As I have posted previously in Whoa! Where did that come from Washington State PTA!!? Charter Schools?! Part 1, So Much for Fair and Balanced With the Washington State PTA, A Letter to All Parents in the Sate of Washington About Charter Schools, Stand for Children, School Board Elections, Washington State PTA and Charter Schools and The Washington State PTA Stacks the Deck Towards Charter Schools the PTA is under siege by Stand for Children (SFC) and the League of Education Voters (LEV). Both organizations are backed by Gates and big corporate money. They want nothing more than to turn the state of Washington into charter school country, privatizing our entire public school system.
I did not attend this year’s Legislative Assembly because my daughter has graduated from the Seattle Public School system but I did get information on what occurred during the two-day event. One teacher who commented on the post Final Thoughts on the Washington State PTA stated:
Dora,
Along with a team of two other teachers from Issaquah and one from Bellevue, I was delegate at PTSA Legislative Assembly this past weekend. Our team presented an Amendment to the New Model for Teacher Compensation, which you’ve been talking about. We had 3 intense presentation sessions on Friday followed by a caucus Friday night. On Saturday morning the Charter Schools proposal was debated on the floor and passed by a narrow margin. They had to do a standing count. Our amendment was the last vote. We knew that our amendment to retain experienced and higher learning as the foundation of the teacher salary scale wouldn’t fly, so we moved a 2nd amendment which changed the wording and recognized the importance of the new teacher and principal evaluation pilot. The debate was amazing, and we picked up a lot of support.
In the end we lost but it was close. We came in as outsiders, faced a lot of skepticism, but I actually feel that PTSA would welcome more participation by teachers, if we can just get them to be more involved.
The choice is clear: drop your PTA membership in protest (and just give a donation to your school PTA) or GET INVOLVED AND GET ACTIVE! I and a growing number of teachers have chosen the latter.
BTW, you were wondering who the issue submitters of the New Model for Teacher Compensation were last year. They were: Leslie Warrick, Alison Meryweather, Trina Davis and Chad Magendez. This is public information on WSPTA’s website. The sponsors of the new model for Teacher RIF policies also made it onto their 2010 legislative platform and is even more dangerous than compensation in my opinion. My team submitted an amendment this year to change that one too, but it didn’t make it out of PTA’s legislation committee. I appealed it to the executive board, but they voted it down so it didn’t survive to the legislative assembly. Here is the link to last year’s Legislative Issue List (a two-year platform). http://www.wastatepta.org/meetings/leg_assembly/Issues_Guide_2010.pdf.
Another teacher’s views of what occurred at the Legislative Assembly were stated in the post From a teacher’s perspective: The PTA needs to do their homework on Democracy: Go to an Occupation.
One pitch that I heard was used by the pro-charter, Stand for Children folks was that it was all about the poor minorities. They, the corporate backed SFC, are apparently doing all of this work so that the poor little black children can have a charter school to go to. We know that’s the target for the charter school franchises in Seattle as it is in other urban districts. There is more money to be made in urban areas than there is in less populated areas and there is Title 1 money to be had as well.
Before I go any farther, I would like for all to know that I am African-American and come from a proud tradition of educators. My family, all the way back to when their freedom was gained, understood the value of an education. That was instilled in me and has continued with my daughter. So if I sound a bit outraged at the fact that the well brought up 1% think with such a paternalistic attitude state, as in the time of slavery, that they know better than the rest of us about how to raise and educate our children, you might understand why I respond as I do.
Getting back to the Legislative Assembly, one of the PAA-Seattle parents said that there were maybe five African-Americans in the room when the votes were cast in terms on the charter school proposal. Was this representative of the population that is to be so honored as to have charter schools scattered throughout their communities and staffed by short-timer and ill-prepared TFA, Inc. recruits ( these charter schools will not be anywhere near the moneyed north side of Seattle or Issaquah)? I don’t think so. As I stated in a previous post, it is very hard for parents to participate in the assembly due to child care or financial restraints so, no, this vote was not representative of all of the children, parents or teachers in our state. The PTA motto of “Every child, one voice” does not apply here.
The charter school proposal passed by 9 votes. This is a very close margin and only happened because there were parents and teachers there who were able to educate other parents and teachers on what charter schools are really all about, the privatization of our public school system. The Washington State PTA at no time provided an opposing viewpoint to charter schools either in their literature or the speakers who were presented at the assembly. In fact the only speaker who spoke on the subject of charter schools was a representative of LEV which is of course, pro-charter.
Parents Across America has requested a list of schools that were represented in this Legislative Assembly to see how much of the state was truly represented. When we receive that information, I will let you know and you can judge for yourself.
It will be imperative for parents, teachers and students to let their legislators know that the PTA does not represent all of us or even a majority of children when the representatives of the Washington State PTA sit in front of the legislators and say otherwise.
Parents Across America-Seattle will be working hard to ensure that all voices are heard. If you would like to join us, you can contact me via e-mail at dora.taylor@gmail.com. For additional information on Parents Across America (PAA), please visit the National PAA website.
Dora
Seattle Education 
One, hopefully final, note.
I am glad to host comments. Usually, the only time that they are not immediately posted is because WordPress holds for approval comments that have a lot of links in them. This is WordPress and not me. I am usually on top of that and get those comments reviewed and posted.
My only request is that the comments remain civil in terms of language and discourse. I have only had to delete comments twice and one of those times was in this thread. Each time, I provide a warning and when that is not adhered to, the comments are deleted.
I enjoy the intellectual dialogue and many have read the back and forth that I have had with many readers but the line is drawn with inappropriate language.
Just thought I would reiterate that at this time.
Dora
Posted originally in 2009.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Privatization is about making a profit, whether it’s utilities, war or education. In states where access to public water has been privatized, the average cost of water to the public is 30% higher. The cost of handling waste water is on average 60% higher in those states. No bid contracts or lack of contracts with private enterprise during the Iraq war and little or no oversight by the government caused cost overruns to soar. We have so little money for education in this country that I wonder sometimes what private companies are thinking when they establish charter schools. Do they honestly believe that there is a profit margin in public education to be garnered? Schools are underfunded as are all other institutions and agencies that are under the umbrella of the Federal government with the exception of the military/industrial/corporate complex. Funding for Federally mandated programs such as our public schools have dwindled over the last sixty years due to the fact that in the 1950’s, 80% of all taxes were paid by large corporations. Now, in 2009, that number has dwindled to 12-15%. For example, in 2008 Goldman Sachs paid an effective tax rate of 1% and yet $40M was paid in bonuses to the CEO.
The balance of public school funding is paid by the middle class and we can only pay so much. With every tax cut and credit provided to large corporations and wealthy individuals, we lose, our children lose, valuable dollars that are desperately needed. Meanwhile, there is a glut of money at the top and it has nowhere to go. All of those billions of dollars have instead gone back into Wall Street trading or been re-invested in other countries and this phenomenon is partially to blame for the crisis that we have had to live through over the last 1 ½ years. Institutions that are part of the public domain such as schools do not enjoy the capitol that was available 40-50 years ago.
When I was attending public school in Los Angeles, we had new books every year, pleasant buildings that were clean, well-lit and safe, nutritious hot meals at lunch, playgrounds with all of the equipment that one would need, physical education classes to keep us fit, art, music and well maintained grounds. This is similar to what a private school offers today. A student during that time received a good education and could go from a public school into any university. You didn’t need to attend a private school to gain access into the best schools in the United States. You were on equal footing with your counterparts. That is not the case now and it has to do with money.
As Federal money has dwindled, municipalities and states have had to rely on property taxes, bonds and levies to fund education. Unfortunately, for many taxpayers who do not have children, public education is not a priority and school bonds and levies often do not pass. I saw this happen in California several times. Because of the state of public schools, many parents who can afford it, place their children in private schools which depleted the school districts of funds that would otherwise be allocated to those students and therefore the gap increases.
We have strangled our school system. There is overcrowding in the classrooms. A student from Franklin High School noted to the school board one night that one of her classes had 40 students in it and she said that the school needed more money. She went on to say that nothing could get done in a class that large. There is also less time spent in class. Because of the decreased budgets, class time has decreased. There are now partial school days and more days off. This has put the onus on parents, if they are able to, to supplement the time through homework sessions and/or tutors. What is left in our school system are valiant and valued teachers and school staff who keep their schools together with small budgets, a vision and a lot of hope.
Then we have Arne Duncan, inculcated with the Broad philosophy, waving a carrot in front of a very hungry populace saying, you can have the money but first you have to do a few tricks. What he wants for a relatively small amount of money is to have all states allow charter schools, but charter schools are not the answer. Charter schools do not provide equality of access to all as is the mandate of public schools. Will charter schools meet the needs of the poor and the marginalized as is mandated by the Federal government for all public schools? No, not when a charter school can expel a student if they do not perform well on a test. These are public funds that are to be used to provide for all, not just a select few. Teachers in charter schools have no protections that are provided by a union in a public school. Pay is on average less and the hours are longer.
I was having a discussion the other day with some parents about charter schools and we all agreed that our children could benefit from that situation. We have the knowledge and wherewithal to either establish or select a school that would fit the needs of our children. We would have knowledge of the programs available, we would understand how to gain access to those schools, and our students would perform up to the standards set by the school. But that is not the case for all families. There are many families who do not have access to information to make these sorts of choices, maybe they do not speak English or have access to the Internet. Maybe, due to circumstances that they have little control over, there is not enough time or resources to ensure that their children will do well on a standardized test that determines whether they remain in a charter school. It is an inherently biased system towards those who have and therefore these schools should not be publicly funded.
Sometimes, when I read about these charter schools, I think that these global corporations that fund the Broad and the like are just wanting to train the cogs in the wheel, children who can have basic information drilled into them with no opportunity for developing perspective or creative thinking skills. You then have an even more divided social stratum, the unquestioning workers/soldiers and the ruling class.
The answer to the question as to where do we go from here is two tiered. First, there is the overall picture. The idea of a trickle down economy is a myth. It is apparent to all that the idea that people who have wealth will provide opportunities for others to also prosper is absurd and I would dare to say, manufactured by those with the greatest wealth. The only businesses that I have seen prosper from the wealth of others are businesses that cater to the wealthy such as yacht makers, luxury auto dealers and of course, the brokers. The accumulated wealth of a few that has nowhere to go at the top needs to be reinvested in our country and in our future. Our future is our children. Good business practice is that you reinvest part of your profits.
Corporations have made billions of dollars from the opportunities afforded to them by simply being in the United States. That money now needs to be reinvested in our children through the reinstatement of a tax structure that is equitable and no longer allows tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies and other large corporate businesses, a financial structure that demands oil companies who drill off of our coastlines pay for that privilege and end the tax breaks for the wealthy as instituted by our previous president Ronald Reagan and furthered by George Bush, Jr. Because there has not been a significant investment in education over the last 50 years, businesses have had to look elsewhere for talent, to other countries where people have been more adequately educated. The shock for many was that they had to import talent. Microsoft is an example of that. Because of their awareness of the problem, the Gates Foundation has tried, unsuccessfully, to come up with an answer to the problem. Unfortunately there is no quick solution and actually they don’t need to reinvent the wheel. They just need to reinvest with tax dollars that are due in our state and our country.
The answer is before their eyes and in their own backyard, the alternative school system that has existed in Seattle for 40 years. The public educational system can work but it requires money to function and to function well as it did 50 years ago. This gets me to the second and more quickly attainable tier. Seattle has a rich and varied history of alternative school programs starting with Alternative School #1 (AS1) which was established in Seattle about forty years ago.
When my daughter and I moved to Seattle, I discovered the alternative school program and was greatly impressed by what the school district had to offer. There are programs for students K-12 at various locations throughout Seattle. High schools such as Nova have a track record of high test scores, the WASL Language Arts scores are the highest in the city, and placement in some of our best colleges in the country. There are waiting lists into each of these programs and the level of quality of the staff is outstanding. These well established programs need to be maintained and supported. These schools provide an opportunity for all students to succeed, not just a select few. That is what Seattle has and other schools can be developed based on the proven track record of the original alternative school program structure.
The answer can truly be in your own back yard. What we already have is tried and true. The new STEM school, financed in part by the Gates’ Foundation, looks to Nova High School as an example of project-based classes. The basic tenets of these programs can be used in developing additional programs that can provide an even greater diversity for our students and an opportunity for all students to succeed.
Charter schools are not the answer. Well financed, community supported schools are.
Dora
Here we go again with the unions being the evil force that must be eliminated at all cost. See Heritage Foundation and AEI Issue Report Exposing Dumb, Fatcat Teachers, http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/11/heritage-foundation-and-aei-issue.html
Actually I think that you would find that post that I wrote rather illuminating in terms of how our schools over the last 30 years have been starved of funds. In fact, I will post it in this comment section so that even if you don’t want to read, others might.
I am not sure what you mean about minority students being “out in the cold”. What I see is that many students of all races, religions and creeds have suffered due to a lack of adequate funding of education in our public schools throughout the country.
With the cuts that Gregoire is proposing to make to education in our state, I dare say that an income tax would have eliminated the need for such drastic cuts. I paid state income tax all my life before moving to the state of Washington and I wouldn’t mind doing it again. In a community meeting last year held by Santos and Pettigrew, many people in the audience stood up and said that they would pay a state income tax to help ease the financial choke hold that the schools are suffering from now.
It is about the money. Our class sizes are too large. Teachers don’t have enough materials for their classes and have to pay out of their pockets for the simplest things. Now art is served on a cart in many schools, literally. Librarians are being laid off in our schools in Seattle along with much needed counselors. We have cut back on the number of hours and days that schools are open due to a lack of funding. Many of the school buildings in Seattle are seismically unsafe and there is not enough money to fix them. The list goes on.
In terms of financial fraud in charter schools, there is a lack of oversight by any entity therefore incidents of graft and corruption occur on a more frequent basis. Yes, Pottergate happened but imagine several Pottergates happening in many parts of our state in one year as is happening in Florida and New Orleans at this time.
Anyway, to follow is that post.
Happy Friday!
Dora
Dora,
Trust me, I’m not interested in painting anyone into any corner. I only care about outcomes for kids. Still, I think fear is the appropriate term for how this state bends over backwards to NOT allow charter schools. It isn’t about outcomes for kids – seems like it is more about outcomes for unions. Twice you’ve mentioned how some kids are “counseled out” of charter schools which is funny considering that that is the prescribed way school district’s have of getting rid of bad or burned out tenured teachers – when they feel like being bothered. But we aren’t allowed to say that because then we are blaming the teacher.
I’d submit to you that most minority kids are in public schools that have left them out in the cold. Indeed, in this state, where there is a minority kid left out in the cold they are ALL in public school. Many at schools where people who rail against the “privatization” of public schools would not even dare to send their kids. I don’t know what you intended to say with the hedge fund manager comment but, honestly, the kids are already in the cold. (Do you think that if charters are somehow allowed to exist that public schools will disappear? Has that happened anywhere? That is why I use the word fear when I talk about attitudes towards charter schools from some in Washington state.) That is what their parents have been telling districts for 3 or 4 generations. Again, that is how we got to charter schools in the first place. Are charters THE answer. No. But they are a choice for parents. And there are parents who want that choice.
I haven’t said anything about funding – but, if there is a Washington state governor who has given schools more money than Chris Gregoire I’d like to know about it.
Dora, I don’t need to read your piece…I’ve lived it. I also don’t see myself voting for an income tax soon. Did you know, there are only six states without income taxes? Yet there are failing school – wait, not schools, entire districts, in states with income taxes. That isn’t the answer. But if it were, how exactly would it work? We raise more money to fund what in schools exactly? Lower class sizes? I don’t necessarily have a problem with that but let us call it what it is…if charter schools are “privatization” then why not call lower class sizes “teachers union enlargement” because that it what it is….not as easy to sell that way though.
I also don’t need to read about charter school scandals. I really don’t care. Particularly given – as I’ve said before – the recent fiscal scandals in Seattle Public school and Tacoma Public Schools. Tacoma spent $500,000 getting rid of a superintendent not 5 years ago. But yeah, it was public and accountable.
Dora,
I haven’t jumped on anyone’s bandwagon. As I’ve said, I’m not the biggest fan of charter schools. Where we differ is that I do not fear them as much as many people in Washington state seem to fear them do. I’ve lived in two cities where there were charter schools. It really just is not that big of a deal. I also have a healthy amount of respect and much sympathy for the families who want the choice to send their children to charter schools. Something I don’t believe the anti-corporatization, anti-charter school crowd doesn’t seem to have for families. I’ve no idea why people argue so vehemently to keep these families in schools they clearly do not want to be attending.
I don’t have time to get into all of the Tacoma Public School problems but I’ll say that there are maybe, 5 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and maybe 3 or 4 high schools, worth sending kids to in Tacoma currently. Yes, Tacoma has all the fashionable Montessori, STEM, and IB programs – I believe Foss HS in Tacoma was the first in the state to even offer the IB program. Typically, what happens is good schools fill up with knowledgeable parents and their kids, i.e., the people with the means and ability, leaving the rest of the parents in the city stuck. I love the schools my kids go to and I wish all children had access to such great schools. They don’t and they won’t and we have been telling generations of parents that great schools are coming and they are tired of waiting.
Dora, please, stop selling charters as segregators of schools and children. It isn’t true and it is an unfair charge – 1. The schools in those neighborhoods were segregated decades ago because of white flight. 2. The public schools around them, you will find, are just as segregated. Charter school are not changing the demographics of poor minority neighborhoods. 3. Say what you will, but the charter schools are taking the kids that would’ve previously been stuck in their local public school whether it was a good school or not; whether it was dangerous or not. Besides that, no parent is forced to send their child to a charter school. It is also unfair to state that charters schools don’t have to be transparent. Given that it would take legislation to create them it would seem that legislators could write transparency into the bill – just as they had to do with public schools at some point. BTW, in New York, the state teachers’ union had it written into their charter legislation that charters would be funded with less money per pupil than public schools.
I don’t know why this blog started and it could be that it started off with a view that is more fair than it is now…I don’t think you guys are proselytizing, I think you guys are evangelizing. It doesn’t take long to get a clear view that this blog is anti-charter school and anti-education reform movement.
Interesting that you would use words like “fear”. I don’t think that would be an appropriate word to use. You can’t paint me or anyone else into that corner.
Over the last two years, simply out of curiosity, I have compiled information on the subject of charter schools and for the most part the view is not very pretty. If you have a wealth of information that you would like to share on charter schools that I have missed, please provide the information. Let us all know just why we should allow charter schools to proliferate in our state.
The sad part of the great promise of charter schools is that it has left many minority children and their families out in the cold. I don’t want any child to be “counseled out” of a charter school simply because they do not meet expectations. That is cruel particularly considering the circumstance of many of those students. That is not an option.
We have public schools and we need to support those.
I wrote a piece a while back called Where Do We Go From Here?, https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/where-do-we-go-from-here-2/, that clearly lays out what has happened to our educational system in the last 40 years or so. That’s what needs to be fixed. Our schools need to be fairly funded and no charter school in the world is going to change that. Charter school are the flavor of the month for hedge fund managers and the like who will lose interest over a very short period of time when they don’t see a mercuric rise in profits. Then what happens to those students who need us the most? They will be out in the streets looking for another school.
The problem that you describe is about funding. Just how will a charter school, which takes money away from the school district, help? It will still be the same problem unless you get private backers to fund the charter schools. When that happens you begin to develop a lack of transparency. It’s just not a win-win situation.
Instead, demand a personal income tax. Demand that the state come up with funding options. Privatizing our schools is not the answer.
So far, because of the money behind the charter school movement, legislators have yet in any state to provide rules in terms of transparency. That’s a pipe dream. It’s like expecting our congresspersons to demand regulation of the banks when their pockets are stuffed with millions from the same parties.
Check out Charter School Scandals for more on that, https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/where-do-we-go-from-here-2/.
I just call it the way I see it Greg.
Dora
Johnmichael,
That’s what our school board said about Teach for America recruits. We don’t need them and because they are not trained or certified we don’t want them teaching our children.
The argument of just having another tool in the toolkit is tired and was used as a lame excuse by all of the Broad-trained school board members. It’s almost like a mantra that reformers use to slip through policies that are just another example of corporate reform that does nothing for our students.
Exactly what have you done to create a better environment for the schools wherever you are? Why do you think that a charter franchise with a wobbly record would be any better?
This evening I and others will be speaking to an administrator who worked for a charter school and who contacted me about his experience. He said that we don’t want one charter school in our state because once we have one, then there will be a flood of them, mostly unregulated. After that conversation with this person who thinks that charter schools are nothing but factories that crank out students and cash for the stockholders, I will report back on what I heard. In the meantime, if you peruse the right hand side of this page, you will find many reasons to not have charter schools in our state.
By the way, check out the comment made by a parent in Tacoma about the schools there in response to the post The Washington State PTA and the Lack of Transparency.
Dora
“Exactly what have you done to create a better environment for the schools wherever you are? Why do you think that a charter franchise with a wobbly record would be any better?”
I am going to speak to some Kirkland City Council members about putting a sidewalk on Juanita Drive because students from another are of Kirkland will be fed into a new middle school along that road and there is no safe way to travel there. One bicyclist was killed in the past year, so this is a significant safety hazard. That’s my agenda for TONIGHT.
We all are trying to do what we think is best for a better environment for our kids. I do not believe that a charter school would do better. However, you cannot ignore that in areas where charter schools have been possible the public schools have improved. So I am not going to dismiss the possibility that they MIGHT be helpful even if I doubt the schools themselves will fare any better.
Dora,
Johnmichael was right. I’m a Tacoma parent and Hunt failed. It wasn’t simply because it was “underpopulated”. It was underpopulated because it was failing and it was in an area of town that people could choose to send their kids to another district (University Place) without a lot of hassle instead of sending their kid to an obviously bad school. And they did, in droves. Hence, the underpopulation. Those who didn’t go to another district went to other middle schools – and, btw, most of them are bad choices as well. There are only 2 middle schools in Tacoma out of 10 worth even considering and one is in Northeast Tacoma and not an easy commute for most parents which leaves one. It fills up pretty quickly. The rest are stuck at schools that are not great.
The argument that charter schools fail and are more likely to close than public schools is silly. Failing public schools simply don’t close, unless they are forced to by government or there are other demographic or facilities reasons. They just stay open. We just opened a gigantic middle school here in Tacoma, built from the ground up, that I would certainly characterize as failing. Less than 35% of all students there are passing the MSP in reading and math. It is 3 years old. Is it going to close? No. Should we judge them solely on test scores? Probably, not. But the scores do let me know there is something seriously wrong with that school. Honestly, I don’t see how a charter school would do worse in that situation. Loopholes can be addressed and it isn’t as if public schools don’t have their own accountability problems. Especially considering some of the recent events in Seattle and Tacoma. Heck, I’ve known entire school districts that were taken over by their respective states!
The notion that charter schools are “segregating” public school children is laughable. Those schools are already segregated and I’m not even sure how useful such terms are in these debates. It is not illegal for any child to attend any school that I know of on the basis of race. And really, isn’t that what we mean when we say segregation? So, it depends on if we mean de jure segregation or de facto segregation and de jure is illegal and charter schools are hardly changing the de facto segregation that already exists. There is an entire history, sociology, range of emotions and opinions, that one brings when you say “segregation” and I’d like to not bring along all that baggage…particularly when it is not necessary or applicable.
Lastly, can we seriously move past the whole Gates corporitization crap? The Gates Foundation is not making parents take their kids out of public schools to place them in PUBLIC charter schools. Parents move their kids because they are not happy with the schools their children attend. There are no charter schools in districts where 90% of kids go to college. Those parents are pretty happy. Why would there be? And why is it the Gates Foundation is evil when they advocate and fund programs for different outcomes for public schools but not evil, say, when they fund public libraries, health care, scholarships to Cambridge, or any other number of things. Are they “corporatizing” art when they sponsor an exhibition at SAM? Are they “corporatizing” the University of Washington when they sponsor programs? No. Funny how the corporate label gets thrown around depending upon whether or not we support the cause when ALL the money came from the same place.
Honestly, I don’t think Seattle schools are doing badly at all. But I wish Seattle would quit telling those of us in the rest of the state how we don’t need charter schools. I’m not the biggest fan of charters, by far, but I do understand how some parents would want the option and I’m certainly not so quick to dismiss the opinions, needs, successes or failures, of those parents as irrelevant, simply to further my own opinions. That would be the difference between listening and speaking. Such attitudes are among the things that got us to charter schools in the first place.
PS – Those Rhode Island teacher weren’t fired because of test scores. They were fired because they wanted to negotiate more pay for reforms that included adding 25 minutes extra for their school day, eating lunch with students ONCE A WEEK, and tutoring. They played the union card and lost. Of course, they were all hired back a few weeks later.
Being such a well-informed parent of a child in public school, I assume, what solutions did you consider before jumping on the bandwagon of charter schools or did you just throw up your hands and say that the system has failed and there is nothing else to do but privatize our public schools?
If it was simply a matter of being underpopulated, I could understand cutting the expense by closing a public school although that sort of decision was hopefully carefully made because when you close a school, you have then had a tremendous impact on the surrounding community.
Why don’t parents want to send their children to the other public schools? Is it the deterioration of the school buildings? Is it that they are mostly minority schools? Does your district have alternatives as we do in Seattle such as Montessori programs, STEM, option schools, International Baccalaureate schools and Advanced Placement Programs? If not, you should and it is up to you and other parents to demand such programs be put into place. With these programs, the parents, teachers and students have far more control over how these programs are run than you would do with any charter school. And if you do have these programs in place then they need to be supported. These programs have successful track records. Charter schools do not have a proven record.
Charter schools, even though they are funded by our tax dollars, do not have to be transparent. They also easily counsel out students who can’t perform up to their prescribed standard so that they can continue their charter with the state. If these charter schools cannot meet the goals as set by the state in terms of test scores, the charter can be lost. This has happened around the country. Another reason that charter schools go under is that they are not able to maintain themselves financially or there has been financial corruption.
The reason for the intense segregation of these charter schools is that the charter franchises target the minority communities. This only deepens what is already a problem in many states. Yes, there is racism and segregation in this country, being African American I am very well aware of it but with all city draw option schools and the other programs that I mentioned that we have in Seattle, that at least begins to break down those racial barriers. Charter schools only deepen them.
Actually, I use to say that Bill and Melinda Gates should just stick to sculpture parks in Seattle. Yes, we do have SAM and the Children’s Hospital both of which have been generously supported by the Gates Foundation but honestly, Bill Gates doesn’t know the first thing about public schools or education and refuses to listen to teachers and parents who are on the front line in our public schools. Parents have been effectively shut out of the conversation. Hence organizations such as Parents Across America have been established and are flourishing.
