Charter Schools

homeowner

So I'm working on this project that involves charter schools and I need to get a little feedback from folks (both parents and those who might potentially become parents one day) about their opinions around charters. So I'm hoping folks won't mind answering a few questions

1) Would you consider sending your child to a charter school? Why or why not?

2) How important is it that a school has a particular focus such as the arts, science and technology, humanities, language and culture, etc? Would this be a deciding factor in settling on a school?

3) How important is convience to you? Would it matter that a school was near bus and/or train lines? Near your job? Walking distance to your home?

4) Do you believe that public schools in your community will be better or worse if more charter schools are opened in the community?

5) If you could create a school what kind of school would you develop?

sweet tea

Subject: Re: Charter Schools

i'm in the "someday" category, but i'll give you my thoughts. i'll say at the outset that most of what i know about charter schools is from my old job in chicago, in which i worked with tons of public, private, and charter schools, so my information and opinions are based on the way charters are used in CPS.

homeowner wrote:

1) Would you consider sending your child to a charter school? Why or why not?

Yes. I worked with some outstanding charter schools in Chicago, and I was impressed with how their freedom to innovate made for a school that excited the students and responded to their needs, rather than plodding along doing the same things that had always been done. On the other hand, some of the charters I saw were disorganized piles of rapidly failing idealism and some of the traditional public schools were terrific, so it's not a sure thing.

2) How important is it that a school has a particular focus such as the arts, science and technology, humanities, language and culture, etc? Would this be a deciding factor in settling on a school?

To the extent that a focus means that the school is therefore self-selecting for parents and students who are proactive and driven, I think a focus is great. Otherwise, maybe for HS, but not earlier.

3) How important is convience to you? Would it matter that a school was near bus and/or train lines? Near your job? Walking distance to your home?

Hard to say for sure, speculatively, but I'd guess somewhat important. An ideal school would be worth extra effort.

4) Do you believe that public schools in your community will be better or worse if more charter schools are opened in the community?

I didn't notice it making any difference in Chicago. I suppose worse is most likely, though, since charters may siphon off the most motivated. (Even if, as in Chicago, charters are not allowed to cherry-pick strong students, there's still an element of extra effort involved.)

5) If you could create a school what kind of school would you develop?

The Chicago charters I loved most were Perspectives, which I knew as a middle school (it's since expanded), and North Lawndale Charter School, a high school in maybe THE worst neighborhood in Chicago (poorest, most gang-ridden, filled with recent ex-cons, houses with no heat, streets turning to rubble, intergenerational illiteracy, drugs, and guns) that gets ALL its students -- many of whom enter 9th grade barely able to read -- into good colleges.

Perspectives does an inspiring job of creating an environment that is rigorous, highly disciplined, and a great deal of fun. Their teachers are tough but loving, their building is filled with light, and their expectations are very high. They believe school should be a nice place to work hard. Their cafeteria is run by real chefs. I'd love to send a child to a place like this.

North Lawndale CPHS makes me tear up when I talk about it. I used to teach (elementary school) in that neighborhood. There is nothing you can think of that those kids don't deal with every day. I had students who couldn't think straight Monday morning because they hadn't eaten since school lunch on Friday. I had students living without heat. When I talked to one of my first graders whose uncle had recently died, he said "they put him in a box. in a big box. like grandma. my sister they just put in a little box." (His sister, like his mother, had sickle cell.) The school was a disaster. (In fact, it's the subject of a chapter of the book "Savage Inequalities".) It was filthy and chaotic. The library had been temporarily closed for 30 years. The administration didn't care if their truants wandered by all day long, yelling up at their friends still in class.

NLCP takes those kids and gets them into prestigious places. Most of them are the first in their families to go to any college. Not only that, but it makes sure they'll thrive. The students work their tails off, and the school never stops working for them. They organize and fund long-distance college tours; they track down scholarships. Here's the part that always gets me: besides their regular staff, they employ a guidance counselor whose whole job is to call EVERY student of theirs during their first year of college EVERY WEEK. To me, that's the kind of thing that shows the distinction between wanting to make a difference and making sure it happens. I hope no child of mine will ever need a place like NLCP, but this is the school I'd start.