The Choice for Munoz Marin -What Parents and the Community Need to Know
The Choice for Munoz Marin -What Parents and the Community Need to Know Why does the District want to turn over Munoz-Marin to the charter school operator ASPIRA? Until this year, Renaissance schools, schools selected for conversion to charter schools, were the lowest performing schools based mostly on PSSA test scores. But Munoz-Marin is not one of the lowest performing schools. It was selected because ASPIRA wants it as a feeder school for Olney high which it also operates. It manages both Stetson and Olney as well as its own charters. Deputy Superintendent Paul Kihn told the Inquirer, “We see these charter providers as our partners…we wanted to ensure that the charter operators who are doing the conversions were comfortable with the kinds of schools they felt they could be successful with.” It is the needs of the charter school companies that come first.
Why should parents care if the school is run by a charter or as a regular public school? Charter schools are privately managed but funded by tax payer dollars. They are not accountable or open in the way that public schools are. The District has only a small staff monitoring charters and the charter school only comes up for renewal every five years. In the case of Renaissance charters their contracts have no time limitation. Given this, it is not surprising that corruption and mismanagement are serious problems with charters. The Inquirer reports at least 18 area charters have been subjects of federal investigations The Choice for Munoz Marin -What Parents and the Community Need to Know | WeArePCAPS: