The following is a copy of an email that I sent to my school’s staff earlier this year. As a prelude, I wonder if the Boston Foundation will ever laud BPS for anything. Regardless, we have much to brag about. Charters have much to be ashamed of. They are the educational equivalent of steroid abusing MLB players looking to duke their stats for a more lucrative payout and endorsement deal. Their story ends with Roger Clemens, Rafeal Palmeiro, Jose Canseco, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, et. al. with tarnished careers and possible legal action imposed against some for lying to Congress. Charters lie too, through a well funded campaign of spin, demonization of career minded middle class union teachers, and omission of who they really teach. The following offers an explanation of how charter magicians’ pull off the “smoke and mirrors” show. Sorry Houdini for giving away the tricks of the trade:
We all should be proud of our “traditional” public school – The Joseph Lee School.
Charters may claim superiority, while never admitting any fallibility. However, here are some facts oft not touted by corporate ed reformers.
“Successful” Charter schools do not backfill seats. (That means once a student leaves – they do not fill the empty seat with another student) Attrition rates at charter schools are obnoxious. One example is the ballyhooed Edward Brooke: suspension rate 25%; this “innovation” incubator started off with 47 sixth graders. In grade seven these 47 sixth graders became 36. By grade eight there were 22 left – all of course SOARED on the MCAS!
A 53% attrition rate, coupled with a 25% suspension rate, should be a violation of civil rights at this “so-called” “public” charter school. (By the way the ELL and SPED populations are virtually non-existent.)
In fact the ACLU sued the district of Fall River for its 18.4% suspension rate. Fall River is the only “public” district represented on the following list of top MA suspension factories:
▪ Roxbury Preparatory Charter: 56.1%
▪ Grove Hall Preparatory Charter: 50%
▪ City on a Hill Charter: 43.6%
▪ Up Academy Charter Boston: 38%
▪ New Leadership Charter: 36.6%
▪ Boston Preparatory Charter: 35.1%
▪ Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter: 32.1%
▪ Holyoke: 27.3%
▪ Edward Brooke Charter: 24.9%
▪ Hampden Charter School of Science: 24.7%
▪ Codman Academy Charter: 23.5%
▪ Spirit of Knowledge Charter: 22.8%
▪ Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence: 22.5%
▪ Edward Brooke Charter 2: 22.4%
▪ Boston Green Academy Horace Mann Charter: 19.4%
▪ Community Charter School of Cambridge: 19.4%
▪ Fall River: 18.4%
▪ Berkshires Arts and Technology Academy: 18.1%
▪ Excel Academy Charter Chelsea: 17.9%
▪ Franklin County Regional Vocational Technical Institute: 17.6%
How is this “better” than us? If they want to “compete” they need to tell the truth and stop demonizing US! Where is the ACLU? Where is the outrage? We do a better job at educating EVERYBODY – the way a PUBLIC school is intended to do – bottom line!
Thanks,
I just thought everyone should know the truth,
Colum
P.S. BPS suspension rate is 5%
My letter to the staff was well received. I move to amend the current legislation at the statehouse. We should lift the cap on traditional public schools. We should support education for ALL, not for some. Lastly, the Bruins just scored the winning goal in the most exciting and dramatic comebacks that I have ever witnessed in any sport. Watch out charters – anything is possible!
Colum Whyte
Where can we look those up school suspension and student-body stats, if we can? I’m curious to see the stats in my town’s public vs charter. I am very tired of people trying to compare two things that aren’t the same as if they were.
Oh, and that was one fine hockey game tonight. Wow.
Go to the MA DESE website. Actually, a worthy research project would be to average all Boston Charter Schools suspension rates, attrition rates from start to “miraculous” finish (after any undesirables are pushed out), MCAS scores compared with SAT scores. Part of the problem is that Charters are their own individual districts. These highly selective “districts” are then compared to real districts, such as Boston – which boasts 57,000 students. Using this rationale we might as well make Boston Latin School it’s own district and claim BPS is superior based upon its MCAS scores and college admission rates. Some then argue, “hey, that’s not fair! Boston Latin is highly selective.” And so are the charter school miracles, so lets even the playing field.
Not to distract from the main point of Colum’s fine post, but if you didn’t see this, you really missed something. Big not just in Bruins’ history, or Boston sports history, but sports history in general. No team had ever come back from three goals down in the third period of an NHL game seven.
Not a good day in Toronto, I suspect…
And a fantastic game as well.
I used to be a charter school fan until a dear friend’s (special needs) son went to one….and then the suspensions started. He was forced out (without a proper hearing convened to determine whether the behavioral issues were related to his special needs) or whether th ed plan was being followed.
My thinking is that instead of diverting dollars to schools to take care of a select and often hand-picked population (yes, those lotteries are real, huh?)the money should be invested in the schools and the system we already have. Separate but equal is BS.
My impression is that they are two different things and can someone clarify it for me.
Back in “my day” getting suspended usually meant missing no classes and a parent comes into to meet with the administration. Only if it were something serious would a student miss class. Is this still the case? Also, unless there were some serious legal situation–like a student assaults someone and they get a “stay away” from the victim order from the court–does student get barred from attending that school indefinitely.
How does it work in charters? Do they have (as justice4all42 seems to indicate) complete discretion about expelling a student for any period of time, including kicking them out for whatever reason they feel like?
The suspensions referred to on this page are what are called “out house” suspensions. They vary in severity from 1 day to much more, usually three days. Parents are notified by letter and phone call, a meeting is set up, and a paper is signed as an acknowledgement of the suspension. Charters suspend kids for the smallest of infractions. Fidgety kids are prone to be targeted, as well as children who need social and emotional counseling/help. There are also “in house” suspensions that are not included on this list. These suspensions require students to report to a room instead of classes for the day. In Boston, unlike charters, students who are suspended sometimes go to the “counseling in intervention center” (still outhouse), here trained professionals try to give the kids the support that they need while teaching anti violence, anti drug and alcohol strategies, the dangers of gangs, anger management techniques, and a host of other things. At charters such a program does not exist. Problem kids roam the streets until they are officially expelled, “coached out”, drop out, or switch schools (usually just before MCAS).
Charters side step their responsibility to “the children” they send back to traditional public schools. Explaining that the kid “wasn’t the right fit” or “they can’t meet the needs” is not acceptable. The kid “won” a lottery seat, they shouldn’t have to give it back!
These students come to our traditional schools feeling, and acting, that our traditional public schools are less than the one they left. There is always a considerable adjustment period. There is always a lot of acting out and testing limits, because charter schools have not met their needs developmentally. Of course, this occurs at the expense of teaching and learning in the traditional public school classroom to which they are assigned. Charter schools need to keep their students for the school year or transfer those students, who want to leave, to another school in the charter school network with an empty seat; there are many!
Several years of incompetence gets you a finger-wagging from the corporate lapdog pretending to be Commissioner of Education:
Thank goodness these schools aren’t nearly as accountable as public schools!