Susan Edelman of the New York Post reports that the NYC DOE is under investigation by federal and state officials for giving personal information about students to a marketing firm hired by charter schools.
Wait! What about the long waiting lists?!
She writes:
“The city Department of Education reduces its enrollment by giving student names and addresses to a private vendor that produces mass mailings to help charter schools woo families.
“The longtime marketing practice has now come under investigation by state and federal officials after a Manhattan mom complained it violates student privacy rights.
“Each year my family receives a large number of pamphlets and flyers from charter schools, promoting and marketing their schools and urging me to apply, ” Johanna Garcia wrote to state and US officials.
“While Garcia has three kids in public schools, flyers have targeted her daughter who qualified for a gifted and talented program, she wrote, but not two other children with special needs.
“The DOE says it gives only student names, grade levels and addresses to Vanguard Direct, a bulk-mailing company, and forbids the company to share the data with anyone else.
“Charter schools — which are privately run but get taxpayer funds based on enrollment — hire Vanguard to send out hundreds of thousands of marketing materials aimed at recruiting kids.
“Major customers include charter chains Success Academy, Uncommon, KIPP, and Achievement First, said DOE spokesman Douglas Cohen. The DOE receives no payment from Vanguard, he said.
“In response to Garcia’s complaint, the New York state and US education departments said they are probing whether the marketing deal violates FERPA — a federal law which requires schools to get parent permission before releasing student information, except in limited cases.
“But Leonie Haimson, co-chair of the national Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, said the reasoning makes no sense: “School districts lose funding and space when students enroll in charters. Why would the DOE use its own employees for that purpose?”
“Garcia agreed. “Vanguard makes money. Charter schools make money. All on the backs of regular public-school students.”
“The practice began more than a decade ago under ex-Mayor Mike Bloomberg, when Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz said she needed the DOE data to market her charter schools. It has continued despite Mayor de Blasio’s less-friendly relationship with charters.
“Chancellor Richard Carranza told a town hall meeting in Harlem last week that DOE schools should better market themselves to stem the rise of charter schools, Patch.com reported.
“But charter schools say they rely on the mailings to fill seats.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The DOE receives no payment from Vanguard.” WTH…did DOE staff scheme to shake down the company to get money for letting them have the info.? Was the scheme discussed, is that why it was among the talking points of the spokesperson?
Parallel -“Yes, I am a docent at the public art museum. Yes, I gave permission to a person to sell some of the paintings. You may think I kept some of the sale proceeds for myself. I assure you I didn’t.” How confident would law enforcement be about my story?
I hope someone can find a lawyer to follow up and if possible file a lawsuit for FERPA violations. And thanks to the parent for making this practice of market targeting, obvious to her, also a matter for public attention.
“But charter schools say they rely on the mailings to fill seats.“
In NYC word of mouth fills the best schools. If they need these mailings to exist, they shouldn’t exist.
I thought the best schools advertised in the back pages of the NY Times Magazine. Like Trump’s alma mater.
YES; the legal approach across the entire nation should be something along the lines of just this: schools which rely on endless advertising to bring in students should not be allowed to exist.
(referring to public-money-dependent schools)
Mass mailings are the easiest and most economical way for charter schools, either established ones or start-ups, to comply with state laws regarding public outreach and enrollment/recruitment (see pages 35-38: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/startcharter/2018/ApplMaterials/StandardRFP.pdf).
I’m surprised that the reporter, who is usually quite thorough and up-to-speed on things, whiffed on this.
In my Brooklyn neighborhood, Success Academy was unable to fill seats. There were recruiting signs in the supermarket, on buses, and on lamp poles. Who need they needed a mass marketing campaign?
Tim,
Are you in a marketing business or any type of marketing at all? Thanks!
Tim chimesin periodically to defend Eva Moskowitz and her chain of no-excuses charters.
He borrows a fake Email address belonging to the AFT
No, Duane, I’m not in a marketing-related field 🙂
The entire charter school invasion has been a complete flop with smoke and mirrors being tossed at us all on a daily basis. The charter schools, especially moskowitch and success schools are the biggest scammers in the group.
Just look and see that most of the teaching staff leaves in one year as well. So, the fake moskowitch schools cannot keep teachers and are struggling to attract students. How much longer can they survive? I can answer my own question and the answer is in the voting.
I know, everyone believes Massachusetts is a magical liberal paradise, where everything approaches utopia because our Senators Warren and Markey stand up for what is right and pure.
Unfortunately, those in pursuit of balance are likely to re-elect Republican Governor Charlie Baker by a wide margin largely because he seems like a nice guy. Baker, his department of education, and its Chair Paul Sagan are die hard charter fans. They’re into the dark money pots, funding Question 2 to eliminate the existing caps on charter schools (Sagan made a $600,000 illegal donation) and refusing to fully fund public schools, while a the same time refusing to remit to the schools mitigation reimbursements for the impact of charters.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that the current charter law not only allows for student information to flow to the charter organizations, it actually requires that public school teachers facilitate its collection.
At the beginning of each school year in Boston, for example, students receive a handbook which contains several sign offs, among them: permission to be photographed, permission to use technology and rules restricting its use, the opportunity to opt out of having student information sent to the military (a requirement of the Patriot Act), and an opt out of having student information sent to charter organizations. I always spent some time explaining options to my students so they and their parents could make informed decisions, but in reality most older kids fill out the form themselves and hand them in with little parental involvement. There’s a deadline for collecting the forms and in most schools, it’s homeroom teachers who are responsible for running down errant forms.
The charter industry had been criticized for failing to enroll sufficient numbers of kids in special ed or of English language learners to achieve parity with public schools. The industry’s solution was to make it easier for them to get their hands on contact information so they could market more efficiently. It was shepherded through the legislature by Rep. Marty Walz, whose district in Boston was composed of its wealthiest neighborhoods whose progeny attend private schools (Walz is now a consultant to the charter industry) and Rep. Alice Peisch of Wellesley, a wealthy suburb where nary a charter has ever or ever will appear. They had the chutzpah to style it in this way:
“AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP.
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to provide forthwith innovation into school districts and turnaround underperforming schools, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows…”
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2010/Chapter12