A reader offers his observations:
Charter Schools, a failure that cannot be measured.
January 12, 2013 by Joe Hernandez
As I drive happily and optimistically through our South Florida roads, I can’t fail to notice the familiar signs we are all accustomed to viewing, the burger chains, gas stations and the strip malls. As an educator and more specifically, a school psychologist, something catches my eye in a decrepit, run down strip mall, a charter school. I pull in, curious, as to what this school has to offer, as it looks like any other store I could walk in, including an adult book store a few hundred feet away and a gun shop to go with it! I ask the friendly young lady behind a window, what type of school is this? She happily explains that this is a Kindergarten through Eigth grade charter school. Curiously, I ask where are the classrooms? She answers, they are behind that door, but I’m sorry, visitors are not allowed back there. So I ask, may I see the school counselor? I have some questions about enrolling my children here. The young lady quickly snaps back and says, “I am the school counselor”. Being of a mental health background I naturally ask, what experience do you need to be a counselor here? She quickly responds, none, that is just my title. I enroll students here. I only work part-time here. At this point, this so-called counselor is beginning to become suspicious of my intentions. So she asks, would you like to see our administrator? I answer no, not now at least, I am going to read the application completely first.
I settle down into what appears to be an old sofa of a doctor’s office, in fact, the whole charter school appears to be an old office renovated for educational purposes, complete with the obnoxious sliding glass window you need to knock on to get the attention of the office aide/school counselor to turn in your application. In the far distance, I can here the familiar laugh of children and a teacher screaming at the top of her lungs “shut up”. I look around the small waiting room, and I cannot help to notice a young lady wringing her hands, with an impatient look. Next to her, is a stack of papers and a textbook. Curious, I ask her, how do you like this school? She quickly responds that she is very disappointed. Very disappointed I ask? Yes, she says, as she begins to recount how she arrived to this school. I was offered something called a McKay Scholarship where I could choose any school I wanted private or public. Acting naive, I asked, isn’t this a good thing? She answers back, well, on the surface, everything looks great. The school is small, the staff is friendly, and the students all have to wear uniforms. So what is the problem?, I ask. She quickly explains that in order for her “application” to be accepted she had to sign a waiver. A waiver I ask? Yes a waiver. You see, when my child was in public school last year, she was receiving special education services for her Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This school, like most other charter schools do not have the resources that public schools have. So you are required to sign a waiver stating that even though your child has “special needs” you agree that the school does not have to provide any accommodations. Surprised at this revelation, I asked the parent, and you agreed to this? Well, the school seemed so eager to please, I felt at ease that my child could learn here. So what are your plans, I ask the mother. I am going to ask the administrator if the staff could at least look at her previous year’s work and have some compassion. I looked back at her and asked, and when will the administrator see you? She snapped quickly, they told me in half an hour, but as you can see, you and I have been close to an hour here and there is no administrator in sight. I again ask naively, is this common? Oh, you don’t know? I said no, I am applying here. She looks at me straight in the eyes, think twice about the decision you are about to make. There is one administrator for the ten charter schools this company runs.
At this point, I had heard or you can say learned enough. I quietly exit the waiting room and venture to the back alley of the strip mall to see for myself what type of Physical Education field or playground this charter school had to offer. As I passed numerous, obnoxiously smelling dumpsters, I observed a fence, a 20 by 20 feet area approximately, that had a group of students doing some jumping jacks. There were no swings, slides, fields to run through, nada! Just concrete and space to do some kinesthetics!
By this time, my charter school curiosity had been fulfilled, I had seen enough what this “free, unregulated, market model” had to offer our children. I believe my experience with this randomly selected charter school, in a local strip mall may not be representative of all charter schools. I suspect that charter schools, located in our more affluent/wealthier neighborhoods run at a higher standard. Naturally, this defeats the notion of an “equal education for all”. Some may disagree with me and say, there is no more segregation in our education system. I beg to differ, charter schools are creating and contributing to what I call the new “socio-economic segregation” of our times. It is the cancer that is draining the resources of an education system, already stretched to its limits, and that has long been regulated to serve all of our children, hungry, poor, rich, disabled, gifted etc.
Joseph Hernandez, ED.S.
School Psychologist
Sounds like just the kind of school I’d want to enroll my kids in. I could browse the adult store while wating to pick them up, then we could all go to the gun store together to pick out some shiny new firearms.
