I honored Chris Weaver, a charter school teacher in North Carolina who spoke out against the governor and legislature’s wanton attacks on public schools. He even rejected his local paper’s effort to honor him. Here he responds to those who wrote letters about his actions.
Dear Diane & Readers,
Terry Kalb, my NY friend who sent my newspaper letter to Diane, sent me the link, and it’s the first time I’ve visited the blog (but not the last). Thank you Diane for the “honor roll” honor, and no, I surely don’t reject it. Thanks also for the most enheartening comments from readers. Here are a few follow-up thoughts:
For Joanna Best: I am with you 100% on the “best teacher” category in the “retail popularity contest” Best-Of issue of our news weekly. It does more harm than good, and I hope my letter helped folks to think a little more deeply.
For Michael Fiorillo: I appreciate your comment as well. As a teacher who has taught for eight years in district public schools in two states and for seven years in my current charter school, here is my take on the issue you raise, and some of my questions (I have many as-yet-unanswered questions–as all critical thinkers do):
I am opposed to any charter schools being managed by for-profit corporations.
I know that charter school legislation is used for political purposes as a “stepping stone” toward the privatization and dismantling of public education, and I am opposed to all such purposes.
I do consider the charter school where I work to be a public school. (I am open to different views.) We serve any student and family who enters our doors. We abide by strict fair-lottery rules. We are governed by a board elected by our public community. All board meetings are open and all financial and policy decisions are transparent. We do not serve an economically privileged student body.
I will share some of the ways that our school falls short as a public school. One of the “arguments” in favor of public charter schools is that they can serve as laboratories of innovation, which can develop and share best practices with the public school community. My school IS a laboratory of innovation, but we have, as of yet, been inadequate in our efforts to share best practices. The idea of sharing best practices is an ineffective idea if there are no structures in place to facilitate that sharing. I am working on developing structures for this in my own school and hopefully beyond, but my sense is that on the whole, charter schools focus on the needs of their own school communities (like independent schools do) and do not engage in all kinds of essential possible actions that could place them in true solidarity with the public school community (where I want to be). My school also, like most charter schools, does not offer breakfasts, lunches, or transportation to our students, rendering us inaccessible to many of the families in our city in the greatest need.
So why do I teach in a charter school? At the moment, I choose this setting because I believe in school self-governance. I believe in local school control of curriculum and staffing decisions. At heart, more important than any other factor in my teaching life, I am committed to child-centered education, which to me is holistic, hands-on, community-centered, and honoring of teacher autonomy, creativity, innovation, and academic freedom. Public charter schools CAN be, and SOMETIMES are, places where teachers are free to develop curriculum that is highly responsive to the gifts and needs of our students. District public school CAN be, and SOMETIMES are, the same.
When I taught in district schools, I did not teach any differently than I do now, but I was out on the experiential lunatic fringe among teachers, and I found myself bending and breaking more rules in order to meet my students’ (and my own) needs than I do in my current position. My school is full of innovative teachers, and if a rule or requirement is not right or does not make sense, we can take our ideas and concerns to our own administrators or board of directors and propose a change, and these folks have the authority to make many of these changes, and they listen to us (and when they don’t, we can become very persuasive)..
A specific example is that here in NC, the new state budget basically mandates the firing of all assistant teachers in 2nd and 3rd grades in public elementary schools statewide. The tragedy is two-fold. The decision itself is criminal in its destructive impact, but the structural centralization that allows such a thing to happen is equally a part of the problem. In my school, we take the hit of the budget cuts, but we will never remove the second teacher that we have in our primary grades, because the students need these teachers and we have the local autonomy to preserve the positions and make our cuts elsewhere.
I am interested in the movements in public schools and districts that are moving public education more in this direction of local autonomy.
At this point in my career, as I am about to turn 50, I am raising my head and looking around. In many ways I have been teaching in a “utopian bubble,” and I am satisfied and excited to break the bubble from the inside and not to be so self-centered and school-centered. To me, the most important best practices right now are process innovations and structural innovations that allow large organizations to be more decentralized and self-organizing. There is a lot of critical excellent work to be done in this arena. I have more thoughts about that of course, but I’ll save it for another time.
