Charter Schools-Our Story

Thank you for sharing ~ a very familiar story!

Our 8-year-old also goes to a charter school here in Northwest Arkansas. When we heard there was an Arts & Music charter school that he could enter (once the lottery for it chose him, which it did) we were thrilled. It’s not hugely different from other schools except an emphasis on creative uses of art and music to teach things. The teachers seem happier and the children, too. Also, it goes through the 8th grade which we like. No campus change at 6th.

Nicely put. I’m glad to see someone articulate this issue so well. It’s also really nice to see a mother pulling kids from a school because the kids don’t fit, and seeking another solution rather than drugging the kid into a quasi-coma/stoned state. Or ignoring everyone and the child’s actual faults and getting mad that world won’t accept “my special little snowflake child.”

I live in BC and we don’t have charter schools in this province. I’ve read about the US charter schools though and I think they sound wonderful. My son will be going into school next year and I’m already worried that we will have some trouble. I just don’t think his personality is going to mesh well with the regular public school system. I don’t see any other way beyond homeschooling though (which I haven’t completely written off). I think there should be many more options available for the schooling of our kids. If charter schools work, I think that’s fantastic. Maybe they’ll come to BC one day.
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When I was living in Missouri and had my child in a private preschool, it was suggested to me that my child may suffer from ADHD. I knew my child was active, so I sought further opinion from a child psychologist. She tended to agree. She thought I should consider medicating my child. I refused at the time because of her age. She was four. Who would want to drug a four year old? It seemed insane to me. Later that year we moved to the UK and I enrolled my daughter at the local primary school. At my first parent teacher conference I asked the teacher if my daughter was hard to handle because it had been suggested to me that she might be ADHD. She looked directly at me and said “There is no way this child is ADHD, she was just bored,” in her very authoritative and slightly intimidating English accent. From that moment on I have become very wary of labeling children who don’t fit into that little acceptable box.
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As a very strong supporter of public education, and a general opponent of charter schools, I expected to take more offense to your post. I do understand where you are coming from, but I think that pulling a kid out of school because the school model is bad makes about as much sense as a patient checking themselves out of the hospital because they don’t like the way the staff are scheduled.

I live in Edmonton, Canada, and I am a public school teacher. I see daily the challenges of trying to teach a specific curriculum to a room full of individuals. I see how kids who are “different” (in whatever form that takes) are often forgotten about by teachers because it’s too much trouble to try and communicate with them.

However, I also see how teachers spend their lunch breaks, their before and after school time, their weekends, and in some cases most of their free time developing lessons that WILL (and DO) reach all students in the class. I see teachers who acknowledge that their students learn differently, and make accomodations for those differences by doing a variety of things: printing handouts on different colours of paper, or using larger font for exams, or allowing the kid who just can’t sit still to write the answers on the board. In my own classroom, I let the kid who just can’t stop talking lead the discussion; I also allow kids to get up and move around, because I know that they can’t learn if they can’t focus. These things do take time, but they help to make the classroom a rich and vibrant place for everyone, not just the middle-of-the-road kids.

I’m not saying that I’m the best teacher in history, but I think I’m pretty good. I also think that the system I work in is much better than that of the state of California, as we don’t deal with tenure in the same way, and we are members of very powerful unions that are meant to protect us but that also punish us when it is needed. I also know that I get paid more to do my job. Is the pay enough? Not really, but I can’t imagine trying to get by on what teachers in the US earn; I can easily see why it is difficult to sometimes find highly qualified and talented teachers. I am a little unclear as to what an award-winning public school looks like, as we all rise and fall on the strengths of our district, rather than individual schools.

The teacher in your post, who suggested that you medicate your son, was out of line. Of that there is no doubt. She should never have suggested that, unless she is a medical doctor, which she clearly is not. However, her suggestion was most likely not meant to offend, but rather to indicate that your child is different from others. I’ve seen it happen, and I’ve seen good teachers fired because of suggestions like that, when all they were trying to do was open a dialogue with parents about their children. At least this teacher noticed; some wouldn’t.

Maybe my problem with this idea of renouncing the public system for a charter school is this: looking at public education through a charter school lens sometimes clouds our remembrance of a situation. One of the things that I find most problematic about the charter school model is that it does take away some of the best and brightest students. I’m not suggesting that there aren’t flaws in the public education system, but taking students (and parents who truly care about the welfare of their children as people AND as students) out of the public school setting takes away from the effectiveness of the public school system in general. Without strong parental advocates, the public school system will never change. If every parent who was upset and vocal about it pulled their kid and put them in a charter (or private) school, public education as we know it would cease to exist; school would become a luxury, and we would be no better off than some under-developed countries in terms of educating our populations.

Public schools need students. Public schools needs parents. Public schools need students and parents to work together with teachers and administrators and school boards, and state or provincial education boards to make sure that any student can walk into a public school and get a high quality education. If for nothing else than to prepare those students to fight for their own children when the time comes.
.-= Megan´s last blog ..mig14- @johnarobertson Also- if you look on a global scale- its even more difficult to get sympathy wwwglobalrichlistcom cc @33dellis =-.

Thank you for putting this up. I am struggling in Houston, TX with the same issues. My daughter is in pre-K for another year due to Texas’ unwavering 5 by 9/1 rule, so we have her in private montessori. We are zoned for an excellent (one of the very few) public schools in our district but we have already decided she will not go there for many of the same reasons you articulate. Whenever I have discussions about this choice, there are very few people who understand my decision. They think I am questioning her later preparedness for college (I am an English Professor at a public university, and they assure me that the school she’s zoned for is one of the best for preparing her.) But that is not the issue. The issue is that I don’t think having her conform to “traditional” schooling models will work for her and her brand of inquisitiveness or kinesthetic learning –for lack of a better term. And I would hate to see her interest and enthusiasm for school be hindered by a system that I don’t believe in. Not to mention what is expected of little girls in Texas . . . that is a whole other issue. So we are looking at public schools, too. Which is hard for me, who teaches at a public university and often teaches public school teachers — and comes from a family of public school teachers — but it is her education, and it cannot be compromised.

I wish I had read this post (AND the comments) while my son was struggling in Kindergarten. By the end of the school year his teacher (whom my son and I both adored) was very concerned and had him tested for a number of issues and in the end had us take him to our pediatrician to have him tested for ADD, which he was diagnosed with. Lucky for us our pediatrician said to give our son time and make some changes in the way we did things at home (routine & schedule kind of stuff). She said if he continued to struggle in the 1st grade she would be on my side to figure out the best solution for my son (our pediatrician is against medicating for ADD/ADHD except in extreme cases and as a last resort). Our charter school was a VERY real consideration except the one here in town has a wait list a mile long. So we stuck with our school, and lucky enough got the most amazing first grade teacher EVER. When I told her he had been diagnosed with ADD she stopped me and said “I don’t think his problem is ADD, I think it’s simply being a six year old.” My son FLOURISHED in her class all year long. I honestly don’t know what we would have done had he ended up in an environment that wasn’t right for him. If he or my daughter (who is now in Kindergarten) were to start having issues I wouldn’t hesitate a moment moving them to a place that’s right for them. Good for you Erin. 🙂
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What a lovely description of what my family’s life was like 20 years back when school principals started having their secretaries program their phones to speed-dial my office to report misconduct. We ;went the therapist route too, stopping short of the genetics that would confirm me as the donor of his personality. We were rescued from a wretched experience at the Jewish day school, though I should not bring up venal rabbis as we approach Rosh Hashana, by some very skilled people at our public schools which had great familiarity with this type of kid, and regarded his academic prowess as a resource. With the skillful use of medication and many skilled saints in our public schools and regional academic charter school, my son went on to earn a phi beta kappa key from one of the Ivies and now nurtures the interest in neuroscience that he acquired there.

I’ve had my ear to the ground for similar success stories for years. The best that I could recommend appears in Jerome Groopman’s “How Doctors Think” in which he describes a pioneering pediatric cardiologist at one of the Harvard affiliates who also found himself involuntarily transferred from one elementary school to another.

Parents really need to be their kids advocate.
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I want to add that I think charter schools are a great idea and I understand that they are part of the public education system. I am certainly not against public education. My point was simply that not everyone is afforded the opportunity of solving their public school problems by moving their student to a different public school. I don’t know that something like vouchers are a solution to the systemic problems, but it’s difficult not to see them as a potential solution to the problems encountered by individual families.

