Reply to Haricots Verts (French Green Immersion Charter)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was also a part of the discussion from the beginning and you're not accurate regarding what happened. From the get go there were two agendas, which were mutually exclusive. The group started by parents who were shut out of the lottery- not by a charter champion of at-risk kids. The latter became pronounced when a random member introduced the desire to focus on FARM children. It was abrupt IMO and seemed more like the hipster type described above- a person who enjoys social movement and suddenly found an outlet for it. It did not appear as if the person had any genuine understanding of the plight of minority kids or what was necessary to serve them. I might be wrong, but it seemed illigit to go from a gentrifier mom who wants immersion along with other shut out parents to harbinger of the poor and wanting to shake up the school system. Once that shift occurred, which was alarming, the group was derailed. Had there been a focus from the beginning calling on families to support an immersion program for the city's most neediest kids, I would have been 100% for it. But doing it for the sake of fitting in with hipster protest type- no thank you![/quote]

I was also involved from the beginning, matter of fact I think I may have started this thread! :)  First off, if you're replying to the post above you, not sure that person said they were actually involved.  Following the thread is different then being involved, although they can correct me if I have that wrong.

But mainly, you are wrong, it's really that simple.  The group was just getting to know each other, barely past the point of introducing themselves to each other, when one person (who never did introduce themselves - lesson learned future charter starters: meet in person as early as possible, to prevent what followed) started posting back on this thread both unfair, inaccurate, and most of all inappropriate information.  The person who had been kind enough to take leadership in setting up a yahoo group and several others discussed how inappropriate this sharing of offline conversation details on DCUM was, especially by someone who hadn't had the courage to introduce themselves to the offline group.  It was like spying, and it pretty much marked the end of the discussion.

Seriously, we were just introducing ourselves and setting up a first meet up, when someone stated their interest in serving FARMS kids.  There were a couple others who were similarly interested, maybe several others with no interest, but you PP are totally misrepresenting the timeline as if the planning was actually underway when someone showed up all of a sudden with a different agenda.  To put it the most simply: it was NOT diverging agendas that did the group in the first time around.  We never even got to the point where we got to discuss diverging agendas.  The spy/mole who was judgemental and frankly nasty about it on DCUM really soured the process.  That happened around the time we were setting up our first meeting and that fell through and the will/commitment fell away after that to get another initial meeting together.

So please, learn from us folks, if you're getting this going, get together in person to discuss and get to know each other and discuss agendas as early as possible.  There are many people out there that for whatever reason 1) have way too much time on their hands and 2) have ill will towards seeing things like this succeed.  Offline electronic conversations with no way to make sure everyone is really there because they want to explore the idea, as opposed to sitting on the sidelines wanting to report back to DCUM and make fun of it, is really important.

Lastly, best thing you can do if you're really serious about this is to seek out the founders of whatever charters you respect/are inspired by, and talk to them about how they got started.  There is so much wisdom out there, tap into it early and often if possible.

Good luck to all who want to do this, some of us are at great schools because others took these exact risks and started them.  I'm channelling my "giving back" into social work as opposed to education, but I applaud and am rooting for anyone who gets this going.  Just watch out for haters - you will always have them, especially if you start to gain steam, but just stay focused on the goals.  Haters be damned!  :twisted:

Not gonna comment on your evaluation of motives, knowledge, agendas.  Just want to set the record straight that your presentation is highly misleading, and beg anyone who wants [/quote]

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