For now, I send my gratitude out to Diane and to the readers of this blog. I call on my fellow public school teachers to take heart, and keep our attention fully on the present needs of our students (holistically, not just academically), while simultaneously mobilizing to defuse the wave of misguided political stupidity as it crashes through our communities. This ignorance, like all ignorance, is not as mighty as it appears. We know about teaching and learning, a knowledge that is true, ancient, and unshakable. Now is the time to speak up, act as collectives, and, as I wrote in my letter to the paper, allow our unity and our wisdom to be self-evident. Every small step matters.
With Respect,
Chris Weaver, Asheville, NC
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m glad Chris has actually worked in a legit charter but the lack of busing, etc. shows how the charters fall short. I know a great deal of people who have worked in for-profit charters and they are an absolute sham. They are not innovative and exist to make money. They should be illegal. The charters I know have so much staff turnover (except the CEO and family -of course) that it makes education a joke. I still can’t believe that any state would allow the taxpayer to get ripped off in such a manner.
Charter schools are NOT “legit”–they are being used to dismantle public schools.
I am sick and tired of people making excuses for these trash “schools.”
I think their original intention was that they be public schools where a little more innovation could happen among the staff. Somehow the idea got warped into something else. The ones Asheville area has have been pretty good and are not resented. But I understand there are plans for more and they might be for-profit (don’t know the details).
There was a six person fight at one of our six high schools yesterday and it was on the local news. They interviewed some mother mouthing off about how a school should be safe. She struck me as exactly the type of person who would be drawn to a for-profit charter; that is someone who would fall for the promises these folks make because her expectations of public school are very different from what most schools are focused on offering.
Law enforcement said the fight was handled very well (including two injured staff people).
If a parent thinks you can prevent all fighting and sparring between kids, I do not think she is being realistic.
Sometimes idealistic is realistic, if you are looking at the bigger picture.
Thank you for your honesty and candor.
I hope that other charter teachers and schools follow your example.
You may get some heat. Pay no heed—that’s just their way of complimenting you.
The reason is simple: “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” [Mark Twain]
🙂
Thanks to Chris for his dedication and commitment for NC’s children. I agree that a “Charter School” isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless it subverts the main purpose of educating children. When the public school system is very large the superintendent, Board and administration tend to get unresponsive and dictatorial. If public charters are created within this system which give the local school and community more flexibility and control and provide teachers the freedom to teach without starving them for resources, then the students will benefit. I do agree that turning charters over to private companies whose primary motive is profit is a disaster for children, communities, and teachers.
Uh, the very existence of charter schools undermines public education, so therefore it is a BAD THING by definition. That’s the point of them–they are PRIVATE schools that get public money in the expressed purpose of abolishing public schools in order to further enrich the already rich.
BTW, there is NO such thing as a “public charter school.” Stop with the disinformation.
Ah, the voice of opposition. Are you saying, susan, that such a school “cannot” exist or “should not be permitted to exist”? I happen to know of two that do exist. And how does a limited enrollment (by lottery) magnet school not qualify effectively as a “public charter.”
Ah, “public charters” within a public school system giving the local school and community more flexibility and control, and giving the teachers “freedom to teach” are then, THEORETICALLY ok?
Good to see support for good schools and good teachers by those commenting on the blog.
What do you mean by that? How do you define good schools?
I mean it is good that at least some if the folks here are cimcentrating on the word school rather than charter, teacher rather than charter or TFA.
I do not understand “some if the folks” and “circumstrating”. I could not find the latter in the dictionary.
I meant “cimcentrating” . . . . What do you mean by that?
The joy of auto correct. Commenting is what I am trying to type.
Ah Asheville, that explains a lot. Think San Francisco in the Appalachians. It has a diverse population which includes an art centered community. My dream place to live is Asheville. When I leave after a visit I sing to myself, I left my heart in Asheville.
I can see why this charter school works if it is in Asheville.
Yes, Cartwheel. The charters in Asheville have a good reputation and are not considered a threat to public schools–just a different approach.
What are you waiting for? Come on up! The beer is cold and there’s lots of it.
Who “owns’ these charters? Also, I still don’t like the fact that they can turn away students and don’t provide busing etc. It really is short-changing education. Also, your comment above about the parent spouting-off is spot on. They try to market to people like that. They will try to undermine the local public schools with negative stories.
Dee Dee–
they are also the type person who take a loan on a car title.
Desperate.
For-profit charters manipulate the desperate and exploit the tax payer.
Chris,
You obviously are a person of great commitment and integrity, and I admire and learned from what you’ve had to say.
Nevertheless, I think that if you look at charter schools in the systemic and institutional framework they actually exist in – your school sounds far more like an outlier and exception that proves the rule – and how most of them they behave within that framework, it is irrefutable that they are fundamentally not public schools. I hope you will come to see that, and work to help solve the dilemmas it presents.
As for charters as “laboratories of innovation,” that’s a canard: NYC had a decentralized system of governance in the 70’s-90’s that in many districts fostered community-based reform in neighborhood public schools. The school I teach at is a prime example of that, successfully serving a 100% immigrant, high-poverty population, without metal detectors or intensive policing, with union wages, hours and working conditions, and a diversity in staff and instructional styles that’s a tribute to NYC and public education at large.
Is it just a random irony that the same so-called reformers who’ve taken over the public schools, and have placed them in the manacles of high-stakes testing and austerity, are also the ones who claim that charters are the antidote to the policies they impose? That’s a logical knot they can never escape from.
That’s not even considering the oppressive, regimented pedagogy of the “no excuses” charter chains, which are intended to be the primary beneficiaries of the push for charters, given the largesse lavished on them by foundations and the federal government.
If your school is co-existing amicably and collegially with the public schools in Asheville, under a democratically-elected school board, then I truly wish you all well. But that’s far from the situation we face here, where charter schools are aggressively appropriating public school facilities, with financial and political backing the neighborhood public schools can’t hope to match.
“Is it just a random irony that the same so-called reformers who’ve taken over the public schools, and have placed them in the manacles of high-stakes testing and austerity, are also the ones who claim that charters are the antidote to the policies they impose?”
Bingo. If allowing teachers to teach is so great, why not allow it to be done in actual public schools?
BTW, most of the charters I’ve heard about, especially the chains, are not exactly known for innovation or allowing teachers to teach.
I have encountered charters such as Chris’s here in Los Angeles but I think the main thrust of charters is to do away with unions and teachers’ rights as well as parent involvement. My own grandchild attends a beautiful arts magnet which still has ties to the district and is not run for profit. However, I am still opposed to all charters. Our public schools were on the right track for a small amount of time implementing “school based management” – perhaps just to give us the illusion of control. But I believe such a model could have worked had it really been given a chance. Our district tries something for a minute and tosses it because it doesn’t bring immediate results. I guess I am trying to agree with the others here who are against charters because the vast majority are for-profit, anti-teacher, and regimented anti-child institutions. These are the very same organizations that support high-stakes testing and CCSS. We must do away with all of these inhuman constructs.
That is my experience too. People use them to make a ton of money.
I have said it a million times before and I will say it again: Charter schools are NOT public schools, and case law backs me up on that view.
Just because something receives public money doesn’t make it a public institution.
I will not sit here and allow somebody tell a falsehood.
Is Thomas Jefferson High school in Faifax county a public school? Only those that have high scores on entrence exams are allowed to attend.
Is the alternative high school in my town, a charter school, a public school? The elected school board holds the charter.
Is the Walton Rural Life Center a public school? “It’s been a priority for us and a source of pride,” says the mayor of Walton, a town of 235 in rural Kansas. The town’s citizens took up a collection to help finance the school.
I am not sure what types of schools those are. I know we have magnet schools, and I am not even sure I fully support those. We also have Early College high schools too. I am not sure I fully support those either. In both cases, they exclude students and that characteristic, in and of itself, means they are technically NOT public schools.
Public money ought to go to public schools, period. The public owns them and they deserve to run them through local control and the local school board.
If people want alternatives, they can feel free to pay out of pocket. Until someone shows that public schools are failing us, which nobody to date has been able to show, then there is no reason to pull students and exclude others. That’s not how our tax money ought to work.
Our public schools do an excellent job when disaggregating data based on family wealth. There is no reason to destroy them. They are a success.
“That’s not how our tax money ought to work.” Here is the crux of the matter. In my opinion our tax money funding charters and even vouchers is something I would permit. “Ought” is a big word. Why “ought” tax money go only to a public school monopoly system? Can you defend it philosophically?
TE, I believe the difference is the schools you are referencing following the same mandates as public schools. Charter schools are not following all the mandates that public schools are required to follow. If Charter schools accept public funds they should have to follow all the mandates that go with it.
HU,
Not sure I can defend it philosophically but I will defend it constitutionally. You see it is each state’s responsibility, as defined in each state’s constitution to provide for a free and appropriate (at least that is how it is worded or something similar in the constitutions). So, unless you were to change each state’s constitution each state has to provide for community public schools.
And they are not a “monopoly” as the Supreme Court decided in it’s 1925 decision in Pierce vs Society of Sisters that parochial schools are constitutional, therefore anyone, any entity can open and run a school eliminating what the edudeformers are calling a “monopoly” by the state. There is no monopoly in community public schools.
@ME,
Every school has admission criteria. Traditional public schools use a geographic admission standard to exclude students. Do you mean to say that the only “public school” is one that uses this type of admission system? Would lotteries be allowed for, say, a magnet program that might attract more students than there are available seats?
@AlwaysLearning,
The second and third schools I mentioned ARE charter schools, only the the qualified admission TJ High School is a “public school”. You may want to argue that TJ HIgh is in fact not a “public high school” because of the qualified admission system that is used there and perhaps should not be given public funds. Is that your opinion?
Obviously your school is doing its best to carry forward the mission of neighborhood public schools in a hostile atmosphere. What you say here makes it clear that NC has relegated local control to the past, & hopefully serves as a warning to voters in states which are still in transit toward state takeover of local districts:
“A specific example is that here in NC, the new state budget basically mandates the firing of all assistant teachers in 2nd and 3rd grades… the structural centralization that allows such a thing to happen is equally a part of the problem. In my school, we take the hit of the budget cuts, but we will never remove the second teacher that we have in our primary grades, because the students need these teachers and we have the local autonomy to preserve the positions and make our cuts elsewhere.”
In my state of NJ, I am surrounded by middle- & upper-middle-class parents who seem to think that “ed reform” is about inner-city schools, that high-stakes testing/school closings/ privatization is an ‘out-there’ idea & why not try it in those awful city schools, it can’t be any worse & has nothing to do with us anyway. It was only last year that the full-bore NCLB tests hit the youngest elem kids (9 hrs of testing spread over 3 days for 7y.o.’s, to be repeated annually), & those parents are waking up to the realization that they moved to a hi-property-tax area for schools which they suddenly don’t like.
We still have local boards & budgets; Trenton has not yet dared to impose the degree of micro-managing you describe in its wealthy communities; when our budget is cut we can keep our asst teachers & find a way around the 2%cap one way or another. HOWEVER, if anyone’s paying a whit of attention to what Booker’s doing in Newark, & who Christie has moved into DOE leadership (Chris Cerf), they would BE VERY AFRAID. All that is needed, as you point out, is a centralized structure.
Hmmm this is interesting. There are so many strong feelings here. I taught at a high school charter in San Diego that is a wonderful place (although of course, far from perfect)– we had teacher autonomy, no emphasis on standardized testing, students doing project based, engaging work that is focused on critical thinking. It is not for profit. Kids attended from all zip codes — bussing was a problem. I loved the work we did. The camaraderie between teachers was amazing. We looked critically and reflectively at our own work with peer reviews, study groups, etc. We considered our schools ‘teacher run’– which was (for the most part) true.
I taught there for the same reasons that Chris mentioned above: “I believe in local school control of curriculum and staffing decisions. At heart, more important than any other factor in my teaching life, I am committed to child-centered education, which to me is holistic, hands-on, community-centered, and honoring of teacher autonomy, creativity, innovation, and academic freedom.” Exactly my feelings.
I didn’t think about all of the politics that you are discussing in the comments as I taught. I just taught because that’s what I love to do. I look forward to reading and researching more suggestions for reform that offer what my school offered to all students fairly–in a way that doesn’t ‘destroy’ the public school system as was mentioned above. I couldn’t teach in a school that didn’t allow me to be creative and teach with hands-on meaningful projects. I don’t want to teach to a text book. It doesn’t work.