Now wait a minute here. Traditional school teachers and students are not supposed to complain about too much testing, and they are ridiculed if they say the test is too hard. In fact the reason for the existence of so many charter schools is they will perform better than traditional public schools.
Public schools are often being turned into charter schools if they don't do well enough on mandated testing which just gets harder and harder and happens more and more often. I don't think there should be complaints from a charter school director over the difficulty or amount of testing.
The irony is inescapable, and it is indeed breathtaking.
From the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette:
Local charter schools score lowFewer than half the students at two Fort Wayne charter schools were considered proficient on the state proficiency exam – well below state averages.
When broken down by grade level and subject, the passing rates were even lower at Timothy L. Johnson Academy and Imagine Schools on Broadway. Scores were higher at Imagine MASTer Academy, where the percentage of students performing at grade level ranged from 38 percent to 76 percent.
....."Shirley Hall, school accountability coordinator for Ball State’s charter schools, believes the difficulty of the test could have played a part in why scores are low. Students and teachers statewide complained the spring ISTEP+ was too hard.
“They were tired of testing and sometimes that causes scores to go down,” Hall said. “It was a lot, a lot of high-stakes testing last year.”
The tests are too hard? Too much high stakes testing? Just let a public school try using that excuse.
Charter schools use public taxpayer money to function, and some are found lacking in that area as well. A school in Land O'Lakes, Florida is having serious problems.
Imagine School at Land O'Lakes draws School Board's wrathThe Pasco County School District is putting Imagine School at Land O'Lakes on notice that it needs to get its financial house in order — quick.
District officials warned the charter school operators two weeks ago that they were dissatisfied with the school's failure to submit timely financial reports for review. Since then, the charter school has yet to turn in its 2009-10 budget, even as it educates nearly 500 students. That's a violation of the school's contract with the district, assistant superintendent Renalia DuBose said, adding that she would send another warning letter to Imagine this week.
If the school does not comply, board attorney Dennis Alfonso said, the School Board could act against Imagine, perhaps going as far as shutting it down for financial mismanagement. Board members were not amused. "We're very much in favor of our charter schools," board member Kathryn Starkey said, "but they do need to comply" with the rules.
They don't have to account for much of what they do about faculty, as the charter schools are not regulated as traditional public schools are.
The same company, Imagine Charter Schools, run by
Dennis and Eileen Bakke has been criticized for firing principals with no reason given. Dennis Bakke believes public schools are government monopolies....to him education is merely one more opportunity for a corporate intrusion.
The Bakkes would be the very first to say that public schools should have zero tolerance of testing failures. Such an irony that one of their directors says the test is too hard and there is too much testing.
Charter school leaders fired.
How would you like to send your child to a school paid for with tax dollars where the principal and another administrator get fired, and no one will tell you why? Were they molesting children? Were they stealing money? Were they harassing teachers? This is the new no-oversight reality of charter schools, brought to you by the market solutionists and the corporate socialists.
No, they were pointing out that too much public money was going to the private real estate arm of Imagine Schools.
Greening and Wallace were fired for questioning.
Bruce Greening, a former principal at Imagine MASTer Academy in Fort Wayne, Ind., said Imagine required him to pay $650,000 a year to rent a 28-acre campus valued at $3.4 million. But the school used only two buildings on the sprawling property, he said. (he was fired)
..."Hugh Wallace knew accepting the principal's job at 100 Academy of Excellence in North Las Vegas presented a challenge. Eight months into the job, he said, he realized that nearly 40 percent of his state funding went to pay rent to Schoolhouse Finance. And the rent jumps a few percent each year, according to the charter school's lease agreement. A nearby charter school unrelated to Imagine receives about the same state funding as 100 Academy of Excellence. But last year, it paid about 14 percent of its state funding for building rent, according to Nevada's education department. So Wallace said he asked his boss if the school's lease on the 50,000-square-foot building could be reduced.
"I was told to never ask about the lease payment or I would get fired," he said. "I was given a reprimand."
But Wallace kept asking about the lease and about Imagine's control of the charter school. Wallace said Imagine fired him in early November.
In Las Vegas three principals have been fired from one school in two years with no
explanation by the Imagine Schools' directors.Parents say it's a revolving door and they came to Action News for help. Some parents say it's symbolic of the complete disarray at 100 Academy of Excellence. The charter school executive slammed the door in the parents face.
"We are here, we're not going anywhere. We are parents, we are concerned and we want answers," said one parent.
They want to know why the principal, the third in three years, has been placed on administrative leave just two weeks into the school year.
..."The executive for Imagine Charter Schools Vickie Frazier Williams, won't answer parents questions and when Action News walked in ourselves she wouldn't answer ours.
There is an Arizona-based blog that is investigating charter schools, and it is looking into that same school called the
100 Academy of Excellence in Las Vegas.Here is an event they documented.
In June, 2008, a reporter from the Las Vegas Sun visited the school and talked to some parents:
"For Dana Tenant, the last straw was when she walked her daughter to class early last month and discovered a room full of unsupervised first graders. After waiting with several other parents for the teacher, Tenant said, she went to the front office.
“They told me, ‘Oh, she must be out of town,’” Tenant said, shaking her head.
“To me, you’re supposed to have these things in place.”
Tenant said faculty absences are frequent and teachers are often seen in the morning hurrying into the building at the same time as their students."
An unattended classroom of first graders? That is inexcusable. I much resent that a charter school has that leeway. When I was teaching the only restroom break I got was if an aide was scheduled (rarely) or another teacher would stand at the door while I made a mad dash. Leaving a classroom unattended was simply not allowed.
One reason given for the recent firing of the third principal was that he encouraged parents to attend a school board meeting to ask for more resources for the school.
Now we jump up to the present. Two weeks ago, the most recent principal, Timothy Goler, was suspended by Imagine Schools. Most people believe it was because he encouraged parents to attend a school board meeting 4 days earlier, where parents spoke up about the school needing, among other things, a nurse and better physical education. Imagine School's Regional VP denies that was the reason for the suspension. Parents have signed a petition asking for his reinstatement.
Yes, I can understand his concern. The money taken from public schools is making it hard for them to get nurses they need, and many public schools have given up on physical education, arts, and music. I can see why the charter school heads might not want a principal making a deal of this, if indeed that were the reason. It would not have gone over very well.
These are huge experiments in education going on with our taxpayer money. My taxpayer money here in Florida is now being funneled to private companies via charter schools and vouchers.
If a public school principal, teacher, or superintendent made excuses like the test was too hard or the kids are too tired of taking tests....they would be laughed down by the private sector and by parents.
It's ironic we are hearing that excuse from a director of a charter school company.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