It’s easy to argue that the system itself would suffer, but when individual supporters of public school prioritize their own children’s education above the system, it seems disingenous to expect others not to do the same.

As I understand it, here in Texas (or at least Austin), we do have a system that if your zoned school is not meeting standards, you can have your child attend a different school. Of course, you are required to get them to the school and this doesn’t help at all if the school is meeting standards and simply not suitable for your child. We also have a charter system, but there is no guarantee that you can get your child into one of the charter schools.

Private schools often offer a better choice for some families, and there is sometimes financial aid available to make the option more viable. But often, it is simply out of reach. I am hopeful that charter systems can fill the gap over time, but what about families that are not afforded such a choice now, when they need it?

One final thought — what makes a charter school different? Why can’t the traditional public schools fill the same needs that the charter schools do? This is a serious question — I honestly don’t know the answer.
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I 100% support charter schools. The mainstream public education system we currently have assumes that all holes are round and all children are round. And how does that saying go? “You can’t hammer a square peg in to a round hole.”

The same can be said about what the school system is doing to our educators as well. The system says “teach this – teach it this way – and don’t deviate. Teach to the test. We have to have good test scores.” We don’t let our teachers figure out their best way to teach either. Kids and teachers with so much potential are falling through the cracks.

I think charter schools make it possible for teachers and students to find a place that works best for them. When everyone is comfortable, accepted, challenged and guided, true learning and progress is made.

If the goal is to raise the education standards in this country than we have to use every resource available to us so that EVERY child or adult in the system exceeds their potential. A quality public education should be available to everyone. Yes, parents need to be more involved. Yes, parents and teachers need to work together and communicate. Yes, we need to do more, do better, try harder.

I say awesome that you are the parent you are. You recognized a problem. You worked to solve it to the best of your ability. What better lesson can we teach our children? We don’t give up. We don’t necessarily give in either. We work to find the best solutions possible.

Awesome Erin. Awesome.
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I just wanted to make my own brief point about medication. Sometimes it Is a good option and leaving it as a “last resort” because you are fearful, can be just as damaging.
.-= jenB´s last blog ..Wring it out and lay it on a towel to dry =-.

I hear you saying that you support public schools and that you don’t think the issue should be polarizing, but comments like ‘I’m hearing other stories of the struggle with hours upon hours of homework, killing and drilling, soul sucking teach to the test.’ serve to do nothing but make those of us who don’t have any choice except public school feel crappy. In other words, you’re contributing to the problem.
.-= Christina´s last blog ..Why convert =-.

Amen.

Agree. Agree. Agree.

And where did you go to school that you don’t know the difference between “it’s” and “its”? As a journalist, you should use proper grammar and spelling.

*erin’s note: as a blogger I can do whatever I damn well please. As a commenter you should use manners 🙂

Although charters are public schools in the sense they are funded with public moneys, they are distinctly different. In hiring practices they are often not held to the rules laid out by the state for teacher certifications. They are not held to the teachers’ unions rules that define pay and benefits requirements. And (here in CO) the local school board may or may not have any oversight of the schools, they can choose to be chartered directly to the state. So they have their own board making decisions about the schools.

Given their successes in education, one might consider some of these differences to drive improvements in education, but also realize, that the lower social classes are often not represented in these schools, due to their inability to find transportation. I neither advocate for or oppose charter schools, as I think both sides have valid arguments but also some challenges with their system. Good that some people have the choice, hopefully we can make those choices available to all.

I realize that I’m commenting on this late, but Erin, I do have to say thank you. Before my daughter was to attend kindergarten, I called my local public school to find out class size. She’s in first grade now (at a private school) and I’m still waiting for someone to give me an answer. I found working with our public school was like beating one’s head against a wall. Also, our school at that time had cut music and art. And you are right — people don’t get it whether you choose private or charter (which isn’t a choice for me).

What needs to happen? Make all public schools equal. We have 2 districts in the small village where I live. The district I live in cut music, art, extracurriculars, and teachers aides. The other district still has all of that, and last I heard, bought whiteboards for all the classrooms. Now, how is my daughter getting an equal education with other kids who live in the same town? She wouldn’t be which is why we choose private school for her.