Parent trigger and charters: As we offer more school choice, what happens to children left behind?
Shanna Miles is an educator and a parent working in the metro Atlanta area. An avid literacy advocate, she lobbies to ensure that every child has access to a free and public library in a community.
She wrote this piece for the Monday print AJC education op-ed page.
By Shanna Miles
In the 1840s, Irish Catholic parents lobbied for local control of schools so that their children wouldn’t be indoctrinated by a Protestant curriculum.
In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower had to call in the National Guard to lead nine African-American children past a picket line of angry white parents who were outraged that their school was to be integrated.
Fast-forward a half-century or so, and the war between government and parents still rages with the passage of Amendment 1 and the introduction of the “Parent Trigger” charter bill. Now winding its way through the Legislature, House Bill 123 would allow parents and teachers to force a local school board to consider their petition to change their traditional public school into a charter school.
On the surface, the question seems to be, who should have control of the schools — parents or the government? But on closer inspection, another much deeper question arises: Whose responsibility is it to educate a child — society’s or the parent’s?
Business needs an educated workforce to ensure efficiency and profit. Governments need working citizens to pay taxes. Parents need their children to be educated so that they can feed, clothe and shelter themselves. It seems that everyone is on the same page, but there is a problem.
Free will.
We forget that education is compulsory by law. Even children who are not willing to learn — because their basic needs are not being met, they don’t like the curriculum, or they just don’t want to sit still for hours on end — are forced to be in school. And these students are corralled into classrooms, placed next to eager children, and set before a teacher who is charged with being not only educator, but a warden.
What was once a classroom has now become a prison.
Schools, limited by federal and state funding, are becoming increasingly ill-equipped to serve students who need mental health services, stable housing or intense remediation — all of which are not, and some argue cannot be, provided by the schools. Is it any wonder that parents and teachers want out of this situation?
So a solution is proposed, a panacea for those weary of the policy debates and federal mandates and endless arguments on the school board and Senate floors: the charter school, the ultimate opt-out.
With it, parents and teachers can create “safe havens” where only those students whose parents are willing to volunteer, submit to additional testing and adhere to a longer school day, and who are able to provide their own transportation, uniforms, textbooks, lunch, whatever, are able to attend. In essence, a charter school is a place where all parents, if not students, think exactly alike.
But what of the school with the students who are left behind?
It becomes a sanitarium, and the educational landscape devolves into a state of plague, where the most vulnerable students are quarantined into even more poorly funded “sick houses” as those with options huddle behind the iron gates of entrance requirements and parent covenants.
Are we forgetting that the kids left behind will grow up? Then what?
Do we build larger prisons? Upgrade our neighborhood security gates to include an armed guard?
We all want education; the “public” part is what most of us don’t like. But we don’t live on an island, and we can’t sail away from difficult people and difficult issues. As adults, we don’t get to opt out.
As HB 123 works its way through the legislative process, all of us need to decide whether we’re going to lobby as responsible members of a collective society, or cower like citizens under siege.
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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113 comments Add your comment
Beverly Fraud
February 19th, 2013
10:45 am
What we need is a “board trigger” whereby for example, if 50% + 1 of the people vote for Eugene Walker’s opponent in an election, he wouldn’t be allowed to return to the board and continue to wreck havoc…
Umm…nevermind…
Rational Thinker
February 19th, 2013
10:46 am
@DeKalb Inside Out- While Ivy Prep and KIPP are awesome success stories, what happens to the children who drop out from all Public-turned-charter-schools? I am not advocating that we fold our arms and do nothing, NO.
I am just saying that we collectively look for a way to change the system as a whole, rather than this piece meal approach because soon all that you will have is a segregated system-
Also, follow the money- The state of GA seems to be ground zero of the charter school movement. There are other states that have little or no charter schools, but seem to be miles ahead in terms of the quality of their educational system when compared to Georgia. Why??
Lisa B.
