BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013
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Anonymous
Are you suggesting they would limit the financial malfeasance to Arizona, and for some reason be perfectly clean here in the Banana Republic of Columbia? |
Anonymous
+1 I'd also add that I am very enthusiastic about charter schools because the one-size-fits-all public school system is fundamentally flawed. But charter schools should be owned and operated by the admin and teachers actually in the building every day. The idea of franchising charters is also a fundamentally flawed idea. I suppose to be charitable one could assume that operators of these rapidly expanding charter corporations are not out for profit but rather truly are evangelical believers in their educational model, but you simply can't franchise academic excellence. Nothing good can come from centralized corporate control of national chain of schools. In fact, that actually replicates the mess perpetrated by our public school system. |
Anonymous
Of course not -- every part of DC is rotten to the core -- but you can't assume that this Basis outpost is hooked into the AZ gravy train. They seem stressed for cash here. |
Anonymous
As long as they are paying the Blocks' corporation for curriculum materials, then we're just a colonial outpost of their non-profit-to-profit-transmogrifying empire. |
Anonymous
That is not true. You are making excuses for Basis management. Many charter schools have stellar records of financial management, about which they are completely transparent. One of the reasons Basis is already getting itself into trouble with the PCSB is for being un-forthcoming with their financial data. |
Anonymous
| Or you can pay $30k+ for private school and have brand new teachers without degrees, fancy athletic facilities, obnoxious students of extreme privilege and the occasional pedophile. How I love school choice! |
Anonymous
| Wow, given these posts over the last few days, someone has clearly gone off their meds. Next they will be posting about mind control and the black BASIS helicopters hovering over their house. |
Anonymous
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Total number of students 700 Asian 148 21% African Amer.: 28 4% Hispanic 138* 20% White 370 53% *61% of the students in the Tucson school district are Hispanic. Total number of ELL, Migrant, Free Lunch, and SPED students: 0 and Enrollments by Grade Grade 5: 121 Grade 6: 125 Grade 7: 125 Grade 8: 102 Grade 9: 58 Grade 10: 57 Grade 11: 34 Grade 12: 21 Total ADM: 675 Out of 121 5th graders, only 21 make it to senior year? 0 ELL students? 0 FARMS? 0 SpEd? And in the meantime, the non-profit school has paid $9.8 million of their $13.7 to the two founders' for-profit corporation for "materials"? No wonder they wanted to expand to DC (and anywhere else, for that matter). They're making an absolute killing in taxpayer dollars. That certainly explains why they've been reluctant to share their financial data, which is part of why the PCSB dinged their request to expand. There's a lot to hide. I'm pretty enthusiastic about capitalism, but not cronyism. This is disgraceful. First of all, BASIS students are allowed to graduate early, so I don't know how they are counting those students. But that to me explains the difference between 11th and 12th grade. And my dc said it might even explain the difference between 10th and 11th. Second, I don't know whether students with 504s count as special ed, but they get accommodations just not services. If they are not counted either in DC or Arizona as special ed I think it is deceptive, because a lot of 504 kids are basically special ed/special needs. They only need an IEP for services. I don't know which Arizona school these numbers are from, which would really interest me. Because I don't understand the attrition between 10th and 11th grade. And I would love to hear an explanation, from the Blocks or anyone. For the person who posted, where is this from, and are the other schools in AZ experiencing the same attrition rate in the middle of high school? What I do understand is the attrition between 8th and 9th. Olga Block explained at an open house last year that they call the 8th grade year the year of decision - if you want to be an athlete, a rock star, or an auto mechanic, you continue on in another school - by choice. And there is no stigma attached. As she said, there is no shame in that, and there shouldn't be. BASIS is based on a European model, where not all students go on to University. Some of them go to the equivalent of ITT tech, or junior or community colleges. Or just have outside interests that they want to dedicate themselves to, which is not possible if you are at high school at BASIS. As for the Blocks, they rented an apartment in DC to try to make sure that BASIS DC would succeed with their help, which I don't think they are being paid for. And I really don't care if they are making lots of money now, as long as it has no detrimental effect on the students. They worked unbelievably hard for many years in AZ with little compensation. That is what founders of charters do. And unlike many charters, they succeeded. It sounds from these AZ articles like forming a for profit company once you have a successful charter brand is sort of par for the course in AZ, like having an IPO in Silicon Valley if your company succeeds. It may not go over well here, but it is accepted in Arizona and unless someone can prove it is detrimentally affecting the students, they should be quiet. Charter schools have a high failure rate, just like start ups. The Blocks could have decided to do something else to make money. DC is BASIS's first school outside of AZ, and I do not think the Blocks or the teachers or the director etc were prepared for this social or educational challenges, and the tricky racial issues. I don't know why the chose DC, but I am very grateful, and the faculty,etc and the Blocks all have a vested interest in its success. They Blocks also, as everyone now has pointed out, have an additional non-altruistic motive for the BASIS brand to succeed on a national level, and not to let failure in DC happen. That makes me feel more secure, not less. Money is a great motivator. Capitalism works. But the Blocks really struck me as idealists and crusaders, with the money being a side benefit. They believed that if you get students in 5th grade who are willing to work anything is possible. That