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Schools Boots Kids To Boost Image: Lawsuit
By CARL CAMPANILE A children's advocacy group yesterday filed a federal lawsuit charging that officials at Franklin K. Lane HS illegally discharged hundreds of students after falsely claiming they were truants or couldn't keep up with the work. Advocates for Children claims that the school - which straddles the Brooklyn-Queens border - tossed more than 25 percent of its enrolled students in the past few years. The group cited as an example a 17-year-old immigrant who had passed two Regents exams and had earned 19 credits toward graduation. It said he was unfairly tossed out of the school last year, even though he was on track to graduate. The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn federal court, charges slow learners are being pushed out because of pressure on principals to boost the percentage of students passing Regents exams and other standardized tests. Teens who are discharged are not included on lists of dropouts or students who fail exams. |
