Charter School Run by National Heritage group- opposed by many local organizations in Orange County
Please go to Change.org to sign the petition opposing a charter school in Orange County. This school project is organized by a group that has not improved achievement elsewhere in the state. It is funded by some fairly right wing politicos, not the right group to foster good educational programs.
This will be approved on Feb 1-2 unless there is clear opposition, with many letters written, so hurry.
http://www.change.org/petitions/mr-william-harrison-and-the-north-caroli...
BlueNC is dedicated to freedom and fairness for the people of North Carolina. If you share that vision, welcome. If your intention is to disrupt our efforts, please find somewhere else to express your opinions.
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Why is there a demand for charter schools?
Apparantly families are not satisfied with the way public schools are being run, hence the demand for them. Maybe if the public schools would address the concerns of the parents who want charter schools, then this would not be a concern.
Apparently (note spellling)
The reason there is demand for charter schools is clear as a bell. People are stupid. They will jump at any snake oil pitch that comes along.
Not to mention the fact that companies are greedy.
It's more than that, James.
I don't think most people who send their children to charter schools do that because they were fooled into doing that. Parents are very concerned with their children not getting a quality education in the public schools. I'm sure Betsey can attest to that. Parents are a lot smarter then you give them credit when it comes to their children. Parents want better opportunities and choices for their children.
My personal belief is that parents are not satisfied with the lack of discipline in the public schools. That lack of discipline is a threat to their children learning anything.
The problems are real
but the charter school solutions, as often as not, aren't real. Especially "virtual charters" which have a big fat ZERO in the performance department.
Maybe we should hire assistants to stand in every classroom and help enforce discipline. Oh wait. We just fired 4,000 of them because of Republican budget cuts.
Nevermind.
There would be no need to have charter schools if educators were free to run schools the way they want. Educators would opt for small schools and small classes. Everyone knows that is a proven predictor of performance, especially in early school.
But that's not what we do. We build giant schools - factory schooling I call it - leaving charters to try to fill the need for small schools.
The department of public instruction should be leading the way on small schools.
Follow the Money
There has been a systematic bashing of public education and teachers in this state and across the nation for decades now along with well-planned efforts to cut funding for public education to make those dire predictions come true.
Why?
Education is a huge market if it can get privatized and run as a for-profit enterprise. Corporate for-profit charter chains, like the National Heritage Academies, are the Walmarts of education. Their teachers do not have to be certified, only qualified, whatever that may mean. Look to Cleveland and Texas if you want to know what can happen. It is not pretty and in these tight economic times, we cannot afford to lose millions of dollars to corporations which take the money and run, leaving the public sector with the mess.
As I have reported before, National Heritage Academies have been sued for including creationism into their curriculum, for promoting prayer and other religious activities in the school, and for illegally dropping and excluding special-ed students.
Huizenga, the founder and CEO of the National Heritage Academies has strong ties to rightwing groups including the KOCH brothers and is a trustee for an organization founded by the Prince family (see: Blackwater/Eric Prince). Huizenga was a bundler for George W. Bush and is active on the Romney campaign.
Do you want your tax dollars to pay for more of their destructive agendas while our Public Schools have their funding cut to pay for this for-profit school that is not accountable or desirable based on the performance of other National Heritage Academies? Even if you do not live in the Triangle area, it is still your education tax dollars that will be spent.
Resistance is Fertile
Most parents have absolutely no clue
how much work is involved in running a strong charter school. We got lucky and wound up at a good one. It had some private financial support (local) for athletic equipment and contributions toward building funds, but there was a very large core group of parents helping to run clubs, athletics and other activities the school could not afford. The kids had torn up used text books but it didn't matter. The school was an International school with teachers recruited from around the world. The students it attracted were of many nationalities and while it met all NC curriculum requirements the school promoted qualities like tolerance, inclusion, respect and love of learning - especially about other cultures. Not one Bible was thumped in the creation of this charter school.
The sad truth is the school was only available to those students who had parents to drive them to school. Administration tried to get a carpool group together to open the school to those who relied on busing to transport their children to school, but it didn't always work. This meant children of many double income families and children of low income families were left out. This should never happen in any school receiving public funds.
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Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
Kids'R'Us approach to schools
The IndyWeek has a good article on charter schools:
Progressives are the true conservatives.