Reply to Charter school parents: why are you okay with diverting resources from public schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]High income parents send their kids to private school, not charter schools or other public schools (unless it's TJ in Virginia).[/quote]

Nope. Wrong again. [/quote]

But I think this brings up an interesting question. I'm in Ward 5. If all our charters were "outlawed tomorrow" (not realistic but just imagine), would those high income parents move their kids to private, or "immediately" flip the local DCPS? Or would the just move away? As one of those parents...I'd probably test the waters, but my guess is a combination of the three. There would be no immediate flip. It might improve, but only if it happened to suddenly listen to a band of high income parents (not only white btw) about what to do with the school. Unlikely. Personally I might try it out but make other plans for upper grades, much like parents are doing now who I know.[/quote]

+1.  I live there too, and I think the lower grades in elementary schools would drastically improve.  But having seen the struggles at Stuart-Hobson and Eliot-Hine, I simply have no faith in DCPS' competence in managing a middle school.  The conditions are there, parents are trying, and it is still really hard. Why would I expect any different in Ward 5, which is so much less affluent?

This isn't about the kids being a problem.  The more I work and learn, the more I realize that downtown is the heart of the matter.  They are incompetent, they make terrible decisions, and I don't know how to change it.  That is why people like me go to charters eventually.  I can't un-know the things I know about how DCPS really works.[/quote]

Don't forget that Ward 5 had significant under-enrollment in many schools, leading to their closures, and then the charters opening up.  No charters would have a profound effect on many neighborhoods, including Ward 5, and it would not just be neighborhood schools getting better (although that could happen over time).  Yes, gentrification would still happen -- as one said, it is often driven in the first instance by singles, and it is happening everywhere country- and worldwide.  But charters have enabled some to stay who might otherwise have felt pressure to move to the suburbs or NW if their neighborhood school was not at the level they wanted and did not improve fast enough.  There would still be some that stick out for elementary, some but fewer for middle.  But the charters have given another option/some more hope.  But for charters, I'm not sure we would have moved to Ward 5, and I'm sure that applies to many others too.  With the charters, there's still uncertainty but if you're lucky, you will end up at a Ward 5 charter you'll be happy with for many years (and may feed to high school, etc.).  Without them, you're putting down a lot of money for a school that you are "hoping improves."  Some would still make that gamble, but many fewer.[/quote]

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