may not be true in DC for a variety of reasons. We all know that overall the public schools in AZ are leaps and bounds ahead of DCPS. And I don't think AZ has such a racially charged environment, or so many social problems. I agree that they were unprepared. That does not mean they will fail here. It is pretty clear that they did not get what they wanted from the charter board because, like Creative Minds, they are new. And a lot of charters fail. But there is already a core group of students for whom BASIS is an unqualified success. They are doing a great job for my dc and his group of friends (all of whom are succeeding academically). My son has a 504 and gets accommodations like extra time for tests and quizzes. Academic achievement is recognized and rewarded, as is effort. I do not think they will fail the kids who are willing to try hard and go to summer school either. Or incoming 5th graders next year, now that they know a bit more about DC. I do not think they can make summer school mandatory for students before they come in September, but I think the message is already getting around, and smart parents will send their kids to summer school if the diagnostic testing indicates that they need it. I also hope that parents of kids who do not need extra help will seriously consider BASIS as a real option instead of Deal or private school. We have two kids in our class who came from private school, and they have never looked back. The additional bonus is that my child will only be competing with other kids from dc charters, not even dc public schools, from what I understand. And the privates are in a different category. I just don't see any cronyism that is disgraceful here. Just capitalism, which sometimes plays favorites with people they know can get the job done. That is not illegal. It is efficient. And it seems to be standard in AZ. The Blocks are not Marion Barry, and they show no signs and have no interest in turning either BASIS or the for profit company into a welfare state. They live and die by the success of all these schools, and success is measured by academics. They will not water down their standards except for the 7th and 8th graders at BASIS DC. And I think the Blocks deserve the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I do not think they will suddenly change and betray the kids to make a profit. I met both of them and although I did not know about the money, they recognized the conflict and Olga is no longer on the board. And the national board is a group of very impressive people, who I hope will serve as an extra watch dog on the for profit company. The Blocks and BASIS, and BASIS DC care about kids. They want success for every child, and they offer a lot of help to those who are struggling. And they reward hard work and academic achievement and get the kids to take pride in and respect success. I doubt they are so forgiving of employees in their for profit company. But then they are not children. And that is really what I believe the Blocks are focused on. |
Anonymous
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To clarify remark by PP-
BASIS only adjust the curricula for 7th and 8th grade for new schools. The current 5th and 6th graders will not have an adjusted curricula for 7th and 8th grade and have the regular BASIS curricula right from the get go. The adjustments are made for new schools for 7th and 8th grade for those students who did not have the benefit of 5th and 6th grade curricula. |
Anonymous
| Seems like a fundamental conflict of interest to me, which has nothing to do with whether or not the Blocks "deserve" to benefit from all their hard work. If taxpayer money is being used to purchase materials, and if the people who stand to benefit from those purchases are the same ones authorizing them, who is to say they they can't spend $10/pencil? Any wonder they don't care for government regulation? Most certainly there is corruption when govt policy makers accept goods and services in exchange for their votes. I'm NOT trying to imply that it doesn't exist there. And this sounds like such a shady scheme. If Nothing else the Block's should understand how bad this looks and be more transparent about motivations? Perhaps they're plowing that money back into the school? Or perhaps they've found another back door and are plowing it into the pockets of the board members. I did meet the Blocks once and was immediately struck by Olga's harsh manner. It really gave me pause and scared us away from the school. |
Anonymous
| You mean like Claire in "House of Cards"? |
Anonymous
| I believe the poster who is making statements about $9.8m "paid to the corporation" has made some seriously misinformed and misguided misrepresentations, as it's my understanding that this covers a number of significant expenditures, such as faculty and staff salaries. Also, it's pretty common for charters to operate that way - for example, Connections Academy and quite a few other charters are set up with a corporation - and there's nothing wrong with the mere fact that they are organized as a corporation. It helps logistically on a number of levels, such as being more favorable for providing benefits. |
Anonymous
I read this and wondered why I didn't remember seeing anything about this school in PCSB report cards. Then I googled them and found they're a nationwide chain that has no operations in DC. So PP, do you have an example that's actually in the District? |
Anonymous
I don't presume to know how all charters operate, I am not familiar with all of them, but certainly many of the large ones are (with Connections Academy as an easy example from the burbs.) What difference does it make whether it's in the District or not? And meanwhile, let's not presume to pretend that a lot of big ticket items don't get contracted out and procured from corporate vendors all across the school system including DCPS, for example food service caterers, maintenance, textbooks and so on. The mere fact that private sector is involved is not a problem, the question is whether or not value is being delivered - and in the case of many charters, they are doing as good of a job, if not better, and at a lower per-student cost than the public sector. |
Anonymous
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So you can't say anything about charters in DC, and your only example of a successful corporate-tied charter is one without operations in DC, MD or VA?
So how's the weather in Arizona today? |