Reply to Revised Boundary Recommendations to be released on or about June 13

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Reply to "Revised Boundary Recommendations to be released on or about June 13"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Get this straight. Nobody goes to a charter because they prefer to travel.  They go to a charter or an OOB school because the school that serves their BOUNDARY is unacceptable, poorly run, dangerous or a mess.  Charter schools pop up in jurisdictions where the regular schools suck for a reason.  The vast majority of families would ( and do looking at the USA as a whole ) to to the school they are assigned to by address if it served their kid weLl. Stop confusing this.  It is the same lame argument for closing all under enrolled schools. Well..... No one wants to go there. Yes. Because it is a terrible school. Fix it and we will go there.[/quote]

PP here. I lived in Ward 8 for ten years so I understand this concept really well. No amount of fixing would have ever convinced me to send my child to our IB school. Out of 50+ families in our development, I can't think of any that did. So why not give that school the same flexibility that it's charter competitors have to focus on a targeted population? Special needs, math focused, whatever. Instead of setting up shop to serve the random 300 or 50 kids that happen to live within a couple of blocks?[/quote]

Maybe a good neighborhood school is one that is flexible and focused enough to serve the needs of the neighborhood -- to have specific classes, or sections for specific needs.

Part of the idea of charters was to provide competition to traditional public schools (TPS) so they'd respond and get better.  That's silly.  The purpose of schools is to educate children,  not compete with each other.  Part of the deal was that the teachers in charters would be better because that weren't unionized -- another silly notion  --- there is no evidence that unionization negatively affects teacher quality and some evidence that a positive correlation exists.  Charters were also supposed to provide "choice"  but our lengthy experiment with them in DC has shown parents that charters often leave parents without choice when they strike out in the lottery and find that the school system has done nothing to improve their neighborhood schools.

The thing is if no one but parents wants to improve the neighborhoods,  it will be hard to make it happen.  When the city officials are actually working against neighborhood schools and in favor of an "all-choice" system they are not working on behalf of the taxpayers who are paying their salaries.[/quote]

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We can call the notion behind charters silly, but they are the facts on the ground. DCPS can either adapt to them or continue to whither away.[/quote]

Or the charters can adapt to DCPS -- if DCPS management was actually trying to build up neighborhood schools instead of caving to charters.  remember how charters were supposed to keep regular public schools on their toes  (again we're forgetting the purpose of schools - to educate children - not compete with each other).  But what's happening instead is that regular public schools are just welcoming charters to take over.  The school system is doing it -- not parents[/quote]

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