Charter Schools giving neighborhood preferance

[Anonymous]

Well, people on the Hill and in Georgetown had better rethink their lack of support for their neighborhood schools or plan to go private. Deal is nearly closed to OOB and it's becoming harder and harder to enroll at Latin.

I guess BASIS will pick up those who are willing to be the first year class and are attracted to a very academic curriculum.

It seems to me that we would easily have two more thriving middle schools in SH and Hardy if only the IB parents would commit to public education in their own neighborhoods. But, alas, that ain't the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, people on the Hill and in Georgetown had better rethink their lack of support for their neighborhood schools or plan to go private. Deal is nearly closed to OOB and it's becoming harder and harder to enroll at Latin.

I guess BASIS will pick up those who are willing to be the first year class and are attracted to a very academic curriculum.

It seems to me that we would easily have two more thriving middle schools in SH and Hardy if only the IB parents would commit to public education in their own neighborhoods. But, alas, that ain't the case.

What about the city making a commitment to local taxpayers by providing them with neighborhood middle and high schools with which most are comfortable? I live next to SH and it's not unusual for the police arrive to break up a playground fight, or even arrest a parent (I saw that happen 10 minutes ago). Cluster parents don't like to talk about these problems. The school looks much like a prison and doesn't offer nearly enough tracking for most neighborhood parents, in an increasingly affluent area, to have confidence that their own children would be challenged there. Easy to blame parents for a school system's failure to attract them. I don't hear Takoma Park parents complaining much - their school demographics mirror neighborhood demographics. Why should parents have to do the heavy lifting to turn schools around for the next generation of parents and kids? All the city would need to do is co-locate a Basis type academic magnet program at SH and neighborhood families would head there in droves, but no. That wouldn't be "equitable," never mind who's paying the bulk of the property tax locally....

[Anonymous]

Was the parent fighting a student? Another parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has.

WTU needs to organize charter school teachers. It can be done. Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters? Terrible working conditions. no liability insurance. I know first-hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has.

WTU needs to organize charter school teachers. It can be done. Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters? Terrible working conditions. no liability insurance. I know first-hand.

Wrong! Don't fix what isn't broken! I can think of several charter schools that have excellent retention - teachers love working there. Charter autonomy is one of the reasons that charters are better than DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has.

WTU needs to organize charter school teachers. It can be done. Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters? Terrible working conditions. no liability insurance. I know first-hand.

Wrong! Don't fix what isn't broken! I can think of several charter schools that have excellent retention - teachers love working there. Charter autonomy is one of the reasons that charters are better than DCPS.

First of all, in the aggregate charters only do marginally better than DCPS schools.
Secondly, you have no means for proving any causal relationship between non-union schools and academic achievement.
Finally, some factoids:

*Some of the highest-performing countries in the world have teachers’ unions (Finland, for example).

*The southern states of the U.S. have traditionally had terribly poor student performance, and have weak or nonexistent teachers’ unions.

*Massachusetts, the highest performing state in the nation, has a long history of strong unions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has.

WTU needs to organize charter school teachers. It can be done. Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters? Terrible working conditions. no liability insurance. I know first-hand.

Wrong! Don't fix what isn't broken! I can think of several charter schools that have excellent retention - teachers love working there. Charter autonomy is one of the reasons that charters are better than DCPS.

Which schools and what are their retention rates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has.

WTU needs to organize charter school teachers. It can be done. Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters? Terrible working conditions. no liability insurance. I know first-hand.

Wrong! Don't fix what isn't broken! I can think of several charter schools that have excellent retention - teachers love working there. Charter autonomy is one of the reasons that charters are better than DCPS.

First of all, in the aggregate charters only do marginally better than DCPS schools.
Secondly, you have no means for proving any causal relationship between non-union schools and academic achievement.
Finally, some factoids:

*Some of the highest-performing countries in the world have teachers’ unions (Finland, for example).

*The southern states of the U.S. have traditionally had terribly poor student performance, and have weak or nonexistent teachers’ unions.

*Massachusetts, the highest performing state in the nation, has a long history of strong unions.

Sure, but in those countries teaching is a profession that the strongest students are steered into not away from. The same can't be said here.

