in Queens is an example of the kind of lack of accountability from the DOE that parents have come to expect at the start of school.

Are you a parent seeking help? Call 212-669-7250.

Comments

[Patrick J. Sullivan]

Thanks for launching the hotline. As the Manhattan representative on the Panel for Educational Policy, I hear from more and more parents who have tried to communicate with the DOE and don't even get the courtesy of a response. Same for PTA presidents, CEC members and other elected parent leaders trying to represent the interests of the children in their schools. At last week's PEP meeting, I asked the Chancellor why we have such a large communications office including "truth squads" (people whose job it is to troll the internet for things people say about the DOE) while we cannot even answer parents inquiries about the education of their children? DOE policy should be to put the needs of children before those of the adults managing the system.