Schools Matter: Walmart "Associates" and Charter School "Scholars"

Schools Matter: Walmart "Associates" and Charter School "Scholars":

Walmart "Associates" and Charter School "Scholars"

by Jim Horn

The Gates Team out in Washington are trying to scare up some media attention on a "study" bought by the charter reform school industry that purportedly shows that charters, long known to exclude special ed kids, are, indeed, enrolling larger numbers of them.  Even if you were to believe the findings, we still have the more serious and widespread law-breaking that takes place when no special ed teachers are to found in the charter reform schools that have special ed kids with IEPs. 

I recently visited a charter reform school in Memphis that provided a clear example of special needs children receiving the same chain gang teaching as the rest of the unfortunate "scholars" who happen to be enrolled there.  No special ed teacher, no school nurse, no librarian (or library), and no counselor.  

When will parents realize that the "choice" they are being offered systematically robs their children of their dignity, while offering them a sub-standard education aimed at low level learning and high level behavior control? 

When will special ed parents take these scammers to court?  

By the way, calling children "scholars" in these lockdown hellholes is the equivalent of calling the exploited minimum wage workers at Walmart "associates."  Give me a break.

Here is a piece from Timothy Noah at the New Republic blog that exposes another of the