A fascinating article in The Notebook in Philadelphia describes a charter school that has found a unique way to limit the kind of students who apply. Applications are available only one day in the year.
They are not available online.
They are not available at the school.
They are available only at a private golf club.
Parents who don’t know how to apply or how to get to the golf club never apply.
Despite “significant barriers” to access, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission just granted the schools another five years of operation. Seventeen other charters with other barriers to access were also renewed.
The school, of course, is open to all. To all who know when and where to apply.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Given the recent voter registration laws passed in PA is it any wonder that they think this is “fair”?
LikeLike
Sick to my stomach again.
LikeLike
You said it! It’s a private school, taxpayers just have to pay for it.
LikeLike
The entire reason for charters existing is bogus. It is returning us to segregation by economic class. It is a scam to divert people from the source of the problem, the fact that both parties are beholden and servile to the 1%. See the latest post on Schools Matter:
It’s Not the Teachers Stupid
” Buried underneath the rubble of abysmally pathetic television news coverage of the Chicago teachers strike was a story our nation’s political leaders would like to shove back under the rug but it needs to be shouted out loud from the rooftop of every public school across America. It’s the finding of a report by the World Economic Forum and it shines the spotlight right where it belongs.
The reason the U.S. has slipped again in the rankings for economic competitiveness has nothing to do with our teachers, our educational institutions or those who support public education. Rather, the U.S. is in deep trouble because of failed leadership in government and the corporations that control politicians and every aspect of our lives. These same private interests have been trying to get their hands on public schools for decades. Why –not to improve education, teaching or learning but to feed their greedy, self serving agendas while they hide behind a smoke screen that is finally disappearing along with the middle class and a compliant workforce that has nothing left to lose.”
LikeLike
No hay duda.
There is no doubt about the oligarchical plutocracy, or is that the plutocratic oligarchy to which we are subjected. Although there has always been those who would use and abuse others for their own pleasure, the drive to this domination of many by the few seems to have turned on the afterburners starting with the maladministration of the Reagan years, aided and abetted by the “centrist” (actually “rightest”) Clinton administrations through the Dubya and continued with the “further right than Nixon” Obomba.
Something has to give and when it gives it’s not going to be pretty.
LikeLike
“Despite “significant barriers” to access, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission just granted the schools another five years of operation. ”
Oh but don’t you know that these are “public” schools and they outperform those bloated union teacher staffed normal schools. Up is down, right is wrong, left is right, war is peace, etc. . . . When will this shit end?????
LikeLike
This is beyond disgusting… Why is this story not in USA Today or the major newspapers in Philadelphia? The city is giving an elite private school education at taxpayers expense.
LikeLike
Did you SEE the horrific, anti-teachers’ union, full-page ad yesterday in USA Today? There’s no WAY they’re going to publish an article like that when they’re getting enormous money from some anti-public education whack job group.
LikeLike
Agreed, Carol. Seems to be a tacit agreement among the privileged that the ways they game the system are excused, hidden from view. The media is bought, clueless, or both.
LikeLike
We need to help the public understand the games that charters (what I often call “reform schools”, since they’re so popular with reformers) can play if they’re allowed to by corrupted politicians and weak legislation. One way to do this is to insist that charters fulfill the mission they claim the public schools are failing–what I call “put up or shut up” laws. I have some ideas that I posted this elsewhere in this blog, but I thought that it may be helpful to post them again under this topic:
1. Legislation that levels the playing field between the “reform schools” and our public schools.
We should require the “reform schools” to: (a) hire only HQTs; (b) accept all students who register; (c) include both public- and reform school students in state-wide assessments; and (d) require all reform schools to meet all federal and state mandates.
And why not? If the contention of the reformers is that reform schools are better than public schools, then the reform schools should be required to carry the same burdens as public schools. Otherwise, the reformers have to admit publicly that they want at least a two-tiered educational system with all of its attendant redundancies and inefficiencies. Where’s the value now? More important, the reformers would have to admit that their criticisms of public education don’t account for the real burdens we have placed on our public schools.
We should demand severe penalties for reform schools that fail AYP and other testing standards. In fact, why don’t we demand they produce superior results and penalize them for even average performance? If we’re going to upend our entire system of public education, why do it for little or no gain?
2. Legislation that holds reform schools accountable.
We need sunshine laws and severe penalties to hold these schools accountable for failures and outright crimes. Again, if the public schools have to adhere to freedom of information laws, then why not the reform schools that are funded with the same taxpayer money.
3. Legislation that mandates payments when reform schools close.
One topic I’ve seen little discussion about is what happens if (really when) a reform school closes? Obviously, the kids have to go to school somewhere; but we should have mechanisms, such as claw backs, to keep the reform schools from taking tax money, doing a lousy job, failing, and then just dumping the kids back on the public while the executives open their (taxpayer funded) golden parachutes.
4. Hearings about reform schools.
We need to push our legislators to have open hearings about reform school laws and policies in order to expose the lies and disinformation that has inundated the public debate about our schools.
Obviously, these types of laws will make it much less profitable for reformers, which should leave us with only those folks that are serious. Better yet, if we can move the charlatans and con artists out of the debate, then the public may actually get focused on defining a strong education and how to provide one to all children.
LikeLike
I believe the school district representative said these admission policies were against state law. In this case the problem seems to be enforcement of existing regulations and do not require new legislation.
