Eagle Academy Board votes to close school

[Anonymous]

Larger numbers of parents started enrolling their children in schools starting in 2009, and the numbers grew most consistently in charter schools.

It seems to me that Mayoral Control, free Pre-K and the growth of the charter sector were all factors in the growth shown in the chart below.

https://edscape.dc.gov/page/pop-and-students-public-school-enrollment-over-time

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I honestly don’t have strong opinions on the charter model as policy over all, but according to the theory, this is what’s SUPPOSED to happen. The authorizing board is supposed go approve a bunch of schools and close the ones that don’t perform. The intention was never really to “support” them. That’s what school districts do. Charters are supposed to sink or swim. The timing sucks but I think a purist would say that that’s on the school, not the board. The board has to wait for them to be insolvent or whatever the conditions are to close it. They can’t declare it dead when it’s not quite dead yet.

Come on that's insane. It's not supposed to be sink or swim. It's supposed to be that warning signs and poor financial data means being put on a corrective action plan. Which the PCSB has the right to do, but failed to do until very late in the process. The PCSB does not have to wait for the conditions to be unfixable. It can, should, and does intervene. It just missed the boat on this one.

I was swimming in the pro-charter policy waters 20 years ago when this all was catching on, and I think you’re wrong. That’s probably what it has become, but that wasn’t the concept.

Well, that was 20 years ago. In the present, the PCSB has various ways to intervene, and they failed to use them.

DP. Obviously the best intervention would have been to close the school before the school year started, before the lottery. But the school wasn't insolvent then, do closing it would not have been the right thing to do at that time.

People view charter schools in DC as regular public schools, as another branch of DCPS. But they aren't.

this was all predictable but so many idiots citizens voting for charter loving politicians. i blame the mayor in part, she is part of this lineage. if you werent living here 15/20 yrs ago you dont know. the entire concept is dumb and inefficient

And yet, it has kept many more students in the school district over the years and turned around the trend for many families to move or go private if they don't live in district for JKLMs.

Exactly. I was here 15/20 years ago and I do know that the entire concept made it possible for families to come here and to stay. And for those families who were already here, charters their students got a better chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don’t have strong opinions on the charter model as policy over all, but according to the theory, this is what’s SUPPOSED to happen. The authorizing board is supposed go approve a bunch of schools and close the ones that don’t perform. The intention was never really to “support” them. That’s what school districts do. Charters are supposed to sink or swim. The timing sucks but I think a purist would say that that’s on the school, not the board. The board has to wait for them to be insolvent or whatever the conditions are to close it. They can’t declare it dead when it’s not quite dead yet.

Come on that's insane. It's not supposed to be sink or swim. It's supposed to be that warning signs and poor financial data means being put on a corrective action plan. Which the PCSB has the right to do, but failed to do until very late in the process. The PCSB does not have to wait for the conditions to be unfixable. It can, should, and does intervene. It just missed the boat on this one.

I was swimming in the pro-charter policy waters 20 years ago when this all was catching on, and I think you’re wrong. That’s probably what it has become, but that wasn’t the concept.

Well, that was 20 years ago. In the present, the PCSB has various ways to intervene, and they failed to use them.

DP. Obviously the best intervention would have been to close the school before the school year started, before the lottery. But the school wasn't insolvent then, do closing it would not have been the right thing to do at that time.

People view charter schools in DC as regular public schools, as another branch of DCPS. But they aren't.

this was all predictable but so many idiots citizens voting for charter loving politicians. i blame the mayor in part, she is part of this lineage. if you werent living here 15/20 yrs ago you dont know. the entire concept is dumb and inefficient

And yet, it has kept many more students in the school district over the years and turned around the trend for many families to move or go private if they don't live in district for JKLMs.

Exactly. I was here 15/20 years ago and I do know that the entire concept made it possible for families to come here and to stay. And for those families who were already here, charters their students got a better chance.

Still, we could have that impact even if the bar for financial stability were slightly higher. The possibility of sudden charter closures is another thing that drives people away.