Wealthy Texans have raised millions of dollars to attract charter schools and enroll a large segment of San Antonio’s children in charter schools. One of the corporate chains that opened in San Antonio is called BASIS, started in Arizona as a school with high demands and a rigorous curriculum.
Julian Vasquez Heilig has been following the progress of this chain. He here posts horror stories of abusive behavior by the charter administrators, as told by parents.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Parents need to see these things, so it’s good there are people gathering the intel.
Because I have to be at peace with what is happening, in the immediate sense, and because I use analogies to help me cope with life, particularly when there is a situation that makes me uncomfortable, I have come up with this analogy (not precise of course, but good enough to get me through the day without being angry or rude).
Public Schools are like tent camping.
Charters are like RV camping.
Private schools are like hotels.
You go RVing, you’ll have any number of types, styles, quality of RVs in the array. Buyer beware and be careful on the road. They will have to worry with plugging in, emptying their slop, finding potable water, getting gas, etc.
You go tent camping you get to enjoy the wonders of nature a little more closely. Tents can get holes, require maintenance, etc.
Hotels can be roach traps or the Ritz Carlton.
That’s my analogy for now, and I’m sticking to it. I don’t judge anyone for choosing to RV over tent or to stay in a hotel over camping. Now to what extent my tax dollars pay for it is something of a concern. . .but I can only have an influence on that in baby steps. And moaning and being mean about it isn’t going to change it. So—if anyone wants to join me in this analogy, perhaps it would be good mental health for some angry rudies out there.
Also, here is a good song.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-CkM3RKmH8
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Joanna, I see this inequity in analogies too, but different from yours in that I prefer tent camping and “nature nurture” to hotels 🙂
My analogy illustrates our return to the Old South Culture:
Public Schools: Slaves
Charter Schools: Small Land Owners & Working Class
Private Schools: Plantation Owners – Southern Aristocracy
Or…..We could illustrate it to equal the Medieval thinking of the CCSS policy makers:
Public Schools: Peasants (Serfs)
Charter Schools: Craftsmen & Artisans
Private Schools: Nobility & Feudal Lords
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And this song too.
Haters can turn everyone into haters. Careful not to catch that bug.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JVixZXRfrc
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Mis-treatment of students and families by any public school, district, charter or contract, is not acceptable.
Perhaps some readers will be interested in the struggle which has gone on for years, and now seems to be improving, finally, with Minnesota’s largest district. This has been covered extensively by local newspapers and the New York Times.
Here’s a link to a Rollingstone story that summarizes some of the problems that helped produce a number of student suicides:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202
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Is this the same Basis that is opening a private school in Red Hook, Brooklyn?
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District 13 parent, yes, this is the same BASIS charter chain that is opening a private school in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
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Thanks. Really scary article. I wonder how that attitude will play when they encounter NYC private school parents.
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As an angry, rude hater I also find these stories to be heartbreaking, infuriating, and totally unacceptable.
For 20 years I have advocated, sometimes loudly and angrily : ), for my Title I children. I eagerly accept and work with more than my “fair share” of special needs students every year and I partner with our ESE teachers to coordinate the instruction for these wonderful kids.
That BASIS has no fear of legal consequences says much about how effective the laws are that claim that charters aren’t allowed to discriminate, cream, and otherwise stack the deck in their favor. A law is only worth the effort put into enforcing it.
And Joe, that deflection of yours was crude. You can do better. But I will admit that “both sides do it” is the reason du jour for avoiding accountability from Washington DC to your local news station and newspaper office.
Here’s a link to balance out your deflection:
http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com
Read it and weep.
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All publicly funded schools are responsible for how they deal with children.
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Hey Joe!
I like your new euphemistic phrase “all publicly funded schools”.
That alleviates the unpleasantness of admitting that charter schools aren’t public schools (as stated by several judges and claimed by several high flyers, like Eva Moskowitz.)
They just take public money and spend it in secret with zero accountability, like the BASIS school reported in this posting.
Neato!
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Halliburton and the former backwater (now with a new unpronounceable symbol as a name) are also publicly funded and thus public.
See how simple it all is?
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Ang and Chris, there are state-wide schools with admissions tests, not controlled by locally elected school boards Are they public? There are magnet schools with admissions tests that screen out many students with special needs who can’t pass the tests. Are they public?
There also are – in Florida, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin for example, public funds helping pay for high school students to attend colleges and universities.
There are statewide virtual schools run by a state-wide agency. Are they part of public education?
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All schools are responsible for how they deal with children. Abuse is abuse.
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Agreed.
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We have sunshine laes in Florida that make every single thing we do a matter of public record in the public schools. Charters are exempt. Every penny in our budget must be publicly accounted for but, again, charters are exempt.
The voucher expansion bill was pulled here when a democratic senator added an amendment that required charters to follow the same testing and accountability plan public schools follow. It passed at the last minute when all accountability was stripped from the bill. state senator even said that charters should be able to discriminate because otherwise they would be just like public schools.
