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April 4, 2006

NYC Gov't Shuts Down Free Harlem Private School

In 1998, Ned O'Gorman converted a Harlem brownstone into a free private school for poor kids. Operating on a shoestring budget, he has educated 75 kids in the past 8 years, some who have earned scholarships to upscale Manhattan private schools. But the Health Department has just shut him down, claiming that O'Gorman has been operating illegally all along, the NY Daily News reports today.

What a shame. The government has failed to produce an acceptable school system for children, and when one man defies the odds and offers poor kids a way out, the city slaps him in the face.

For those interested in learning more about the school, you can read a profile my friend Heather Robinson wrote just a few weeks ago, which includes this quote from O'Gorman:

"It's connected with no church, no political party — a politician has never crossed our threshold," O'Gorman says. "We get no money from the government. Basically, we're a little liberation camp in the middle of a city of failed schools."

According to today's Daily News article, O'Gorman plans to defy the city and remain open instead of leaving children in the lurch in the middle of a school year. Stay tuned.


Posted by Philip Klein at April 4, 2006 9:35 PM

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