NCS Leader on skimming the cream and then complaining about an unfair playing field? For real! by DontDestroyChristina
Read for yourself
Kilroy says, I read DontDestroyChristina’s post and checkout this link to DFM News Delaware rated middle of the pack in national charter school report
According to the report, Delaware’s charter school law “needs significant improvement in several areas, including expanding authorizing options, beefing up its provisions for performance-based contracts, and ensuring equitable operational funding and equitable access to capital funding and facilities.”
Well there is no reason for charter schools not to get equal operating funds. However when it comes to capital funding I draw the line. Charter school are corporations per Title 14, Chapter 5, subsection 504:
§ 504. Corporate status.
(a) A charter school shall be organized and managed under the Delaware General Corporation Law.
(b) The board of directors of a charter school shall be deemed public agents authorized by a public school district or the Department with the approval of the State Board to control the charter school. No person shall serve as a member of a charter school board of directors who is an elected member of a local school board of education.
(c) A charter school shall be considered a public school for all purposes.
(d) A charter school may sue or be sued to the same extent and on the same conditions as a public school district, and its employees, directors and officers shall enjoy the same immunities as employees, directors and officers of public school districts and other public schools. The approving authority of a charter school shall have no liability for the actions or inaction of a charter school.
If a charter school (corporation) who owns their own building decides to close or is forced closed the property does not go back to the state. I know a little dark secret about one charter school that I will “never” share. The bottom-line is, the public owns public school buildings and when they are closed the proceeds goes back to the state. I would support legislation giving charter schools capital funding on certain terms. One, the state will always own percentage of real-estate equal to current value. Meaning, if the state provides 60% capital funding to a building valued at say 2 million dollars the state owns 60% and as time goes on if the value of the property increases the state will own 60%. If the charter school fails that charter corporation owes the state 60% of the value and if the charter school goes bankrupt the state takes control of the school build sells it and whats left over their 60% goes to the charter corporation. But a new charter corporation with no members being tied to the old one can buy out the old charter corporation’s 40% and the state can transfer it’s 60% to new charter school with same stipulation as with old corporation. The bottom-line, the state’s 60% is always the state’s no matter how many transfers to a charter school organizations. But we’re back to capital referendums being required to go to the voters! Charter schools can’t hold referendums! We need to end capital referendums for public schools and put responsibility for school capital needs on the state legislators. But the state legislators would balk at that notions because raising taxes cost votes! No legislator will be willing to give up votes for the sake of the kids!
Charter school applicants know the rules of engagement when applying for a charter! Don’t like the rules of the game then stay out!
If charter schools want equal funding perhaps there should be equal admission policies! Traditional public school should be allowed to use same admission preferences as charters or charters be required to use the same as traditional public schools. Charters and traditional public schools are NOT equal and the disparities impact children and the quality of their education.
Some call DontDestroyChristina blog a coward because she would open the comment section. Is Jack Markell’s Blog open or comments? The odds are Jack doesn’t even write his own blog posts!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Totally wrong! All schools should be “charter” in the sense that they should all be smaller, more dynamic and flexible! They should have a focus, like arts, science, math, agriculture or whatever.
Online, at home, individual, lecture hall. The bricks and mortars, 7-3 industrial revolution hours and August to June agrarian society calendar is archaic and needs to go! Or stay, meaning, for example, there shouldn’t necessarily be only 3 hs that have basically the same operating hours or format in the christina or any school district.
School districts should be able to craft education for each student the best way that meets the students’ needs and if parents don’t like it, there should be enough options for them to go else where.
Championing “public” (government) schools and maintaining the status quo does nothing to help and only hurts.
Yes, absolutely we should destroy the christina school district, in its broke, bureaucratic, too large to be nimble form and create another one in its place with options on top of options for parents and students.
Having multiple, varied schools and educational opportunities also benefits teachers because, not only is the union in bed with the administration, and therefore useless in protecting and defending teachers, not to mention they can’t strike, with more schools and more opportunities, teachers will have more choices of where and how to work. There will be competition for their services, the best teachers will have salaries reflective of their skills. This doesn’t existent now due to the government run and union enabled education monopoly the currently exists.
Attacking the charters is wrong headed and undermines anyone’s credibility who claims to care for our states education. They are obvious government school/union hacks trying to keep the monopoly going to cover theirs or their friends ineptitude and maintain their ridiculous pensions and powerful positions.
Kilroy,
I shut down comments after Tom Way decided to morph into about 8 different pseudonyms and literally have a full fledged conversation with himself. I know because I ran a triple screen back trap IP catcher and nailed him. I got him from both home and work. That said, I decided he’d try smartphone or public library in his unquenchable thirst to refute truth so I chose to close comments on my blog.
I publish truth. I publish reality. NCS supporters are blinded by their own good thing. Yes, read that folks NCS is an OUTSTANDING school. But there are reasons for it that their supporters cannot/will not/refuse to confront…..because hose reasons touch places they don’t like to get in touch with: classism, poverty, fairness, bussing, Title 1, resegregation, desegregation, and yes, racism.
My blog is a public service, period
Thanks for putting up with the NCS crazies that I am now sending to you apparently.
DDC
“Totally wrong! All schools should be “charter” in the sense that they should all be smaller, more dynamic and flexible! They should have a focus, like arts, science, math, agriculture or whatever”
Not sure about smaller but they weren’t meant to replicate existing public schools which support your “dynamic”. I agree!
“School districts should be able to craft education for each student the best way that meets the students’ needs and if parents don’t like it, there should be enough options for them to go else where”
But thanks to federal intrusion and political aspirations like Markell’s all schools including charter are harmed in the way of self identity that often makes the creative and unique to the student population with. Delaware schools for many receive 9% federal funding and much of the compliance such as standardized test and preparation of consumes much of that grant money.
“Championing “public” (government) schools and maintaining the status quo does nothing to help and only hurts”
But charter are public schools and the argument is selective admission practices (not necessarily referring to NCS )
Unions are no more evil than politics that allow the business round-tables to dictate reform, You know, if legislators stop taking contributions from unions and PAC laced with union money, union wouldn’t really have any power! Also, why do we allow contributions for local elections within Delaware not national offices to be permitted?
“Attacking the charters is wrong headed and undermines anyone’s credibility who claims to care for our states education.”
Attacking traditional public schools for complaining about discriminatory admission practices is wrong headed and it undermines fair and equitable education promised to all children, Me, I support the charter school options and God bless parents who chose this option. My concern is solely with the charter school law as it pertains to fairness, transparency and civil rights. Newark Charter School is a wonderful school!
.
Typical pablum of government school monopoly supporter: “Charter schools are racist! Shut them down!”
Meanwhile, “nerds” and “dorks” and “geeks” in government schools are picked on and teased and made fun of by the “cool” kids, but so long as we teach them that America was founded by rich white racist “Christian” slave holders and they should have high self esteem, all will be fine.
Some people will stoop to any low to maintain the status quo!
SWL,
your argument is so viciously racist you don’t even realize it. Sad. Truly Sad.
That staus quo epithet you use is evidence of a mush brain that has been washed…..
DDC
I have been following this debate and feel now that I would like to weigh in. It seems that there are very few (with the exception of a few and you, Kilroy) that truely understand the nature of what a public school system must provide. The idea that charter schools can solve the problems of education and society is ludacris…as is the idea that schools in general can do as much. I mentor a young man in CSD who’s father is incarcerated and mother is in trouble. His behavior is eratic because of the unstable nature of his home life. He is often absent for days. Even if his mom filled out the charter forms and he was accepted, he wouldn’t last long. His behavior and attendance record would get him removed in short order. And where do kids who are removed from charters go? Their local school district. There are thousands of these kids and they are invisible to most of the parents that I read here who blindly advocate for charter schools. District numbers look the way they do because they must provide an education for every kid who walks through the door. Every kid who messes up and comes back again. It saddens me that parents who advocate for choice won’t step back and see what matters to our society beyond what is good for their family. A good society is one that recognizes and understands the needs of all. To say that Christina is failing is false. School ratings are based on ridiculous guidelines from the feds. I have kids in Christina. It is not failing them and it is not failing the boy I mentor. It is giving him chance after chance after chance that he would not get at a charter school. Our traditional public schools need support, not competition. I would love to see all of these parents who seem to have all of the answers become mentors. Just might change their perspective.
