Nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers think the city’s unprecedented report card-style grading of public schools deserves an F – for “fair” – according to a poll released yesterday.
Despite widespread grumbling about good schools that received F’s and notoriously violent schools getting A’s, city residents said they liked the rating system by a 61 to 27 percent margin, the Quinnipiac University poll found.
Approval ranged from a high of 70 percent in The Bronx to a low of 57 percent on Staten Island – a historically high-performing district that placed 31st out of the city’s 32 districts.
The citywide approval climbed to 64 percent among respondents with kids in public schools, and peaked at 75 percent when parents were asked if the grade their child’s school received was fair.
“I think the poll shows that a solid majority of parents are happy to have for the first time clear information of how their school is doing and how it compares to others,” said Department of Education spokesman Andy Jacob.
Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein also scored well in the poll, with Bloomberg’s control of schools favored by 47 to 25 percent, and Klein’s performance winning approval by a 44 to 36 percent margin.
Klein’s rating has swung considerably upward since it bottomed out at 33 percent just eight months ago.
A majority of respondents said they generally weren’t satisfied with the quality of public schools in the city. But the 27 percent who did express satisfaction were the most since the question was introduced in the poll of registered voters in 1994 – and a steep climb from a low of 12 percent in February 2004.
Satisfaction levels varied widely across boroughs, from a high of 48 percent on Staten Island to a low of 18 percent in Manhattan.
“I’m definitely not satisfied. No,” said Ocynthia Williams, a parent leader for the Coalition for Educational Justice advocacy group, who has had six children in Bronx public schools. “There has been some progress, supposedly, according to the data, but I don’t see it. Not in the community I live in.”
Voters were almost evenly split about whether principals at well-rated schools deserved to be rewarded for the good grades, but most – 57 percent to 29 percent – did not believe that principals at failing schools should be fired.
Bloomberg and Klein have emphasized that some principals at F or even D schools could be axed as early as this year, and that their schools could be closed.
“I don’t think the assessments are reflective of how a school – particularly our school – is doing, so that would be unfair,” said Christine Roos, PTA president of Staten Island’s highly regarded but F-rated PS 35.
The poll was conducted Nov. 13-18 among 1,007 registered voters, with a margin of error of 3.1 percent.