The Big Bad Charter School!

Neighborhood Fights to Keep Charter School Out
Produced by Chip Mitchell on Thursday, August 27, 2009

A building that housed an award-winning neighborhood school in Chicago is now home to a charter school. That’s thanks to a Board of Education vote Wednesday night. School officials say the deal is for one year only. But the way it came together is stoking neighborhood mistrust of the district.

De La Cruz Academy was a middle school in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood--and a good one, judging by an academic achievement award in February from the State of Illinois.

But Chicago Public Schools pointed to declining enrollment and closed De La Cruz in June. The district insists the plan was to demolish the building and sell the land.

But the closing created an opportunity.

RANGEL: Octavio Paz, our flagship school, finds itself without a home, just a few weeks before school opening.

Juan Rangel is chief executive officer of UNO, short for the United Neighborhood Organization. UNO works closely with Mayor Richard Daley and runs charter schools on seven campuses in the city.

A $98 million state grant this year will help the group build more but, Rangel says, not fast enough for Octavio Paz. UNO has been housing part of that school in an old Catholic facility near Pilsen.

RANGEL: The building around us has been collapsing. Masonry has been falling on the sidewalks. A canopy had to be erected around the church. It’s a situation that actually has been about a year and a half in the making.

Chicago Public Schools says Rangel didn’t approach the district for help until late July. This month, the district called UNO’s plight an emergency and announced it wouldn’t tear down De La Cruz after all. The new plan? House Octavio Paz in the building for one year, virtually rent-free.

And that’s angering supporters of Pilsen’s neighborhood schools. They point to an UNO charter school that arrived in Pilsen a few years ago. They say it siphons off students and resources and worry a second UNO school will do the same...

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Be wary of charter schools?

Here is an opposing view on charter schools...what do you think?

New Orleans has many, and they are shifting problems elsewhere.

By Larry Carter

We understand that charter schools are part of the educational landscape in New Orleans. The United Teachers of New Orleans supports charter schools that are accountable to the public, ensure educational equity, are open to all students and give their employees a real voice in decisions.

Unfortunately, some charter advocates have used the concept to advance privatization or weaken the benefits and professional rights of teachers. Talks with faculty and staff at local charters give us a solid understanding of the issues and needs these schools face.

Among the most serious:

Charter schools receive public education monies and should be accountable to the public. Yet one charter school management firm — paid $773,000 to operate the school for a year — was ordered to pay a $350,000 arbitration judgment to the school's governing board because the firm failed to follow state standards.

Charter schools don't provide the same insurance and retirement benefits to educators as traditional public schools. That can create a reliance on teachers who rotate in and out of charters, often for two-year stints, denying students the benefit of experienced, seasoned professionals. For traditional schools, that means skyrocketing insurance costs as the pool of employees shrinks....

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Are YOU giving back?

Volunteers are often fresh and excited in the dawn of a new academic calendar. The premise of the year to come and goals set by the administration can bring school spirit to lots of folks.

Savvy group coordinators are well aware of this little fact, and ask families to commit to helping during the magical time called back-to-school, even if the project doesn’t take place until February.

This is a bonus both for the volunteers and the organizers as a little bit of planning goes a long way. Volunteers appreciate knowing in advance when and where they are needed, and the group coordinators find it easier to send out confirmation communication throughout the year instead of constantly scouting additional hands for each project.

If you are new to charter schools, you will quickly find that there is an immense sense of community in the volunteer projects. Since public charter schools receive on average 28% less revenue than non-charter public schools, it is through volunteerism and fund raising that many of your school’s services and necessities have been made possible. Your personal contribution of time and skills is gratefully accepted as it will quickly translate into benefits for your child and a few hundred of his or her best classmate friends.

Requiring family participation in school activities is not unusual in a charter school. At the top of the list of reasons for this is the unwavering philosophy that your child will do better in school if you take an active role in his or her education. This is true all the way through your child's education and not only in the early years...

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New Episode of Skooled: Speechless!

Parents Demand School Vouchers

By Michael Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 20, 2009

Classes in D.C. public schools start Monday, and 216 students are hoping they won't have to go back. About 70 parents, children and activists joined Thursday in front of the U.S. Department of Education to encourage Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to award vouchers to help the students pay for private school.

The students, who were offered vouchers worth up to $7,500 toward tuition from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program this spring before Duncan rescinded them in the face of the program's uncertain future, were left to find placements in public and charter schools. Some families have complained that by the time the vouchers were rolled back, there were few spots available at competitive public schools.

"We're hoping that Secretary Duncan is going to look out the window so he can see how strongly the parents support it," said Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, one of the groups that organized the protest. "They just put families into a bad situation."

The protest drew parents and students already in the voucher program, but seemingly few, if any, of the 216 whose immediate future is at stake. Children held signs saying "Save the 216," chanted slogans of support and praised the program...

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