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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Mother Crusader: The False Choice of School Choice; Philadelphia Public Schools Crushed By Debt And Charters

Mother Crusader: The False Choice of School Choice; Philadelphia Public Schools Crushed By Debt And Charters:

The False Choice of School Choice; Philadelphia Public Schools Crushed By Debt And Charters

I drove through Philadelphia twice today on my way to pick up my girls from a visit with my aunt in Maryland. (Why yes, that IS a lot of driving for one day...)

And as I drove through Philly the first time, I listened to WHYY's Marty Moss-Coane interview Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite. As I tuned in, I was thrilled to hear public school advocate extraordinaire Helen Gym of Parents United for Public Education. If you want to REALLY understand what's happening in Philadelphia's public schools, read the10 Question interview Helen gave to NBC10 Philadelphia.

As I approached Philly and listened to the entire interview, I was struck by the number of K12 Inc. billboards (the national cyber charter behemoth), lining 95 South.  I took note of no less than 4, so who knows how many there actually were.  The irony of this did not escape me, especially as I listened to this portion of the broadcast. (go to 38:50)




Marty Moss-Coane:  Let me just read back a quote, this is having to do with charters, and we know that charters have a mixed record here.  You said, "Unmanaged, self-directed