Press Release:
New Parents Group Supports Innovation in Schools
Parents Across America Tacoma (PAAT), a community group dedicated to strengthening our public education system, will hold its first public meeting on Wednesday, February 15, 2011. The meeting will take place at Kings Books, 218 St. Helens Ave, Tacoma, 98402. Doors will open at 6:30pm, followed by a presentation and discussion. An overview of the group’s mission and information on proposed education legislation will be shared. PAAT’s priorities include: supporting Tacoma schools and building on our successes, encouraging data-proven innovation, and ensuring a just and equitable distribution of resources for all Tacoma students. The evening will focus on answering questions and discussing ways community members can get involved.
This year, charter school legislation has moved front and center in the state legislature. This important topic deserves immediate public attention and deliberation. PAAT believes that innovation can be achieved within our schools without inviting the risks that accompany charters. Tacoma’s public schools have been leading the way with innovative programs which are the envy of many other districts in this state. PAAT believes Tacoma can build on these successes and become a model for other school districts.
PAAT will provide a forum for South Sound parents, education advocates and community members who feel disillusioned with current education reform debates. “All across the country I see the parent’s voice getting lost in this sweeping tide of education reform,” says public school parent Catherine Feeney, “we don’t need corporations coming in and telling us what is best for our kids. WE know what is best for our kids, so why isn’t anyone asking us?” Sandi Strong explains “For the last several years, I had been looking for a group to join that is working to support and improve our public schools. I was recruited by one that came to town a few years ago claiming they were grassroots. I was excited to join, but found they were a top-down organization focused on national issues and on bringing products and services to our state. This was not what I was looking for.”
PAAT is an autonomous affiliate of Parents Across America, a nationwide network of parent-led organizations dedicated to supporting and strengthening America’s schools. For more information about Parents Across America Tacoma, visit http://paatacoma.org.
Congratulations Tacoma.
Dora
Seattle Education 
Effective in what sense? They kick out students who don’t perform to a specified standard so how is that “effective” teaching?
I have no problem with people making a living but public education should not be about making a buck by corporations, it should be about educating the whole child. If folks want to make money off of educating children, they should focus on founding private schools with private money not using public funds, taxpayer dollars, to create major profits for themselves.
KIPP had revenues in 2010 of $250M.
Dora
1. Kids that are unwilling to be educated do not belong in schools. Parents need to be involved in making sure that kids priorities are appropriate. If not we need to find another place for the kid where the proper priorities are enforced. There needs to be consequences for bad behavior either by kids or adults. Successful educational systems have little tolerance for some of what we routinely tolerate in our schools, especially in this state.
2. We, as taxpayers, are investing X dollars to educate kids. Any organization that can deliver the product should be a viable vendor. We routinely farm out higher education to highly effective, and sometimes not so highly effective organizations. The same is also true of pre-school. What is the sacredness of K-12 and if it is sacred why don’t we require all to attend?
3. It appears that most of the objections I hear are more about preservation of existing, and often quite inefficient, plans than educating children.
All children have the right to an education. How do you determine what child is “unwilling” to be educated?
Unfortunately, parents come in all forms. It would be ideal if all parents were capable of caring for their children the way that you think would be ideal but unfortunately that is not the case. Public schools, therefore, have to take everyone.
As I have said time and time again, KIPP, et al are NOT “viable vendors”. They do no better than public schools.
And no, if you mean by the status quo that I support underfunded schools, no I’m not for that. Until this country decides to invest in our children by investing in education we will have what we have.
Dora
Charles,
If Federal Way has not been developing innovative schools, that is a shame. In Tacoma we have been very active in that arena: we have a high school of the arts, a math and science institute, two Montessori-based elementary schools and an arts-based elementary, as well as other programs.
Four of our schools were recognized as “innovative schools” by the state this year. You can find a state-wide list here: http://www.k12.wa.us/InnovativeSchools/DesignatedSchools.aspx
These are just the schools that applied and were recognized in the first round.
If you would like to see innovative programs in Federal Way, talk to your local school board and organize with parents in your community. State law does not discourage, but in fact encourages innovative programs.
– Jennifer Boutell
Parents Across America Tacoma
I am a former school board member and in attendance at almost every school board meeting!
Our school board was the only board in the state to endorse the previous charter school law! While there are a few innovation schools, such as your school of the arts and our public academy there isn’t the kind of choice in most school districts.
In a state that has such dismal overall achievement rates I fail to see the objection to letting some engaged parents develop a school that they believe would be more effective, as long as it is measured by the same standards as other schools.
The objections I keep seeing seem to be more about preserving the status quo which in my mind is not satisfactory.
There is the opportunity now for options and actually the state ALE program under OSPI which has been around for a number of years affords the opportunity to establish progressive alternative schools as there are in Seattle.
The quaint notion that a charter school will be established by well-meaning parents is not the reality of charter schools today unfortunately. The kinds of charter schools that have been bandied about by the League of Education Voters and Stand for Children who have been pushing charter schools in our state have been KIPP and Achieve and other charter school franchises that are non-profits so to speak but make huge profits off of our children.
See: Study Finds High Dropout Rates for Black Males in KIPP Schools, http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/03/31/27kipp_ep.h30.html?tkn=XQPFx%2FM2fyLmh1AhzEKg0PYNIqV0SkZ1DeSj&cmp=clp-edweek, Penn school special education teacher hits KIPP hypocrisy on special education children, http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2118 and Bay Area KIPP schools lose 60% of their students, study confirms, http://www.examiner.com/education-in-san-francisco/bay-area-kipp-schools-lose-60-of-their-students-study-confirms.
This is not what we want for our children.
Dora
Are you suggesting that KIPP and Geoffry Canada are not effective?
If schools of those kind were to prosper would our children be adversely effected?
I don’t think so.
Actually, there was a bill passed in the state of Washington last year regarding Innovation Schools and the Seattle Public School district is working with the teacher’s union and many of the alternative schools to develop what they term “Creative Approach Schools” based on the intent of the bill. It’s in the infancy stage of development and I don’t know when implementation will begin but it will be happening.
As I begin to hear about it, I will post more information.
Regrading charter schools, the only reason that charter schools are booming in many states is not because the are successful, the majority of them are not any better than public schools, but because the charter franchises pressure the state legislators in these various states to raise the caps on the number of charter schools that the state can have.
You might be interested in a post that went up this week titled Diane Ravitch on Charter Schools, https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/diane-ravitch-on-charter-schools/.
Where are these “innovation schools?” We have had this provision in our policies in Federal Way for over 12 years and no one has been willing to prepare a proposal!
This is a state where everybody wants someone else to do it!
What could possibly be wrong with having some people try a few charter schools? There are 40 states and DC with them and I know of no proposed legislation to reduce the number of them. In fact, in several states there are moves to increase them.
This seems to be more about who will work for the state than who will get a better education.