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Very interesting article about the Ft. Green Success Academy which apparently does push to get students who they don't feel will succeed there to leave. And the school lets the whole staff know -- in writing -- that certain students have a bulls-eye on them in terms of getting them out, often by making life for the parents so miserable that the parents decided to withdraw.
Wow, that's disturbing. If the priority is school rank rather than the well-being of the child, children will be left to fall through the cracks as long as they are someone else's problem. Unfortunately, I don't think this is limited to the charter schools.
I knew a couple of parents at my children's school (a well-regarded public school) that were told by the principle that they would need to find a new school after moving out of district. I was surprised, because my kids were out of district too and had never been pressured to leave, I and knew of several other people in the same situation. The children of both of these families being pressured to leave happened to be doing poorly in school and on state exams. I don't believe it to be a coincidence.
(Both families are still at the school by the way.)
Isn't that what charter schools are all about. For kids that can't get into gifted and talented programs charters are just another filter to separate the good from the rest. The only thing surprising is that some parents that support these schools didn't know that and are surprised when it's their kids being labeled the rotten apple.
For the educated charter school supporters, not many care if that's what they're doing. It's naive to even think that charters are some magical place that can change all lives. And as much marketing and spin that charters are feeding the media not all charters are successful, but on average they are better performing than the local school due to various reasons including being able to cherry pick kids that are already passing or are close to passing and just need a little push. It's definitely great for those kids that get a chance to segregate themselves from the bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yodel
Wow, that's disturbing. If the priority is school rank rather than the well-being of the child, children will be left to fall through the cracks as long as they are someone else's problem. Unfortunately, I don't think this is limited to the charter schools.
I knew a couple of parents at my children's school (a well-regarded public school) that were told by the principle that they would need to find a new school after moving out of district. I was surprised, because my kids were out of district too and had never been pressured to leave, I and knew of several other people in the same situation. The children of both of these families being pressured to leave happened to be doing poorly in school and on state exams. I don't believe it to be a coincidence.
(Both families are still at the school by the way.)
This should be totally unacceptable. Every kids deserves a chance at their local zoned school.
So why force the poor kids into the same failed schools that have been failing them for years?
Take the dollar amount per pupil the BoE spends (something like $17-18,000), and issue that as a voucher to the parents, and let them send their kids wherever they want.
Sell off or rent the existing school properties to private operators (either for profit or non-profit) and let the set up private schools. Keep a testing regime so that the results of the schools can be objectively ranked. The schools that succeed will survive. The ones that fail will die an be replaced. In the end, the kids will get a better education than they do now.
That's a pretty uneducated statement right there. The same price does not cover the cost of educating each kid. A healthy child with no learning disabilities costs much less than $17,000 to educate while a special needs student in a wheel chair who needs a full time aide, tutor and therapist along with specialized transportation can cost $100,000 to educate. Get my drift?
Either way, charters and private schools do not deserve public money. If they don't open their books and play by public rules, they don't deserve my taxes. Many private schools are resistant to vouchers because they would have to play by government rules and many will simply increase their tuition to keep undesirable students out.
No good teacher wants to work in a public school in a bad neighborhood either. This is was lead to the creation of programs like Teach for America and this is how business interests used the Charter School system to attack public education.
I really don't care how much Eva Moskowitz makes IF she is IMPROVING the lives and the opportunities of the STUDENTS. It should be about the STUDENTS, not just the teachers job security. Sadly the teachers union has often been more about being concerned about teachers job security rather promoting the interest of the students.
The harsh condition of charter schools replicates what many Asian students told me they went through. And we see how well it has served Asian students, don't we?
Perhaps public schools have things to learn from Eva Moskowitz and Success. And in fact they will need to learn from Success in an era in which underperforming public schools can close and where everyone involved at said school can lose their jobs.
I know teaching is a challenge and it is hard (and there are a lot of things people outside education don't appreciate). But this is the world we live in teachers will have to perform or they will find themselves collecting UNEMPLOYMENT and no amount of bickering or defending teachers we all know to be crap can change things.
I know a few who actually liked teaching in lower income schools. What they didn't like was being blamed for factors out of their control.
That's a pretty uneducated statement right there. The same price does not cover the cost of educating each kid. A healthy child with no learning disabilities costs much less than $17,000 to educate while a special needs student in a wheel chair who needs a full time aide, tutor and therapist along with specialized transportation can cost $100,000 to educate. Get my drift?
Either way, charters and private schools do not deserve public money. If they don't open their books and play by public rules, they don't deserve my taxes. Many private schools are resistant to vouchers because they would have to play by government rules and many will simply increase their tuition to keep undesirable students out.
