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Students at $100 a Head?

Ohanian Comment:
The founder of the Believe schools wrote threatening e-mails after I posted a story about his school.

By Jennifer Medina

A sign in a charter high school offers one way to build up enrollment.

We know about schemes to pay students for high marks. And we've written about some of the marketing tactics schools are using to attract families. But one charter high school in Williamsburg is taking a step further -- offering a $100 reward to any student who recruits another teenager to attend the school.

Last night we were sent a photo purporting to show a sign posted on the third floor of Public School 126 at 424 Leonard Street, which houses the Williamsburg Charter High School as well as its two spinoffs, Believe Northside Charter High School and Believe Southside Charter High School.

Evoking the old "Wanted" posters of the Wild West, the flier asks for help to "recruit students who you feel would benefit from the exceptional opportunity to attend Believe Schools in all grades." It promises $100 for each student recruited, provided they enroll and "remain for at least one term with us!" (The same picture also turned up Tuesday night on Education Notes Online.)

Jacqui Lipson, a spokeswoman for the schools, declined to comment but did not deny that the sign was up.

Charter school advocates typically boast about how far demand outpaces supply for seats in charter schools. Just last month, the New York City Charter School Center announced that more than 55,000 students had applied for 11,000 seats in charter schools.

Ms. Lipson also declined to say how many students applied to each of the three schools this year, directing the question to the city's Education Department. We've asked and will post the answer as soon as we receive it.


— Jennifer Medina
New York Times City Room blog
2010-05-26
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/students-at-100-a-head/

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