Democracy Prep is leaving the District of Columbia. Its charter school is a failure. Interestingly, Democracy Prep was chosen to take over the Andre Agassi Charter School in Las Vegas after that well-funded school failed.
Charters come, charters go. Kids, go find another school. Tough luck. Better luck next time. Walmart opens and closes stores all the time. What’s the big deal? You know, disruption.
A prominent Southeast Washington charter school with more than 600 students announced Friday that the coming school year will be its last.
Leaders of Democracy Prep Congress Heights said in an email to parents that the school, which has students in preschool through eighth grade, was unable “to provide Congress Heights scholars the school they deserve.”
The letter said Democracy Prep will seek a new organization to run the campus for the 2019-2020 academic year. School leaders said they are confident they will find a new operator and that students will not have to be displaced.
Democracy Prep, a New York-based charter network, made big promises when it entered the District in 2014 to take over Imagine Southeast, which was on the cusp of being shut down over poor performance.
The charter network had built a reputation for lifting test scores among poor children from low-income families in New York’s Harlem neighborhood and promised to bring its model of college prep and civic education to Washington. The network operates nearly 20 schools across the country, and the D.C. school is the only one it is closing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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“Democracy Prep” closing in Washington, D.C. What’s wrong with this picture. CBK
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Ed reformers are lucky they have the unfashionable public school system as a fall-back.
Too bad for public school students that their schools are treated that way, though.
Watch- there won’t be a word written about the schools that serve these children after the superstar charter decamps. Not interested. Public schools may as well not exist – unless ed reformers need them in a pinch, that is.
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I am totally guessing, but I suspect the Democracy Prep students from Harlem come from a higher socio-economic level than the students in D.C. In the spring there was a piece on the news about the college acceptances at Democracy Prep in Harlem. Interviewed students were very articulate and poised in front of the cameras. I remember recalling these students did not seem to be representative of typical poor families. There are no “miracles” in privatization.
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““to provide Congress Heights scholars the school they deserve.””
Damn pesky ‘scholars’ demanding so much! The nerve!
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I hate it when children are called “scholars.” It cheapens the word. Why not call them “doctors”?
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“The network operates nearly 20 schools across the country, and the D.C. school is the only one it is closing.”
Give it a little more time, eh!
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Will they be selling it?
Craigslist offers free ads. EBay could cost them a bit in fees, but really, who cares? Those fees are just taxpayer money, right?
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Is it ironic that Democracy can’t survive in D.C.? Or maybe just telling.
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Like! Subtle with undertones of mockery!
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YES. And I have always found it telling that Wash DC has long been known to be notably segregated by economic class.
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Every five years (far too long), the charter has to report to the district. This charter was in its fourth year and about to experience oversight. So, it was sold to another charter operator to avoid accountability. It was sold. Money made, quality regulation avoided. Buying and selling schools funded publicly is so wrong. Capitalism and public education don’t mix.
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What’s the autopsy report? Why, Democracy Prep, were you “unable to provide the education the scholars deserved”? You were unable to find good teachers? You don’t know what kind of curriculum works for these kids? Kids were misbehaving too much and none of the non-KIPP style discipline approaches were working? Please tell us out here in the broader education community so we can learn from your experience and design better schools.
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(I live in metro WashDC). A school that cannot deliver a quality educational “product” is closing. Good. This is how a school which is subject to public scrutiny is supposed to work. The benefit of a non-public school, is that when it fails to satisfy the demands of its customers (students), it will close down.
When a public school fails to deliver, it just stays open, and the politicians continue to throw money at it.
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The school isn’t closing you idiot. It’s changing owners and brands. Learn how to read troll.
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Don’t argue semantics. The current management of this school has decided to “close down” their operation, and another entity will take up the school, and run it.
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Charles,
It’s not “semantics”. Of course, you acknowledging that fact would require that you aren’t trolling which you obviously are.
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Chas,
Please repeat outloud until comprehension occurs:
Public schools are not businesses.
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Stop the Presses! If businesses were run like we run our public schools, our economy would cease to function.
Pubic schools are a top-down socialist monopoly. They are not subject to the discipline of the marketplace. No matter how poorly a public enterprise performs, it will continue to operate. Most times, when a public enterprise fails to deliver, it will get additional funding (See AMTRAK).
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Charles,
Is your family run like a business? Do you fire your wife and get another one if she spends more than her budget?
Would you sell your soul for $1 million? $10?
Please read Michael Sandel “What Money Can’t Buy”
You are an exemplar of the thinking that is destroying our society
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Keep repeating Chas. You haven’t learned yet.
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Charles After all this time, you still don’t know the difference between capitalism (as a set of business principles) and education in a democratic culture?
Hello: That’s why education is supported by PUBLIC FUNDING. It’s NOT ABOUT MAKING MONEY, and it’s certainly not qualified by supporting itself financially, again, without PUBLIC FUNDING, which is good for all concerned in a democracy.
Up til now, those who wrote the policies that supported public education understood that HUGE difference. In my view, you have a similarly huge insight waiting to happen. So that, sadly, without that insight, everything you say about education is tainted by its absence and by your bad assumptions about education and capitalism. The irony is compounded by the number of posts you put up here. (I’m now going back to avoiding your posts.) CBK
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Q Charles,
Is your family run like a business? Do you fire your wife and get another one if she spends more than her budget?
Would you sell your soul for $1 million? $10?
Please read Michael Sandel “What Money Can’t Buy”
You are an exemplar of the thinking that is destroying our society
END Q
I do not understand your questions, and their relevance to the topic under discussion. But here goes:
My family is not a business. Therefore I do not run it like a business. My wife and I are partners. I am the head of the family.
My wife is not an employee, and therefore I cannot fire her.
I am not at all certain if I have a soul. If I did, I am not certain how I could sell it.
I will check out that book on Amazon. Might possibly purchase it.
I do not agree that my “thinking” is destroying our society.
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I read a substantial portion of the book, on line. It is interesting. see
https://books.google.com/books/about/What_Money_Can_t_Buy.html?id=06-54FCTQ9AC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false
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