Charters may soon be the only option in the City of Wilmington.
http://www.delawareliberal.net/2012/02/17/red-clays-referendum-meeting-at-highlands/
City traditional schools will soon be extinct. ISDC has become DOE’s go to guy for all charter school options and in exchange for them ‘taking’ the blame for the issues city kids face they get to make a HUGE profit by managing city charter school’s. DSEA is in on the act which is why the well heeled and very liberal D activist at De College Prep got that city charter school to unionize.
This takes the Delaware Way to a all new level.
Another anecdotal perspective. Christina IS failing students! As are ALL school districts because they are BUREAUCRACIES! They don’t have the ability to individualize education. And by individualize, I don’t mean a teacher for every student. Some students do great in large groups, others don’t. Special ed doesn’t address that, so don’t even bother bringing it up.
Racist? Do you even know my race? Breaking up the monopoly will help students and families. What CSD and the rest of the status quo crowd do is simply rearrange chairs on the Titanic.
Kids fall threw the cracks everyday! Families should not be held prisoners by their zip codes!
If I am not mistaken, at Red Clay’s board meeting during a presentation it was mentioned that 50% of Warner’s students had a family member incarcerated. Some narrow-minded people will say too bad it’s the parents fault! But looking past that an the impact on a child that “trauma” impact children’s lives even schools work! I have seven years (part-time) experience working in a RTC Residential Treatment Center for emotional and sexually abused adolescents and I’ve been trained and learned that like it or not negative behavior is a form of communication.At times I would instruct a resident as we called them to go to their room for time out. Sometimes I would hear, I’ll kill you or your family! My usual response was, “you can do that some other time because now you need to go to your room.” If they refused it would result in a physical escort by me or with insistence of other trained and certified staff in passive physical restraint. I also worked full-time for the same organization in a foster treatment program with same types of kids placed in specialized foster-care. I’ve held some of the toughest kids in the state in down restraint and by time our session was over many would breakdown in tears. Odd is it may sound, for some of these kids a restraint was the only hug they got from an adult! I am saying this because today’s society produces children with heavy emotional baggage and those reforming out schools have no concept to the real needs. Where there is a dysfunctional child usually there is a dysfunctional family. HOWEVER, I can sympathize with parents who want to send their children to a school that is highly functional free of disruptions not to be confused with Glasgow High’s leaders ” distraction analogy, Charter school have the option of excluding and expelling disruptive students far from and no where near criminal behavior. Last time I look,oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder was associated with mental heath disorders making them candidates for legal disability status. Public schools do have ab obligation to serve special needs student and that is why we see school district responsible for providing alternative services, I wonder how charter school employees would feel if their healthcare provided no mental health coverage for them and their families and is they needed a Xanax for stress.
We have an education reform movement to allow school to pick and chose children like dogs from a kennel that often results in the runt of the litter being left behind. Some charter schools want just the show dogs and other thank God embraces the runts of the litter. Sadly with the federal and political inspired pressures on charter and traditional schools to produce rating like they are being graded like sides of beef by the USDA school become selected out of the need of self preservation. It seems goal one is survivability of the school and student needs second.
The original intent of public school going back to ESEA 1965 and Brown Vs The Board of education and cases before that all has one thing in common. All were concerned with the achievement caner in America between black and white students. A simple task but difficulty at time between teachers and student with in a room no more that 30 feet in size or less has expanded into a billion dollar industry we more people outside the classroom capitalize under the shroud of non-profit status than children are actually provided equatable education! One would think those who work at Rodel a nonprofit organization do it for free with no pay! Nonprofit means you better spend it all one way or another. Put it this way, not all nonprofits work in the name of God or social justice! In education it has become an industry where children of poverty has become the feeding grounds for self-serving monetary gain within the non-profit status!
America has become wild dogs to the extent of getting what they want for their child with no sense of passion concern or heart for other children, Yet when children leave the nest and safety of the little Camelots they enter he diverse jungle called America where they must exist with their human brothers and sisters
Sorry alsonewarkmom you spark my soul!
dontdestroychristina,
BTW – If I don’t realize it, please enlighten me as to how it is instead of the ad hominem attack.
I resent the “blindly advocating” statement in your post. Can we not have a dialogue without one side insisting that the other must simply be stupid or uninformed?