Seriously, I have zero sympathy (not to mention respect) for the woman who would enroll her kids because they have uniforms and the people seemed nice.
“Seriously, I have zero sympathy (not to mention respect) for the woman who would enroll her kids because they have uniforms and the people seemed nice.”
A bit harsh.
Sorry you feel that way. I feel that parents are responsible for their children’s education. I just can’t imagine enrolling my child in a “school” in a strip mall with a gun shop and an adult bookstore, whose only playground is a fenced concrete slab out back by the smelly dumpsters, where I was required to waive my child’s right to services for her disability, and which wouldn’t even allow me a full tour of the place. But maybe that’s just me.
A lot of parents have bad options. They can’t afford private school, maybe they’re concerned about safety and they want a school that looks orderly. Things like uniforms and a friendly staff could seem appealing. And a lot of parents just aren’t that smart and make bad decisions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m judgmental and I go around thinking I’m a better parent and person than other parents. But it is harsh.
Yes, a bit harsh. Many parents are unsophisticated when it comes to plowing through all of the educational flotsam floating out there now. You used to send your child to school, now you have options and those options tend to obfuscate rather than simplify the situation. I am sure this parent was shown the dog and pony show and the old bait and switch all in one pitch. She obviously felt that her child’s needs would be met if she was willing to enroll her daughter there.
I don’t know if my last message was posted but in it I said that I am not a fan of charter schools for many if not all of the reasons expressed on this blog site. On the other hand, unlike some, I am not enthralled with the public schools for a good number of reasons and, having lived in a college of education for the past 26 years, I know that not all who teach deserve hugs. I say this because I want better public schools, so good that they ARE the best alternative. But try to bring innovation into the public school system and, no matter how good the innovation might be, it will not do much to change the way students are taught and the way they are treated. So, my advice to those who care to develop alternative schools, those that the kids who need them most (all kids need alternative to what is offered in too many of our school districts) take advantage of the laws that allow for the rotten charters to build new models that can proved the value of good innovations. At the same time, do criticize that which deserves to be criticized even though that criticism will, too often, be use to prove points with which you disagree. For instance, admit that there do exist unfit teachers and schools that fail to educate well and a good many that miseducate. This criticism will probably be taken by those who wish to dismantle the public school system, those who advocate and connive to privatize, to be proof that an alternative is needed. On this point they are right. The wrong is in the nature of the alternatives they propose.
Another “BAD TEACHER” pundit. No matter how many exceptions you posit, all that will be heard is your belief that BAD TEACHERS are infesting public schools. Charters, though you concede are poor substitutes, you fail to expose their backers, the Trojan horse inside the veneer of alternatives. That cryptic purpose is to wreck havoc with public education that has served our nation so well. You fail to recognize the vast majority of teachers who are dedicated, working under the dictum s of administrators who force faculty adherence to curriculum that are known failures…Wa La, another example of “BAD TEACHERS” REALLY??? Hardly! Your solution is similar to the old joke about burning down the barn to get rid of the rats! It would appear you fail to see where the rats reside in the edifice of public education.
Charter parents, teachers, students and profiteers descended on our NY state capitol yesterday and spent the day lobbying for more money as well as requesting they be allowed to start preK charters.
They came by the busloads– in their matching shirts and jackets. Did they close their schools to travel? Whose money did they spend? Ironic that public school kids are prevented from fieldtrips by budget cuts- yet the quasi-public charters make a day of unabashed self-promotion.
And what threats, direct or implied, were made to get those parents to go to Albany?
One might say that you are blinded by your own light. I should have to say that, despite the education my kids get in public schools in Nevada, that all teachers are good? If I am a “pundit,” you are a zealot and zealotry is not a sound approach to bringing about a better world. Do consider that we are still in an era that isn’t yet post-NCLB and that most schools are adopting the standards so many posting here dislike. So tell me, how do we go about making alternatives available to those who need something other than schools still hung up on standardized tests and curriculum geared to teaching for and to the tests? You fail to recognize the vast majority of teachers who are dedicated, working under the dictum s of administrators who force faculty adherence to curriculum that are known failures…Wa La, another example of “BAD TEACHERS” REALLY??? Hardly!” All I can say is be real and maybe open your eyes. To say there are some who are bad is not to condemn all or even most. And most of those who are good do know that their jobs are made more difficult by those who simply are not very good.