February 19th, 2013
10:47 am
I agree, Vendetta, that student apathy and bad behavior exist in all socio-economic groups. Perhaps offering more choices will impact apathy and bad behavior because students will want to go to the “better” school with their peers. Maybe that will put some accountability back on the students. Rather than street address, their attitude and behavior will determine where they go to school. It could be interesting.
Sandy Springs Parent
February 19th, 2013
10:57 am
Here is what ticks me off to no end. I was sitting in the lobby to the Ridgeview Charter Middle School. While sitting in the lobby the other day, a black women walks in and says that she is new to the area. She asks the secretary about the policy on transfering into the school if you do not live in the zone for the school. The secretary informs her that the governance board voted that for the next year only 20 students from outside the zone would be accepted via lottery, but siblings of existing students had priority. ( AKA no new families). The same thing was voted on at Riverwood.
I told the secretary, what is wrong with these people, don’t you check out the neighborhood school first before you move into the area. But know, They move down by Westlake and South Fulton, live in a $75,000 house, that is bigger and newer than a $400,000 house) the absolute lowest price for a 50 year old unrenovated house) in the Ridgeview/Riverwood District. Or they Pay $500 rent down there in liue of $2,100 rent and then they want to drop their kids off on their way to the job at one of the Hospitals or Medical Offices on Pill Hill. They do not participate in fundraising. They lie on the Free lunch applications, because these jobs pay more than the $22K for Free Lunch. They don’t volunteer. Their Children come ready to fight. If you want to spend your money on your car, your clothes, your weave, then send your children to the school that comes with it.
My child doesn’t need to be bullied by your child who lacks home training. Your child that you named, with a name that will sentance it to prison rather than a CEO position.
Schools should be under local control, by the cities or towns they are located in, to prevent this line jumping. You want to live in South Fulton then send your kids to South Fulton Schools. Don’t Send them to Sandy Springs or Dunwoody, where they don’t want to act White and learn. Where there goal is to bully and distrupt the learning process. We pay $7,000 and up in Property taxes up here on old houses that are falling apart. You have Emma and Bill that keep your taxes under $1,000 go to the West Lake Feeder Schools. Become and active parent and take care of them.
mountain man
February 19th, 2013
10:58 am
The problem with the current schools is that they will NOT address the basic problems within their schools: discipline (thank you, Beverly Fraud), attendance, control of where spending goes (see Dekalb county). If you want parents to quit claoring for more options to get their children out of bad conditions, then CHANGE the bad conditions. I don’t WANT to have to leave the “undesireables” to rot, but when schools won’t DO anything to change the situation, that is all that is left to parents. Parents can’t enforce discipline on other students. Parentss can’t assign troublemakers to alternative classrooms or schools. Only ADMINISTRATORS can do that.
You can thank our weak adinistrators for all of the charter and school choice alternatives being proposed.
mountain man
February 19th, 2013
11:02 am
We NEED a segregated system. Segregated into those who WANT to learn and those that DON’T.
DeKalb Inside Out
February 19th, 2013
11:07 am
Rational Thinker
“Change the system as a whole.”That is rational thinking. Change doesn’t go over very well. Change is perceived as the destruction of traditional public schools. The people in position to make changes are the same people that make a lot of money from the status quo. Change is an uphill battle. –DIO
Inman Parker
February 19th, 2013
11:08 am
The fundamental rsponsibility for education lies with the PARENT! Systems all over this state have forgotten that; a lot of lazy parents have likewise forgotten that. Why are public school employees so afraid of choice? Figure it our for yourself. Why would anyone “choose” a DeKalb County school for their child?
V for Vendetta
February 19th, 2013
11:09 am
Lisa,
True, true. Choice would open up more opportunities for all students, but I fear that to truly offer choice some tracking would be involved–and should be. Then we get cries of “not fair” when someone’s future doctor ends up on track to be an auto mechanic (not that there’s anything wrong with that at all). I’m afraid that as long as parents and students have the freedom to fail they will continue to do so. We might be able to do something to somewhat curb the number and make it less severe, but on a normal statistical grade scale it would (and should!) still represent around 10-20% of the total population.
V for Vendetta
February 19th, 2013
11:11 am
“where they don’t want to act White and learn. ”
Well, it seems clear that Sandy Springs Parent is a racist.
Google "NEA" and "union"
February 19th, 2013
11:19 am
It’s once again necessary to remind readers that there ARE teachers’ unions in Georgia.
Each member of the Georgia Association of Educators pays an extra $168 yearly to belong to the National Education Association—a union (says so right here on their website) which funnels cash into the fight against meaningful education reform in all 50 states.
Workplace militancy isn’t the only defining characteristic of a labor union.
cris
February 19th, 2013
11:26 am
the problem with tracking? It’s all fine and dandy until YOUR kid gets put in a track that you don’t agree with….that plain and simple…we’ve become so politically correct that we’ve destroyed our entire educational system because systems don’t want to deal with litiginous parents who can’t see the forest for the trees….
oneofeach4me
February 19th, 2013
11:32 am
Wow. Some of the posts on here make my stomach turn. To think that some of these people may be some of the adults my son or daughter may encounter when at school is disturbing.
I am a VERY active and participating parent who works full time, goes to school full time and STILL volunteers at my kids’ schools. However, I am also the parent of a special needs child who is in the middle of the IEP process. It has taken me over a year and a half just to get him to this point within the local charter school. I chose this school due to its low student to teacher ratio and because I knew my son had an issue I just didn’t know what it was. I felt as though he would have a better chance to learn by attending this school being that they didn’t have to follow the strict curriculum and that if he learns “out of the box” then he could be taught that way. Conversely, I am beginning to realize that when my daughter was going through a similar process with the local public school, teachers and administrators there too an interest in her instead of brushing her off as just a problem child with parents who didn’t care and who just needed to lay down some corporal punish to their child.
I have begun to get extremely frustrated and disappointed in the local charter and I wasn’t sure why. I mean come on, as involved as we are as parents I thought they would be a little more accommodating. Unfortunately, I can see by most of the posts here from those that advocate for the charters that you all automatically think that any child who is having issues is because their parents are indigent, lazy, moochers, or unconcerned, or the big one, just want babysitters for their kids.
I am starting to see that maybe the problem DOES lie with the parents, but of the parents who choose to judge every child AND their parent before getting to know them.
EVERY child deserves the opportunity to learn and unfortunately for some kids, not EVERY child learns the same way.
oneofeach4me
February 19th, 2013
11:35 am
*showed an interest not “too an interest”
mountain man
February 19th, 2013
11:36 am
“EVERY child deserves the opportunity to learn ”
EXACTLY! And we give every child the OPPORTUNITY to learn. Some don’t or won’t coe to school and some that come to school refuse to learn. They squander that opportunity! That choice is on ths student and more on the PARENT.
d
February 19th, 2013
11:38 am
I was extremely disorganized when I was in 8th grade and although I did my homework – getting it in to the teachers wasn’t always a successful endeavor. When it came time for my 8th grade teachers to recommend placement for me in 9th grade, two of them recommended “academic” level courses while the others saw what I was really capable of and placed me in “honors” courses. I remember being so bored in the academic courses that I asked my mother to request that I be moved to honors English for my sophomore year. She told me (as did the administration) that there was no going back. I had to make sure that I was doing what I needed to in the honors English course. I still had to work on my organization, but I had a much more successful sophomore year because I wasn’t struggling against the boredom.
The point of my story is not that we need students moving into more difficult courses, but rather focus on getting the students more involved in their educational choices. I had an opportunity to attend the National Career Academy Coalition conference in Nashville in November. My cousin teaches in a school up there that was part of one of the tours – unfortunately one that I did not get to attend – but Nashville seems to have a model that is really working. The career academies have the academic teachers working with various career tech teachers to design courses that are aligned with student interests. The results seem to be working. If students are in classes that are aligned with what they are interested in and want to do, they can learn English, History, Chemistry, etc. in ways that help them become engaged in their learning. If we can overcome the boredom, then we should see an increase in the success of our students, and, in turn, our schools.
mountain man
February 19th, 2013
11:39 am
“the problem with tracking?”