I also dislike the false tension between “what’s good for all” and “what’s good for my child” that’s set up between traditional and charter schools. I would never argue that charters can solve all of the problems in our education system. But I do think a system that includes charters CAN be good for all. I also am coming around to agree with Kilroy that charter law needs review and revision to ensure fairness. I am glad that your children are having a successful experience in Christina, truly, and I am sure there are many, many others who do as well. The kind of work you do with students who need special support is essential and is exactly why an all-charter system is not the answer. But can it not also be true that there are options charters can provide that complement what the school district can offer, and that these can co-exist without one consuming the other? Personally, I’m much more in favor of a system that includes public charters as an option than one where the only options beyond the traditional public schools are expensive private schools, or moving over the state line to PA figuring the higher property taxes are still cheaper than private school tuition, since the latter two options are only open to those who can afford them.
I don’t much care about test scores because I don’t think current standardized tests measure what they purport to particularly well. I do care about schools that offer high-quality educational opportunities at all levels, including those for high-achieving students. I absolutely care about safe, respectful, and supportive environments, which I do not believe Christina provides at the middle and high school levels. And while I don’t think standardized test scores are necessarily the best measures of learning, the fact is that they do get used that way, and Christina’s scores lag behind the state average in almost every demographic they serve. Clearly there is room for improvement relative to other districts, in any case.
The primer educators of children are their parents! They need to be empowered and held responsible for taking on this role. If, for whatever reason that can’t happen, it is not the states role to take over as parent. It is first and foremost the responsibility of family, extended family, friends, and of course, through tax funded and community supported government institutions, help should be given but, as kilroy as said, at least how I interpret it, the fight is over who is going to make the most money and have the most control by using the individuals, families and students who most need the most help!
Education is a huge cash cow and everybody knows it. Corporations and the education establishment alike!
One of the things that makes me saddest about the status quo in our society is that we have kids growing up in poor city neighborhoods, or in desperately impoverished rural areas, who are failed in so many ways as they grow up. Poor living conditions, poor parenting, poor nutrition, poor education (maybe not all of these occur for every kid, but for many, they do). Then these kids turn 18 and we turn around and expect them to magically become model citizens who conform to our standards of responsible adulthood. It’s a cruel joke. I agree…education *should* begin at home, it *should* include parent involvement and support. But as we fail generation after generation of poor kids, expecting them to grow up to become parents who provide that kind of support is just, well…it’s not going to happen. Empowering those parents is going to require breaking the cycle, and the current system isn’t going to allow it to happen (and neither are charters if the charters are only about who makes money off them).
Here’s a NCS supporter who doesn’t want charters. I want the public schools to educate. I want the pretense that all children are equal and thereby will reach the same level of intelligence or education, to go away. I want the recognition that just because your NOT at the lower end of the socio/ economic, academic, or “decorum” ladder doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be afforded the best education you can obtain. Educational equality doesn’t mean every child or parent should or will have access to the best schools. It means every child and parent has the opportunity to accel to “THEIR” personal best. At present, the New Castle County Public Districts DO NOT provide this opportunity. They instead work to try and bring up the lowest common denominator (either academic or disciplinary) to a low basic level. Those children capable of more are left to cruise on autopilot because there is little demand for them reach further. I speak from personal experience in public schools 20 years ago and having children in public schools in the last 5 years. Not much has changed.
Bussing/ Desgregation, has not been a panacea for educational excellence. WHERE PEOPLE LIVE AND WHAT THEIR CULTURAL / EDUCATIONAL VALUES are, cannot be controlled or corrected by the DOE, the districts, or teachers. Trying to correct a percieved wrong by maintaining an incongruent policy is lunacy.
Simply put, Private, Parochial, and Charter’s really shouldn’t be necessary IF the local districts are doing their job. All this discussion about access, choice, charter success or demise is the the result of the schoold districts, DOE and legislators playing fast and loose with money and political correctness.
DDC, you’re a hater. You throw insults out there as though you know more than the rest. Get real. “Classism”, Poverty, bussing?? What is your point really? Last I checked ALL the teachers I know willingly embrace ALL kids and try and teach ALL kids regardless of who they are until such time that the student demonstrates behavior or effort that negates their professional guidance. These teachers don’t look at the childrens parents’ paychecks or check their addresses. Racism certainly does affect decisions but I would argue that the racism playing out is reverse in nature rather than the role you portray. Bussing kids away from where they live to an area they unfamiliar or uncomfortable does far more harm than good. There is NO evidence that busing in New Castle County is improving academic achievement. So those that fought for busing due to self imposed segregration (and continued self imposed) want to blame instutional racism rather than address the cultural issues in place which NO SCHOOL can fix or counter.
Absolutely agree!! We as a society are the only ones who can do anything to break this cycle and that is why I believe in a fair educational system that can help our citizens caught up in poverty cycles break free of those cycles. From my perspective, the only way to do this is to reform our government run schools open to all.
I too am skeptical of those charters that are run by corporations for profit without community input, investment & oversight. I am skeptical of vouchers because it takes taxpayer dollars and puts them toward private and parochial ends and promotes an approach of exceptionalism that is impossible to scale.
Of course the government system has archaic features that need to be addressed (agrarian calendar, segregation) to better prepare all children not only as academic receptacles but as citizens, individually & collectively. There are a lot of people who stand to profit from NOT fixing public education…but not all of our kids and their long-term future.
to Stevenwilliamlee, I LOVE your comments!! Thank you for saying all the things that are jumbled up in my brain that I didn’t know how to state… and for things I hadn’t even thought of!!
Do you realize that people who through out words like yours don’t get taken very seriously? “NCS crazies”? ha ha ok. You can not say you publish truth and then put a blanket statement and call NCS supporters racist. I would love to show you a picture from my kids birthday party.. all NCS students. There were two African American kids, one Middle Eastern kid, three white kids, and one Filipino kid. I resent being called racist. Don’t worry, I have class, I wouldn’t show that picture or any other … or a video of OTHER PEOPLES KIDS WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT on any blog for my own agenda.
throw not through lol,
in response to your last paragraph – when you talk about ‘getting what they want for their child with no sense of passion or heart for other children’. I just don’t think that is fair. It really feels like that statement, and the words of alsonewarkmom, are telling charter parents that if we have a heart and care about humanity, we should send be fine sending our kids to CSD. Like you think we don’t want to send our kids to school with at risk kids. I know for me, and others who have posted, and people I know, that is NOT the problem. My problem is NOT with the kids, it is with whoever is running (or not running) the show. Also, when my kids ”leave the nest”, I hope that they have the best education that I could possibly provide for them.
Where can I get one of these “triple screen back trap IP catcher” things? It sounds awesome.
DDC, your blog is a public service to whom? To “haters” like you seem to be? Thanks, but no thanks.
I’d prefer to read a variety of view points without name-calling and one-sided, ill-informed nonsense. Kilroy provides a balance of viewpoints on a variety of education topics–not just charters. Try reading some, and instead of impulsively lashing out, allow yourself to absorb some of the ideas offered. You may be surprised at what you learn from others as Kilroy has so often said. He has learned a lot by the comments offered from both sides of these debates. I agree. So, DDC, why not open your mind and consider opposing opinions? Isn’t that what debate really is anyway?
BTW, we teach our kids not to call each other names. Maybe you could take a lesson from them, DDC. Just a thought.
If you can refrain from lashing out at me personally here on this site, you’re one step in the right direction. Kudos. Progress at last.
If you can’t help yourself, go ahead. Let me have it. I can take it. And the bonus…it will simply prove my point.
You obviously don’t read the blog because I don’t call names over there at all. I print news stories, research reports, post videos, etc and at worst…..ask questions that you just don’t like.
DDC, are you saying you haven’t called names on your site (comments) and here? I’m not surprised that is your response since a bully never admits fault.
why yes, that is exactly what I am saying.
Here’s the difference between a real blog and the one dontdestroychristina has:
Real blog: Post a quote or video. Post some thoughtful analysis that supports a thesis. Accept comments pro and con, supportive and annoying. Moderate a debate.
DDC blog: Post a quote or video. Post some question like “Notice anything?…” or “Hmmmm…..”. Get annoyed and offended when people comment, especially when they either have no idea what the point is you are making or they happen to disagree with your insinuated point. Shut down comments.
DDC,
It’s so easy now to deny the comments from your site since you deleted them. But right here on this post alone you’ve accused SWL of being “vicously racist” and for having a “mush brain”. And that’s just on this particular post. If you go back far enough there are so many other examples. “NCS crazies” comes to mind…
But yes, you’re right. Your site doesn’t have any name calling commentary anymore. In fact, your site doesn’t have any commentary at all. Blog-tastic for sure! Good to know you’re spending your energies on something positive to help Delaware’s children. Or did you forget that was the point?
There is a fundamental flaw in your argument. Public school districts CAN expel students. If memory serves, CSD expelled 18 students a few years ago. In most cases, however, there is simply too much red tape and bureaucracy for teachers and administrators to have the time to meet the district requirements to either place a student in an alternative setting or expel them. That leads some teachers and administrators to give up on the process. This harms the other students in the class and the student who needs a more appropriate setting. A few years ago, a student punched a female police officer in school. The News Journal quoted a district representative that the district would START enforcing the Code of Conduct.
I taught many students from similar backgrounds as the child to which you refer. Those students and most others respond when the rules are identified, clear, and enforced. Many of those students did well in that setting and then moved on only to get into trouble. Schools, traditional public and charter, that enforce the code of conduct consistently provide the best opportunity for all students to succeed.
Regarding the child for whom you are, commendably, a mentor, he needs a kind ear and the advice that society can’t fix his background. His only chance of improving his future lies in his desire and determination to escape his condition. It may not be fair but it is the truth.
DDC,
You claim that you reported facts. However, when I refuted a statement you made by pointing out a fact that the admission lottery at NCS was public and audited by DOE, your response was a sarctastic comment. It was something to the effect of repeating the quote and stating that it would keep you laughing until you went to bed.
When confronted with facts that go against your opinion, you simply dismiss them in a demeaning way. That refutes your claim that you publish truth.
I await your insulting and dismissive reply.
big key word.. smaller. I asked my son what he liked about his school and why he thought it ”worked”. Without hesitation, he said because it is small. He said people don’t usually fight with people when they all know each other, including the teachers and staff pretty much knowing all the students, or at least recognizing them. good points I think. I think some kind of respect forms when you are not anonymous to each other… although MOST are repectful to each other on here even with all of the ”mom’ and ‘dad’ names, lol.
Um, it is public. No one in the “public” actually sees the names, they do not spin the drum, no one is told how many phone call interviews occur PRIOR to drawing and the notion of the DOE auditing anything other than how many times they insult teachers and administrators is laughable.
yes, DDC there are mulitple phone interviews before the lottery.. If you meet their ”real” requirements (and what is it that you claim those requirements to be, white? according to your video I think that was it. Not really sure what any of the videos meant, just a guess here.). The next step is to make cards of braille with names of the elite children who will be accepted. Then they have the parent volunteers who work at the lottery, memorize those names. Oh, and then they have to learn braille so they will not mess up. NCS is sooo busted!! The truth is out! PSA: this was sarcasm.. had to mention that, I can totally see her having me subpoenaed to testify about the fixed braille lottery trial.
I wish there were a like button for comments! Very well stated Kilroy!
And I would say that the ‘war on poverty” and all of its various guises, including “free compulsory public education” for all is one of those failures.
If I opened a business of any kind, but especially a “school” like pretty much any non-charter public middle or high school in the RCSD or CSD, I’d be jailed for child endangerment.
Charters are not the answer, but less bureaucratic and more responsive districts that come into the 21st century are the answers.
I repeat, break up the education monopoly!
Agree almost 100%. There should be private school of every kind (vo-tech, arts, college prep, combo, etc.) as well as parochial, charter, non-charter, etc of every kind.
We have choices in day cares and colleges, but none in K-12. THAT’S the problem.
I hope, like Kilroy has apparently been doing, to say a lot more. This blog is awesome!
When I heard about the 3 teachers at Glasgow who were arrested/investigated for preying on children and basically nothing was/has been done other then in one case, it was the last straw for me.
One of those individuals, I am certain, is being protected by the principal and I can’t believe she doesn’t/didn’t know anything about what he had done for all these years, especially from what I’ve been told.
I went to public schools my whole life, K through Undergrad. I taught in ps for 4 years. I know it well and can’t take it anymore.
DDC, you’re blog isn’t offsensive? I beg to differ. You posted videos of kids cursing. How is that not offensive? An you are speaking as an advocate against chater schools? Sign me up for charter schools if this is the quality of education we are going to get from the traditional public schools in Christina.