If Gates had come to us in Seattle, or anywhere else for that matter, and said “Hey, I have this idea. How can we work on this together?” that would have been the right start but instead he and Broad surreptitiously worked behind the scenes pulling strings with their money to create what they think is the perfect scenario for the rest of us, a charter school in every pot. They backed the creation of faux roots organizations in Seattle that have since disappeared after serving their purpose, behind the scenes provided retreats to our school board members and had spent millions on organizations such as the Seattle Foundation, LEV and Stand for Children to promote their idea of how the 99% should be educated.
It is greatly resented but worse than that, all of the money that they have thrown away on all of their efforts would have been better spent on providing funding so that we didn’t lose counselors in our schools, or librarians or even help to keep the pubic libraries open so that students without the wherewithal could study in a warm and safe environment. We are facing cuts to healthcare for our children and cuts in education that could easily be relieved by Gates and others but instead they spend millions behind the scenes playing people like puppets. What’s there to like?
As stated in our first blog, “This blog represents a compilation of information that has been gathered over the last year by concerned parents and educators who are a part of the Seattle Public School system.
Our goal is to have an informed public on issues that affect us in Seattle as it relates to public school education.”
We are not our to proselytize, just to inform. This is just one blog which is nothing in terms of the propaganda machine that Gates, et al have created. If the press took education seriously in Seattle and did their homework, I and others would have time to do other things in life but I believe that to make an informed decision, all the facts must be presented. That’s why I write on this blog almost everyday, because there is such a lack of information out there about what is happening in our country in terms of education.
The school in Rhode Island was closed because that was part of Arne Duncan’s plan with RTTT, to close schools and turn them around, usually into charter schools. It didn’t work, it was a catastrophe even though Duncan and Obama initially applauded the move. The school has since been re-opened and all the teachers have been re-hired.
One last thing. I have asked people who post on this blog to keep a civil tongue. I do try to set the example although sometimes I would love to let lose with words that I don’t believe are part of civil discourse. I would ask that you to do the same.
Dora
You would be hard pressed to find a single parent who voted in favor of the option of charter schools that want public schools replaced. We all know that these may not work, but simply having the option may improve the education system as a whole. I recognize that you see this as black and white where a vote in favor of the option of charter schools is a vote against public schools but many of us are focused in the middle where we want the best options to improved education of all of our kids.
There are many options in life, some good, some bad. It’s what we select that is important. We can have hundreds of options but we need to choose what is best for our children.
And just to say that other states have charter schools does not make them a good option for our state. I have collected information from around the country over the last two years on charter schools. I started out collecting information out of curiosity. There was no agenda on my part, I was just looking at another “option” based on the fact that our previous superintendent was a Broad graduate and Broad graduates are part of the privatization process by way of opening up the channels to establish charter schools in their districts. The more that I read about charter schools, the more that I decided that this option was not what my daughter needed, the schools system in Seattle needed nor the children in our state.
Why?
Because there is no requirement for transparency when it comes to how the public funds are used in these schools. For one of hundreds of example of misuse of public funds see, HEAD OF CHARTERS EARNS $204,000, http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/search/label/Excessive%20compensation
Because there is rampant misuse of pubic funds by charter schools. See, Comptroller Di Napoli and Harry Wilson: where do they stand on fiscal oversight of charter schools and DOE?, http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2010/10/comptroller-di-napoli-and-harry-wilson.html and Loopholes In Florida Law Mean Little Oversight of Charter Business Deals, http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2011/10/12/loopholes-in-florida-law-leave-room-for-corruption-in-charter-schools/
Because children who do not fit within the mold of average are “counseled out” of a charter school. The following article not only tells the story by a parent about her son but also about her second look at “failing schools”. See “My special child, pushed out of Kindergarten at a NYC charter school”, http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-special-child-pushed-out-of.html. And another parent talks about the Harlem Success Academy, http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/10/harlem-success-academy-turns-away.html
Because charter schools are more likely to “fail” and close than any pubic school. See Which charters are flunking according to DOE’s own metrics?, http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/10/which-charters-are-flunking-according.html
Because charter schools have had the effect of re-segregating our schools by race and income. See, Schools Without Diversity: Education Management Organizations, Charter Schools, and the Demographic Stratification, http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/schools-without-diversity
Because there has been a militarization of charter schools starting in Chicago where all this began when Arne Duncan was CEO of the Chicago Pubic School system. See, Fast Times at Recruitment High http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/10/harlem-success-academy-turns-away.html. What I have the most problem with on this point is that the only children being targeted for these military schools are minority
students.
And last but not least, because we just don’t need charter schools in our state. So far they have not addressed the initial problem of inadequate funding for all schools. And one last reason is because we have successful, tried and true options that provide all children with the opportunity to succeed. What we need to do is provide support to those schools and all of our schools.
In regard to the example you give of a “failing school”, the school is underpopulated according to the document and that seems to be the major consideration for closing the school. It also brings up the question of do you simply base how a school is doing on test scores? During the Race to the Top debacle, teachers were being “graded” on how well their students performed on test scores. It doesn’t matter if they have brought these students up over the year, it doesn’t show the progress of that student, only a test score suspended in time. And the ramifications of those test scores? See A Teacher Pushed to the Edge, http://socialistworker.org/2010/10/01/teacher-pushed-to-the-edge and
Central Falls Teachers Fired! – Joann Boss Speaks Out, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0SRg4BH66g.
What our schools need are financial and community support, not closures which only disrupts a community even farther.
By the way, the closing and “turnaround” of public schools is simply a method used to close a school and have a charter school take over the property. Charter schools have to be co-housed in pubic schools and most of them eventually take over the school building entirely. These charter financiers have no desire to purchase or lease property, they simply takeover existing school buildings and this school turnaround model is the “tool” of choice to replace a public schools with a charter school. See Arne Duncan’s Renaissance 2010, https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/catalysts-analysis-of-arne-duncans-renaissance-2010/
Dora
I attended and bother the pros and the cons were fully heard. In fact, the even extended the comments period to allow both sides to be heard. The individuals speaking in favor were in the hot seat the entire time by many of the voters (including me) who were testing their statements and stance. No matter which way the vote went the losing side was going to be upset with the outcome.
That said, the number of states in our country without Charters is in single digits. They are not converting any of these regions of our country into a for profit educational system. In fact, their efforts have almost exclusively been in areas that public schools have failed. The argument against charters is that the numbers do not suggest that they perform any better than the schools they replaced.
Nearly everyone who voted in favor that I spoke with are just as skeptical about whether it will help as those that voted against. The reason they voted in favor is because it gives another option in failing districts. Not saying that is valid, but I wanted to present the rationale.
Saying that charter schools simply add another option to our public school system is a poor argument. It was just like when our Seattle School Board members said that having Teach for America recruits with 5 weeks training was just another tool in the toolbox. Please. We don’t need any cheap tools when we have well educated teachers who have chosen to commit their careers to teaching our children and being a part of our communities..
In terms of charter schools, two things come to mind. First, we have options already in terms of education including the alternative school system. My other thought is that as in all of the other states that are listed on the right hand column on this page, there has been corruption and greed associated with many of these schools because it is a privatization of our public school system.
What our schools need is adequate funding.
Also, please provide me with examples of “failing schools” in our state. I constantly hear from reformers about the failing students and the failing schools and yet see no specific examples. Give me some examples and let’s see just what the problem is. We can solve the issues without losing control of our schools to CEO’s and wealthy stockholders.
Dora
In my humble opinion, no argument is “poor”. I am stating what the perspective is of those who voted for it and I sympathize with both sides. You are absolutely correct that we have wonderful teachers and some amazing school districts. But there are many that are not afraid of another option. It is not a “cheap tool”, it is an avenue that most states in this country have.
Does it work? Honestly, I do not believe so. I think there are a couple examples of good charter schools out there but I am convinced that very few of them are better than the option they replaced. That said, I have not seen any evidence that charter schools have replaced public schools in the 40+ states that have them. If there are examples of where a public school system had to shut down as a result I would love to see that information.
As for the “failing schools”, here is one example:
Click to access Proposed%20Closure%20of%20Hunt%20MS.pdf
I’ve spent many years as a partial member of the 36th dems, and I’ve been a SEA / WEA member for 6 years.
IF I had a dollar for every last minute resolution which came up because … the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor? The Wehrmacht started rolling into Russia? 767’s hit the twin towers? …
because people will not set up some basic rules about process and follow those rules –
because people LIKE being in charge and shoving their baloney down the groups’ collective throat?
Here is a link to some process rules I thought up after the Howard Dean debacle of 2004 — remember how Kerry was electable?
http://www.liemail.com/meetingsandagendas.html
It sounds like the PTA is getting training from the Mayberry Machiavellians of the Democratic Party & some Unions – lip service “democracy”.
rmm.
Thank you for the update. J