Don’t track students into “college” and “vocational” unless they and their parents agree. The tracking that is needed now is into “discipline problems”, “behind grade level”, and excelling students.
mom of 3
February 19th, 2013
11:41 am
Schools cannot do the job of parents!!!!! There is no solution that does not include the parents! Even if a child goes to a perfect school with amazing teachers, the child will more than likely not succeed if they go home to a parent(s) that do not encourage and work with the child at home. Nothing will change until the focus turns to the parents. NOTHING!
marm
February 19th, 2013
12:01 pm
It’s easy to bash the article without taking the time to absorb what it says. What do you do with those children that the Charter schools don’t accept? What do you do with those children who are smart, but live in dysfunctional families that cross all racial and economic lines? Will the Charters take those students that some parents deem “outside the norm”? By the way, where will the special needs students go? From my experience, your typical private school keeps away from students who don’t sit still (unless the parents are very generous), so how accepting will Charters be of those boys and girls?
10:10 am
February 19th, 2013
12:15 pm
@ Sandy Springs parent (10:57 am)
White liberals will no doubt find it convenient to discredit even black middle-class Sandy Springs parents voicing the concerns you list.
I’m sure those parents likewise number more than just a few.
And one day racial politics will redirect toward solving common problems—rather than excusing poor personal decisions or feeding egos.
V for Vendetta
February 19th, 2013
12:17 pm
The onus of responsibility for raising a child should be on the parent. Raising a child includes teaching them fundamentals–ABCs, numbers, counting, some simple sight words, etc.
If you disagree with this statement, you are part of the problem.
Fled
February 19th, 2013
12:20 pm
@Beverly, you are correct about the Faustian bargain–but you should remember the price to be paid.
You will be happy to learn that when students fail and enter the prison pipeline, there is another set of corporate interests willing and ready to profit from their human misery:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/profiting_from_human_misery_20130217/
Education in Georgia isn’t my fight any more so it is probably (long past) time for me to go. I always hoped that the teachers in Georgia would get fed up enough to force the issue, but, as you know, most people don’t have it in them to get up and get where the getting is good.
There are choices for teachers, plenty of them and many of them good, but circumstances and the law of inertia seem to keep y’all on the plantation. The education system in Georgia is broken, maybe beyond repair, but there are good people who are soldiering on every day and trying to teach the students. I gave up a long time ago, so they are better people than I.
Whatever way you go, it’s going to be a long, hard struggle. Bon chance.
Bernie
February 19th, 2013
12:24 pm
The Kids left behind are the ones who will see on the 6pm & 11pm news reporting all the crimes they have committed. They will also be the ones who breaking into our homes and assaulting all those who cross their paths for one reason or another. These Kids are now part of the now growing permanent Crimminal underclass of citizens, where committing crime will be their lifelong career.
Unfortunately, the very same kids that were not left behind will become their many victims as well.
Therefore, we would be wise to find a solution to this problem and fast. Running away and ignoring it does not make the problem go away. Moving away from the Urban areas is not the solution either for you too will be found there as well. Either at home or on your way to the store or some social event your chances of coming face to face with these individuals increases every year. Be Afraid…be very afraid!
oneofeach4me
February 19th, 2013
12:24 pm
@mountainman ~ you missed my point ENTIRELY. If a child shows the desire to learn, but has some underlying issue as to why they cannot learn doesn’t mean they don’t WANT to. You cannot tell a 1st grader with a learning disability that hasn’t been yet addressed that it’s up to him to learn what the teacher is teaching because this is his only opportunity!!
The problem is the superior attitude of certain parents who also pass that thinking on to their children with the “they need to be in classrooms with those who WANT to learn and away from the undesirables”.
As a parent who is at their wits end with trying to get help, I say, I don’t go to the car mechanic already knowing what’s wrong with my car and tell him to fix it. I don’t go to the doctor and tell him what’s wrong so he can fix it. I go to professionals because that is what they are for, that is what they specialize in, and that includes teachers! I don’t know what to teach my son other than the basics. I don’t know what curriculum they follow nor where they should be at certain stages. I do reinforce what he is taught in the classroom, but teaching is not something I was “gifted” with! Stop putting all the kids (and their parents) who are not gifted or top of the class in one bucket!!
V for Vendetta
February 19th, 2013
12:36 pm
oneofeach4me,
The problem is that nearly all teachers are not trained psychologists, so there is very little chance that a classroom teacher could easily identify an underlying learning disability without some assistance. The public schools are woefully under equipped in this regard. A “teaching professional” does not equate to a “psychological professional.” To see such a professional, it usually costs money. Complaining about services you get for free from people who are not trained to deal with what you are talking about seems to be barking up the wrong tree.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
12:37 pm
tough reality time:
no matter what happens, there will be kids who fall through the cracks. if you’re looking to save every single solitary child, you end up saving nothing at all.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
12:40 pm
another tough reality time:
if the “choice” many here claim they don’t have and deserve (incorrect, and deserve? not a chance. you earn your way, not get it awarded to you)….
when it doesn’t work exactly how they want it to, they’ll find a new way to blame anyone but themselves.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
12:42 pm
@ elizabeth
got a challenge for you. try to go a week without some pointless, incorrect, and out of context reference to Bush and the Tea Party.
give it a try.
oneofeach4me
February 19th, 2013
12:44 pm
@V ~ I am fully aware of that. I didn’t say I want the teacher to tell me how to deal with a psychological disability. I also don’t recall me complaining. However, teachers CAN see when a child is applying themselves but are having trouble learning or retaining the lessons. However, that is of no importance because I myself advocated to get that procedure started over a year and a half ago. And just so you know, I took him to get a private eval FIRST. However, the way the system works, he has to go through the process and be evaluated by a school board psychologist as well. Again, you assumed I was complaining about FREE services. Figures.
I have no problem paying for psychological services for my son, the same way I pay for his uniforms, books, lunches, shoes, and endless fundraising. My point was to counter the “it’s the parent’s duty” in regards to teaching. I teach him the basics, just as I understand I need to change the oil in my car, take my vitamins, drink water, etc.
When I said “As a parent who is at their wits end with trying to get help” I didn’t mean I expect these services to be free. Just some knowledge, or a point in the right direction, or some recommendations, and a little compassion is ALL the help I was referring to.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
12:44 pm
what is both sad and arrogant is the assertion kids who get left behind are destined for a life of crime and failure.
totally ignores character, drive, and desire.
old teach
February 19th, 2013
12:47 pm
As a public school teacher, I feel the public school model is the best device to to carry out the American mantra of educating every child. And I feel that ability tracking and guidance counselors’ steering the students through their choices represent methods that allow the students to master appropriately-difficult, relevant courses to prepare them for postsecondary careers/education. But schools have lately been saddled with lack of discipline enforcement, lack of grouping (except for students’ educating their peers by design), and incidents of parents’ overruling school course placement (to make it easier to qualify for HOPE). Throw in NCLB, the devastating recession-causing financial cutbacks, teacher-bashing, and epic failures of a few high-visibility systems. Now we have a recipe for change–any kind of change. Enter the charter schools amendment and parent trigger. Personally, I believe that, if the Legislature devoted as much effort to improving the traditional public schools in Georgia as it has devoted to introducing and diverting funding to charter schools (along with purposely vague tax funded scholarships with absolutely no oversight), the traditional systems would be dramatically improved.
Although proponents for both sides of the charter school issue say it’s for the children, I say to follow the money. And although, on the surface, the amendment sounds good, I fear what we are creating is “separate-but-equal” schools.
d
February 19th, 2013
12:50 pm
@google – meaningful doesn’t necessairly mean sane, useful, or good.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
12:51 pm
@ oneofeach
at the risk of offending most everybody here, your son -nor people like him- is not served be being mainstreamed. mainstreaming is possibly the worst thing to hit public education in the last 60 years.
special needs kids deserve and should be in classes and schools which specialize in creating a safe and nurturing environment.
mainstreaming wastes time, teaching effectiveness, fiscal resources, and worse of all damages most special needs kids far more than they ever help.
the best possible use of charters would be to create schools aimed at serving these kids to the best of their natural abilities.
