When Charter Schools Suck the Life out of Public Schools. St. Pat’s day opinion:
There’s nothing wrong with providing families with options. When charters open in their own privately financed, state-of-the-art buildings in poverty-stricken neighborhoods where they’re welcomed by the community, there may be reasons to celebrate. But when charters co-locate in mixed-income areas, choice is only half the story.
Linda Rosenfeld, author of "I’m so Happy For You," wrote a great op-ed on the charter threat in her neighborhood.
Instead of sending taxpayer funds to another Success Academy (the in-the-works-charter school that had a salesperson handing out leaflets to little kids about the possibility of a new charter school nearby), why not use that same money to try to turn some of the less popular elementary schools into institutions that, Linda’s children’s school, to attract parents from across the socioeconomic spectrum? In studies, a mix of rich and poor has been shown to lift up those at the bottom of the economic rung. As for the privileged families, isn’t it better for them not to spend their entire lives around people exactly like them?
if you’re getting squeemish or board. Then just read a bit of Linda’s op-ed. She does a better job than I do.
And I must leave the farm to a T.C. Boyle signing/talk. hmmm. Which is really an excuse to go drink a lot of green beer (well, it’ll be skinny-bitch- margaritas for me today. But I’ll toast with a green glass). with my folk.
Cheers to all you Irish whose ancestors saved Civilization! (a must read by Thomas Cahill).
Anita Thompson
