COMMENTS OVER CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE FLYING : ESPECIALLY AFTER MIKE BENNETT’S POST THAT THEY ARE LIKE A ONE-TIME PHASE CALLED “TEX-COAT”NOT ABLE TO RESIST A GOOD DEBATE, HERE IS HIS REPLY TO ONE PARENT

Dear Readers: It’s good to lay out the arguments and debate charter schools now before we get in to deep one way or another. ….Here are comments regarding the argument. Diana

Playwithmum posted this in on May 1 in regard Bennett’s earlier post: See his reply below and his earlier letter as an older post. In addition, you can read the story I wrote about charters and their future! Good reading to you.

FROM PLAYWITHMUM:

“This is a polarizing issue and parents will take whatever steps they feel necessary to have some say in their community and schools. Is this the fault of a huge bureaucracy like LAUSD? Absent parents? Or the union, also created first to protect teachers rights, now in a gray area that is not necessarily in the students' best interests when it comes to hiring/firing, competency, and accountability? There is plenty of blame to go around but our kids are caught in the middle. Parents who create charter schools have often tried and failed to change existing, low performing neighborhood schools and have taken the only other option they have. Starting a Charter school takes extraordinary commitment and organization, and to devalue them as shoddy workmanship is disingenuous.

Our children are the hands of teachers and yet we have no control over the selection, oversight, or evaluation process. Until this is remedied, then charters will continue to develop so parents can have more say in how, where, and by whom their children are taught. For the sake of students in existing charter schools, let's hope that they don't all fail as Mike Bennet predicts. This isn't about proving anyone wrong, but focusing on solutions that actually work. And many charter schools do.”

Former teacher Mike Bennett’s response:

First, I would like to say Thank You, and I do understand your thoughts and feelings pertaining to Charter Schools. There are many facets to this subject, the entire Educational quandary we find ourselves in and often Charters appear to be a better choice. However, I have some serious concerns about many of them being nothing more than a “Dog & Pony Show,” appearing as the best solution to our Educational woes.

Yes, Teacher Evaluations (STUL) are often perfunctory and need to be overhauled and yes, there are many classroom teachers who should not be in the classroom, but I sincerely question those who are taking their place.

It should be noted that they (Charters) have far more choice in how their operations are run, than the schools they are replacing, with regards to curriculum, staffing and student discipline, yet while these may be advantageous at first, what will the long-term outcomes be.

Let’s start with curriculum, which can be far more interesting and even advanced when compared to the norm, but I question why many Charters have begun to hire CAHSEE Exam Tutors (California High School Exit Examination), for their students if their curriculum is so far superior.

Second, with regards to staffing, many are using Teach For America Interns, (among others) who (with regards to teaching) have nothing more than an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League or usually Little Ivies (other prestigious institutions) College and a 4-6 week Inner-City Boot-camp, which serves as their introduction to education, before being released into the classroom.

Frankly, I admire their interest and dedication, but sadly, they are only required to attend Graduate Teacher Education (paid for them) and complete their two-year contract with the organization. Yes, they also have Supervision from their sponsor and another from the graduate program institution they attend (such as my former self); yet while some finish and receive their Clear Credential, many are only there for “Brownie Points” to help fulfill their community service portion on their application to Law/Medical/… School. Many have no intention of remaining in Education.

Consequently Schools get well educated, dedicated and wide-eyed young Teachers, with little educational background, little to no experience/understanding of the cultures of their students and pay them starting salaries for teaching scripted lessons (since they are incapable of writing their own)/ to the questions that will appear on the designated NCLB Exam and there is little need to worry about tenure, since most will be gone before they will be eligible.

Luckily, some remain in the profession, but that number tends to hover around 30%. I should also point out, that while the districts are held to a specific test exam, Charters have the option of (though not with the CAHSEE, which all High Schools must take) using “A similar testing instrument” as their exam, i.e. all exams are not equal. Quite simply stated, you are not a Teacher until your fourth or fifth year and not many of these “Superior” Educators; arrive at this point of Wisdom. Moreover, yes, we need to be developing students who are on the road to wisdom and who will eventually become informed, adult, citizens.

Lastly, in the matter of Student Discipline, Charters like Private Institutions, have the ability to expel students if they are problematic in any way. Public Institutions may also do so, but due to our living in a litigious society, very few follow/uphold the existing State Standards of the Educational Code and Districts mandate that Administrators must attempt by any means to maintain a student’s enrollment and progress. With this in mind and if the majority of schools become Charters, no one cares to mention that there will a need for and the creation of Opportunity Schools, which in days past were referred to as Reform Schools. This is in my opinion one of the more interesting “dirty little secrets,” never spoken about.

There are far more issues that we all need to examine closely and perhaps Community Charters will be able to address, but the shiny new example of how we educate our children, is not it all appears to be. If at this moment, I had school age students and could not afford or agree with the educational philosophy of Private schools, I would be looking at expanding and improving the Magnet Programs and be a highly involved parent, making sure that the District (any District) is serving my child’s education to the fullest.

LETTER REGARDING CHARTER SCHOOLS TO THE UNDERDOGBLOG

Dear Underdogforkids:

Having been a General Contractor, 4th-7th Grade & Continuation High School Teacher (10 years) and a Professor of Teacher Education (also for 10 years),I tend to see Charter Schools as similar to a home remodeling product of years ago.

The product was know as Tex-cote, it was sprayed on to the exterior of your home, (no matter what the house was made of), and was promoted as "Never Have To Paint Again!” It came with a twenty year (20) guarantee, however, within (usually) five (5) years it began to peel and fall off your home and home owners were soon to discover that the company who had done
the work were no longer in business and the guarantee they had been given was worthless.

This I'm afraid, will be the result with many of the Charter Schools,as new fixes to Education, Secretaries of Education, Superintendents and every political entity with their fingers in Education, are to become analogous to "The Emperors New Clothes.

Mike V. Bennett, transitioning From Being An Educational Artisan/Craftsman To An Architectural One, Once Again.

You can reach Mike Bennett at STORMOVERMTN@gmail.com or Diana Chapman, Theunderdogforkids editor at hartchap@cox.net.

WHAT APPLAUSE FOR LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT RAMON CORTINES? HERE IT COMES AMID THE CONSTANT TURMOIL BRUNTING UP AGAINST THE SCHOOLS AND THE CITY OF LA – A SMALL GLIMMER OF HOPE

By Diana L. Chapman

While the soot is simmering down and the controversy and mayhem in Los Angeles and her schools has leapfrogged to the next ugly battle, I kept my judgment quiet for a time over a charter issue and watched others beat up Los Angeles Unified Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines.

It’s clear, many critics charged, that Cortines failed to overhaul the massive district. He had the chance to allow the takeovers of 36 schools that were up for grabs to outside operators, either non-profits or charters. Some contend Cortines paled at using charter schools, they argued, the best possible pathway to break up and improve the district, which serves 617,000 plus students and resides over 891 “traditional” schools.

Cortines set off a furor when he opted to convert only four of those 36 campuses that the school board put up for grabs “under public school choice” approved last year.

Call the sup overly picky, or underhanded or in my case “wise,” to take it a few schools at a time, there’s one thing that’s apparent – he’s using the competitive edge to clean up his schools; those campuses that remain lackluster and show failure to improve likely will face the same competitive gauntlet again next year.

I have my own reasons for not wanting many more charters in Los Angeles.

I fear them.

I don’t believe they are the best or brightest way to break up the gargantuan Los Angeles district – or improve it; More, I see it as a dangerous vehicle to our constitutional right to public education as the popularity and trend of charters sweeps like tidal wave across the nation.

It’s the very thing that all of us need to understand and protect – the right to education for every American citizen. My biggest concerns at the moment remain at the heart of what’s in it for special education students? LAUSD has many resources for these children; charters do not.

What will happen with those children?

Danny Weil, author of the Charter School Movement, who has researched the topic from a national level takes it even further, contending that testing companies and the private book industry can make a fortune off privatizing education. A movement exists among the educational elite of school administrators and these companies to turn charters into cash cows – starting with putting a city’s educational system under mayoral oversight.

Worse:

“The real goal with charters is vouchers,” claims Weil, who has studied it systematically. “Get all the poor youth of color into large charter chains and then give vouchers to white suburbia so they do not have to attend the city schools. Trojan horses (is what they are) and that is what they have always been.”

The charter school trend signals the destruction of a “free” public education system, he argues. In other words, he claims, many states are allowing these schools to run for – gasp! – and this is truly scary – a profit.

Let me back up a bit here first and put this into perspective in our Los Angeles schools.

Los Angeles Unified has allowed more than 161 campuses already to become charters – the largest number in any school district in the nation. Those charters serve 67,000 students in kindergarten through 12^th grade, said Lydia Ramos, a district spokeswoman.

The school board has put in some safeguards – such as any entity stepping forward must have a non-profit status and also must be willing to serve the areas students. But there are ways around this and here is what I fear if we keep adding them:

· --Charters don’t follow the same stringent regulations of the state and can kick students out and return them to regular public schools, which in turn, have to accept those students

· --Adding charters will be like inserting hundreds of more tentacles to an already tangled octopus of the Los Angeles educational system which will have little manpower – especially during the current budget crises – to check on their accountability

· --That elsewhere, charters have become organizations that are not run by non-profits, but by for profit entities

Charters have ended up a lot like Los Angeles Unified Schools – some good, some terrible and some in between. Cortines knows this. So it makes sense to take it slowly when handing off our schools.

That’s why I’m applauding Cortines, for keeping a careful watch over where any new charters head.

I honestly can’t get my arms around Weil’s philosophy, but I admit to nagging persistent questions – such as why a Los Angeles middle school charter was allowed to fire two teachers who wanted to teach -- during Black History Month -- about the hanging death of Emmett Till for allegedly whistling at a white woman– a piece of history school officials claimed was too emotional for students.

Hello? This is a true chunk of American History and middle school is often the best time to teach about racism and ethnic morality.

And what about the charter in New Jersey that refused to allow a citizen access to public records – even through the Freedom of Information Act – even though it’s a quote “public” school. And why can charters so easily kick out students and send them back to public schools – when charters are also public entities?

Many charters use the “cookie cutter” approach to education in the inner city – also disconcerting as it fails to allow for free thinking to flow and for students to mold opinions from the information they are receiving.

Weil – who has spent countless hours researching the issues of the charter trend and shares them in his book – said the charter movement kicked off in the early 1990s and now 4,000 such schools exist in the nation educating one million students.

Further, he adds, he doesn’t trust anyone and can see a pattern lining up with for-profit schools, high end officials and the privatization of education.

“Follow the money trail,” he said.

While I have difficult embracing this concept, it still nags at me: What if he’s right?

Diana L. Chapman, a Los Angeles writer for many years, can be reached at hartchap@cox.net.