DeKalb Inside Out
February 19th, 2013
12:53 pm
Amendment 1 and Parent Trigger laws are not “panacea” but tools in the tool belt. We have vouchers for some IEPs as well as schools like Destiny Academy. Along those lines, please employ tools that help children even if one particular tool doesn’t help 100% of the students?
What's Best for Kids?
February 19th, 2013
12:56 pm
@Sandy Springs Parent:
I double dog dare you to say that using your own name.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
12:56 pm
@ Sandy Springs
probably the stupidest thing on earth is exactly what you claim to have done
fussed at the secretary.
he/she has no control over policy, but damn sure can make sure you spend the rest of your life in the waiting room and that you kid is at the bottom of whatever pile which crosses her desk.
don’t act like a carpetbagging yankee. unless you want to be treated like one.
dahreese
February 19th, 2013
12:57 pm
Status Quo says above, “I hope the defenders of the status quo realize that people have just loss faith in traditional public schools.” [Ahem!, the word should "lost].
Some of the defenders of the status quo are teachers whose children attend public schools.
Could we not think that if anyone wanted better education for their children, it would show up by having a majority of teachers enrolling their own children in charter and private schools?
But that doesn’t seem to be happening, so perhaps the general gullible public ought to be asking, why?
Do classroom teachers who keep their children in public schools know something that the general public does not?
That said, the critics of public education, most of whom have never taught, are various and have various reasons for their criticisms.
Some, who apparently have nothing better to do all day, just like to spout and see their criticisms on this screen. Beverly Fraud is an outstanding example.
The fact is that failing politicians need a scape goat for their decades of failure to properly fund public education, and the classroom teacher is it.
Should we not wonder also, that if public education monies were spent to promote public education and its accomplishments(as corporate money has been spent to denigrate it in order to gain control of taxpayer eduational monies) the taxpayer would be furious?
Forget the White House, forget Congress, the Pentagon, Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA and Wall Street; the backbone of this country is public education.
You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
1:00 pm
@ Sandy Springs
can’t help but wonder if your issues are that your baby dumpling won’t be as special, or if the color of the skin of the new parent unhinged you.
hint: even in the “best” districts, most of the upper class white people don’t donate time or money either.
Looking for the truth
February 19th, 2013
1:16 pm
This law is, seemingly, created for parents who care about their child’s education. (By “care”, I mean they show up for parent conferences and are available to discuss their childs progress by phone or e-mail – if not in person.) Charter schools may seem like a panacea for some students, but for all their talk about having one, there will always be parents out there who think involvement in their child’s education is something to avoid. After all, schools and administrators are paid to do their jobs, right?
This bill sounds like resegregation to me – between parents who choose to be involved and parents who choose not to be involved. Doesn’t that hurt the child?
atlmom
February 19th, 2013
1:18 pm
I do find it incredibly interesting that Obama came to GA to show the world what a great program GA has for Prek.
The PreK program is the epitome of school choice. A parent finds a slot – signs the kid up – and the state pays for it.
That is ALL about school choice (which, by the way, the Obamas have). So, if it’s great for PreK – why not k-12?
Seriously? Because, well, we all know the feds are the ones who have screwed up K-12 schooling, let’s just let them screw up PreK too!
Jack ®
February 19th, 2013
1:21 pm
Miles got it right: more prisons. Big prisons. There is a segment of our population that will never be able to live in a civilized society.
atlmom
February 19th, 2013
1:24 pm
bootney: the govt has spent decades teaching people that they should just drop their kids off at the school – and the govt will do the rest. the reality is that we are all educating our children, all the time…it’s just what you are actually teaching them…
But people are perfectly happy to abdicate their responsibilities…we see that all the time…
catlady
February 19th, 2013
1:25 pm
V–It would be laughable to think that these kids won’t grow up to over-populate our schools with even more uninvolved students (their children) and their issues. We really need to put it to a halt. Step in and forcefully change the way these students are taught and, even more important, WHAT they are taught (basic skills for achievement). And I don’t really think we should do it for these kids, but rather for ourselves and our children.
