When Kristen Buras read that the leaders of York City, Pennsylvania, were considering turning their schools into an all-charter district, she didn’t think it was a good idea. When she read that all the students in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, had been turned over to for-profit charter operator Mosaica, she thought it was necessary to issue a warning.
This is the comment she left on the blog:
Hmm . . . Mosaica? I’ve been studying the corporate takeover of New Orleans public schools for the past decade. Let me share a story that community members in York City will find relevant to their battle. It comes from the Times-Picayune newspaper and reveals how the board of Lafayette Academy charter school in New Orleans terminated its contract with Mosaica, which was paid $773,000 for the first year of its five-year agreement. Nonetheless, Mosaica failed to arrange appropriate transportation for students; did not organize a repeatedly requested after-school program for students below grade level; and kept the school filthy. The school also lacked copy machines and insurance when the school year began. Through a legal arbitration process, a judgment of $350,000 was issued against Mosaica. Find the story here:
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/09/charter_school_wins_lawsuit_ag.html
For more on what York City can expect if for-profit operators take over the schools, check out my book Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where the Market Meets Grassroots Resistance, which chronicles the past ten years of “reform” in New Orleans.
I hope this helps.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We should be careful not to get caught up in “for-profit” vs. “non-profit”. There are very few, mostly technical distinctions between them. There are plenty of ways to profit off a non-profit. Focusing on “for-profit” makes it seem like non-profits are okay, even though many of them have the same problems as for-profits.
Major fail on the part of York leaders if they go through with this. I’d add an additional warning for these ‘leaders’. Folks. Update your resumes. You’ll need them. Trust me. You will.
York City teachers could use some help getting the message out to their elected officials. If you are concerned with this corporate takeover, please consider signing the petition. http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-corporate-takeover-2?source=c.em.cp&r_by=11250132
Mosaica was also allowed to terminate their contract with Muskegon Heights after only two years. All sides made it clear that it was because “the money wasn’t there.”
But those who support such models always say of teachers’ unions that they only care about adults and not the kids.
Yeah, those for-profit chains are all about the kids. Mosaica agreed to the contract and Muskegon Heights should have made them abide by the agreement. I guess contracts can only be broken when it damages the workers.
cross posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Kristen-Buras-Message-to-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Community_Diane-Ravitch_LEADER_Message-140916-733.html#comment511798
with this comment:
In 15,880 districts in 50 states the move to replace public education with charter schools is in full swing, but the public does not know about the travesty that this represents.
If you want to see the reality of charter schools, go to the Ravitch site, and search for CHARTERS. It will open your eyes.
From that site, for example: ” Look at Ohio: “Stephen Dyer, education policy fellow at Innovation Ohio, has analyzed the latest state report cards. The state’s Governor, John Kasich, is pro-charter, pro-voucher, and pro-market forces. He is no friend to public education. The legislature is the same. They want more schools that are privately managed.Ohio has a parent trigger law, andthe State Education Department has hired StudentsFirst (founded by Michelle Rhee) to inform parents in Columbus about their right to convert their low-performing public school to a charter or hand it over to a charter management organization. Given the statistics in this post, the odds are that the parents will turn their low-performing public school into an even lower-performing charter school, with no hope of escape.
“Yet when the state report cards came out, public schools overwhelmingly received higher grades than charter schools. Dyer explains in this post that “The Ohio Report Cards are now all out, and the news is worse for Ohio’s embattled Charter Schools than it was last year. Charter Schools received more Fs than As, Bs and Cs combined. Their percentage of Fs went up from about 41% last year to nearly 44% this year.” Think of it, nearly half the charters in the state earned an F grade, yet the state wants MORE of them. Dyer also found that the public schools in the Big 8–Ohio’s urban districts–face more challenges than charters, yet still outperform the urban charters.”
This is the home town of PA Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Tom Wolf. Does anyone know if he has said anything at all about this situation?