The turbulence and instability in the charter industry continue.
Four charter schools in Detroit closed their doors. You know, Betsy DeVos’s home state.
Under the leadership of its aggressive new superintendent, Nikolai Vitti, Detroit Public Schools began a campaign to win back students from failing charter schools.
“With a slew of charter schools closing and thousands of Detroit families expecting to be displaced, Detroit’s main district is swooping in to pick up as many new students as it can.
“If that seems cut-throat for a district that narrowly averted the forced closure of 24 of its schools earlier this year and has endured scores of painful school closings, new district superintendent Nikolai Vitti is making no apologies.
“This is what competition looks like,” he said Tuesday. “We’re not going to be passive. We’re not going to be apologetic about celebrating our programs and our schools and our teachers and our principals.”
“Vitti personally visited an enrollment fair Tuesday at the closing Woodward Academy in hopes of drawing parents to the district.
“Lawn signs have popped up at city intersections asking parents: “Is your charter school closing?” with a phone number urging them to call the district.”
Vitti has announced that his priorities are to hire more teachers to reduce class sizes and to reduce testing.
Unless DeVos gets in the way with her failed and destructive policies, Detroit is coming back from the brink of extinction!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Charter school supporters whining about “unfair competition” in three, two, one…
LOL! Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they did.
And if they do, they should be told “Suck it up, buttercup.”
“Detroit is coming back from the brink of extinction!”
No, not extinction, not quite, but from relegation to the last “tier” of schools slated for privateer takeover. However, I don’t believe that the edudeformers, privateers and xtian religious fanatics are so stupid as to destroy all the public schools as there have to be some to take the “dregs”of those charter, voucher, religious schools and/or home-schooled students. Otherwise that sector might be seen as inhumane/cruel.
Well now, there’s the trick. You just get your local, meddling billionaire to move to Washington D.C. For example, The Donald, take Eli Broad. Please.
Big win for lobbyists today:
“The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday will announce plans to hit pause on two of the Obama administration’s primary rules aimed at reining in for-profit colleges.
Department officials told Inside Higher Ed they will block a rule, set to take effect next month, that clarifies how student borrowers can have their loans forgiven if they were defrauded or misled by their college.
The Trump administration will announce a do-over of the rule-making process that produced that regulation, known as borrower defense to repayment, as well as the gainful-employment rule, which holds vocational programs accountable when they produce graduates with burdensome student loan debt.”
There won’t be any new rule. They know if they delay it will never be written.
For-profit schools fought this regulation for a decade, and they won. They’ll be able to rip off students with impunity now, unless state AG’s step in and do their jobs.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/06/14/education-department-hit-pause-two-primary-obama-regulations-aimed-profits?utm_source=ihe&utm_medium=editorial-site&utm_content=breakingnews
Gosh, do you think Trump will start another Trump University?
Well he did lose money when he had to pay a settlement. And now he controls “truth”… aka “Trumpian Truth” so his new university will be THE BIGGEST and THE BEST” and will put all the top tier colleges to shame! 🤑🤢👎🏼
I hope this is a trend as parents get sick of subjecting their children to the instability of charters, they will migrate back to neighborhood public schools, if they still exist, and demand fair funding. Not everything that glitters is gold.
Me too, retired teacher. These charters are not stable, but whims.
It is a curious contradiction that some of the most vocal proponents of “school choice” and “competition” simultaneously bemoan the consequences of decisions made and actions taken by the truly public schools they themselves set up as competitors in the first place – even going so far as to refer to these schools’ leaders, staff and supporters as non-collaborative, divisive, and adversarial to the notion of harmonious and peaceful community.
Meanwhile it looks like Detroit Public Schools is saying “game on” to those who demanded competition in that area and are now getting what they asked for. Kudos therefore, to Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti for unrepentantly stating, “This is what competition looks like. We’re not going to be passive. We’re not going to be apologetic about celebrating our programs and our schools and our teachers and our principals.”
Yes, absolutely, Rick.
I’m actually hoping for many more school superintendents in the mold of Nikolai Vitti.
I’m one of them and I’m sure there are many more.
Kudos to to you as well, Rick!
When you can’t beat them using the traditional rules, go full on using the new rules. Smart strategy!
My friend became a principal for a non-profit corporation charter school which had been operating for a few years. Then the corporation decided they weren’t in the social work business. Concerned about disrupting the students schooling and her employees working lives, my friend applied and became the charter, no small feat with few weeks to put it together.
But if she retires without becoming an executive director… Then what? What is the rule of succession for all these charters?