The Hard Reality Of Charter Schools
Steve Newton doesn’t pull any punches with his latest post entitled: A thought on the Pencader mess that will get me into trouble.
When you decide to place your child in a charter school, you are knowingly taking part in an educational experiment. All that “freedom” from stultifying government rules comes with a concurrent responsibility: if you don’t want government rules, you don’t get the same level of government oversight.
Put another way: charter schools are, by definition, experiments, and some experiments fail. That is an intended part of the charter school model–that poorly designed, organized, or funded charter schools will fail.
I’m beginning to believe that many Charter school parents don’t understand what a Charter school is. They don’t understand that the basic tenet of Charter schools is: poorly designed, organized, or funded charter schools will fail.
This is what free market education looks like. You can agree or disagree with Charters, but you can’t change this reality.
Pencader is obviously in trouble – how much trouble is anyone’s guess – and I’ve written about it here. I still think the government has a role to play in this mess, but that role involves finding out if Pencader has violated any laws. It does not involve saving the school.
Steve spells this out in no uncertain terms:
It totally pisses me off to hear parents complain and cry for government rescue when a charter school is failing because it’s hypocritical.
YOU opted out of the system of government oversight. YOU either knew or should have known the risks you were taking with your child’s education. YOU had every opportunity to see the warning signs and either organize to raise holy hell or vote with your feet and get your child out of that school.
That’s going to leave a mark. But… it’s true. There are risks involved with Charter schools. Enrolling your child into one without understanding these risks is dangerous.
Here is a recap (and additions) of a comment I left over at Delaware Libertarian:
Perhaps there should be a law stating that when you enroll your child at a Charter school you will have to sign a form acknowledging that:
- Charter schools are an educational experiment
- Charter schools do not have the same government oversight
- If the Charter school closes after the Choice deadline your child will return to his/her feeder pattern school.
The last point is a biggie. On several sites I have read comments by parents calling for Choice to be reopened should the school close.
Um, NO.
I say this because there are plenty of parents who submitted a Choice application during the scheduled time and didn’t receive their choice. It simply isn’t fair for parents of a closed charter school to butt in line. Simply put, you cannot opt out of the traditional public school system and then ask for preferential treatment when you need to opt back in.
While there are many benefits to Charter schools, there are also risks. When you enroll your child into a Charter you sign up for both.
Tags: Charter Schools, Education, Pencader
I am in favor of reopening the choice window in the event of a closing charter school, but not just for them. For all.
I’m not. That only advantages parents from a closed charter at the expense of people who already went through the choice procedure and have settled for whatever school they got, while throwing districts into turmoil, especially if a charter closes during the summer.
Steve is pissed because parents should have known exactly how charter schools work and that the government doesn’t really oversee them.
But in April, when talking about NCS, Steve defended parents for not knowing how to find a charter school or how to fill out an application.. hmm which sounds easier, filling out a charter application, or knowing the complicated laws surrounding them?
As far as opening choice. If someone did not get their choice school already, wouldn’t that mean that there are no more seats in a particular school anyway? So if choice were reopened, those schools would be closed to it anyway. As I just wrote on Steves blog, just in the last few days my thoughts have changed on it.. If kids leave Pencader, or if it closes, any seats available should be given to those kids who feed into it first, obviously.
But hey, thanks for all your thoughts Steve on punishing kids for their parents being such dumbasses. 🙂
No, I’m pissed because many (not all, but many) didn’t bother to find out how charters work, when they were making such important decisions for their children.
It is not the slightest bit inconsistent with saying NCS should have made it easier to reach out the low-income parents who didn’t know how to apply. I would expect them as well to make sure they understood what the deal was.
I refuse to compromise on the idea that it is the parents’ responsibility to understand both the advantages and risks of leaving the traditional schools.
I’ve watched the videos and I’ve listened to the parents, and yes–across the board–the record pretty clearly shows that the majority of them punted that responsibility at Pencader, and expect somebody else to bail them out.
Somebody else will: their feeder pattern schools.
“I would expect them as well to make sure they understood what the deal was.”-
oh, so you didn’t mean to say you are pissed at the parents but at the school for not explaining the charter laws and the fact that the government doesn’t really oversee them?
Many of the parents that I know did research charter schools. They researched the discipline. They researched the academics, the dress code, transportation, SAT scores, drop-out rates, etc.
I don’t know a single person who knew, until our recent lessons learned from NCS battles, and the now Pencader meets Twilight Zone saga, even half of how charter schools work from the inside out. If we knew that we should have researched that, we would have.
