Proposed new charter school

[klauspood.livejournal.com]

There is a proposal for a new charter school in Somerville. The state (DESE) will be reviewing the application for the next few weeks and will possibly grant the charter on February 28th. If granted this charter school will undermine the existing Somerville Public Schools by reducing school funding by nearly $5 million a year, which is almost 10% of the current school budget. This cut in funding will lead to devastating cuts in public school programs, loss of 60 -75 teachers, and potentially closure of an entire school. This would represent a huge set back for public education in Somerville, setting back much of the progress that has been made in our schools in the last 25 years.

There will be a public hearing by the DESE on this on December 14 2011 at Somerville High School. More info can be found at:

https://sites.google.com/site/progresstogetherforsomerville

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/21168

http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=6532

Comments

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I'm interested, but I can't help but feel this is a classic one-sided story as presented. How much of what you say will be lost will actually just be shuffled over to the charter school? Is it that Somerville will lose 60-75 teachers or that somerville will lose 60-75 unionized teachers? Will school funding drop by $5m per year or will funding to unionized schools drop by $5m, while the same amount goes to the charter school? Is the money gone or just reshuffled? Will the charter school serve the same population that the current schools serve or will we be using money from the Somerville school budget on students from other communities? Will the school serve only the best student or will enrollment be open?

I'm not anti-union by any stretch, but this post stinks of exaggeration. If it were as dire as you say, how would it possibly pass? What's the real decision being made here?

Here's a litte more info for balanced reporting. :-)

[turil.livejournal.com]

http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/education/x1638750236/Local-parents-proposed-charter-school-for-Somerville#axzz1f1VMqDim

Long story short, the superintendent seems to be totally uninterested in working with the families who want better schools for their kids, and so they decided to get together with a variety of different folks to create a program that serves their more progressive educational needs. The program will ONLY serve Somerville residents, apparently.

Re: Here's a litte more info for balanced reporting. :-)

[klauspood.livejournal.com]

no, in the application Medford is listed as a feeder school.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/medford/topstories/x1626870826/Medford-School-Committee-opposes-new-Somerville-charter-school#axzz1funQHBl2

I don't see an application listed there...

[turil.livejournal.com]

Perhaps things have changed. Impossible to know without seeing the actual paperwork.

Re: I don't see an application listed there...

[zubatac.livejournal.com]

I live to serve:
http://www.thespcs.org/home/official-documents/SPCS_Final_Application_2011-12.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

OK, confirmation: ONLY Somerville residents can attend the school

[turil.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Re: OK, confirmation: ONLY Somerville residents can attend the school

[zubatac.livejournal.com]

Er, where do you think you saw this confirmed? I didn't see anything about it in the application, but the SPCS web site says this:

Who is eligible to attend?
All resident of Massachusetts are eligible to attend a State charter school. Realistically, since Somerville residents will have enrollment priority, most if not all students will be Somerville residents.

http://www.thespcs.org/home/faqs

Re: Here's a litte more info for balanced reporting. :-)

[808.livejournal.com]

Thanks! This was useful.

I have a kid, but she is not school-aged yet. I also have a PhD in science education (from Tufts) and as part of that spent some time doing research in both public and charter schools (mostly middle schools). My experience is that charter schools are all over the map in terms of quality. The good ones are a combination of strong thematic elements and a public/private sponsorship. The bad ones are the purely public ones that do nothing more than try to replicate a public education, but without the oversight. It's a complex issue that should not be judged as white and black.

Based on what's in this article alone, I think it sounds like a good idea. It will serve almost 500 students who have been identified as needing special help (immigrants and first generation) and provide a learning environment that is not available to public schools (native language classrooms).

As to whether Somerville should love $5 million to educate those 500 students, I can't say. I haven't looked into it in detail. But, generally, immigrant students cost a *lot* more to educate than native students because they have a higher special education rate.

