Reply to WaPo Editorial today on DCPS/charter collaboration

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]See the thing is, if we didn't have charters we'd have a greater number of better neighborhood schools because the many families that flee for HRCS would be forced to put their resources into their "focus" or "rising" schools that a few are already trying to improve. Yeah, some would move, but not all.

We will NEVER have universally good by-right schools if we perpetuate an easy opt-out for families. It will never happen.[/b] I'm not suggesting improvement would stretch east of the river immediately, but our Wests and Garrisons and Brookland Middles and Coolidges and Amidon-Bowens and Takomas and Truesdells would be much improved if all the families that go charter were there instead. I'm also not suggesting that we shouldn't have initiated charters when we did; it seems like it was necessary for our failing city schools at the time. But now? We can reevaluate our definition of and path to "excellence for everyone."

The mayor knows this, and to not continue to move us down this separate-but-equal-but-not-really road we are on is the right move. [/quote]

I have one, and only one question: if not having charters would allow for DCPS to produce "a greater number of better neighborhood schools"... why the hell didn't this process occur when there were no charters, oh, 12-15 years ago?  Why did DCPS do a disservice to DC's public school children for DECADES with horrible schools and not have this miraculous development of "good by-right schools" when there were NO other options for DC families?

Anxiously awaiting your answer to that... even though we all know you haven't a clue what the heck you're talking about.  Just like you haven't a clue that there wouldn't BE this many families looking for public options *in* DC if charters hadn't turned the tide of public opinion here and paved the way for DCPS to make some long overdue decisions about how they run things.  Not that things are perfect with DCPS by a long shot, but at least the schools are increasing enrollment now.  But your post shows your total ignorance about what it was like when there were no charters and your Nirvana of quality by-right schools never happened in decades of failing schools.  Failing with zero competition from charters.

But yeah, please do try to answer: why didn't the Nirvana you are saying charters are blocking occur when there were no charters?[/quote]

THANK YOU!! When I praise and support the charter sector in DC it is because it offers an alternative for students who were being let down by the neighborhood schools for generations.  Before charter schools the DC public schools outside of northwest sucked to a degree that you can't even imagine. They were losing students by the THOUSANDS to surrounding school systems.  The whole thing was a stinking disgrace.  It's slightly less of a disgrace now and nearly half of the city's students have found an alternative in charter schools.  Hopefully both sectors will thrive next to and in dialectic with one another. But this mythical utopia of cozy communities of neighborhood schools being blown apart by charters is complete b*******[/quote]

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