I take it there is no “choice” to take your backpack full of your education dollars and transfer to a different school at anytime?
I’m wondering who decides when or how charter schools can run referendums to raise taxes to pay for better accommodations?
Chris, they probably wouldn’t be using the money “for better accommodations,” if you know what I mean.(Consider the “young lady behind the window” who holds the title of “school counselor,” she of no qualifications.) Sounds like a for-profit charter school to me–and the kids get nothing. Sadly enough, I have a feeling that the other nine charter schools (sharing one administrator) have the same type of set up and, I bet, the parents must even pay for the uniforms.
I wonder how much the CEO is making.
Where I live, charters receive no tax funds for accommodations. We receive the per pupil funds that all schools get but none of the tax dollars raised by the local districts to pay for such things as buildings and equipment and upkeep, etc. This does not mean that we should even be allowed to exist and, in my mind, we shouldn’t have to but, in Nevada, the graduation rate is around 58% and our school is all about helping students who have given up on themselves in schools that have given up on them find value in themselves through success in a rigorous academic program in a school that cares about them, that appreciates who they are. If the schools were student oriented rather than numbers oriented, we would immediately put ourselves out of business. As things stand, we will be going out of business soon and our students will, most of them, most likely be amongst the dropped out. Sad but true. So when the Mary’s of the world rail against all those who have built alternative schools, she should consider the circumstances that have led to some people to take advantage of laws written for a very different purpose to do something of profound good for those served by schools such as Rainshadow. Our school is absolutely non-profit and those who work in it and for it give considerably more than they get.
This artcle is a great conversation starter. We need this kind of expose out in mass media. Initially, I put my kindergartner in a charter school in order to avoid testing pressure. For our family, the structure and accountability factors were not only unsuitable, but down right dangerous. Prior to her enrollment, I was not aware that charter schools are not held to the same oversight and governance by the board of education as traditional schools. That was quite a ride! One I have no desire to experience again.
http://signon.org/sign/repeal-no-child-left-1
I was listening to NPR earlier and they were talking about the Postal Service stopping Saturday delivery, and apparently there has been talk about privatizing the US Postal Service. They then read some comments that people who were listening to the show made, and everyone said it would be a bad idea and that we as a consumer would lose. Why is it that it would be a bad idea for the Postal Service but it isn’t for education and our children.
“we as a consumer would lose”….isn’t that the purpose of the privatization push? WE pay more, THEY pay themselves more. The balance is rigged.
Is it a bad idea? Should we be walking information down every street in every part of the country?
Why do you feel that those who oppose cuts to postal service are OK with school privatization? Privatizers see schools as the crown jewel in their agenda, but they have a whole host of services they would like to see privatized (as in socialized costs, privatized gains).
do you really want to compare the sorting and delivery of letters and packages to the education of children? We can’t weigh them, sort them by size and destination and be done with them. They come in different sizes, abilities, with a home they return to each night and then come back again. They don’t always get the special handling they deserve ( food, attention, safety) on that daily trip OUT of the facility, and are on a trip that takes 12 years of in and out of the “postal facility”. Please tell me you weren’t really serious when you posted this!
No Child Left Behind…except SPED
….and ESOL
I’ll bet this school’s website paints an entirely different picture. Parents, who want the best for their children, are often misled by charter hype.
Buyer beware.
readingexchange, your comment reminds me of a charter school chain in Chicago. They have a website where they show and include pictures of their one or two newer school buildings in their promotions, but fail to show the others. One is a particularly decrepit building that I have passed several times, a very old, formerly Catholic school. Not where I’d want to send my child and–just like the parent in Dr. Hernandez’s sad, sad tale–probably not the school building the parents might have been led to think would be the one they were sending their child(ren) to. Absolutely heartbreaking.
they
Yes, heartbreaking indeed. Isn’t false advertising against the law? These situations truly sicken me.
The entire charter school, dog and pony show, is rife with falsified statistics, bogus photos and generated by corporate greed that dignifies the charade with a laughable, “soulful”, pseudo concern about education. The public will buy anything if it is premised on the idea that BAD TEACHERS are the cause of not only poor school test scores, but almost all of societies ills! It’s a tough sale to present facts to a public whose minds have been conditioned and closed by that mantra that is repeated 24/7 on all venues of the press.