And the topic of choice is somewhat pointless. If a school already turned kids down because they were full, well, they’re still full so no one can choice into it anyway. If they have open seats, but someone choiced in too late, say in Feb. or March, and is on some waiting list (is that how they do that?), well that would be unfair, and of course those students should get first dibs. I’m not understanding the choice debate right now
I don’t know a single person who knew, until our recent lessons learned from NCS battles, and the now Pencader meets Twilight Zone saga, even half of how charter schools work from the inside out. If we knew that we should have researched that, we would have.
Funny, that hasn’t been my experience. I know plenty of parents who spent time on that sort of questioning, precisely because they are outside the districts, and they wanted to know what the implications were.
I have a feeling we know different people than each other. I’m not being sarcastic, I’m really not. just think about it.
Being a pragmatic R conservative aka 1/2 a loaf is better then none; I glimpse at this site from time for some of the comments are howlingly funny.
Also as the one who generated Pencader’s beginnings I need to share what we did:
all parents and the prospective student were interviewed
all parents and the student signed off on a 48 point compact that clearly delineated what was expected and what wouldn’t be tolerated
the parents then got a copy and we sent a another copy via certified mail. (Parents do lie.)
I was very clear in what we’re offering and for the to think carefully as to if they want to make this choice
the one year residency agreement was highlighted and they all had to check the box that if accepted they were there for a year
etc
Sadly, many parents view charters as the last boat out for kids who are struggling and they expect the word ‘charter’ to invoke great changes in behavior, etc. The word doesn’t do that.
Am I proud of what we accomplished – yes. Am I dismayed to see years of grueling work annihilated by greed, dishonesty and horrific planning – even more so.
521-7600 – call me anytime. When my orginal team left we were in the black, enrollment was solid and things were coming together. The Dean of Instruction spent the summer in China learning how to bolster our Mandarin program – a DE first – our athletics program was competing on a varsity level, our Mock Trial team had sagacious counsel from the best lawyer’s in DE and our Hispanic outreach was strong.
However due to the very huge ego involved in school board politics, we – the founders – all left within a few years and now look at where they are headed.
All of that work ….wasted.
Steve,
and to prove my point about the people we know, and trade notes with, and learn from, I have learned so so much from you, Pandora, John Y. and Kilroy. I stumbled onto Kilroy last summer. If I hadn’t, I would still be, for the most part, in the dark.
Kudos to Dave Jones…things were a lot better with him before this woman was put in charge. Now Pencader gives all charters a bad name.
What a disgrace. DOE should intervene with this fiasco and poor Board governance.
Dave Jones lies. This school never started on a good foot.
http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/schools/charterschools/files/FinalReportPencader.pdf
Oh my, AQC. That report doesn’t show a school starting out on a good foot.
Dave, I called. Someone, not you, took my message. You have yet to return that call.
I just hope that the decision as to what preference and options should be given/granted to these kids isn’t based on what parents knew or should have known about charter schools. What matters is the best educational interests of the kids in light of existing resources and not ensuring that parents pay for their bad choices and/or negligence. The kids shouldn’t have to pay for a choice that was largely out of the ken of their responsibility. While I have serious questions about charters per se, I cannot delight in one’s failure or seize on one’s failure to prove a point about personal responsibility.
John,
My phone hasn’t rung. Then again I was at a widely successful crab feast for a candidate this afternoon. Being gay and sadly single, no one else answers my phone.
As for the cowardly AQC,(I give my name and number) our audit was flawless in year one and our enrollment was solid.
There were some management rookie problems that come with running a school for the first time. However there was no theft, staff reduction in pay, falsified qualifications, etc.
Did I make mistakes based upon inexperience – yes. However I also cleaned the cafeteria tables between lunches, swept the floors, cleaned up vomit, ran the vacum, sat in Christiana’s ER when we had a bus accident, paid athletic fee’s out of my own pocket so that a kid had added structure in his life for another 90 minutes a day to avoid his drugged out father. 90 minutes of security is a long time to a 15 year old. Chose to not to press charges against the kid who spit on me from the second floor because he had serious issues,(no dad and low income mom) paid the Spanish teacher from my own pocket to come in for bi lingual interviews, took the New Castle PD baked Ziti as a thank you for handling a Facebook threat incident, got the Lions club to donate a eye screening machine for otherwise the nurse would have been out compliance with DOE policies, picked up the semen filled condom from stairwell B before change of classes with my bare hands because the bell was about to ring, paid 50.00 cash to get the name as to who stole another kid’s laptop, borrowed my brother’s truck and lugged furniture from Del Tech in Dover, told Holloway Terrace Fire House that the kid who tripped the alarm because he hid in the computer closet due his mom telling him they’d no place to live in a few days not to press charges. Best of all was the look alike Gloc 9 and lets not forget when the kid dumped a bottle of urine all over another student for not liking the way he was being looked at by him. (the assailant peed in it for the entire day)
I can go on. Run a school for a week. All of your perceived notions evaporate quickly.
Sounds like more poor management Dave.
I did it. can you?
what part are you referring to AQC?
Once you start a school and run it, I’ll listen. Until then your input is baseless.
Several parts indicate poor management. If you did perfectly your first year, ensuing years are not “rookie mistakes”. If Dave was really performing all those tasks he described, he either had staffing problems or a problem delegating. If he was spending all his money on those extras, there was poor budget management and clearly no sustainability plan. As for the examples of troubled students, you will find them in any school. That doesn’t make Pencader unique. And, yes, Dave, I can.
What school did you found?
How long did you last @ Pencader and if you did such a great job, why has no one in education employed you since?
When you tell us what school you started. I’ll respond.
Whatever I decide to tell you about myself won’t change any of the facts I’ve pointed out about your history at Pencader. But, just for fun, let’s say I will when Romney releases his taxes.
Dave,
I called on 7/30/12 at 7:36PM and I spoke to a man who said you were “out”.
If you are the only person who answers that phone, then it was you, and you lied to me. Not sure what game is going on, but I’ll be pleased to print and post my phone records on my blog or show them in person to confirm that I did place this call.
It lasted 21 seconds.
my number, in your caller ID, is 219.308.5338
Interestingly, Dave said it was on solid footing and successful when he left, he did not say all was great when it started. You change his quote then attack your version then say he lied. That is plain slander. You can claim anything you want aqc because we can’t verify it. Your “wisdom” is next to useless without a record especially when you show either ignorance or venom in your attacks.
from that linked report above:
Mr. Carwell noted that the new Board President has recognized the need to increase the Board’s governance capacity. He added that the Board has identified the Baldridge model to help it become a high functioning board. Mr. Carwell stated that the Board’s efforts demonstrate a positive step forward. Mr. Carwell also remarked that while it is commendable that the Board now realizes the need to increase its governance capacity to run the school effectively, the Department of Education expects that charter schools demonstrate this capacity before the school opens its doors.
best public agency reporting I’ve read in the last three years, hilarious!
Anyone’s problems fall back on the feeder schools, not just Pencader’s. If your kid flunks out of Archmere, back to the feeder. Same with a school you choice into.It’s the default setting. However, most of us figure our kids will be in some sort of learning environment for 12 years or so. So if you’re not in the school you think will be ideal (after Pencader) you only have to tough it out for 9 months until you can start standing in line again. If I was a Pencaer parent (and let’s face it, we all are, something dreadful might happen to any of us) I’d just keep my focus on making the most of whatever comes.
heragain, I had a conversation with my son about toughing it out for 9 months at a school. He is throwing that back in my face saying he can tough Pencader out for 9 months. He will be a senior. As a senior, you can’t transfer schools and play sports.
Pencadermom, let your son make his choice and be proud of him. And pray Pencader don’t folding in on itself and close before being ordered by the state.
I have very mixed emotions when it comes to your son’s situation, Pencadermom.
On the one hand, Senior year doesn’t matter much when applying to colleges. If a student hasn’t rocked it academically in the first three years (mainly Junior and Sophomore year) then it’s too late by Senior year – mainly because you are submitting college applications in the fall and your guidance counselor will be sending your child’s transcripts that may, or may not, include the first marking period of Senior year.
So… staying at Pencader for Senior year is probably not a big deal academically.
However… and here’s my concern for Pencader Seniors. Having a functioning, on-top-of-it Guidance Counselor is vital when applying to colleges. There are forms that only the Guidance counselor can complete. If, for whatever reason, these forms aren’t completed then your college application won’t be processed.
Upon graduation, the Guidance Counselor/School will send your son’s final transcript to the college he’s chosen. Unlike SAT and AP scores, this cannot come from you. Your son’s college application and final transcripts will be in the hands of Pencader.
If they close – or announce they are closing, or lose staff, etc. – are you comfortable with people in charge doing what is necessary to complete your son’s college application?
Question: If a Charter School doesn’t (for whatever reason) send out a student’s final transcript is there any other way for the student to get this document sent?
Question: If a Charter School doesn’t (for whatever reason) send out a student’s final transcript is there any other way for the student to get this document sent?
