Just in case you thought that Eve Ewing was writing about a one-off event in Chicago, when Rahm Emanuel’s hand-picked board closed 50 public schools in one day, ignoring the pleas of parents, think again.
A similar battle is going on in the District of Columbia, where parents are pleading with the D.C. school officials to open a public school (doors open to all) where they closed a public school.
Valerie Jablow, a D.C. parent, writes about this struggle and pins down the shifty tactics of school officials, who offer dodges, double-talk, and shifting explanations to parents who want a public school.
The outcome, she suspects, is pre-determined.
The District of Columbia is still locked into the Michelle Rhee mindset and remains committed to replacing public schools with charter schools. After all, they have received millions from the Walton Foundation and other malanthropists NOT to change course and listen to residents.
This is what democracy does not look like, she writes, as officialdom finds myriad ways to evade public testimony by parents.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Michelle Rhee is coming back to Washington DC to apply for the start up of a charter school. The school will be a basketball school for students who want to have a career in basketball. The school will receive state funds and also private funds to pay for basketballs, super court and uniforms including a donation from Nike.
The school will not have to disclose any academic information because they are a charter school and that gives them the privilege especially with Rhee and her husband running the asylum.
Donald Trump praised the school stating that our country needs more and better basketball players and who else to do it better than Michelle Rhee and her basketball ties with her husband. MInd you, the kids will come from the public schools as the school will hand pick students, try them out and either keep them or send them back to the public school if they don’t want the student any more.
Michelle Rhee will walk around the school with the famous broom which she was pictured with on Time magazine cover. Why they choose a broom is beyond me but I guess the broom symbolizes clean the house? Anyway, I am not sure if any of our public schools can produce the basketball players that Michelle Rhee and her husband are projecting and the public school down the street may get closed due to Rhee and her basketballs bouncing and bouncing endless banter.
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This is SICK.
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Sick… but inevitable… and these “sports academies” will soon be sponsored by shoe companies…
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posted at OEN https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/D-C–Parents-Fight-Bureau-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Bureaucracy_Democracy_Diane-Ravitch_Public-Education-181121-566.html
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The charter public schools
When charter school is King
Theyll call the public charters
Cuz charter is the thing
That everybody mirrors
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Shouldn’t “choice” include the chance to attend a well resourced, fully funded, public school?
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Of course. School choice is choice. Families may choose a public school or a non-public school. Many studies have shown, that when school choice is brought into a community, that the public schools improve. When faced with the spur of competition, all schools will improve so they can attract and hold students.
Public schools in non-choice areas have no incentive to improve, they will get the government subsidy to operate, regardless of the quality of instruction.
see
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/choice-helps-public-schools-1764.html
Families who choose public schools, should be supporting school choice for all.
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No, Charles, schools don’t get higher test scores because they are competing.
Look at Milwaukee. It has charters and vouchers galore.
All three sectors have low scores.
In New Orleans, the one choice denied to parents is a neighborhood public school.
I resent that you come to this blog to express your opinion and learn nothing, ever.
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“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
― Daniel Patrick Moynihan
(liberal, progressive Democrat)
You would be surprised what I have learned here (and on other liberal blogs). I have my opinions and other people have their opinions.
You are quite correct, students do not automatically achieve higher test scores, just because the (public) school they are attending is facing competition. You should know, intuitively, that when any enterprise is facing competition, whether the enterprise is public or private, the enterprise will have to be competitive, and constantly strive to improve.
If the people of New Orleans want public schools so bad, and they are convinced that their current educational options, are not satisfactory, they should be demanding proper changes from their political servants in Baton Rouge. Public schools are a public enterprise, operated and financed by the public. The public alone is responsible.
I do not wish to become involved in some kind of contest. The fact is, I can cite about 20 (twenty) independent studies, that all confirm, that when publicly-operated schools are subject to the discipline of competition, that the overall quality of the instruction and test score averages increase. Empirical studies prove this thesis over and over.
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If competition improves schools, Charles, why are Milwaukee and Detroit faring so poorly?
Washington, D.C., which you know well, has half its children in charters and a failing voucher program. Why hasn’t it soared to the top?
Where is the “competition” in New Orleans, where every public school was closed?
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I am certain that there are a number of reasons for the poorly performing schools in Milwaukee and Detroit. Competition resulting from giving parents more choices is not the “villain”.
The public schools in WashDC are not delivering a quality “product”. That is why there are waiting lists for nearly every charter school in the District of Columbia.
I am not an expert on the educational problems in New Orleans. Even though Hurricane Katrina was in 2005, the city schools have not yet recovered. Of course, I would like to see a healthy and effective public school system for the city. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities. I wish them Godspeed in their recovery.
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Charles,
You stated that competition magically makes schools better.
I asked you why three school districts with lots of competition are not doing well.
You don’t know. You really know nothing about schools.
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I never said anything about “magic”. I maintain that there is a growing body of evidence that indicates that school choice and alternatives have a positive effect on publicly-operated schools. There are twenty-nine (29) separate independent studies which clearly show the beneficial effects of competition on the public schools.
Here is a report from the non-partisan SchoolScout orgnizaiton:
https://www.schoolscout.com/blog/how-will-school-choice-affect-our-public-schools
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Charles,
I’m waiting for you to explain why abundant school choice has not made Detroit, Milwaukee, or DC flourish.
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WHAT?!
This sounds like something that Arne would do.
On second thought, let’s not give him any ideas.
He might think that opening a basketball charter school in Chicago will stop the violence.
(When he came to sell his book at a fancy, downtown luncheon in Chicago, someone proudly pointed to a couple of tables and told me, “All those guys sitting at those tables are Arne’s basketball buddies.” Believe you me, I was SO impressed.)
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I thought at the end of the post it would say – April Fools – but it is not April. Is this real – a basketball charter ?
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