Hoo boy. What kind of people have made the decision to build school facility right in the middle of strip mall and have children exposed to gun shops and adult materials? Since children living in a rural area of South Florida have little future, so why not build a facade right in a shabby town so that poor kids huddle into a snake pit for chrissake!? It’s kind of like opening a public bath house in a red light district where very few families will go. This school owner’s mindset is pretty much similar to that of a property owner who makes any sort of excuse, if something bad happens to her/his business, let’s say, bankrupt. To protect the benefits from pro-privatization regime, s/he can target a particular group of people for the accusation of not following the rules or behaving badly inside the facility. Speaking of school segregation and economic discrimination.
” …so why not build a facade right in a shabby town so that poor kids huddle into a snake pit …?”
You have asked an excellent question, ILRLKKM.
If hear one more “reformer” say that they are putting “Students First” the top of my head will explode.
AMEN! And even worse, is when that ludicrous statement comes out of the mouth of Michelle Rhee who RARELY finds a teacher she wouldn’t love to fire! Unless of course it’s one of the “miracle schools” whose magic potion was plain, old cheating!
Whenever the corporate, camel’s nose gets under the public tent; expect the worst and you won’t be so surprised at the predictable results! Michelle R, that corporate shill disguised as a educational crusader, wants more $ for public education, but not a cent to go for teacher’s salaries! Where it would end up, she defers from telling. CAN WE GUESS? The strategy is simple: trash teachers, unions, tenure, and the dedication experienced, de greed faculty and then posit Trojan horses of charters, TFA and draconian evaluations of educators that could cause the career demise of whomever they target: older teachers, now even younger teachers who find they are in the cross hairs to be replaced by TFA candidates who will flee from the 1984 style system, ASAP! The post office is the next to go into the business shredder? Just guess how much you’ll pay to lick a corporate stamp!
When will the public awaken to the siren song that is putting so many areas of American life, careers and lifestyles down the proverbial rat hole? As long as they can hide behind their contrived false fronts and rake in the millions, we will never stop the destruction of whatever they decide to raid!
In my doctoral studies I have continually been exposed to business “models” that would bring high standards, efficient, well-run practices to education. Why do we continue to assume that all business practices/business people/business organizations know how to run everything the best way? Businesses go out of business all the time! Didn’t we just go through a recession that was partially caused by mistakes made by large financial institutions?
Hmmmmmm…..
The rapacious monster behind the destruction we see is the corporate cabal who has bought our Congress and both political parties, plus the compliant press who happily covers or justifies their sins, false justifications and endless greed. Public education is just the latest victim, but one that will make putting the monster back in his cage, a growing impossibility.
unheardofwriter:
“Why do we continue to assume that all business practices/business people/business organizations know how to run everything the best way? Businesses go out of business all the time! Didn’t we just go through a recession that was partially caused by mistakes made by large financial institutions?”
Well thought out and well stated.
It used to be students that failed, now it’s schools and businesses. What is wrong with this picture? If a student fails, they should go back and do it over, not drag the entire school down with them.
Failure used to be considered a part of learning. You will not succeed in every endeavor. I used to tell parents not to worry too much if a child failed an assignment, the purpose was to test their knowledge and ability, I don’t include them as a grade, I let the child practice on their own so they can see where their understanding is inadequate. We work together in class to assure they understand, homework helps shape this, then we test once they have shored up their knowledge. Schools do not get to change, they are changed. I can recall my “mean” jesuit teachers commenting to me after one of my failures. They asked me if it hurt to fail. I assured them it did. They replied they were less concerned then, if it hurt enough I would study and ask questions. I was allowed to learn from this and learned to be resilient later in life. The life of schools ends if their students do not perform on an exam, the relevance of which is suspect regarding the student’s future. How sad indeed.
Michael Moore, would you PLEASE create a documentary around this? Your approach would be perfect exposure, universally seen and would, perhaps, win you another Oscar. (I know that would not be the reason for doing it, but that would REALLY draw attention to this horrific–and criminal–theft of American education.It is analogous to Arne Duncan being alarmed at Matt Damon’s appearance at the 2011 S.O.S. March on D.C.and wanting to talk to Matt, but not caring to talk to any parents or educators present.)
If MM did an exposé, such as this, it would disparage the Obama administration, if done accurately. MM is simply not going to do this.
