Teacher says system failed his students
Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 9:20 AM
Eight years ago, former Bronx teacher Robert Pondiscio met his first class of students.
And last summer, he wanted to know what happened to the 40 fifth-graders he first taught in 2002 - who, if they weren't held back or dropped out - would have graduated from high school last June.
Pondiscio, who at 39 had traded in his public relations job at BusinessWeek magazine to become a teacher, worked at Public School 277, a high-poverty elementary school in Mott Haven.
With the help of his old class rosters and Facebook, he tracked down 20 of his alums.
"I didn't know what to expect, but I knew there would be some surprises, good and bad," the Manhattan resident said.
Through his research, he learned most of his former students had dropped out of high school and were thinking about getting their GEDs. One young woman already has two kids and a "husband" who's incarcerated at Rikers Island.
There were some success stories. Three of his students were accepted into four-year colleges.
But later he learned they had all declined their offers - saying there's "too much going on right now" at home.
"It was disappointing, and it shows the system is not working for our kids," Pondiscio
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2010/09/14/2010-09-14_teacher_says_system_failed_his_students.html?r=ny_local/education#ixzz0zVuM60DR