Do your homework
By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com
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Read more of Cosmo Garvin’s charter-schools coverage on his blog atwww.newsreview.com/snog. |
It wasn’t a surprise, but local school board trusteesfrom Sacramento City Unified, Natomas Unified and other area school districts were still disappointed that the Sacramento County Office of Education board usurped its power to approve or disapprove charter schools and greenlighted a plan by Fortune Schools to open several new charter schools throughout the county.
Fortune Schools—a nonprofit organization run by Margaret Fortune, who was instrumental in converting Sacramento High School to a charter school in 2006—will be allowed to open five schools over the next five years—with five more to follow, pending approval from the SCOE board. The charter network would serve 5,000 kids in all.
Fortune’s stated goal is closing the achievement gap between African-American and white students, which prompted SCOE trustee Harold Fong—the sole “no” vote against the plan—to complain that the board might be approving segregated schools.
But mostly, the local school boards feel undermined. “I’m disappointed,” said Sacramento City Unified trustee Patrick Kennedy. “I think this is a local decision, with impacts on our local
