Anonymous wrote:Awesome. Right back to DCPS. And you can declare charters a success!
What a load of crap.
I want my money back. This charter thing is a rip off.
No, PP, it is DCPS that is the rip off. DCPS gets twice as much per student as DC charters do. If you really want to save money, you should help to dismantle DCPS.
Disruptive middle schoolers do not value the educational opportunities they are being afforded. Not only do they squander their own opportunities, but they squander the opportunities of their classmates, the vast majority of whom are eager to learn.
It is well known that BASIS offers a rigorous college prep curriculum. Simply put, BASIS is is not the appropriate school for a child who cannot be reasonably expected to attend a four-year college and perhaps grad school. The parents of these kids enroll them in BASIS for lack of better options. Their IB DCPS middle schools are so terrible that any school that is a) safe and b) offers some opportunity to learn is a better choice.
The fault here lies not with BASIS, but with DCPS for not offering middle schools that meet the needs of these kids. Perhaps the fault lies with the greater DC community, especially education activists, for not founding more charter schools to meet the needs of these children.
Given DC's strong charter law, why isn't middle school a buyer's market in DC? Why doesn't DC have a charter trade school, where kids can prepare to become electricians, contractors, plumbers, auto mechanics, computer technicians, etc? Why aren't there charter schools eager to take the kids who can't cut it at BASIS? After all, they are worth $12 thousand each, and their families have demonstrated a willingness to abandon DCPS. Why didn't they woo those families back in March and convince them not to enroll in BASIS in the first place?
Charters aren't the problem, PP. They are the solution.