The research is clear: schools in rural and semi-rural districts work best when they have the support of the entire community.
Cheatham County, Tennessee, doesn’t need competing schools–one that picks its students, the other legally required to accept all students.
Stick together. Act as a community. Don’t divide your community.
When your board meets on August 18, tell them you support public education. Tell them you want your school to be governed by an elected board, not an unaccountable corporation.
Tell them you support your community public school. Your school needs parental involvement and community support. It needs collaboration, not competition. Don’t let the elites push you around for their benefit. Schools are not a hobby or a plaything. They belong to the community. Don’t let them take it away. It is yours.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is there a link to more info?
Some details are below…
Different places need different solutions. Apparently the solution for Walton, Kansas (population 238) was to change their traditional public school into a charter school. It seems to have been a success: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/16/us-usa-school-farm-idUSBRE91F07Q20130216
Why can’t the school, you posted a link to above, be a public school that welcomes all children?
Betsy,
It was a traditional zoned elementary school originally, but converted to a charter school so it could draw students from outside the catchment area. I am not familiar with education laws in Kansas, but an internet search shows there are 36 magnet schools in the state. Magnet schools enroll a much higher proportion of minority students than the average school in Kansas ( 61% minority enrollment in the magnet schools, 32% minority enrollment in all Kansas schools). This suggests to me that magnet programs are used in large urban districts (Wichita, Topeka, and Kansas City, Kansas). Those urban districts may operate under a different set of rules than most districts in Kansas.
“It was a traditional zoned elementary school originally, but converted to a charter school so it could draw students from outside the catchment area.”
What happened to the children in the catchment area who were not chosen to attend this charter school?
How was the application process set up?
Betsy,
I don’t know the answer to that question, you might contact the local school district to find out. Walton has 51 residents under the age of 18 (according to the 2010 census), so it seems likely that students in the town would have little trouble being admitted.
Which leads me back to my original question. If this is such a small district that all of the children in town could go to the new school, why did the school become a charter school instead of remaining a public school?
I do not have the time or the inclination to research who is profiting from the destruction of a public school in this tiny little town in Kansas. The link to the sales pitch for this Charter school is what one would expect from a marketing campaign.
Betsy,
From what I have read, the traditional school in the town was going to be closed by the district for under enrollment. In order to attract students from outside the catchment area (and I think the article says also from outside the district) the school became a charter school. You could ask the principle conversion to a charter school was needed rather than a change to a magnet program. Perhaps magnet schools are limited to students within a district, and Walton Rural Center Community Charter hoped to draw some students from outside the district.
The folks profiting from the continued existence of the school in Walton are the people of Walton. Without the school, the town would surely die. As it is, the population of the town declined by about 17% between the 2000 and 2010 census. The population of persons under the age of 18 declined by about 43%.
This is interesting if you’ve never seen the pitches by charter management companies. York PA is bidding out their public schools to private contractors. You can see the sales pitches by clicking on each management link, at the bottom of the piece:
http://www.ydr.com/yorkcity/ci_26346506/potential-york-city-charter-school-operators-be-narrowed
I’m familiar with Mosaica because they’re the for-profit that completely privatized a Michigan district. The entire district. The contract ended last year and it wasn’t renewed. Now I guess it’s on to Pennsylvania after that proven performance in Michigan.
“Education Revolution” is another of the companies. They stuck out because they use (exclusively) shares of their own stock to fund employee retirement plans. That’s an instrument called an ESOP. Companies like them because they get a huge tax break and they can actually borrow on the employees’ retirement savings to fund growth. ESOP’s were made famous (well, infamous) with the collapse of Enron, but ESOP’s were promoted originally by none other than Margaret Thatcher. Some bad ideas never die.
The company assures us “ESOP’s are heavily regulated by the IRS and the Department of Labor”. Ah, yes. Heavily. Just as they were in Enron.
I’m so glad we got rid of those nasty old public employees and all their self-interested greed and pesky labor unions and replaced them with national management companies. No self-interest there! No, sir.
