Posted on February 9, 2010 by GISELLE ROUTHIER Rosa Bracero is a 17 year-old high school senior at Brooklyn’s High School for Civil Rights. As the Daily News reported, she finished all of her credits to graduate last week – a semester early – and was on track to attend Lincoln Technical Institute until her family’s homeless shelter application process forced her to miss her English Regents exam last week. Now Rosa might not get her diploma. Rosa’s story brings home the challenges facing New York City’s more than 16,000 homeless children every day. New York City’s Department of Homeless Services’ inflexible rules force kids to miss school – including critical tests – to be present for hours and hours of applying for shelter. Their parents often have to miss work, too. Being homeless is hard enough on a child. The city’s homeless services should ease their burdens, not add to them. Plus, while Rosa’s school let her make up the test last Friday, the state has invalidated the results. The Board of Regents rigidly refusing to allow Rosa to graduate isn’t blocking cheating. It’s stubbornly refusing to help a student in need. Please take a minute to read Rosa’s story. Then click here to send a message to Mayor Bloomberg to ask him to allow Rosa to graduate – and to change DHS’s stubborn intake policy so that other students like her never have to miss a single day of school. None of New York City’s children should have to choose between their education and a roof over their heads.
