East Harlem Principal Boosts Attendance by Adding Student Activities
(DNAINFO) Gustavo Solis — Last December, P.S. 50 had an absentee rate of nearly 25 percent.
The school at 433 East 100th St. was placed in aspecial program for low-performing schools. The principal was removed, and Ester Quinones came in to right the ship.
By the end of the year, the absentee rate had climbed from 77 percent to 89.6 percent. On a few occasions the school — where most students qualify for free lunch, about a third are special needs, and many live in homeless shelters — was up to 95 percent, Quinones said.
Part of what led to the 1-in-4 absentee rate was a lack of reasons for kids to want to come to school, Quinones said. Before she took over, the only activities offered were swimming lessons, which teachers were not required to take students to, and a gym class taught by an uncertified teacher, she said.
Now each grade has an activity like soccer, swimming, ballroom dancing, or working in their brand new garden.
As she enters her first full year in charge, the new principal is trying to create a strong sense of school pride and build on last spring’s success.