Two teachers in the county school district want to start a local charter school. Below is their letter to the local newspaper. The charter was opposed by the TN BATS. The application was denied by the local school board. They are appealing.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/cheatham/2014/06/18/column-charter-school-founders-excited-potential/10652859/
“We are writing as Cheatham County teachers and co-founders of the proposed charter school, Cumberland Academy.
We want to take this opportunity, prior to the June 24 School Board vote, to share some information about the school.
High school graduation for a Cheatham County teacher is bittersweet. A select few of our students are bound for college and a life full of opportunities. However, for a vast majority of our students the future is uncertain because they are not career or college ready by all standards.
The district’s data shows why this is the reality for so many of our students. In 2007, the county’s average composite ACT score was a 21.2. Now, that average is 18.7, and only one-third of this year’s graduates were career and college ready, according to Tennessee’s State Report Card.
Furthermore, our system isn’t creating student academic growth. Our TVAAS composite growth measure, which measures district growth year-to-year, is a 1 (the lowest possible score).
Looking at these realities, two essential questions arose: 1) why are our students not achieving at the level they are capable of; 2) how can we improve student outcomes in Cheatham County?
After extending these questions to Cheatham parents, co-workers, and community members, we were inspired by the possibility that all students in Cheatham County can receive an excellent education.
Through these conversations, we determined that three priorities would give students access to the life opportunities they deserve: positive school culture; character development for our students; and high-quality professional development, coaching and feedback for our teachers.
To kick start these priorities in Cheatham, we propose Cumberland Academy — a public charter school that will provide students with a high quality, tuition-free education. The proposed school is unaffiliated with any other charter organization, non-profit entity or private entity, and will be open to all Cheatham students regardless of previous academic performance or economic background.
All students will be held to high expectations at Cumberland Academy. Our teachers — all highly qualified, certified, and from a variety of training backgrounds — will receive coaching and weekly structured professional development to ensure student expectations are met and that they have the feedback they need to flourish as educators. Students will receive an equivalent of 55 additional days a year through extended school days. Also, a character development curriculum will be introduced in fifth grade to prepare students with the social/emotional skills that are necessary for life beyond secondary school.
Community engagement and district-wide collaboration are also crucial to our mission. Parents and community members will be involved in the day-to-day operation of the school, and students will complete ongoing service projects that promote a “Cheatham community” ethos.
Our doors will always be open, and we will form strong relationships with other Cheatham County schools to actively share and develop best practices countywide.
This is about Cheatham students and Cheatham County. We are excited about the potential we can reach as a county, and we ask that you support Cumberland Academy as a vehicle to achieve that potential.
Submitted by Jimmy Hopper and Jonny Gersten
“
Why was the charter denied by the local school board.
Was it because the TN BATS were opposed?
Why were the TN Bats opposed?
That second paragraph is the best summary of the problem–and argument against it.
It is quiet ironic the two co- founders WERE educators in the school district it NEITHER currently are. Mr. Gernstein took a year off to write and research charter schools, so the question begs…. Who was paying HIM for his time and service? Writing and conducting research to only rewarded the following year as being named Principal if the charter school is approved. Mr Hooper on the other hand continually professed during his initial speech for the Board of education to be BOLD and choose another education option for students, to be BOLD and focus on student needs; however, Mr Hooper himself is NOT BOLD and has resigned from his teaching position because the administrative staff requeated he teach a subject he is certified in. Mr Hooper wants to be named as the charter schools principal if approved, why should he be selected when in fact he did not put students first and TRULEY be BOLD by teaching a subject in need, yet he quit! Also, Mr Hooper has NO principal experience and his former position was a DC lobbyist! Both men bash the school district on data from 2012, however this data is old and CHEATHAM School district is better in growth them surrounding schools and is headed in the right direction quickly! The graduation rate will be well over 92%. If the two men have the audacity to reply them use ACCURATE Data. Cheatham County Residents Stand Behind YOUR SCHOOL distict!!!!