The M.E.T.S. Charter school in Newark opened in late August, with Governor zchrus Christie present to cut the ceremonial ribbon and slam Newark’s public school (which have been controlled by the state for 22 years and are only now regaining local control). Two months later, the school abboinced it would get rid of two grades (9 and 10) and close down completely at the end of the school year.
Forget about it.
The school announced it has decided to remain open after all. At least for now.
Hey, that’s business. Shoe stores open and close. Restaurants open and close. Charter schools open and close, then change course and don’t close.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
The governor probably found an under the table way to funnel them more money to stay open so he looked less foolish.
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What’s it like to be a public school family in Newark? Do they wonder why their kids and schools are completely ignored by the “education reformers” who parachute in for these cheerleading events? What do the public school students think now that they’ve been relegated to “the schools no one is interested in”?
The smartest move is just to get thee to a charter right when these folks arrive, I would think. Not looking good for the unfashionable families who are sticking with the public schools! Best to follow the politicians and switch to a charter.
DeVos does this same thing. She went to a public school she approves of, a public school that is in a community so just one school of many. When she got there she bashed every other school in the same town as somehow not meeting her “innovation expectations”- she knows these people all live in the same place, right? That these are school SYSTEMS and we really make an effort not to set them up as cut-throat competitors, since that’s zero-sum?
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See it in action, disruptive innovation. Now you see it, now you don’t. Forget the collatoral damage.
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There’s many problems with the M.E.T.S. folks going through with the closure.
This particular one described BELOW may have been the one driving them to reverse the closure.
Those parents of 9th and 10th grade M.E.T.S. Newark students — before, during, and after the move back to Newark Public Schools — would be asking,
“Did the money given to M.E.T.S. to educate my child for the remainder of the 2017-2018 school year (8 out of 10 moths, or a 80% pro-rata amount) follow my child to the Newark Public High Schools that you’ve effectively dumped him in?
Or do those … errr … “backpacks full of cash” … stay in M.E.T.S. Newark to now educate the remaining 11th and 12th graders?”
I asked this question a week ago:
Also, do the millions of dollars that the NJDOE recently (October 15) sent to M.E.T.S. to educate the 9th and 10th graders now follow those same 9th and 10th graders back to the traditional Newark high schools, who must now take on the burden of educating them?
If not, that really stinks.
Think about it. M.E.T.S. keeps millions of funding for four grades, when it now, since the dumping, only has to educate two grades. In short, they now get more funding for less students.
Meanwhile the traditional Newark high schools taking in those students have less money and more students.
According to Newark’s union leader, John Abeigon, the answer is, “No,” the money does not follow them. It stays with M.E.T.S., even though they just lost half, or more of their students, and are now only required to educate the other half that stayed.
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/10/newark_charter_school_that_opened_this_year_set_to.html
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N.J. Com:
“It’s not clear what will happen to the teachers who work on the Newark campus or how long they will be able to work at the school. Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said teachers there were not unionized. He expressed concern that students would burden district schools and arrive without appropriate funding — the charter school received its per pupil funding on Oct. 15, he said.
“The money does not follow the kid,” Abeigon said.
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Notice how M.E.T.S. waited until AFTER OCTOBER 15(!!!) — the day the millions of dollars of school funding moved from the NJDOE in Trenton and into the M.E.T.S. bank account — before they then proceede to dump half their students. Again, those millions were given to M.E.T.S to educate all of their original students, not just half.
To quote Ben Franklin, “it shines and stinks like rotting mackeral in the moonlight.”
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Dead school walking. Must be stressful for the parents and students.
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