Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Saturday, May 27, 2006
Cash crunch to close charter school darling
The W.E.B. DuBois Academy in Cincinnati, one of the state’s best performing charter schools, has abruptly decided to close because the state apparently overpaid the school for years and the school can’t afford to operate under the correct state aid amount.
Folks, this is a real shocker. The DuBois Academy has been a poster child for all the best things about charter schools. It’s a year-round school in a very poor neighborhood with long school days and its kids score well on standardized tests.
DuBois has close ties to one of the charter movement’s heavyweights and if it closes there could be wider implications for the charter movement in general.
In fact, when the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation decided to become an actual charter school sponsor in Ohio, DuBois was one of the first schools they jumped at the chance to sign up. Over the last year Fordham, which is probably the best known and most active charter school advocacy group in the nation, has bragged repeatedly about the school’s success.
But in Jennifer Mrozowski’s story in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Fordham Vice President Terry Ryan rips the school’s governing board for its decision to close:
“I am completely surprised and thoroughly appalled by the apparent decision by the administration and governing authority of the W.E.B. DuBois Academy to abruptly close this high-performing school.”
The money issues here are unclear. Apparently the state was paying the school extra because of it’s extended school year, but it seems DuBois was paid too much extra. The corrected aid amount, the school says, is not enough for it to operate without drastic program cuts. Plus the state may ask the school to repay about $3 million it says it overpaid the school through the years — another financial back breaker for DuBois.
Is this the school’s fault for not knowing what they should be paid? Or is the state being unfair? It’s hard to tell.
But this story is a big opening for charter critics because it’s an example of the instability of charter schools — even a great charter school apparently can be gone tomorrow. If this were a great performing public school, like Stivers School for the Arts in Dayton, you can bet the school district, with significantly more resources than a single charter school governing board by itself, would do anything to keep the school open.
One big unanswered question for me is why the DuBois board would make this move to close apparently without asking Fordham for help. Fordham has both resources and political clout. And the story of the state forcing a top performing school to close seems like one Fordham would jump up and down about whether it was one of their schools or not.
If you’re interested in the school choice movement, stay tuned to this story.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
Maybe kids do need cell phones
In New York City, they’ve always had a “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” and “don’t-see-won’t-take” policy toward student cell phones. As long as the phones weren’t disrupting class, school staff looked the other way if students brought them to school.
But recently, the city’s leaders were shocked to learn just what a problem cell phones are. The school district began random metal detector sweeps to look for weapons and instead ended up confiscating thousands of cell phones. Teachers said the phones are used for cheating, taking inappropriate photos and organizing gang activity.
In response, the superintendent and mayor announced an outright ban — cell phones are now forbidden in New York schools, even if they are turned off and put away.
So parents rejoiced at this sudden backbone and long overdue flash of discipline from their schools, right?
Not exactly. Unless you call protesting in the streets and threatening lawsuits rejoicing.
Parents say kids need the phones, largely for safety reasons. And parents want to be able to reach kids after school.
For some, the school district is just living in the past. Like it or not, cell phones are a fact of life in today’s world and an essential tool, they say. Outlawing them is akin to requiring horse-and-buggy for travel or banning microwaves for cooking. The world changed and it’s time for everyone to deal with it.
It would seem like there’s room for a middle ground here. Cell phones could be brought to school as long as they are stowed in a locker until the school day is over. Any cell phone that is used or rings during the day could be taken by school staff and thrown away, period.
But teachers say even with tough rules, they spend their days taking away cell phones by the box full. And the kids keep on bringing them back.
Do you see room for compromise? Or is one camp here — the parents or the teachers/school leaders — just flat wrong?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: The Parent-Teacher Divide
