Charter schools have moved front and center in the education debate, mainly due to the announcements over the past month.
First, there was the donated BofA building slated to house charter schools. This school would hold approximately 2,000 students
Then there was the expansion of Newark Charter School. Once fully operational, this school would hold an estimated 2,300 students.
Odyssey Charter moved into the spotlight with its expansion plan. Projected enrollment: 1,716
That’s a lot of charter. The question is… Is there a tipping point when it comes to Charter Schools and how they impact traditional Public Schools? I think we’ve reached the tipping point. I base my conclusion on the fact that people have started paying attention and speaking out. Agree or disagree, the impact of Charters is being felt.
I’m also concerned that the intent of Charters has been abandoned. Charters were promoted with two main points:
1. Charter Schools claimed to be able to get better educational results than traditional public schools with less money.
The data shows that the claim of better educational results hasn’t materialized. The majority of Charter Schools perform the same as, or worse, than traditional public schools. Less than 20% perform better.
The second part of the statement (better results with less money) is also a point that’s being increasingly questioned by Charter proponents. There’s an awful lot of talk about how Charters should have their capital expenses covered.
When I look at point #1 I’m left with the feeling that Charters have not lived up to their own definition of the purpose of Charter Schools.
2. Charter Schools were promoted as educational laboratories; a place to test new educational models which, if successful, would be implemented into traditional Public Schools.
This has not happened, nor do I think it will. We’ve come a long way from a time when Charters were promoted as a way to improve public education for all. This is due, imo, to the reality that successful Charter Schools have more in common with Private Schools, who control who gets in and stays in, than Public Schools that must take everyone. And until successful Charter Schools have to take and keep everyone and duplicate their results outside of their current student body they haven’t proved a thing. Sorry, but taking already smart kids and getting good test scores is hardly an educational breakthrough that needs to be studied or held up as a stunning educational success.
Which brings us to last night’s meeting. First, special thanks to John Young, Nichole Dobo and Doug Denison for tweeting the event. Thanks to Kilroy for live-blogging it.
How to tackle this meeting? First, I understand that Newark Charter School parents love their school. I understand that they believe they’ve made the best educational choice for their child. I get that most of these parents aren’t trying to hurt other parents and children. I also understand that there are problems in traditional public schools that need to be addressed.
Here’s what I don’t understand. Why are traditional Public Schools and Charter Schools – two groups that were supposed to work together for the benefit of all children – now sworn enemies? What happened to initial idea of Charters as laboratories, sharing and implementing ideas tested in a small environment with public schools?
This might have something to do with it. Go read the whole thing. Mr. Meece’s mindset is quite stunning. I’m going to pull the infamous crab bucket story, he cites, and that I’ve now heard countless times.
Years ago, someone explained to me a phenomenon called the “crab bucket syndrome.” As crabs are caught and tossed into a bucket, the first crab tries to climb out to save its life. Other crabs, seeing his escape plan, grab hold of the first crab’s legs, which pulls him back into the bucket. Eventually, all the crabs perish. In schools, this is a metaphor for, “If I can’t have it, neither can you.” This is what happens when a group tries to “pull down” any other school that shows success can be achieved.
This is happening in Newark, where a group is trying to stop one of our most successful public schools, Newark Charter School, from expanding.
Every time I hear this story I am stunned by the disconnect. I am amazed that it hasn’t dawned on those repeating it that the crabs trying to escape are walking on other crabs, pushing them down in an attempt to get out. Actually, I find the example apt, but I don’t think my takeaway was Mr. Meece’s point. Mr. Meece seems to relate only to the crabs trying to escape, and if they have to do that on the backs of the crabs left in the bucket well… that’s okay with him.
All the crabs were out of the bucket last night, and some of it wasn’t pretty. Back to Kilroy’s link. Again, go read the whole thing.
– Someone says CSD can’t be fix
– CSD board member coming to bat saying NCS is harmful
– Parent declares “I won the lottery and I’m proud” says poor parents should get food stamps not complain abt cafeteria
– It appears all opponents have spoken and now it’s a string of NCS parents
– Next parent supports, says he doesn’t care about lost funds and units in CSD
– Man up now saying competition is good. Charters are good. And we need to heal from wound of this debate
– Assistant principal talking about free lunch and no cafeteria. Says trailers and no capital funding is reason.
– Next up parent, bashing the hell out of CSD. Then won lottery. Cure ensued.
John Kowalko and Nancy Willing spoke, and I’d love it if they told us what exactly they said. From Twitter, and Kilroy, it sounded like Kowalko spoke about the Charter Law and that Charters must consider impact study by CSD, rather than a particular school.
Oh yeah, we are divided. Everyone is fighting for what they want, and the attitude of Mr. Meece and a few others doesn’t endear anyone to their cause. Decorum, indeed.
I think the time has come to slow everything down and regroup. Charter Schools and Public Schools impact each other. We must find a way to coexist, because if we don’t then there will only be one winner… and a lot of losers.
We have reached the tipping point.