And Joe, I’m sure you can find a public school somewhere that does something charter like and accounts for about .00025 % of all public schools (like have an admission test) but charters who do that number in the majority. False equivalencies don’t work here. My school takes all comers period.
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Glad to hear your school takes all comers.
Does that include students who live outside the district? Does it include all the students with special needs (because when I have worked with Florida educators, they often acknowledge that some districts have special schools for students with low incidence special needs). Then there are the Florida alternative schools for students that traditional district schools don’t want.
Also, as noted previous, I’m opposed to voucher plans.
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“…some districts have special schools for students with low incidence special needs). ”
That only makes sense. Where I am, smaller districts have banded together to support a special education district that houses programs in member district schools as well as running their own in-house program. The difference is that public schools find a way to provide services. Charters do not have to.
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2 old – the state laws vary on this point.
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I’m sure they do, but under federal law I believe all public schools are required to provide services to all children who need special education services. Charter schools are not. I’m not saying that all states or districts have found a way to adequately meet the needs. It is a complex issue not addressed by charters as a matter of course.
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Charters must follow federal laws too.
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As I said, my public school takes all comers. This past sxhool year I had three students who lived out of district but were allowed to “choice” into our school by state law. Parents often do this this because they have relatives living close by that can take care of the child if he/she falls ill or if we have an early dismissal day.
We do not have special schools for kids we “don’t want” — except for the charter schools. I had 3 students arrive midyear from 2 of the lcal charters that counseled them out for low test scores and behavior issues. I welcomed them.
There is a school for students who have been arrested that works with the court system and the police dept. They are staffed with regular teachers, follow all the same rules we do, and admision is selective but in a negative way. You can use that as an example of an exclusive admission public school, Joe.
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The overall attitude of BASIS in San Antonio expresses the same ignorance of children’s developmental needs and lack of empathy that prevails throughout many schools in Texas, both public and charter. It is an attitude of denial and avoidance of responsibility that is causing children to be abused on a grand scale.
Children’s brains cannot function well for higher level thinking, or scientific thinking, in an environment of fear and intimidation. The punitive authoritarian environment at BASIS is the opposite of what children need to develop a strong sense of self and identity, and to make healthy attachments to their teachers and peers. A child’s social and emotional development will determine their future success in college and career, and not how well they can respond to the commands of a drill sergeant teacher.
The disrespect and mistreatment of children in the BASIS environment will cause chronic stress for many, with potential for causing learning disabilities as well as psychiatric disorders. The BASIS environment apparently depends on the same “Skinner Nazi” Management Style that has become popular with immature school administrators and teachers who are actually “whips” and “bullies”themselves, and fear their own inadequacies. Since they are not able to connect with children emotionally and motivate them in a healthy environment of mutual respect and inspirational learning, they “bully” and “control” them, and use punitive methods of behaviorism that resembles “obedience training” for zoo animals.
This mistreatment of children at BASIS is clearly institutional psychological abuse. The Texas Dept of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is failing to do their job by allowing this abuse to continue. This DFPS failure to protect children from institutional abuse in schools is another scandal like the previous debaucle with the Texas Juvenile Justice System. The failure of TEA to monitor the learning environment in Texas schools is also a travesty and points to shameful neglect by Commissioner Michael Williams and TEA. Both of these agencies, DFPS and TEA, are state agencies funded with taxpayer money. Why is Governor Perry silent and neglecting to take responsibility and supervise the agencies responsible for protecting children from state institutional abuse?
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Oops…auto correct didn’t like “wimp”…correct above statement:
The BASIS environment apparently depends on the same “Skinner Nazi” Management Style that has become popular with immature, insecure, and ineffective school administrators and teachers who are actually WIMPS and BULLIES themselves, and fear their own inadequacies.
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Charter schools, especially the chains, are primarily boot camps and training academies for children of the Worthy Poor, preparing the kids for a lifetime of tedious, powerless, micromanaged, poverty-wage labor.
As for the Unworthy Poor, well, we have privatized, for-profit prisons for them.
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And in other charter scandal news:
Charter Schools USA Payroll Accounts Reportedly Frozen
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/06/13/charter-schools-usa-payroll-accounts-reportedly-frozen/
Oh Joe, your cheerleading job gets harder by the day. Poor fella!
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Hey Chris,
Did Joe ever comment on this?
Wow, big charter chains “scaling up” and taking over?
What, what?
Didn’t see it if he did comment.
First charter post I know of on this blog where he failed to post some cheerful, happy “we support everyone and I wrote a newspaper column in 2000 whatever supporting real public schools” type post.
Joes’ dissembling has always been obvious.
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The number of independent charters is growing, as is the # of charters associated with a group. So is the number of options created within traditional districts.
Still waiting for your response about “public” schools with admissions tests, or statewide schools with admissions tests, or public funds following high school students helping students pay their college costs so they earn college credits while still in high school.
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Shiny happy people holding hands…..
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Who da thunk it?!
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