Gothamist: New Charter Schools Get The Shaft

Justin

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 15:15:15 -0500

There is a lot of misguided information about charters in these comments ... first of all, even the most dyed in the wool charter supporters do not think of charter schools as the panacea for all that ails public education. Second, though unions are often an impediment to educational progress, especially charter schooling, to suggest that charter schools are an exercise in "union busting" or "privatization" is reductionist. Many successful charter schools employ union teachers, although one of the hallmarks of chartering should be freedom from the necessity of hiring solely union employees. Charter schools offer school choice to students and families for whom choice was not available before. Middle- and upper-class America have had school choice in the form of private schools and moving to the suburbs for decades, and while choice in itself is not a solution, operators outside of traditional district bureaucracies deserve the chance to offer children a stronger alternative. Systems of schools should be designed to help children learn, not to protect adults' jobs ... and they certainly shouldn't operate unchecked, and non-competitively to boot, if they fail to deliver on the promise of educating our children. (Full disclosure, I'm the blogger from www.publiccharters.org)

1

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 00:54:41 -0500

A good video regarding charter schools (a bit later into it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA

dhex

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 00:32:40 -0500

i blame john dewey. actually, i blame that motherfucker for a lot of stuff.

Matthew

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 18:53:21 -0500

Bloomberg has done anything but "cave" to the unions. In fact, teachers only recently got a new contract after over TWO YEARS without one. Even then it's a hack contract forcing all kinds of comprimise for a pittance of a raise, most teachers still not making even half enough money to live in the same city they teach in. The way NYC treats its teachers, and indeed the rest of this country, is beyond a disgrace. As long as teachers are on the bottom rung the school systems will continue to suffer. Idiotic talk from folks like "DJBONE" that try to pass the blame onto teachers and unions is the exact kind of nonsense attitude that keep our schools in the ditch they're in. The concept of charter schools is not a bad thing, but one cannot help but see them as a slight attempt to (further) privatize the education system.

short yellow busser

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 18:50:23 -0500

I'm against charter schools, too. And I don't blame the Union because I a proud grad of the NYC public school system. I remember when students were being left back due to grades. Charter schools are not the cure all.

Vinny

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 18:41:59 -0500

Actually, Randy Weingarten was one of the chief opposers of charter schools up until they were about to run out of charters and then she wanted to open a few. Unions are to blame for most of the problems in city schools right now. Period. Bloomberg can leave tomorrow and there will still be problems with the schools because of idiots like Weingarten who bitch about the pittance teachers make while at the same time claiming hundreds of thousands in expenses and driving a union-provided GMC Yukon.

new mathie

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:32:18 -0500

I want to see the graduation rate and test scores for these Charter schools. Oh, while we're at it, audit their books. I don't want my tax dollars spent on New Math and Revised History to make students feel smart if those methods don't work compared to a regular curriculum.

S.D.

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:19:04 -0500

Yeah! I got a Horrible Education At Brooklyn Tech and Later, Baruch College! Public Education SUCKS! (sigh) The key to the argument is "BUST THE UNIONS", which is irrelevant to the topic at hand. This is the definition of a Charter School I found:Charter schools are publicly funded elementary or secondary schools that have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools, in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each charter school's charter.Sounds Great, but how many of these Charter Schools actually deliver the Result set forth in the Charter? To me, it sounds like an excuse to put Public Funds in Private hands. Seems of like Outsourcing, sounds great on paper but does it actually deliver?

mlo

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 16:58:10 -0500

Um, actually, the more traditional schools fare better when it comes to meeting standards, standardized test scores, etc. I'm not saying there is no place for charter schools, but they are certainly not a cure-all. DJBONE's comment illustrates the reason Klein really supports them, as for as I am concerned: like a good corporate soldier, he wants to bust the union. I'm sorry, but that's not the cure-all either. Incidently, it might interest you to know that the UFT itself is participating in the charter school program: http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/in_news/what_works/

DJBONE

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 16:10:35 -0500

NYC schools are the worst, here they finally got a promising program in decades and this is what happens. Shame on you Bloomberg for caving in to the teacher unions who are responsible for the situation in which schools are in now. BUST THE UNIONS ~!!!