I actually have very mixed feelings about the teacher's unions. I think the ones in poor urban schools (which describes a lot of DC) need extra protection for their jobs and their personal safety. Otoh, I'm not convinced there's a causal relationship between powerful unions and well-educated students. What's the famous quote from Al Shanker (former teacher's union boss) "I'll give a damn about the students when they start paying union dues, until then they're just grist for the mill."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has.

WTU needs to organize charter school teachers. It can be done. Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters? Terrible working conditions. no liability insurance. I know first-hand.

Wrong! Don't fix what isn't broken! I can think of several charter schools that have excellent retention - teachers love working there. Charter autonomy is one of the reasons that charters are better than DCPS.

First of all, in the aggregate charters only do marginally better than DCPS schools.
Secondly, you have no means for proving any causal relationship between non-union schools and academic achievement.
Finally, some factoids:

*Some of the highest-performing countries in the world have teachers’ unions (Finland, for example).

*The southern states of the U.S. have traditionally had terribly poor student performance, and have weak or nonexistent teachers’ unions.

*Massachusetts, the highest performing state in the nation, has a long history of strong unions.

The aggregate in DC is horrible, whether charter or DCPS. Nobody with choices would choose that for their children. Let's talk about individual schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has.

WTU needs to organize charter school teachers. It can be done. Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters? Terrible working conditions. no liability insurance. I know first-hand.

Wrong! Don't fix what isn't broken! I can think of several charter schools that have excellent retention - teachers love working there. Charter autonomy is one of the reasons that charters are better than DCPS.

First of all, in the aggregate charters only do marginally better than DCPS schools.
Secondly, you have no means for proving any causal relationship between non-union schools and academic achievement.
Finally, some factoids:

*Some of the highest-performing countries in the world have teachers’ unions (Finland, for example).

*The southern states of the U.S. have traditionally had terribly poor student performance, and have weak or nonexistent teachers’ unions.

*Massachusetts, the highest performing state in the nation, has a long history of strong unions.

Sure, but in those countries teaching is a profession that the strongest students are steered into not away from. The same can't be said here.

I actually have very mixed feelings about the teacher's unions. I think the ones in poor urban schools (which describes a lot of DC) need extra protection for their jobs and their personal safety. Otoh, I'm not convinced there's a causal relationship between powerful unions and well-educated students. What's the famous quote from Al Shanker (former teacher's union boss) "I'll give a damn about the students when they start paying union dues, until then they're just grist for the mill."

As a Berkeley BA/Harvard MA, I resent that remark about the strongest students. Nobody tried to steer me away from teaching. Although, as a DCPS Group I teacher dealing with the most punitive aspects of IMPACT, sometimes I wish they had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As a Berkeley BA/Harvard MA, I resent that remark about the strongest students. Nobody tried to steer me away from teaching. Although, as a DCPS Group I teacher dealing with the most punitive aspects of IMPACT, sometimes I wish they had.

DCPS leaders would say IMPACT isn't punitive, it's merely indicating how effective you are and it's your job to improve so that children can learn more. If you can't do it, then you're not fit to teach and you need to move on for the sake of the children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a Berkeley BA/Harvard MA, I resent that remark about the strongest students. Nobody tried to steer me away from teaching. Although, as a DCPS Group I teacher dealing with the most punitive aspects of IMPACT, sometimes I wish they had.

DCPS leaders would say IMPACT isn't punitive, it's merely indicating how effective you are and it's your job to improve so that children can learn more. If you can't do it, then you're not fit to teach and you need to move on for the sake of the children.

Thank you so much for this advice.

[Anonymous]

Guess I'll have to go teach at a charter school. Good opportunity to organize a WTU chapter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was the parent fighting a student? Another parent?

Here's what I saw, around 3:30 PM Friday afternoon, while driving by on E Street: male, looked to be in his 30s, being handcuffed while pushed against a squad car parked across the street from the main entrance of SH. Kids were pouring out of the school at the time. A few adults, probably parents, were shouting "drug dealer!" and several girls, who appeared to be students, were in tears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was the parent fighting a student? Another parent?

Here's what I saw, around 3:30 PM Friday afternoon, while driving by on E Street: male, looked to be in his 30s, being handcuffed while pushed against a squad car parked across the street from the main entrance of SH. Kids were pouring out of the school at the time. A few adults, probably parents, were shouting "drug dealer!" and several girls, who appeared to be students, were in tears.

Sounds more like a pimp.