Royal take down of charters

[Anonymous]

John Oliver totally took down charters this week. Should we concerned about this level of corruption and lack of transparency in DC?

Earning the opprobrium of Oliver gloms charters with some pretty nasty players. Are they really this bad? That hasn't been our experience, but then again we're just one family with one student...

Here's a link where you can watch it:

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/watch-john-oliver-expose-shocking-flaws-of-charter-schools-w435501

[Anonymous]

Rolling Stone? The same publication that published made-up rape story at UVA?

No thank you. No credibility whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rolling Stone? The same publication that published made-up rape story at UVA?

No thank you. No credibility whatsoever.

RS is just pointing to Oliver's HBO piece. Pretty well researched stuff.

[Anonymous]

If you hate charters, this will speak to you.

But DC's charters bear little resemblance to the examples cited here. Thankfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you hate charters, this will speak to you.

But DC's charters bear little resemblance to the examples cited here. Thankfully.

Really????
There are charters which are the epitome of corruption

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you hate charters, this will speak to you.

But DC's charters bear little resemblance to the examples cited here. Thankfully.

Really????
There are charters which are the epitome of corruption

There are no charters in DC that took money, and never opened. DC has safeguards for getting equipment and facilities back from charters that have closed or been shut down.

And of course there are dozens of DCPS schools that need to be closed, that have been failing for generations. And there have been DCPS employees arrested and jailed for fraud and embezzlement.

Some bad actors in both sectors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you hate charters, this will speak to you.

But DC's charters bear little resemblance to the examples cited here. Thankfully.

You really believe that DC charters bear little resemblance? Your experience with charters in DC must be terribly limited.

[Anonymous]

Everyone who can do even a little bit of math knows that DC charters do a better job of educating poor and minority students than DCPS does. Any attempt to push any kind of agenda to deprive those students of the best education available is driven by teachers unions. They don't care about students. They care about their jobs. Period. End of story.

[Anonymous]

Actually DC charter schools are anomalous, there have been several stories on NPR and similar as well as some academic studies as to why charters seem to be failing in nearby Baltimore etc. . and are successful in DC.

DC is a very different place to most cities- the middle class, the fed gov, the fact that we have no fed representation. even the population is different b/c of the fed jobs and NGOs, tons of international families. We also have an unusual amount of highly educated people who are paid very little. Part son the city are very wealthy and always have been while parts are gentrifying which is more typical of southern cities but then there is the immense amount of ethnic/linguistic diversity which is more like northern or Californian cities. MD, a highly wealthy state plus NOVA another highly wealthy area abut it and over power DC in a way that the states near other cities do not.. .

Charters in DC seem to be working pretty well but the gentrification of DC has only begun, The sky rocketing housing is catching up to what it should've been in the first place- it is stupid that a rowhous on Capitol Hill used to sell for under 500 k- that is artificially low b/c of how awful DC was, its normal for those lovely homes to be near a million. Thats how much they should cost if DC hadn't been a burnt out hellhole which is what it was for most of the past century.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually DC charter schools are anomalous, there have been several stories on NPR and similar as well as some academic studies as to why charters seem to be failing in nearby Baltimore etc. . and are successful in DC.

DC is a very different place to most cities- the middle class, the fed gov, the fact that we have no fed representation. even the population is different b/c of the fed jobs and NGOs, tons of international families. We also have an unusual amount of highly educated people who are paid very little. Part son the city are very wealthy and always have been while parts are gentrifying which is more typical of southern cities but then there is the immense amount of ethnic/linguistic diversity which is more like northern or Californian cities. MD, a highly wealthy state plus NOVA another highly wealthy area abut it and over power DC in a way that the states near other cities do not.. .

Charters in DC seem to be working pretty well but the gentrification of DC has only begun, The sky rocketing housing is catching up to what it should've been in the first place- it is stupid that a rowhous on Capitol Hill used to sell for under 500 k- that is artificially low b/c of how awful DC was, its normal for those lovely homes to be near a million. Thats how much they should cost if DC hadn't been a burnt out hellhole which is what it was for most of the past century.

That's a relic of the graft, corruption, and incompetence of the Barry years. As a DC resident, I do not support voting rights: we're collectively too stupid to be entrusted with anything important. Instead, (because No Taxation Without Representation) we shouldn't have to pay federal income tax. That would make DC a magnet for people who are smart with their money. Then maybe 10 years from now it would be worth re-considering our voting rights. For the time being, we have too many people who would elect anybody by the name of Barry, Clinton, or Mayor Bowwow.

[Anonymous]

The John Oliver DESTROYS this straw man genre is so played out. I would not want to go in the men's room after him considering his penchant for destruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The John Oliver DESTROYS this straw man genre is so played out. I would not want to go in the men's room after him considering his penchant for destruction.

+1,000

[Anonymous]

Charter operators run the gamut from very bad to wonderful. Public school districts, private schools... the same.

[Anonymous]

Having lived in Ohio (where Charters have engaged in really insane amounts of theft of public resources), my impression is that charters in DC are better regulated.

In Ohio there are lots of of charters that have taken hundreds of thousands of public dollars and bought furniture and fixtures, then when they closed the stuff was taken by the charter's parent company. I think in some cases, the parent company was even able to re-sell the recovered items back to the taxpayers when they opened another charter school in another location. So taxpayers bought the same desks, chairs and whiteboards multiple times.

Also, there have been charters opened with a fraction of the staff that they school claimed they had, and it was discovered that the staff who were there had no credentials at all to teach. I recall one heartbreaking story where kids had attended an utterly failed school for years and they were all unlikely to be able to graduate from any high school because they had been taught nothing for year after year.

I think DC does better in general than Ohio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually DC charter schools are anomalous, there have been several stories on NPR and similar as well as some academic studies as to why charters seem to be failing in nearby Baltimore etc. . and are successful in DC.

DC is a very different place to most cities- the middle class, the fed gov, the fact that we have no fed representation. even the population is different b/c of the fed jobs and NGOs, tons of international families. We also have an unusual amount of highly educated people who are paid very little. Part son the city are very wealthy and always have been while parts are gentrifying which is more typical of southern cities but then there is the immense amount of ethnic/linguistic diversity which is more like northern or Californian cities. MD, a highly wealthy state plus NOVA another highly wealthy area abut it and over power DC in a way that the states near other cities do not.. .

Charters in DC seem to be working pretty well but the gentrification of DC has only begun, The sky rocketing housing is catching up to what it should've been in the first place- it is stupid that a rowhous on Capitol Hill used to sell for under 500 k- that is artificially low b/c of how awful DC was, its normal for those lovely homes to be near a million. Thats how much they should cost if DC hadn't been a burnt out hellhole which is what it was for most of the past century.

You should learn something about DC and its history. But in the meantime please continue opining with sweeping generalizations about DC and home values for modest rowhouses on the Hill.