Lame Duck Schools | Cooperative Catalyst

Lame Duck Schools | Cooperative Catalyst:

Lame Duck Schools

by Brooksy Boy

 

         There’s a regular occurrence in politics where elected officials have neared the end of their tenure either by reaching the limit of their allowed term/s or being defeated in re-election bids. Their successors have already been chosen, but before the looming takeover the old guard continues to serve in office. This awkward transition period can lead to a focus on the future that disempowers those operating in the present. George W. Bush experienced this “lame duck” phenomenon acutely before vacating the presidency, “in the days before Thanksgiving, Obama began to move — if not to take charge outright, then at least to preview what things will be like when he does take over in January”
(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862464,00.html#ixzz2KwF8CYhN). Despite having the most powerful job on the planet for another month, it did not matter what Bush wanted to accomplish, his agenda was meaningless in the face of what and who was to come.
           Baltimore Freedom Academy, where I teach, just lost their own re-election bid. What’s coming next for the staff and students? According to the preliminary renewal report,
…the contract with Freedom Academy Foundation, Inc. to operate the school would terminate at the end of the current school year and the school would remain open for existing students until the end of the SY2013/14 under the operation of City Schools – accepting no new 6^th and no new 9^th graders for the 2013/14 school year and is