In theory, in Delaware every public school student has a unique student number identifier for which digital records are kept at the consortium (data processing center in NCC) or state level.
Plus, unofficial copies of current year’s work can be found on HAC, and presumably schools have archives of earlier years.
How you would get this all on a transcript is . . . problematic.
Problematic? Problematic?
Pandora, I think the level of difficulty depends on where the child wants to go to school. I’m a homeschooling parent. There are places that are ready for homeschooling applications, and places that aren’t. Some of the ones that are ‘ready” have much harder criteria for homeschoolers. For example, homeschoolers applying to Princeton must submit several SAT subject tests. My daughter ultimately decided she didn’t want to take SAT subject tests for college courses she already got an A in (and she was, let us say, not impressed by the vibe at Princeton, anyway.) If she HAD to go to Princeton, she’d have needed to do that.
I would, just as a guess, say that if you’re applying to Big Ten schools and you don’t have an athletic scholarship you’ll need your paperwork in order. If you’re applying to a small LAC you’ll have someone in admissions that you can show your state-generated records along with a bunch of newspaper clippings about Pencader and an SAT score and they’ll make sense of it. That’s one of the advantages of small schools.
Pencadermom, you have nothing but sympathy from me. My daughter is your son’s age and the whole process is fraught, even without such distractions. For what it’s worth, I think your son is correct to stick with the school while it’s open, if YOU aren’t convinced it’s terrible for him. If it continues, he’s fine, and if it fails before the end of the year that’s an “exceptional circumstance” by any measure.
I encourage ANY parent to be proactive when it comes to college searching. No guidance counselor, however skilled, has the “dog in the fight” the way a student and his/her family does. I’d be happy to talk with you about the process, if it’s new to you, being midway through my 3rd go-round with it. Perhaps one of the moderators here could pass on an email from you if you needed an ear. 🙂
Heragain, you and working in a system outside the system, and I’m sure there are guidelines and forms you must submit. My concern involves what happens when you’re in a system that falls, or is falling, apart?
Small colleges weren’t really an option for us. Given my son’s major we needed a school with well-funded, well-housed, well-labbed (hey, just made up a word!) engineering and physics program.
“No guidance counselor, however skilled, has the “dog in the fight” the way a student and his/her family does.”
True, but experience counts – especially your first time through the college process. And… if you’re in the school system then there are certain things only your guidance counselor/school can do. And that’s where my concern comes in.
Problematic is sort of the educational version of vegamatic, which is available from Ronco for $19.95 plus $4,218 shipping and handling.
Which for some reason always reminds me of Popeil’s Pocket Fisherman
One poorly-run charter school doesn’t mean that charter schools should be ended any more than one poorly-run traditional public school means that all public schools should be ended. If that was the standard, we would have ended public schooling a long time ago.
Parents put their children in charter schools presumably because they are already unhappy with the traditional public school system (often because it is already failing).
I continue to be surprised that the current head of the Pencader School has held on to her job this long, but then again, I’m also surprised that some principals and teachers in the traditional public school system hold onto their jobs as long as they do.
Pencader needs changes, but so do many public schools. And, by the way, last time I checked, charter schools are subject to a lot of the same government oversight. Charter schools and public schools often fail for the same reason — personnel and leadership. Whether it’s a charter or a public school, there is no escaping the effects of bad leadership. All the government oversight in the world isn’t going to make a difference in that regard. Pencader’s Board hasn’t sacked the current head of school, but why does anyone think a local school board would be acting any differently here?
Rather than cast aspersions at parents who are trying to get the best education they can for their children, why don’t those who seem to dislike charters so much concentrate on making traditional public schools better? There wouldn’t be a demand for charters if folks were satisfied with traditional public schools. They’re not, and therein lies the problem.
@Undecided
I don’t dislike charter schools at all: my twins attend one.
Moreover, you seem to make several other assumptions, to wit:
1. That principals don’t get relieved/fired by school boards in the traditional schools. Maybe not as often as you’d like, but it happens with regularity. And any elected school board discovering its principal had falsified her credentials would be out by the next board meeting (and probably suspended by the superintendent first).
2. Government oversight is significantly relaxed in charter schools, and by & large I think that’s a good thing, but . . . It means that somebody else–the parents!–has to stay on top of things. If they don’t, there is no central office, no close monitoring by DOE, no elected school board to keep tabs.
3. Cast aspersions at parents? Sorry, I’m laying it out there that parents have to be more responsible at a charter school. Did you listen to the tapes of the parents complaining about how their kids were treated, and about intimidation from administrators? Did you watch the board laughing and/or ignoring them?
