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**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
April 24, 2008
Contact: Sarah Krauss
(212) 669-4193; (917) 541-0936
Release #:15-2008
Public Advocate Gotbaum Survey: Parent Coordinators Fail to Communicate
Results Show Coordinators Extremely Difficult to Reach, Unlikely To Ever Return Calls
Read Report
MANHATTAN – Five years after Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum’s office first surveyed the Department of Education’s (DOE) school-based parent coordinators, the Public Advocate discovered in a survey of 100 parent coordinators that they are more difficult to reach now and less likely than ever to respond to calls from parents.
“The fact that the parent coordinator position - five years after the Department of Education created it and my office first surveyed it - is increasingly ineffective is just mind boggling,” said Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. “Despite several reports from my office that found that many parent coordinators are basically unreachable, the DOE has done nothing to improve the responsiveness of parent coordinators.”
Key findings from the survey include:
• 78% of parent coordinators surveyed did not answer calls
• 71% of messages left for parent coordinators were not returned
• 13% of parent coordinators could not receive phone messages at all because of full voicemail boxes, no voicemail, or non-working phone numbers
• DOE failed to provide any contact information on its website for 12% of parent coordinators
The DOE created the parent coordinator position in 2003 claiming that the job would help parents navigate the school system and answer their questions. To cover the initial cost of the positions, the DOE eliminated 800 full-time classroom aides and thousands of full-time and part-time hall and cafeteria monitors. There are about 1,200 parent coordinators in the city. Their average pay is $38,138 and they each receive a cell phone so they are accessible to parents after school hours and receive an additional $500 per year to cover expenses.
The Public Advocate is issuing the following recommendations to the DOE:
• Enforce parent coordinator after-school hours;
• Ensure that coordinators return calls from parents in a timely manner;
• Maintain & publicize accurate contact information for all parent coordinators on the DOE website; and,
• Publish up-to-date information on parent coordinator vacancies
The previous surveys of parent coordinators conducted by the Public Advocate found:
• 77% of parent coordinators surveyed did not answer calls in 2004, up from 68% in 2003
• 62% of messages left for parent coordinators were not returned in 2004, up from 51% in 2003
Parents with questions or education-related problems can call the Public Advocate’s office at 212-669-7200.
The parent coordinator position was created by Mayor Bloomberg after he assumed control of New York City public schools in 2002. Public Advocate Gotbaum, at the request of the State Legislature, convened the Commission on School Governance to conduct an independent study of mayoral control before it expires in 2009. The Commission will present a report with recommendations to the State Legislature in early Fall of 2008. For more information on the Commission on School Governance: http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/advocacy/schools/index.html
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