What do you do if you head the Connecticut chapter of Teach for America and you long for bigger worlds to conquer?
Simple.
The state commissioner is a charter school guy, so he is no problem.
You decide to open your new charter in Bridgeport, where the superintendent won his reputation by privatizing public schools in New Orleans.
All the right connections and the public’s money. No brainer.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A montessori school, sounds good. But if they take the state money, aren’t they olbligated to give third graders six days of common core tests?
Kind of like opening a vegetarian charter school where the state forces you to eat turkey ala king for a week.
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Next, simply appoint your buddy, a shady accountant, to serve as the school’s treasurer. Let the swindeling begin!
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TFA and Montessori? I wonder what Maria would think?
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Isn’t Vallas now working on his fourth ruination of a school district? How does this happen? In this country it seems that the worse you do the higher you will go. How will we ever survive with this happening. Would you like to fly on a plane put together by the worse there is and maintained by those who do not know what they are doing and do not even know what a wrench is? That is what is happening.
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Paul Vallas, serial school killer: stop him before he kills again!
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Diane Ravitch, Please, tell us what you know about Leadership for Education Equity. The Hydra has another head.
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Michael Langford, I believe that is the political action arm of TFA.
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I know that much. They’re a 501c4 (lobbying…) and the website is members only. Totally opaque. People who have something to hide…
Really appreciate your sensible and courageous work in the midst of this insanity. You make a difference. Thanks
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Now, just how would THAT work out? To have a Montessori school, all personnel (and that would include administrators–sorry, TFA) must be Montessori certified. Also, I am of the belief that in a PRIVATE (yes, PRIVATE) Montessori school, “standardized” tests are NOT given (that would defeat the mission of Maria Montessori schools).
Totally oxymoronic, if not just plain moronic!
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No one has an absolute right to open a charter.
Is your objection that it is a Montessori school – and thus a distinctive public school? (There are some excellent urgent Montessori public schools – some for example in Cincinnati, some in St Paul). Do you oppose Montessori public schools available as an open?
Or is your objection that if approved, it would be a Montessori charter public school?
Or is your objection that some of the people involved have been in TFA?
Just trying to be clear.
Thank you
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Come, come now, Joe Nathan. You’ve read the link. Your naiveté is showing. You know, you just KNOW, the REAL objection is that Nate Snow is a “R-p-bl-c-n,” the vice that dare not speak its name. Are you not aware, Mr. Joe, that NO R-p-bl-c-n can possibly have a sensible idea because they believe in private property, which we all know is contrary to the suitable sentiment for teachers of communitarian responsibility and comprehensive egalitarian investment.
Alas, it might even be a GOOD idea, taken on its own merits, to educate a mere 209 students eventually, but because a R-p-bl-c-n has proposed it, we know that the public schools elite establishment MUST condemn it, otherwise they will have their party card taken away from them and no longer allowed to attend services to heal ALL the sick and raise ALL the dead.
After all, socialists take after Jesus, and HE could certainly raise the dead, perhaps even teach the little children suffered to come unto Him. And only if EVERYONE will believe in Him, and EVERYONE will be saved, can He be worshipped. A couple of hundred kids saved is NOT enough.
We must save EVERYONE before we can save anyone.
Yes, the Christian Socialists like Friere do so such good work, see it all over Hispanic America—In Cuba, in Venezuela, in . . . well you name it. It’s called “liberation theology,” only in this country we prefer our liberation without theology. Hey, Ché. Vamenos.
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Harlan, it’s not “bad” because its the “republicans” who are pushing privatization as the cure-all in society. It’s “bad” because it’s a bad idea, regardless of party affiliation.
Which party has pushed for private prison systems over the years? How’s that working out? Sorry sir, but its the republicans who are more concerned about profiting off of the ills of our society, rather than fixing them.
And let’s not forget…today’s Libertarian is yesterday’s frustrated Republican.
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So, Zak, how should we fix the ills of society? Nice try, but no cigar.
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Joe Nathan
My objection to the kids opening a charter school is that they lack the experience to start their own school.
I saw Rita Kramer last night, who wrote a biography of Maria Montessori, and she was aghast when I told her about this plan. She said that Montessori is not a slogan or a brand. To open a Montessori school, the teachers must be trained and certified in Montessori methods.
You seem to think that anyone at all should get public money to open a school, if they have the right connections.
We disagree. The combination of your starry progressivism and ALEC free-market hostility to the public sector is a threat to the survival of free public education, a pillar of our democracy.
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Let us examine whether “free public education, [is] a pillar of our democracy.” Was there no democracy prior to free public education?
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No Diane, I don’t think “anyone at all should get public money to open a school if they have the right connections.” In fact, I think the opposite – no one has an absolute right to open a school. That’s why I began my comment to which you responded as follows:
“No one has an absolute right to open a charter.” That is the first sentence of my comment above.
I’ll save the name calling such as “starry progressivism” for others.
One of the reasons the charter movement build in from the beginning, the idea of an authorizer is that there was a recognition that some people are not qualified to open a new school.
Another idea was that it was NOT enough to trust the “market” So there is supposed to be a contract specifying clear goals, some of which could be measured by applied performance, some by standardized test, that a charter would have to achieve in order to have its contract renewed. This is still a work in progress, with some authorizers doing a better job than others.
As to whether public education has been a “pillar of democracy,” some historians disagree. Joel Spring calls public education a “sorting machine” which has reinforced inequities in American. Colin Greer wrote about “The Great School Legend.”
Spring and Greer, writing well before the charter movement began, document how public education has for many, not been an institution promoting upward mobility.
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Joe,
When Joel Spring and Colin Greer wrote about public education, they had no idea that the far-right reactionaries of ALEC would claim public dollars for segregation academies and vouchers that pick and choose their students.
The Sorting Machine of charters and vouchers is now in full cry.
Joe, you are digging your hole deeper. Look at where the far-right Walton Foundation is putting $160 million a year. Not to our public schools but to e ery form of privatization. Save yourself before it is too late.
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Your comment immediate above does not seem like a response to any of the points I made.
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“there is supposed to be a contract specifying clear goals, some of which could be measured by applied performance, some by standardized test”
I guess that was my question. If one starts a charter Montessori or Waldorf school, how much standardized testing would the school go along with before it ran counter to the fundamental philosophy behind Montessori or Waldorf?
Personally, I think a Montessori charter school is a great idea, so I wish them the best of luck.
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