Here’s the deal: parents have the ability to organize and demand the charter be run the way they think it should, because organized en masse they can vote with their feet and get the hell out if the changes are not to their liking. That’s the POWER that parents get in a charter school that they don’t really have in a traditional school. I’m saying that Pencader parents (as a group, not individuals) either did not use, did not understand, or were intimidated into not using that power.
When that happens, and you don’t have an effective board, you will eventually have a disaster.
But please don’t try to go down the old hackneyed road that to criticize Pencader, or to talk honestly about what the parents didn’t do, or even to admit that there are always risks and trade-offs with charters is somehow setting up a “pro-charter” vs “anti-charter” debate. You sound like you should know better.
But pandora, my point was that different situations present different challenges. For example, any kid who wants to seriously play football ought, in my opinion, get themselves into a school with a good football program. Homeschooling them would be a disservice to their aspirations & talents. If they want to swim…. well, that can be doable, outside the school. Not knowing what Pencadermom’s son actually wants in a college, I can’t say how much of a challenge problems at Pencader might present. I CAN tell you that I attended a public school that was a going concern, with a professional guidance counselor who was completely senile. I mean, it was surprising he showed up in pants. Unfortunately for me, he was in charge of my college planning & references, for which he was zero help. That could happen anywhere. Families who don’t advocate for their children, whether by, as Steve suggests, organizing as ‘consumers’ or by individually taking responsibility for their childrens’ education in whatever context, have lost opportunity. I don’t have a 400 person caseload.
Would it be awful if the school folds? Absolutely. Similarly, it’s awful that so many truly innocent people are hurt by the Penn State scandal and the NCAA sanctions. But I think graduate schools looking at applications from student athletes from Penn State will take into account the upheaval at that school, and most colleges will, with a heads up, be similarly ‘holistic” in considering transcripts from Pencader. Heavens, there are schools that were wiped out by Katrina or the tornados in the Midwest. If her son wants to finish at Pencader and it DOES fail (a pretty big if) I think a way will be found.
Wow, I missed all of this last night when catching up on the blogs. Unlike Pandora, I have never had a passion for politics. (although it has been drawing me in lately) Its confusing, I see a lot of conflicting ideas, and have trouble figuring out where I stand. My dad claims to be Libertarian. He is the number one person I have looked up to the most and trusted the most throughtout my life. I can’t wait to have a conversation with him about this though! He’s gonna get an earfull. I realized that I disagree with what Libertarians stand for when it comes to education.
I can help my kids with homework, I can (mostly) tell if they are working on level or not,despite what their report might show, and where they should be at a given age/grade. I know how to help with applications. I know that they should take honors and AP classes if they can and they should take foreign language. I know how to speak up and advocate for them if they need tutoring. I know how to find summer tutoring. I know who to call if I they are having a problem with another student. I know that they should be involved in sports and/or clubs.
If Pencader wasn’t in trouble last summer, I never would have stumbled onto Kilroys blog. I never would have learned how education is so political. I never would have learned what kinds of things to research when choosing a school. I don’t think I would know how terrible the DSTP was. I’m sure there were a few articles in Delaware Online, but before last summer, I rarely read education articles on Delaware Online. Until last summer, I had no idea how much I didn’t know! I wonder how many other families are like I was- who still have not had the pleasure of stumbling onto Kilroy’s blog 😀
I am responsible for seeing that my kids get a good education, I know that. But I need help. I don’t have the connections, resources, money, time, or knowledge for it to all fall on my shoulders. I have a bachelors degree, a job, a mortgage I can pay, a husband who works long hours but is always there for me and our kids. I am healthy, so is my husband and all of our kids, and I have a supportive extended family.
But, through no fault of their own, many people do not have all of that going for them. If it is so hard for me to keep up, and to know all that I should know, with regards to education for my kids, what must it be like for some other families??
Although it is a struggle right now, my son, with support and help from me and his dad, and from all the knowledge gotten from people on these blogs and elsewhere, will get through it and go to college, I’m sure of it.
Well, there’s lots of help available. I have a friend who’s on a school board. She has NO idea how easy her path is, just because she knows the players. She’s on the inside. When she hears from those of us who are less connected, she’s STUNNED.
But that’s true for most of us. For every kid who has an inspiring English teacher who uncovers their love of reading there’s a kid who naps in class. Sometimes in the same class. Pencadermom, you’re already an advocate for your kid, that’s clear. If you need more resources, just shout until you get them. 🙂