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DEL.ICIO.USYou Be the Board Member
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last night the Atlanta school board had to consider a charter petition for Achieve Academy, which needs (or was required by the board to submit…this was one of the gray areas….) a new charter to continue now that they are no longer affiliated with the Knowledge is Power Program, or KIPP.
Achieve Academy, in southeast Atlanta, says it has turned students who were unmotivated at traditional schools into eager, hardworking students. The strategy is a longer school day, a requirement that kids earn privileges and an emphasis on goals. Achieve’s test scores were mixed, but in some areas impressive, especially in seventh grade. (The school had grades five through seven last school year) Overall, Achieve was better than several of the Atlanta middle schools the kids would have to return to. And the school made AYP every year. Achieve has strong, passionate parent support.
The Atlanta Public Schools’ administration took a different view. They saw a school that turned in a petition full of vague and conflicting information. Would the school follow the state curriculum? Did the Saturday program end at 12 or 12:30? In some places, the petition said it would have snack time, but in other places no snack time was mentioned, they complained. They weren’t satisfied with the financial statements or the relationship with management partner Imagine Schools, once a for-profit company and now a nonprofit that operates two other charter schools in metro Atlanta. They weren’t satisfied with the church Imagine planned to buy for the school to operate in. (In another confusing sidenote, the school was kicked out of a surplus Atlanta property, but it was unclear whether that facility would be used in the upcoming school year…) All in all, the administration gave Achieve a big thumbs down, recommended the petition be denied, a move that would shut Achieve down.
So…You’re a board member… How do you vote and why? Note: This is a called meeting, so not showing up is a third option. To find out how the Atlanta board voted, go here.
Comments
By luvs2teach
July 21, 2006 11:39 AM | Link to this
I vote yes on the charter. OK, there are some issues that should be addressed, and if I’m one of those passionate parents than I make it a mission to see it happen.
The school has several positive things going for it - parents, it’s made AYP, it’s small, and it’s better than the other schools.
Yes - work out the details later, but yes.
By SNY
July 21, 2006 12:01 PM | Link to this
Luvs,
I totally 100% agree with your comments. Teachers are complaining that they have little to no parental support and this school is bragging about theirs. That alone should give them a YES, YES!!
By BlindHomer
July 21, 2006 12:05 PM | Link to this
Augustine’s comments about ending at noon or 12:30 and snack time seem ridiculous, but the curriculum and facility questions are valid concerns. However, APS should welcome anything that offers opportuninty for improvement over it’s dismal record.
By luvs2teach
July 21, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
SNY - my kids’ elementary was a public charter, and the parent support got the teachers enthused, and the partnership between teacher and parent really got the kids to do well - better than the demographics might suggest.
If I see something like this that’s getting results, and parents AND staff AND students are onboard with the mission - I say go for it!
Well, I gotta go back to class :-( no more blogging for me today.
Everyone have a great weekend and keep cool!
By Shar
July 21, 2006 12:38 PM | Link to this
I feel sure that the Board was privy to information that is not in Ms. Ghezzi’s article, including a comparison of the per-student costs and test scores of Academy versus mainstream schools. That said, the Academy’s proposal, of course, should never have been presented to the Board in a form that made it impossible to evaluate it on a substantive basis. The fact that it was, after having gone through the required internal review by APS, is indicative of the administration’s ongoing resistance to any proposal that might offer a greater level of success than the terrible performance that is tolerated in the system’s mainstream schools, particularly on the middle school level. My daughter just graduated from what is supposed to be the ‘best’ of those schools, and the experience was so bad as to be both dangerous and abusive. If the Academy showed the promise of success, the bureaucrats would have to find some means of justifying their own methods, which are neither sufficiently interesting to keep kids going to school nor sufficiently rigorous to adequately prepare the majority of them for further education or the tech job market. Why, the large budget increase and the system’s purchasing practices might actually be called to account! Therefore, it is clear that APS’ interests were in submarining the proposal, which they most effectively did. As far as what I might have done, I believe that, if the costs were reasonable and the reasons behind the split with KIPP acceptable, I would have stepped in where APS should have been and detailed the changes and clarifications that were needed for the application, voting to approve the charter with the proviso that the revised application be received quickly and that proper accountability on all key measures be incorporated. Support of parents is absolutely essential to effective education, and if the parents are behind the school it is in a far greater position to be successful than the mainstream APS middle schools, where the parents, the teachers and the students despair and endure.
By jim d
July 21, 2006 12:50 PM | Link to this
While I whole heartedly support charters they are financed with tax dollars and must be accountable for how they are spent so I vote to keep it open pending an investigation into the financial questions.
By SET
July 21, 2006 03:57 PM | Link to this
One concern I’d have about the proposed school is that if their proposal to the Board is unprofessional, can they be trusted at all?
I suppose the Board had a basis for it’s decision. In principal I want more competition for the State Schools. It is ironic that the competition has to get a permit from the operator of the competiting school system.
I’d like to see the charter school approval system changed so that the permit comes from an official or agency without a conflict of interest against a successful alternative school - and a reason to want them. Maybe the Juvenile Court Judge? Maybe the Mayor or Governor’s Office?
By Really?
July 21, 2006 04:15 PM | Link to this
Does anyone really know that the proposal was “unprofessional”? I don’t trust APS enough to be sure that they didn’t nit-pick just to pretend to have a reason not to approve.
How many times do you have to mention snack time? Who really cares about snack time in middle school?
If the charter’s students are scoring as well or better than the the regular public school’s on curriculum tests, isn’t that proof enought that they’re going to follow the curriculum. Doesn’t making AYP count for something?
I think APS is throwing up road blocks. Charter schools are supposed to offer choice. The local board has no interest in choice.
I agree that the charters need to be accountable, but maybe they should account to someone other than the local BOE, who, after all, has the biggest interest in seeing them go away.
By Gail
July 21, 2006 04:43 PM | Link to this
On the surface, I’d like to see the charter given a chance to get their paperwork together and resolve the outstanding issues. However, I would like to know more about why KIPP decided to disassociate themselves from this charter in the first place.
I watched the previous board meeting when this was discussed, and it was apparent from Augustine’s demeanor that she was not about to change her mind on the suggested denial of the charter, regardless of what any board member said. It was hard to tell if that was due to a prejudice against the charter or something really wrong going on there.
I agree with the posters who said that someone without a conflict of interest should be approving/denying charter petitions.
By Ernest
July 21, 2006 05:28 PM | Link to this
Philisophically I agree with SET but at the end of the day, who has the fiduciary reponsibility for the school system’s dollars? It’s the board members. I like the idea of charter schools however the board has a responsibility to all the taxpayers to ensure everything is in order. You might as well allow vouchers if you really want to give parents the ability to ‘shop’ for the best instructional environment for their children.
By Robert
July 21, 2006 05:58 PM | Link to this
I would vote “no” and give them a chance to change the application and resubmit to make changes and additions to the satisfaction of the requirements.
There must be minimum standards for these schools. If they are not met then it should be “no.” They can resubmit to meet these standards.