Are charter schools a civil rights issue? Should they be?
This is an op-ed piece that I ran today on the print education page that I put together each week for the AJC. (Please send me your op-ed ideas or your written pieces for consideration, 500 words or 850. The page is formatted so those are the two working lengths. )
This piece is by the new principal of Tech High Charter, a city of Atlanta charter school that has had more ambitions than students. I have visited Tech High three times and always admired the dedication of the staff and volunteers, but felt that the school did not have the quality of life — the fun, the variety of students, the activities — that would draw teens. I attended a 2009 honors program and found a senior class of 55. They were an enthusiastic but small crowd.
I went home from the event and looked at the school’s EOCT scores and ACT and SAT scores and was disappointed. I had wished more for a school where the adults worked so hard and wanted so much for their students. But I asked myself the question that I ask after every school visit: Would I want my own kids to go there?
And I couldn’t say “yes.” I loved the energy, the teachers and the spirit of the place, but I could not find reason for celebration in Tech High’s scores in most areas. Here was an engineering and information technology focused high school with small classes, dedicated staff, extended academics and a tremendous volunteer force, yet 74 percent of test takers failed the EOCT in algebra and 78 percent in geometry in 2008-2009. (The failure rate was much lower in biology and physical science – both below 30 percent.)
New leadership hopes to improve the school’s outlook and numbers. I wish them well.
By Graysen Walles
Recently our school – Tech High Charter in Atlanta – hosted a volunteer event to bring out men, women and children to help us tidy up our 88-year-old building.
Parents and students worked with us, but members from the surrounding community came out to support our efforts too.
All of these people came out to our event to help us meet the needs of our diverse population of 170 students consisting of African Americans, whites, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gifted, average and exceptional needs.
After sweating for eight hours in the hot Atlanta sun, a grandmother approached me saying, “Son, you are the new principal, right?” I replied, “Yes ma’am.”
One of her grandchildren has a slight disability, while the other needs to be challenged more academically. She enrolled both of them in Tech High this year.
She said: “You are doing a good thing here. I am raising my grandchildren, and I prayed for a school just like this. I can tell you are going to look out for these children. I am going through some things right now that might stop me from being here like I want to, but know if you need anything I’m here.
“Keep them in the right uniforms, because they need to know how to dress right, and stay on them to do the right thing, okay?”
I kneeled down closer to her in much awe and respect, as she was sweating, too, and said, “Yes, ma’am, I promise to do right by you and the students. That’s what I came here to do.”
If I had any questions about what I was doing in this charter movement, I knew for sure at that moment what it was all about.
Her nod of affirmation was all I needed that day to know I was on the right track, along with the thousands of other charter leaders, teachers, parents, boards and students around the country.
We all know that the public school system as it is now designed cannot be the answer for the growing needs of our diverse community.
We have seen time and time again by means of reliable statistics and research that most of our public school systems are failing to prepare students for the 21st century global community. These are facts, whether we want to face them or not.
The consistent message from families of all ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds in communities like Atlanta is that they want quality educational choice for their children.
In most cases, a traditional school system is not able to accommodate these choices as they are challenged with a myriad of complex issues, even much deeper that what can be seen with the naked eye.
For many families, such as the one led by the grandmother who stopped me that hot day, charter schools provide the choice and the answer that many parents are searching for.
Specifically, these families deeply desire a nurturing environment, a high quality education that will prepare their students to succeed in college, access to a concerned and proficient administration and teaching faculty and a safe and vibrant school community where bullying and violence are not tolerated.
The charter school movement is an answer for many families around the country, as they provide what most traditional public schools cannot.
Quite honestly, at the current time, many of the students benefitting most from the charter movement are minority students and exceptional needs students.
That is why it is so difficult to digest the negative commentary that some civil rights organizations, such as the NAACP, have purported about charter schools.
On the contrary, charter schools are an answer to the challenges of our special education communities and minority communities, as charters provide specificity, flexibility and a level of nurturing for our students that traditional public school have a difficult time mastering.
I was encouraged to read recently that the leader of the National Urban League has clarified its position on charter schools, noting that it “wholeheartedly supports high-quality charter schools and the outcomes they produce for our nation’s children.”
Indeed, if there were any organizations that would support the charter school movement, it is my belief that civil rights organizations would. I would encourage more leaders of these organizations to visit charter schools that have been successful in densely poor communities such as New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta and Chicago.
Undoubtedly, these school communities would definitely provide these leaders with a new perspective about charters and the need for charters as a viable educational reform tool.
Some of the best charters have clearly been documenting best practices and invaluable research that speaks to closing the achievement gap for at least a solid decade.
Charter schools have moved beyond test tube theories. They are now established, valued and successful. Why?
In my lowly opinion, it is because charters have proven that the student achievement gap can be closed among minority students.
Further, these amazing achievements have been accomplished with fewer resources, and many times in sub-standard conditions.
As an aside, I am convinced that far more could be accomplished if there was consistent and intentional collaboration between charters and traditional school systems.
Yet, rather than embrace and appreciate the innovation and creativity of successful charters, they are often ostracized by many public school systems and outright attacked by some supporters of the status quo, including, unfortunately, some civil rights groups. It doesn’t have to be this way.
After my brief conversation with that concerned, loving grandmother, I’m just glad to know that I am making a difference, even if many of our civil rights organizations don’t understand or support the charter movement as a viable educational reform option.
However, I do hope all of them will, sooner than later.
Graysen Walles is the principal of Tech Charter High in Atlanta.
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65 comments Add your comment
B. Killebrew
August 31st, 2010
8:22 am
@another comment…
I would actually say that most U.S. citizens abroad do not pay for their children to attend American or International schools. The tuition is usually paid by the citizens’ employers–and in the case of U.S. government employees overseas (diplomats, special agents, etc.), the U.S. government (and thus American taxpayers) pay the tuition.
Awful, Awful, Awful
August 31st, 2010
8:46 am
bootney farnsworth
August 30th, 2010
4:40 pm
this clown is the biggest reason I’ve seen yet for opposing charter.
this particular school is run by someone who should be a manager at QT
Actually Bootney, QT’s are quite well run…….I’m not sure “this clown” is really qualified
Doble Zero Eight
August 31st, 2010
9:03 am
It is time for civil rights organizations to cease and desist from making excuses! Bill Cosby was accurate when he made his controversial speech at Frederick Douglas High School several years ago. Parents are the key to improving education. Unfortunately, some parents are more concerned about what little Johnny or Susie is wearing to school, than what they are learning in school. We have heard of examples of children that came out of the “projects” and attended inner city schools, that have gone on to become physicians,attorneys,educators. aviators, etc.
By the same token, individuals that attend private school are not guaranteed success. Parents must also be active in private schools and monitor their child’s progress. This is usually the case as parents want to make sure they are getting the most “bang for their bucks”.
Teachers do not have time to deal with discipline issues. Parents have an obligation to send their children to school “ready to learn”. Parents should review their children’s course work and progress. It
should not be a suprise if little Johnny or Susie earns a D or F at the
end of the semester. Parents need to do their jobs. This will make it
easier for teachers “to teach”.
Doble Zero Eight
August 31st, 2010
9:06 am
I should have said “Douglass” in my previous post.
bootney farnsworth
August 31st, 2010
10:40 am
@ Ros,
I’m not sure having the current system fail isn’t such a bad idea.
factseeker
August 31st, 2010
10:45 am
If we are talking about Atlanta City Public Schools the problems run deeper than any “charter status/ciricullum” outline and or implementation can solve. Charters have their place but you don’t have to be one in order to implement that which makes them successful.
The downward trend in public education began approximately 25 years ago. Those of us who are older know exactly what the causes were and very little was done to stop the “hemorrhaging” that came with it. It is only locgical that the vicious cycle of descruction would manifest itself for several years to come which produced failing results across the board.
Having said that, the failures in the 21st century are the results of laziness, apathy, missappropriation of resources and adults who don’t care. The students who came through the system between 1985-2000 are long gone. So their failures can not be blamed for nor equate to todays’ failure. But our unwillingness to talk about and be honest as to what the real problems are will continue to result in desperate ideas and measures that don’t work and give the impression that great in-roads are being made.
The leaders don’t care about fixing the problems. When we treat every aspect of our human lives as a business, we are destined to fail. Paying superintendents salaries in excess of 350k dollars and treating them like movie stars is an exact replica of the essence that plague’s the public education system…foolishness and stupidity. To me it says we are not ready to fix what is broken.
What's best for kids?
August 31st, 2010
10:51 am
I think the bottom line is that people want a choice in their children’s education. Until we allow people a choice there will be no ownership of a child’s education. We can’t go any further down then we already are, so why not allow choice for students and their parents?
What's best for kids?
August 31st, 2010
10:51 am
“than” we already are…
Cissy
August 31st, 2010
11:54 am
A set of U. S. Supreme Court cases (including Runyon v. McCrary, Meyers v. Nebraska, Pierce v. Society of Sisters) is often cited as establish parents’ rights to bring up and educate children under their control as they see fit, to a point: They still have to be guided by (but not completely controlled by) state attendance/ education laws. In those cases, the right to educate one’s children appropriately would seem to be a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution. Does that make education a “civil right?” I don’t even know what people mean anymore when they toss around the term “civil rights.” Rep. Lewis is claiming that government-paid-for health care is a “civil right…” but he can’t point to anything in the U.S. Constitution or Supreme Court cases that establishes health care as a “right.”
I think these cases do establish education as a fundamental right; and the cases (and others) have been cited in support of parents who want to home-school their children. How far a jump it is from saying that people have a right to home-school their children, to say that people should be able to spend state money to send their children to private or other public schools that are not their neighborhood schools, I can’t say. I don’t think the odd civil rights argument that some of y’all (Maureen?) seem to think was implied in the principal’s essay– that charter schools are symptoms of a state or county-level conspiracy to re-establish the bad old “separate but equal” schools –is going to be successful. But is that really what this principal was saying?
factseeker
August 31st, 2010
2:35 pm
I do believe that the end result of requiring all public schools to become charter will result in seperate but equal. In that type of system students will be required to attend schools within their boundaries only and transfers would be all but eliminated, This would be okay if all things were equal in the system but we know it is not. It wiil take some time for all schools to become on the same level but during that process there will still be casualties of war…ie continued failures and under performing schools.
Recently I read that schools in Georgia will soon have to decide if they will become charter or follow the IE2 model that some have adopted. The barameter that will be used and studied for an all charter sysytem will be Boston and Charlotte, N.C. Upon further review of both school sytems, the charter method is not working across the board within neither, In fact only a handfull of high schhools, middle and elementary are performing well in each system, while the eithers are failing…miserably. The affluent areas appear to be doing well, miiddle areas so so and the poor underserved areas the bottoms are dropping out.
Under the current formats of Cobb, Gwinnett and Fulton County the school systems are doing quite well. Is there room for improvement…absolutely, are there some not to bright spots…of course. But the norm seems to be pretty good.
The leaders should think twice before they start going and mimic other systems. What they should be doing is building on current success and stay away from the latest fads and feel good measures.
TAKE WHAT YOU DO WELL MULTIPLY IT AND THE OTHERS THAT NEED REINVENTING, DO SO WITH CAUTION, GREAT CARE AND WELL THOUGHT OUT MEANINGFULL PLANS.
Concerned Parent
August 31st, 2010
2:48 pm
Several important points about Tech High:
* Tech High was founded and funded by Georgia Tech business leaders (Don Chapman) and more significant by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation (GPPF), led by Kelly McCutcheon, past board chair and current vice chair at Tech High.
* The Georgia Public Policy Foundation writes policy papers on several topics, one being education. Tech High was founded by this Libertarian group to show traditional school (APS) how to supposedly run an innovative and effective charter school.
* Tech High has been a complete failure in their attempt to comply with the charter it has with APS and the State of GA. The irony is that the GPPF produces a “Report Card” and it’s own Tech High is never leading the list, nor close! The GPPF is quick to criticize traditional school models, when their own school is a complete failure.
* Tech High did meet AYP this past year, but that was only under the Safe Harbor provision. It focused so much on the 11th graders taking the tests which measure AYP that the remainder of the grades were not offered the same academic support, such as Saturday School.
* The principal mentions in his TV interview that “every class is an honors class”. Not sure how he defines honor classes, but last year every Freshman was enrolled in Math 1 Support without any explanation being given to the parents. Not only that, but over 50% percent of the Freshman class was retained at the end of the school year. That means that those students did not pass the core classes required to be promoted to the 10th grade. Only a limited number of seats were offered to Freshman who need to do credit recovery to make up the core class failing grade. It was only offered for Math 1 and that class was created at the last minute since so many kids had failed it. Now, this is a school with a very low student to teacher ratio, had block scheduling last year and offered a 5block tutorial, separate from the sporadic Saturday offerings. How could over half still fail?
* As noted by the current principal, the school only has 170 students. This number is down significantly from the claimed enrollment of 230 last year. That’s 60 students that voted with their feet and are now attending school elsewhere. This short comings by Tech High will affect so many students with regards to future scholarships, like HOPE.
* Some might consider this cruel, but would you want your child in a classroom with kids that have been expelled from Atlanta’s alternative high school? That means they’ve been expelled or asked to leave two (or more) schools and Tech High gladly accepts them because they are so desperate for the headcount and the dollars that follow the students.
* I would love to see the GPPF do a case study report on Tech High now. If ever a charter needs to be revoked, it is Tech High Charter School!
* The claim that the Civil Rights folks do not support charter schools is further from the truth. The newly opened Dekalb County K-12 school on Memorial Dr. is the concept and totally supported by many Civil Rights veterans in Metro Atlanta and the NAACP. Please see the following website http://www.peachtreehope-sabis.net/our-school/our-school-board-and-community-support.aspx
Peachtree Hope, an Atlanta-based non-profit organization, was founded by a diverse group of African-American board members, led by long-time civil rights veterans, Lonnie King, Mamie Darlington and Charles Black.
factseeker
August 31st, 2010
5:05 pm
Please pardon my spelling errors…typing is not one of my better attributes. In the future I will try do a better job @ proof reading before submitting my post. Thank you very much for not criticizing my mistakes.
Very good topic, very informative posts.
Another Teacher
September 1st, 2010
7:22 pm
Public Teacher
August 30th, 2010
8:01 pm
You have successfully defined reality. Good job!
factseeker
September 2nd, 2010
8:26 am
What Public Teacher has presented to us are “contributing factors” not necessarily a “successfully defined reality” to be embraced as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The problem with dealing with this and looking at the system as a whole is the end results will differ when one looks at the system with a magnifying glass.
Teacher quality or the lack thereof is a big problem in some geographic areas. I know numerous parents who have encountered this issue @ various schools over and over again, year after year. I know of one teacher at a particular school who failed to record and notify the parents of a child who missed turning in 20 assignments, and took 4 weeks to provide a list of missing assignments after the parent had requested it because the ["well qualified"] teacher did not keep a written record. Now we all know this is not the norm, but I never saw anything like this when I was growing up.
I have yet to understand why we think the quality of the bldg, school grounds and physical conditions do not matter. How do we expect students to learn and excell in academic environments when school facilities look like abandoned warehouses, barren desert waste lands, parking lots crumbling, weeds and vines growing up the side of the bldgs and around doors, places where grass should be growing there is nothing but dirt, peeling paint, graffitti on the bathroom walls etc. etc. I am not refering to the inner city either…these are well established affluent and upper middle class areas. Our home are not like this, the places where we work don’t reflect these standards, in fact they are well kept with beautiful landscaping, especially the commercial and business districts. Why do we think it doesn’t matter nor affect kids..what kind of lasting memories are we creating. I did not attend schools like this in the 70’s & 80’s.
Yes children are required by law to go school whether public, private or home school and each scenario has it’s own unique set of problems. ALL children are “forced” to go somewhere…not sure about the logic behind that argument given the fact they all (education outlets) need improvement. I am pretty sure there are private school parents who are struggling, in fact quite a few now send their kids to public schools. Private school kids have foul mouths, fail academically, fall prey to the social ills of our society, have parents who did not graduate from college. And finally private schools rarely kick out students because they very desperately want and need the money.
An indidual/s family life or the lack thereof can not and should not dictate the life/structure of an academic institution/ system. And there in lies the real problem, we spent the last few decades allowing our public school system to be bullied by social ills and behavoirs of our society to accomodate some and or negotiate high acacdemic standards to the detriment of the school system as a whole. The bar should have been set high, it should have remained set high and the academic failures of the past and present would have cycled through and phased out much sooner.. Today most adults ignore adults, most adults are rude use foul language. The children are imitating life…the life that we adults are exposing them to and allowing them to experience. Does this excuse individual behavoir…no, but it certainly is a contributing factor.
There are plenty of failing schools in areas with wonderful subdivisions who families are not as tight as we would like to believe. Our children don’t control nor own anything in our society…so in order to fix the public school system, you must first fix the adults that run it. For example, can anyone tell me how fixing the family would have prevented the “adult” administrators from cheating in APS on those test.
Analogy:
You can’t fix a curropt police dept. by rehabilitating the criminal on the street.
NEWS FLASH
Single parenting is not the cause of the failures of public schools.
This country has failed miserably in providing meaningful solutions to the problems of the under priviledged…both past and present.
Enlightened
September 5th, 2010
11:57 pm
While the EOCT results are troubling, MannyT is correct in that the data should be reviewed longitudinally. But is that the only measure of success? Maureen described them as enthusiastic. If students are engaged while there and graduate being life long learners then that’s a bigger success than any test could possibly measure.
A point of clarification for Concerned Parent. That is not the usual path for a student that is removed from a disciplinary alternative school. When you are placed there it is your last public education option and they are expelled into the streets for terms that can last up to a year or more. For APS, students who complete their time there are usually pushed to Crim Open Campus. Now having said that, as a charter, Tech could opt to accept students pushed out of school; and if they are, I applaud them! Those students need to be reengaged and surrounded by an enthusiastic learning community and positive peer models. I would not have a problem with my students sitting next to them.