davis_square | Proposed new charter school

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klauspood.livejournal.com posting in

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

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From:

zubatac.livejournal.com

And as far as I can tell, the current charter school proposal is like leaving that restaurant in order to go to the new restaurant next door... which has a big sign saying "Pig Kitchen! Lard in every meal!". =)

In other words, I have so far failed to see what in the current charter school proposal is novel and improved compared to the district schools, other than the fact that it would not involve the "dreaded" Somerville School Committee. (And that includes the ELL offerings.)

Last I checked, the School Committee is an elected office. Perhaps the founders of the new charter school should consider that if they truly want to help all Somerville students.

From:

turil.livejournal.com

It will be a truly progressive, rather than the usual authoritarian/conservative approach, that is actually democratic. There are very few democratic schools in the world, so this would be revolutionary for Somerville! The application is fairly mild mannered sounding so I imagine that you could not understand the vast implications of such a unique approach of respecting and valuing the child's unique needs and interests, but trust me, it's a huge difference compared to mainstream schools.