Summit (Sierra) charter school: The skinny on the Gates-backed school set for Seattle, Brad Bernatek (remember him?) and a host of others
Bill Gates will be bringing yet another grand experiment onto public school children in Seattle soon in the form of a charter school “Sierra” which is part of the Summit charter school chain.
Remember the small high school experiment that Gates subsidized? Fail.
The Common Core Standards? On the brink of a major fail.
Merit pay? Bad idea from the beginning. It didn’t work at Microsoft, why should it work with teachers?
Charter schools? Every time we hear the trumpets blow about a charter school that is successful, we find out that there was a lot of behind the scenes shenanigans going on…students being counseled out or expelled if they can’t make the grade, a demand of cash or an inordinate amount of volunteer time required of the parents (see below re: Summit), long application forms that weed out those parents who might not know English, ELL students need not apply, and other parents who don’t have the bandwidth, for whatever reason, to fill out the form.
So let’s look at Summit.
What caught my attention about Summit initially was an article in the Philanthropy News Digest that was sent to me. Here’s an excerpt:
The (Gates) foundation also awarded $4 million to Summit Public Schools and $4.2 million to Green Dot Public Schools, both California-based charter management organizations looking to expand into Washington. Both organizations have been engaging with communities in the western part of the state, where they hope to adapt their existing models to the needs of local communities.Green Dot Public Schools, both California-based charter management organizations looking to expand into Washington. Both organizations have been engaging with communities in the western part of the state, where they hope to adapt their existing models to the needs of local communities.
So I got on the horn with my fellow edu advocates, writers, activists and educators and received a plethora of information.
These are some of the responses I received.
Regarding Bill Gates and Summit:
… in 2011 the Gates Foundation gave $50,000 to Summit Institute: “TO ACCELERATE Summit (Sierra) charter school: The skinny on the Gates-backed school set for Seattle, Brad Bernatek (remember him?) and a host of others | Seattle Education: