Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Insider Tells a Florida Charter Schools Story

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Insider Tells a Florida Charter Schools Story:

Insider Tells a Florida Charter Schools Story

I received this from former Florida charter schools teacher and administrator, Jodie Pillius-MacKrell.

Mike,

I was very interested in your blog on the charter schools. I was the director at Richard Milburn in Lehigh Acres FL - it was called Lee Alternative Charter High School.  I applied to work for them after being a teacher and administrator for 13 years in the local district because I really thought I would be making a difference.  I had worked the prior 10 years in the same city, but in middle school, and so many of my students were dropping out of high school.  I wanted the chance to help them.  The school was a nightmare.   I had no idea what a Charter school was and I had no idea of what I was getting myself into.

I have always thought that someone needed to investigate the company, but no one ever seemed interested in what I had to say.  I was given the task of enrolling, I think...it was a long time ago... 150 students for the first year.  I exceeded the enrollment by quite a bit, I do remember that.  (I was told I would get a $10,000 bonus for making that enrollment, but I never received it).  Anyway, in Florida, they only check attendance for funding twice a year - once in October and once in February.  Many of the students I enrolled were called "packet students" - they would come to school and pick up packets of work, which they were expected to complete and return on a regular basis.  They didn't.  In fact, after their initial enrollment, many of the students never returned to the school.  During FTE week in October and in February, we had to call every single student and tell them they needed to come to school one day during that week - at which time we had to sign them in.  Once they signed in during that week, we could count them for funding purposes.  I would say about half of the students the school received funding only showed up at school a few times a year.  This bothered me very much, but I was kind of stuck.  I was single and needed a paycheck.  I resigned at the end of the year, but with much guilt, even to this day.

"I applied to work for them after being a teacher and administrator for 13 years in the local district because I really thought I would be making a difference."

In addition to the funding, the work the "packet students" were given were copies of workbooks that the FLDOE had published for special education students years prior.  We made copies of the books the DOE had online and the students completed the questions.  Once the books were completed, the students were given credit for the course. 

Our school building was a church.  We didn't have enough furniture when we opened and virtually no textbooks.  We had no resource officer present but we had a lot of gang members, drug addicts, and students on probation.  After a few Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Insider Tells a Florida Charter Schools Story: