DAYTON -- School may be out not just for summer, but for good at two Dayton charter schools after the 2009-10 comes to an end in just over a week.
The Carter G. Woodson Institute and the Nu Bethel Center of Excellence on West Siebenthaler Avenue still don't know if their high schools will exist in the fall.
Both schools were the subject of critical state audits last year, have lost their sponsors and can't
DAYTON -- School may be out not just for summer, but for good at two Dayton charter schools after the 2009-10 comes to an end in just over a week.
The Carter G. Woodson Institute and the Nu Bethel Center of Excellence on West Siebenthaler Avenue still don't know if their high schools will exist in the fall.
Both schools were the subject of critical state audits last year, have lost their sponsors and can't
The Observer has been wonderfully terrible about Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson this week.
In finis, let us accede that Ms. Rhee wins one battle.
When she speaks about children’s interests being compromised for adults’ interests, she highlights a truth about a grim, educational reality.
Politicians, education official
s
-What are the facilities necessary to promote equitable learning?
- What is an equitable ratio of students to teachers?- What is the range and scope of a learning program that promotes equitable learning – this would include the arts, opportunity for athletics and cultural learning, advanced placement courses, science labs?-What are the credentials teachers are expected to have to produce excellence in learning?
This may be my last month in our school, so perhaps I saw too much symbolism in the death of my VCR and my fruitless search for another one. I would not mourn the loss of a reliable old tool if I saw students being exposed to PBS.org and NPR.org via digital technology. But I blame the almost complete disappearance of VCRs from our school on the stigmatization of teachers who use video by true believers in top down curriculum alignment. No longer is C-SPAN available in our classrooms. No longer do teachers spark a class discussion with satire from Jon Stewart or 
"I am someone who does not mince words. I am someone who does not spare feelings. And I am someone who does not pull punches when it comes to doing what is right for kids." -Michelle Rhee (viaSmall Talk)
At Independence Charter School in Center City, kindergarten students Geonni Gee (left) and Nyla Ringgold-Floyd and classroom assistant Joanne Leibowitz enjoy math and reading online games on a website that a teacher created.
In 13 short years, the charter school movement in Philadelphia has grown from nothing to a network with 67 schools and more than 36,000 students, financed by $400 million in taxpayer dollars.
Counted together, they would be the second largest school district in Pennsylvania.
But today, the work of many dedicated educators who eagerly seized the opportunity to create successful learning communities has been nearly overshadowed by revelations about profiteering, excessive CEO salaries, mismanagement, and nepotism at several charters.
Some who witnessed the charter approval process, especially in the early years, now tie the current troubles to Distict officials who ignored warning signs and approved deficient proposals in the rush to create as many schools as possible. Officials who were either pressured politically or committed to school choice ideology then looked the other way when evidence of questionable financial and ethical practices began to surface.
“We gave up too many charters too fast in the beginning,” said Lori Shorr, Mayor
We know about schemes to pay students for high marks. And we’ve written about some of themarketing tactics schools are using to attract families. But one charter high school in Williamsburg is taking a step further – offering a $100 reward to any student who recruits another teenager to attend the school.
Last night we were sent a photo purporting to show a sign posted on the third floor of Public School 126 at 424 Leonard Street, which houses the Williamsburg Charter High School as well as its two spinoffs, Believe Northside Charter High School and Believe Southside Charter High School.
Evoking the old “Wanted” posters of the Wild West, the flier asks for help to “recruit students who you feel would benefit from the exceptional opportunity to attend Believe Schools in all grades.” It promises $100 for each student recruited, provided they enroll and “remain for at least one term with us!” (The same picture also turned up Tuesday night on Education Notes Online.)
Jacqui Lipson, a spokeswoman for the schools, declined to comment but did not deny that the sign was up…
Officials about from the department’s charter school office received a similar picture of the sign last weekend and asked officials at the Believe charter network to take down the sign and rescind the
Dual Immersion Academy's board has thrown its support behind a beleaguered administrator who resigned earlier this week amid parents' financial mismanagement allegations.
At a meeting Friday evening, board members voted to reject DIA director Laurencio Peña's Wednesday resignation, saying his contract expires June 30 and they will renegotiate his employment then.
The board passed a resolution expressing support for Peña, who denied he has mismanaged the public charter school's budget.
After years of frustration over school taxes, New Jersey residents turned out in record numbers last month to reject 58 percent of their school districts’ budget proposals — sounding an unmistakable call to arms that echoed across the country.
But in the weeks since, many of the 316 defeated budgets have been adopted with few, if any, changes by town councils, where members risked thwarting the will of voters — and incurring their wrath — rather than cut sports, lay off teachers or increase class sizes.
In Ridgewood, an affluent village in Bergen County known for its schools, the Council whittled $100,000 from the proposed $84.9 million budget, or 0.1 percent. Average savings to taxpayers: $12 per year.
In Woodbridge, a working-class township in Middlesex County, the Council shaved $1 million (0.5 percent) from a $182.5 million budget, saving taxpayers an average of $25 each. And in Parsippany-Troy Hills, in Morris County, where the school budget had been voted down for the second consecutive year, the Council trimmed $800,000 (0.6 percent) from a nearly $127 million spending plan (average savings: $52).
| ||||||||||
Comment on This Article
