considered turning it into a shelter for immigrants<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cYou have to hold the parents accountable,\u201d PS 188 mom Nysheika Gilchrist said, calling the shocking rate of absenteeism \u201ccrazy\u201d and \u201cridiculous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are young children. You are giving up on your child. There is no reason for your child to be absent,\u201d Gilchrist said. \u201cYou are subjecting them to failure especially in a minority neighborhood\u2026Saddens me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilchrist said her own daughter\u2019s grades improved when she got a tutor for her twice a week. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe teachers are doing their best,\u201d she said. \u201cThey only have them for eight hours. The rest of time is in the parents\u2019 hands. I stay on top of my child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students arrive at P.S. 188 in Brooklyn on Monday, September 14, 2026. Robert Mecea for NY Post<\/p>\n
Another parent with a third grader, Latoya Bryant, agreed that, \u201cit starts at home. You can\u2019t leave it all up to the school. Parents have to work along with the teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGo knocking on doors, get social services involved, get answers,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy is the kid absent?\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the turmoil at the school, the city Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment from The Post, and PS 188 Principal Leslie King declined comment, as did District 21 Superintendent Erin Lynch-Reyes.<\/p>\n
But PS 188\u2019s Comprehensive 2025-2026 Education Plan acknowledged problems with attendance and low math and reading test scores, and vowed to address them.<\/p>\n
\u201cChronic absenteeism is deeply affecting Black students at PS 188, reflecting larger systemic challenges such as inequitable access to transportation, healthcare, or housing stability,\u201d the plan said.<\/p>\n
Eighteen students were absent for \u201c59 days in a row,\u201d the plan said.<\/p>\n
PS 188 said it implemented a three-tiered intervention system to address chronic absenteeism and hold \u201cAttendance Matters\u201d family workshops.<\/p>\n
P.S. 188 at 3314 Neptune Ave. is seen on Monday, September 14, 2026, in Brooklyn. Robert Mecea for NY Post<\/p>\n
The school also partners with organizations including the YWCA and Replications to help families facing challenges such as housing.<\/p>\n
The Post reported Sunday that the city Department of Education is appointing attendance cops \u2014 \u201cschool avoidance liaisons\u201d\u2014to reduce chronic absenteeism at all schools.<\/p>\n
As for English classes, PS 188 administrators said they would use small group instruction and personalized instruction to help students boost reading comprehension and vocabulary, as well as Parent Literacy Workshops<\/p>\n
PS 188 acknowledged that some students struggled with basic math, data and algebra.<\/p>\n
The school said it would focus more on helping struggling math learners, including those students who are not fluent in English or have special needs or disabilities.<\/p>\n
Jay Brown, chairman of Community Education Council 21 that includes PS 188, said he was not aware of a proposal to convert the school to K-8 but knows of the struggles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe test scores over the years have been in the low side,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a focus to dig into those problems. There\u2019s been improvement. But there\u2019s room for more improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Coney Island elementary school where most kids fail standardized tests and miss three weeks of classes a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[119,4337,57,9,24,56,63,65,64,10780,6927,58],"class_list":["post-348222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-coney-island","tag-department-of-education","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-school","tag-test-scores","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}