Re: Here's a litte more info for balanced reporting. :-)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I don't believe their actual proposal makes any claims that it would provide native language classrooms. (Neither does the article - it mentions an after-school program - optional and perhaps even for pay, is what that wording makes me thingk -- that would provide "instruction in students native languages", according to the Somerville Journal.) I have not read the proposal, but I am not sure that that "instruction" is acutally, you know, math lessons being taught in Spanish, rather offering enrichment classes in Spanish, French, and Portugu

The UNIDOS program in the SPS does in fact have two-way bilingual Spanish-English instruction, fwiw.

I don't believe they address how these particular most needy 500 students (iin a school that will only take 180 students ramping up to 425, btw) would get any preferential treatment in admissions or even be encouraged to apply, either. (They *can't* give them preferential treatment., in fact - charter schools have to run neutral lottery, in theory.)

In Somerville, students in need ofthe most English-language learning help are actually bused to whatever school building has the language program they need. The Charter won't provide that transportation.

Bottom line: I don't see any reason why it would

Re: Here's a litte more info for balanced reporting. :-)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Bottom line: is missing. Sorry. Bottom line: I don't see any reason to convince me that a charter school is an effective way to specifically enroll english language learners or to provide Somerville's more economically challenged or more academically challenged immigrant community with access to more educational opportunities.

Why it will help...

[turil.livejournal.com]

It will expand the options for families. Rather than having just one dual language program that they have to compete to get into, there will now be two, each with their own different approach.

is the charter really dual language?

[wonggo.livejournal.com]

Can you point me to the source that the charter school will have a dual language program, equivalent in quality to Unidos? I thought they were offering 1/2 hour of language instruction a day, plus an optional after school program.

Re: is the charter really dual language?

[turil.livejournal.com]

"SPCS will expand our city’s educational options by offering a fully progressive, democratic school that is designed to meet the needs—and capitalize on the strengths—of Somerville’s large immigrant population."

Seems pretty much in the basic goal of the school. Plus, since it's a democratic school where the kids get to make decisions it's clear that, at least in theory, that every kid would get the kind of environment that best serves their own unique intersts and needs.

Again, this is a huge challenge to pull of, but it's at least a worthy goal that is better than mainstream authoritarian/politically governed schools.

Re: Why it will help...

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

But there won't. The SPCS as desscribed would NOT have a dual language program. It will have optional afterschool enrichment programs in French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Then what is...

[turil.livejournal.com]

"In the lower grades, students will have a minimum of 105
minutes each day of ELA"

Also, remember this is a democratically run school, so what the parents, teachers, and students want, collectively, is what they will do.

Plus, they specifically say they offer afterschool programs to help work with students in three different non-English languages.

Re: Then what is...

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Yup, that'd be the French, Spanish, and Portuguese afterschool enrichment I mentioned.

ELA is the currently used acronym for "English and Language Arts" -- What your schol growing up might have called reading or language or English class depending on grade level, decade, and what sort of school you went to. That's not unique to whether kids are learning English as a second language, proficient in English, native speakers, or what. And it's certainly not a dual-language immersion program.

[klauspood.livejournal.com]

Here is an update on the costs to the existing schools:

Year one: 100% reimbursement for 180 students, no loss to the district schools.

Year two: no new students, 25% reimbursement for 180 students. 180 x .75 x $13,000 = $1.75 million loss to district schools.

Year three: 60 new students whose costs are fully reimbursed. Same $1.75 million loss to the district schools.

Year four: 60 new students fully reimbursed, 240 students reimbursed at 25%. 240 x .75 x $13,000 = $2.34 million loss to district schools.

Year five: 60 new students, 300 reimbursed at 25%. 300 x .75 x $13,000 = $2.925 million loss to district schools.

Year six: 360 students reimbursed at 25%. 360 x .75 x $13,000 = $3.51 million.

There are other factors such as the mix of students – the city will pay more if the school succeeds in attracting English Language Learners (kids who aren’t fluent in English) than if the school falls short. This may have something to do with why the School Department’s numbers are higher, I don’t know.

But even with the charter organizers’ numbers, these are very big cuts.

Keep in mind, the total budget of an elementary school, like the Brown School is $1.7 million. The Winter Hill Community schools budget is $3.7 million.

By year two , we lose an entire school.