LikeLike
yes, these practices are against state law, but the charter got a new five-year renewal anyway.
what does that suggest to you?
LikeLike
It suggests to me that the new legislation that moosesnsquirrels advocated is not necessary. That is why i wrote the comment. Clearly enforcement also needs to be improved.
LikeLike
This is disgusting, but not at all surprising. Taking public money to fund what is essentially a private school. While I have a handful of concerns about charters like KIPP, I feel that their application procedures are quite equitable. Which is not at all what happens at many other charters, like those described in this article.
In Philly, we are so lucky to have The Notebook to shine a bright light on stories like this… stories that other media outlets don’t cover.
LikeLike
In May 2010, disgusted with all the pro-charter school propaganda, I decided to start a blog called Charter School Scandals, envisioning it as a place where these types of stories could be compiled. I’m having a hard time keeping it current since more and more stories keep coming out and there are other things I want and need to do in life. But these schools will eventually be added to the growing list on my blog.
As “Mother Crusader” another public school mother/blogger once wrote to me, “So much corruption, so little time!”
http://mothercrusader.blogspot.com/
I know that a lot of uncovered stories are out there because we live in country where many MSN editorial boards are corporate ed reform-friendly, so this type of coverage is often ignored. Incidentally, those ‘friendly editorial boards’ are part of the plan that Andy Smarick outlined in 2008 for how to transform a public school district into a district made up of almost all charter schools.
Excerpts from http://educationnext.org/wave-of-the-future/
“First, commit to drastically increasing the charter market share in a few select communities until it is the dominant system and the district is reduced to a secondary provider. The target should be 75 percent…
“Second, choose the target communities wisely. Each should begin with a solid charter base (at least 5 percent market share), a policy environment that will enable growth (fair funding, nondistrict authorizers, and no legislated caps), and a favorable political environment (friendly elected officials and editorial boards, a positive experience with charters to date, and unorganized opposition)…
“Third, secure proven operators to open new schools. To the greatest extent possible, growth should be driven by replicating successful local charters and recruiting high-performing operators from other areas…
“Fourth, engage key allies like Teach For America, New Leaders for New Schools, and national and local foundation to ensure the effort has the human and financial capital needed…”
Get the idea?
LikeLike
Soooo disgusting!
LikeLike
For those of you worried that this story was “only” in the Public School Notebook, please note that it was shared on air with WHYY-Newsworks (Philadelphia’s local NPR affiliate) on the Friday evening news. Also, the Public School Notebook is a very respected and widely read publication in Philadelphia among those interested in public education (including teachers, parents, students, politicians, and district administrators).
I was the parent interviewed for the piece. I am sheepish that I did not understand enough about the educational landscape in 2009 to avoid applying to a charter, but I am glad that I did go through the experience so that I could supply this information. (My kids ended up attending our wonderful neighborhood, public school in the end.)
As I said in parts of the interview that were not used, Green Woods also asks for a pre-school teacher’s recommendation and many more documents than the basic information required by neighborhood public schools. All of the documents required for the application need to be returned to the school in a packet in a particular order–any missing or out of order and your application is thrown out. And the application packet has to be returned to the school during school hours–again a barrier to anyone who does not have a car, let alone a flexible schedule/understanding boss to allow you to take off from work on a school day. Additionally, since the lottery (choosing part) is not conducted in public, there is a lot of suspicion in the neighborhood that it is rigged for particular results.
Yet, despite all these barriers, Green Woods does not outperform any of the three neighborhood public schools As a friend of mine points out: “Green Woods’ 3rd grade PSSA test scores places them at or near the bottom when compared to the other public schools in Roxborough (our Philadelphia neighborhood). Despite having “significant barriers to entry,” one of the “most affluent student bodies in the city” and “the lowest poverty rate of any public school in the city,” their third graders could not outperform the three neighborhood public schools. Dobson, Cook, and Shawmont all had more students scoring advanced. When you combine advanced and proficient scores, Green Woods still finishes at the bottom with one exception. Green Woods combined advanced and proficient scores in reading places them 3rd, just above Shawmont. But Shawmont still has more advanced 3rd graders than Green Woods.”
LikeLike
Some one needs to go to jail. I’m a cynic so I believe that we’ll be hearing more stories like this. We may even see private schools become ‘public’ charters if the system is so easy to game. I’m sure some consulting firms and investors are looking at this with eagle eyes ready to pounce on this new revenue stream for schools, consultants, and investors. No shame-just greed.
LikeLike
Another charter scandal in Philadelphia brought to you by Governor Corbett and Mayor Nutter:
Practices of teacher-placement agency, personal-care-home operator raise concerns
from Philadelphia City Paper
“From the start, Anita DeFrancesco realized that working for K-12 Staffing — a company that placed substitute teachers in local charter schools — was unlike any job she’d held before.
It wasn’t normal, she says, that the company asked for, but never followed up on obtaining, her state-required child-abuse-history clearance, criminal background check or FBI clearance before sending her to fill in at New Media Technology Charter School in Mount Airy last December. It wasn’t normal that — despite submitting multiple invoices — she was never paid for her work, around $550. And it definitely wasn’t normal when, this spring, K-12 Staffing’s website went dark and its Facebook page vanished.”
http://www.citypaper.net/news/2012-09-13-evasive-maneuvers-charter-schools.html
LikeLike