Taking government funds would mean they fully have to deal with government rules on all sorts of things, including employment.* If a religious school took NYS money, it could not legally discriminate against LGBT staff so if an open LGBT person wanted to work there they would have to hire them.
That's a pretty uneducated statement right there. The same price does not cover the cost of educating each kid. A healthy child with no learning disabilities costs much less than $17,000 to educate while a special needs student in a wheel chair who needs a full time aide, tutor and therapist along with specialized transportation can cost $100,000 to educate. Get my drift?
Either way, charters and private schools do not deserve public money. If they don't open their books and play by public rules, they don't deserve my taxes. Many private schools are resistant to vouchers because they would have to play by government rules and many will simply increase their tuition to keep undesirable students out.
How do you feel about your taxes paying for every pension deficit when they occur in NYS traditional public schools teachers' retirement pensions and healthcare till death, with Charter schools generally being non-union. Like Ms. Farina and her $225,000 pension, till death, on top of her NYC salary. Do you think that's a good deal for NY taxpayers? And how do you feel about your taxes paying for a school system with a 65% graduation rate. They deserve your taxes? Sounds like your agenda has some big blind spots.
And undesirable students (those who when given two chances who are still irredeemably disruptive) should be kept apart in the end from normal public school students. There is no one-sizing, and tens of thousands of traditional NYC public school students have had disrupted and deficient educations because those disruptive students aren't removed. This has been a huge disservice (nearly always a disservice to Black and Latino students who bear the brunt) for decades now. Its a %^&*ing disgrace in fact.
You don't keep a bubonic plague patient in the general ward with all the other patients there just having to suck it up.
How do you feel about your taxes paying for every pension deficit when they occur in NYS traditional public schools teachers' retirement pensions and healthcare till death, with Charter schools generally being non-union. Like Ms. Farina and her $225,000 pension, till death, on top of her NYC salary. Do you think that's a good deal for NY taxpayers? And how do you feel about your taxes paying for a school system with a 65% graduation rate. They deserve your taxes? Sounds like your agenda has some big blind spots.
And undesirable students (those who when given two chances who are still irredeemably disruptive) should be kept apart in the end from normal public school students. There is no one-sizing, and tens of thousands of traditional NYC public school students have had disrupted and deficient educations because those disruptive students aren't removed. This has been a huge disservice (nearly always a disservice to Black and Latino students who bear the brunt) for decades now. Its a %^&*ing disgrace in fact.
You don't keep a bubonic plague patient in the general ward with all the other patients there just having to suck it up.
People with more money have school choice. If they don't like public schools near them, they can send their kids to private schools. So I do think charter schools are good in the fact that they do bring about choice for parents.
That's not to say that everything charters do is fantastic or great, but it's an ongoing experiment for education that isn't going anywhere any time soon. Public schools are free to incorporate the better things charters are doing into themselves.
How do you feel about your taxes paying for every pension deficit when they occur in NYS traditional public schools teachers' retirement pensions and healthcare till death, with Charter schools generally being non-union. Like Ms. Farina and her $225,000 pension, till death, on top of her NYC salary. Do you think that's a good deal for NY taxpayers? And how do you feel about your taxes paying for a school system with a 65% graduation rate. They deserve your taxes? Sounds like your agenda has some big blind spots.
And undesirable students (those who when given two chances who are still irredeemably disruptive) should be kept apart in the end from normal public school students. There is no one-sizing, and tens of thousands of traditional NYC public school students have had disrupted and deficient educations because those disruptive students aren't removed. This has been a huge disservice (nearly always a disservice to Black and Latino students who bear the brunt) for decades now. Its a %^&*ing disgrace in fact.
You don't keep a bubonic plague patient in the general ward with all the other patients there just having to suck it up.
$225,000 is her salary, not her pension. As for the 65% graduation rate - duh! They have to take everyone. Yet even those schools that are failing (because they take everyone) had kids get into the specialty magnets in NYC whereas no Success students passed the test.
BTW, those elite private schools would consider many including you undesirable so careful what you wish for. There will always be parents who want to separate their kids from the riff raff and everyone's definition of riff raff is different.
Public school teachers have been screaming for years about the damage of one size fits all and college tracking every student. No one has listened. Instead charters are allowed to ignore all the laws with public school money and people who don't think clearly think they are amazing.
People with more money have school choice. If they don't like public schools near them, they can send their kids to private schools. So I do think charter schools are good in the fact that they do bring about choice for parents.
That's not to say that everything charters do is fantastic or great, but it's an ongoing experiment for education that isn't going anywhere any time soon. Public schools are free to incorporate the better things charters are doing into themselves.
It's against the law for public schools to do what charters are doing.
It's against the law for public schools to do what charters are doing.
You are responding to a lot of people who lack an even nodding acquaintance with the actual terms of the debate.
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