Charter Members: A School Reform Nightmare
If you run a modern school like a modern American corporation, you'll likely be treated accordingly
It's always worth checking out Diane Ravitch's blog if you're trying to keep up with the various ongoing scams of the education "reform" grifter-industrial complex. Sometimes, what you find there is funny. Sometimes, it's not.
Ravitch links to a 2014 story about one of the nation's biggest -- and, allegedly, most successful -- charter school operations, Basis Schools, Inc. (And, yes, the "Inc." is a nice touch when we talk about educating kids.) The story is what Tom Brown's School Days would have been, had it been written in this century.
After the first day of school, all communication from the school stopped. Our son was never provided a progress report until the end of the first grading period. No emails sent to the teachers were returned. Calls and emails to teachers and to the Head of School were not returned. The lack of leadership and quality administration of the school was profound. We discovered that the qualifications of the Head of School were not accurate on the website and were misrepresented in writing. The BASIS San Antonio Parent/Community Facebook page was administered by cyberbully parents. According to children attending the school, the students were kind, respectful and courteous but the parents were bullies to each other and the students. By the end of the school year, mandatory detention for any and all infractions was developed and highly enforced with no oversight by the Head of School.
Proof: Why education should be run like Comcast.
There is not a requirement /regulation of a nurse at BASIS San Antonio. Our son became ill with the flu in December. Because there was no nurse and no nurse's station, when our son became extremely ill at school, he was sent to the boy's bathroom and was unsupervised by an adult for over 45 minutes while young boys using the restroom walked in and out of the restroom. When I arrived at the school, he was lying on his backpack under the urinals in the boy's bathroom. As a result, our son was placed in the PICU for treatment of pneumonia and the flu and missed three weeks of school.
Proof: Why education should be run like Walmart.
After my son was found in the restroom, violently ill under the urinals, the Head of School, Tiffany O'Neil, was contacted about what happened to my son on her campus. She was called and emailed repeatedly by both myself and my husband. She finally responded four days after the incident with our son with a call to us after 9 pm.
Proof: Why education should be run like a garment factory.
We have a 22 year old daughter with a terminal illness. I emailed all of our son's teachers/administrators to let them know that our son may need additional support and at times could be sad due to the situation at home. Not one teacher or administrator communicated back. I called and left messages with all teachers. No calls were returned. I contacted Mr. Ross, new Assistant Head of School and he claimed that he received the email but he was transitioning into his new role and just forgot to contact us.
Proof: Why education should be run like Blackwater.
The whole thing is a nightmare, especially the superior-being attitude of some of the parents in response Charter Members: A School Reform Nightmare: