New York City public-school parents are starting to wake up to the truth — and they’re rightly furious.
It seems to be the fruit of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ infamous essay about enrolling her daughter in struggling Brooklyn schools; even though she strove to blame the same old phony villains, she accidentally inspired other frustrated parents to speak out about their children’s severe academic setbacks, unresponsive administrators and a dysfunctional system.
Veteran parent activist Adriana Aviles revealed to The Post her horror on discovering her straight-A son hadn’t even mastered basic algebra or fractions — exposing a total disconnect between inflated report cards and dismal state test scores.
And writing for the Fordham Institute, mother-of-two Linda Quarles detailed the grim reality of Brooklyn schools crippled by chronic absenteeism, chaotic family instability, and abysmal academic performance.
For many parents, COVID closures — engineered by the teachers unions — pulled back the curtain on a system in freefall.
Aviles now joins the revolt against a Department of Education bureaucracy that masks complete academic failure and hands out bogus A’s and increasingly worthless diplomas.
Manhattan Institute Fellow Danyela Egorov described the problem for The Post: “There are no consequences for poor performance,” so “school staff have no incentive to give a fair grade.”
And the chronic absenteeism Quarles cites is the direct hangover of extended school lockdowns and useless Zoom classes.
Parents are recognizing the disconnect between grades and proficiency on state tests — and demanding their power back from the school system.
At MS 301 — attended by NHJ’s and Quarles’ daughters — 94% of students passed core courses despite only 17% demonstrating math proficiency and 18% demonstrating English proficiency on state exams.
In 2022–23, 98% of NYC teachers were rated Effective or Highly Effective despite 43% of students attending schools where over half fail math or reading.
No wonder enrollment in city K-12 public schools has collapsed 19% since 2014 — a massive exodus of nearly 187,000, including almost 22,000 kids last year alone.
While falling birth rates play a role, make no mistake: Frustrated families are voting with their feet and fleeing a failing public school system in droves.
Yet rather than tackling underperforming schools, rampant grade inflation, chronic absenteeism, chaotic classrooms, and untouchable teachers, education activists are targeting specialized high schools, Gifted & Talented programs, and standardized testing.
Meanwhile, state education bureaucrats are dumbing down graduation requirements and replacing real standards with unproven educational fads.
Fed-up parents have had enough: Many are pulling their kids out of public school classrooms entirely or fleeing the Big Apple altogether.
Others, like Linda Quarles and Adriana Aviles, along with grassroots groups like PLACE, are digging in their heels — igniting a full-blown parent rebellion against a broken, dysfunctional education system.
They’re right: The progressives have broken public education.
Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Kamar Samuels better get ready, because the parents are angry and they want to see heads roll.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