The person that does such a documentary, and I believe it will happen, would need to have mega- guts.
Suggestion: Include @MMFlint (Michael Moore) in tweets about education.
Or write to Michael Moore here: http://www.michaelmoore.com/submit
PLEASE, EVERYONE WRITE MICHAEL AND SHARE YOUR INSIGHTS AND EXPERIENCES WITH HIM! IT IS A CAUSE THAT IF HE KNEW THE CORPORATE CREEPS AND THEIR MONEY HUNGARY ELITISTS ARE DEVISING TO FEAST ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND LEAVE A SMOLDERING RUIN IN THEIR WAKE, I AM SURE HE WOULD JOIN OUR CAUSE AND AWAKEN THE PUBLIC TO WHAT LIES HIDDEN UNDER THE BS!
I did do that right after I wrote the 2/7 comment at 3:31 AM. It’s February 11th, and I haven’t yet heard back.
You can write MM on his facebook page. That doesn’t mean he will do anything about it, but there is no harm in trying. Also I was just thinking what about a boycott of the goods these people sell was organized? It worked in the 70’s with Cesar Chavez and grapes. I also think in a way it probably workedwith the movie “Won’t Back Down” I know I refused to pay my hard earmed money just to be told that I am part of the problem, so you have to know that there were more teachers who refused to see also. The movie didn’t do very well and maybe that is why.
Yep,
Avoid Wal Mart, Microsoft…
Who else?
Vote against any politician affiliated with ALEC.
Tweet, FB, blog and talk to everyone/anyone who will listen.
Avoid Microsoft? Good luck.
flerper,
why do you say that?
(I was talking about spending my money. Of course, an individual has no control of what software or products are at the office, etc).
But I think I have been pretty successful at buying alternative products for myself.
Perhaps you know something I don’t? Does Microsoft actually control the whole world?
😉
I’ve found it isn’t that easy, and to the extent you’re worried about ed-tech profiteering, Apple may be worse.
It’s also not clear to me what kind of impact avoiding Microsoft would have on the Gates Foundation, which has its own endowment (more than $30 billion) and isn’t part of Microsoft. And Warren Buffett gives a ton of money to the Gates Foundation. Are you avoiding Berkshire Hathaway?
I, too feel Gates and his corporate cronies need to be exposed for the detrimental effects their policies and prescriptions for reforming our educational system have wrought. He and Melinda somehow feel, due to their wealth, that they have the supreme right to wreck havoc with teachers, schools and curriculum. It is truly farcical to watch the paeans showered on these elitists who, without the aid of knowledge or experience, think they can waltz into any classroom and pronounce judgements upon the classroom teacher as though that had all the qualifications needed to do so, that they so amazingly lack. The no holds barred barrage against teachers by them, Rhee and Jeb Bush, etc. is a battle that appears to have no counter defense of facts or consequences to refute their egotistical, professed wisdom. There well may be other perpetrators of destruction to be exposed, but Gates is one that has caused harm in the Denver Public Schools with his money (millions in gifts with strings attached of which no one in the public or teacher ranks are made privy to) and hidden motives…money which is at the base of the charter school mania and reformers who themselves need to find other victims to inflict their pseudo knowledge upon!
Never said it was easy, never said it would change the world.
But I will not (whenever possible) spend my money to benefit persons, groups, etc that are working to destroy my profession and the once great american public school system. In doing so, they are hurting my students, about whom I care very much.
Sometimes I go with lesser of the evils (I have many fewer problems with, say, Apple than I do with Microsoft…both philosophical/political and computing!), sometimes I avoid the whole thing all together (wal mart etc.).
As to Berkshire Hathaway, I have never given them much thought. Probably because I don’t hear Warren B. constantly running around the world trash talking public schools and inserting ill informed, across the board “fixes” to non epidemic problems. However, upon looking at the largest holdings of BH I do, in fact, avoid most of them.
I am neither naive nor ill informed. I do understand it may not matter to anyone other than me. It will probably not change anything.
I will sleep well and not be ashamed of the woman in the mirror.
Here, here! DEFINITELY needs to be a full frontal assault on the ruinous policies that ALEC has and is perpetrating under the veil of false caring and patriotic motives! The press helps perpetrate this illusion and hides the motives and game they are playing that have and will cause untold damage on our country. They are a blight on our nation and are pursuing a course which they keep well hidden from the duped public.