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

[turil.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying anything about changing the amount of money going to schools!

I'm just saying that the allocation of funds should be at least somewhat under the control of the families using the schools. If a superintendent doesn't even want to work with the families on meeting their needs better, then it's time to either get rid of that superintendent, or to allow the parents to create their own programs, redirecting the money, proportionately, to the new programs based on how many students choose them. If Somerville has choice in schools (which they do) then this is entirely fair for everyone.

(As for actual amounts of funds schools get, I think they need a whole lot less than they are getting, though, because most of what they do is hugely wasteful! I went to public schools, all over New England, and they all were crappy. Even the ones in very wealthy areas. But that's a whole other ball of wax! Or, give them the same amount or more but get rid of all the laws, union rules, and anti-student politics that get in the way of students being able to learn what they want and need to learn in the ways that work best for them, rather than what some random politician believes they should do it. :-)

[veek.livejournal.com]

That's a nice vision. I think that if Somerville parents got as involved as you outline, actually grappling with the issues of where to direct funding and what kinds of programs to have/not have, we'd have one kickass system. I'm not sure the school board is ready for that, but am *really wishing* for *that* problem, you know? :)

I guess what I'm saying is, wouldn't it be cool if this charter school proposal touched off a massive restructuring of the decision-making process? *dreams*

Watch Waiting for Superman!

[turil.livejournal.com]

Having seen this movie about the problems with the educational system I really have a much better understanding of why it's impossible to change mainstream schools from within, at least with the current union rules and government laws. Charter schools are a band aid, at best. An even better option is for parents to band together and create DIY "home school" programs without any government involvement at all. There's one that some MIT folks started that may or may not be called Camp Kaleidescope (or was at least connected to that camp). It was a school run by maker types for maker types, from what I understand.

I'd love to see some mainstream programs allowed to stay in each school, and with the majority of the school being open-ended for pretty much anyone in the community to create classes and workshop spaces.

Re: Watch Waiting for Superman!

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

Not impossible to change schools from within :) But schools like Promise Academy are few and far between. Many are completely unsuccessful. I'm not really sure if I'm for or against this charter, but it's definitely not guaranteed to be great or even as good as the current schools.

Re: Watch Waiting for Superman!

[zubatac.livejournal.com]

At the moment, 66% of Somerville district public school students are eligible for subsidized school lunches, meaning that their family income is below 1.85 times the "official" poverty level (that comes out to ~$31K for a family of four). I'm sure all of their parents would be thrilled to take time off work to support a DIY home schooling program without any government involvement at all. =/

Sources:
http://projects.propublica.org/schools/districts/2510890
(which is a highly interesting waster of my work day information source in general), and
http://www.doe.mass.edu/cnp/nprograms/nslp.html