Beverly, I don’t think it is the system is rotten; it is the “leadership” the system has to labor under that is rotten. And it is increasingly common in this world, it is manipulated so that the “leaders” benefit, and to h3ll with everyone else!
oneofeach4me
February 19th, 2013
1:28 pm
@bootney farnsworth ~ in regards to mainstreaming… I couldn’t agree with you more.
living in an outdated ed system
February 19th, 2013
1:28 pm
Please help me understand the intent of these “letters” that people get posted on this blog. I must confess that it seems the intent of this letter is to simply illustrate the mindset of folks who see change as a threat, and not as an opportunity. It feels like the point of view of someone still living in the days of the mass-standardization approach to public education.
Why is it that people believe that public school choice and parent triggers spell the end of public education and that kids will be “left behind?” While I will not state unequivocally that I am pleased with the current wording of HB123 (I feel it should only relate to failing schools and that a local school board should not be allowed to override a petition), school choice is supposed to be about sparking innovation and helping foster change in a system that has shown time and time again it is not able to change without competition or enabling legislation. Charter Schools are only one example of innovation – we need to give EVERY child a quality education, and for many children in our state, their SOLE public school option is a failing school. If schools embrace technology, they could be operated at a cost that is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than the way they operate today. And that doesn’t mean teachers lose jobs. However, we need to implement a fair and balanced system that measures effective teachers and rewards strong teachers while transitioning out teachers who are hurting, not helping students.
I can write a book in response to this letter, but the bottom line is that we need to give our children quality public school options, and if a public charter school or blended learning program can innovate while being held to a higher accountability standard (which it is, although our system has shown a reluctance to close failing schools, whether charter or traditional), then we must continue down that path. Eventually, the traditional public schools with innovate, or we will be stuck with a large scale equivalent of the US Postal Service.
bootney farnsworth
February 19th, 2013
1:29 pm
the backbone of this nation is NOT public education.
what an ignorant statement
atlmom
February 19th, 2013
1:35 pm
oneofeach4me: i totally hear you! The schools don’t know what to do, getting help via a psychologist is almost impossible, etc etc, unless your kid has an easily diagnosable condition.
Try getting help from any of those places that are supposed to be helping you – if your kid just isn’t doing well, or whatever (and by well, I mean – um, 99%ile for all tests he has ever took, completely bored in the classroom – but not getting what he needs, so, since he is crafty, he is disruptive).
Beverly Fraud
February 19th, 2013
2:10 pm
Some, who apparently have nothing better to do all day, just like to spout and see their criticisms on this screen. Beverly Fraud is an outstanding example.
@dahreese I will have you know that spending the majority of time in my mother’s basement does not preclude me from making valuable contributions to society.
And yes, some doublewide trailers do have a basement, thank you very much!
John
February 19th, 2013
2:31 pm
The greatest problem is this: your child vs. society at large. Students whose parents are willing and edcuated on the process advocate and get them into charter schools. Students whose parents are failing them, don’t. It seems like the right thing to do, get your child out. But what people fail to see is the impact on society as a whole. Advocate for your child at the school they are zoned and society and that school all benefit. Run for the hills and get out, well, plan on paying the price later with crime and more prison beds.
John
February 19th, 2013
2:35 pm
Andy: you blamed the teacher unions in Georgia. There are no teacher unions in Georgia, Georgia is a right to work state. There are “so called unions” that only give representation to teachers but no bargaining aspect. The lack of teacher unions in Georgia is part of the problem. People don’t go into teaching due to the lack of unions, bargaining and representation. Did you know that for the last 5 years city teachers have continued to decrease their pay? They have been frozen in salary, paid more in insurance and have been furloughed. Can you say the same for other educated professions that they are working more for less money? No, it is a shame.So your blame on unions that don’t exist is wrong.