Closing Bad Charters
The National Association of Charter School Authorizers said 900 to 1,300 of the privately run, publicly financed schools should close because they are in the bottom 15 percent of public schools in their states. Here's a link totheir press release and a Bloomberg News story that the Seattle Times ran.
In short, there are a number of poor performing charter schools and, according to NACSA, they should be closed. NACSA also calls for states to add school closure provisions to their charter school authorizing laws.
Seattle School Board Meeting Last Night
In short, there are a number of poor performing charter schools and, according to NACSA, they should be closed. NACSA also calls for states to add school closure provisions to their charter school authorizing laws.
"For the first time, NACSA is urging state legislatures to adopt new laws that hold both schools and authorizers accountable for their performance. NACSA is also calling for the establishment of statewide authorizing offices because they are more likely to implement professional practices based on high standards and promote quality growth. These changes will help create more successful new schools, including replications, while facilitating the closure of hundreds of schools that are falling short."NACSA points to the new charter school law here in Washington as a model. Section 220 of I-1240 speaks to
Seattle School Board Meeting Last Night
I couldn't stay long (darn cold) but I did make some remarks and heard other interesting remarks.
First up was Wayne Barnett of the City Ethics department who gave a concise and lively wrap-up of what has been happening with this joint ethics venture between the City and the district. This is a mid-term report as they are in the middle of the 3-year process.
He said that everyone at JSCEE had been given the ethics training as had all the principals.
In terms of advice, as of now about 80% of the contacts had been via phone or e-mail. He said they have slightly less active than at the City level but that is to be expected (given the relative sizes of each).
Investigations. He stated they received their 100th call this week. He said about a quarter of all calls had launched investigations. He said about 60% of those calls did not fall under their jurisdiction but that the City had been pleased to act as a liaison between the district and the callers to get the callers to the right people. He said that Ethics had been acting as a squeaky wheel (of sorts) in order to get answers for many of these people that they could not get on their own.
He said that the issue of worries over retaliation to whistleblowers continues (indeed, he stated that nationally it was 1 in 5 and this has risen since 2007).
Ron English of Legal has a request for the public. The Board did vote to send the resolutions on the two levies to King County Elections. However, the district is obliged to find people to write both the Pro and Con
First up was Wayne Barnett of the City Ethics department who gave a concise and lively wrap-up of what has been happening with this joint ethics venture between the City and the district. This is a mid-term report as they are in the middle of the 3-year process.
He said that everyone at JSCEE had been given the ethics training as had all the principals.
In terms of advice, as of now about 80% of the contacts had been via phone or e-mail. He said they have slightly less active than at the City level but that is to be expected (given the relative sizes of each).
Investigations. He stated they received their 100th call this week. He said about a quarter of all calls had launched investigations. He said about 60% of those calls did not fall under their jurisdiction but that the City had been pleased to act as a liaison between the district and the callers to get the callers to the right people. He said that Ethics had been acting as a squeaky wheel (of sorts) in order to get answers for many of these people that they could not get on their own.
He said that the issue of worries over retaliation to whistleblowers continues (indeed, he stated that nationally it was 1 in 5 and this has risen since 2007).
Ron English of Legal has a request for the public. The Board did vote to send the resolutions on the two levies to King County Elections. However, the district is obliged to find people to write both the Pro and Con