Comments on: From the editor: Bold move, big risk

By: Caroline Grannan

Caroline Grannan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:15:15 +0000

IMPORTANT correction here

This quote from your commentary is misleading: ***”In other states, particularly California, public schools have been converted to charters and maintained the “catchment area.”***

This has happened with only ONE school in all of California — Locke High School in Los Angeles’ Watts area, which was taken over by the charter operator Green Dot and committed to serve neighborhood students assigned by default, rather than being entirely attended by students who chose it. Press coverage (in the L.A. Times and elsewhere) has emphasized that this is unique among California charter schools.

Locke has had only one set of test scores since Green Dot took it over, with zero improvement. Scores either remained flat or dropped.

I can’t speak for other states, though I would challenge anyone to name any charter schools anywhere else that enroll students by default.

I’m a San Francisco parent activist and education blogger (and, full disclosure, a charter skeptic).

By: Alexander Ooms

Alexander Ooms — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:41:24 +0000

Important to note that the catchment area for charters would (at least so far) only apply to charter schools located in District buildings. This makes sense to me, in that these schools are taking District capacity.

There are a variety of enrollment programs both at and within District schools (magnet, G&T, etc), and I think this is a start towards some differentiation within the charter model.

By: Peter Huidekoper

Peter Huidekoper — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:08:54 +0000

Let’s praise boldness. Let’s be wary, though, of praising what strikes me as an attempt to redefine a charter school. Today’s Denver Post uses a phrase, “Charter schools are typically schools of choice,” and I stared at the word typically and wondered if and when they are anything but schools of choice. OK, I grant that Ridge View Academy –a residential program for young people serving time in the division of youth corrections—is not. Maybe the Brighton example Alan speaks of also fits. But what is a charter school? Can a district decide what it means? Go to the Charter Schools Act of 1992: “to provide parents and pupils with expanded choices in the types of education opportunities that are available within the public school.” Assigning students to a building is not the same as families choosing a program, its mission, and its culture. Further: “… to encourage parental and community involvement with public schools,” which happens to a large degree by the act of choice, rather than by being the “default” position, sending a son or daughter because it’s what nearby. Further: “a charter school application… shall include …(a) mission statement,” which is not—We are here to become what the neighborhood wants us to be, and we will adapt our mission statement year by year based on an annual poll of …. If you want success it might be absolutely critical to create a school around a clear mission—and not to have the mission compromised by being told—first and foremost, you will be a neighborhood school. No, first and foremost we established charters to be schools of choice. And if in the process they can serve a good many folks—or most—or all—in the neighborhood well, great. But not let’s not change the priority; to do so seems to me to redefine what it is to be a charter. It’s baffling to think a superintendent can announce “there will be absolutely no distinction between charter … and district schools.” Can a superintendent just make up any definition he thinks will do?

By: Alexander Ooms

Alexander Ooms — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:34:51 +0000

Alan – just want to chime in that West Denver Prep welcomes the opportunity to partner with the District on an geographic-specific model for some charters. We think this is an important and worthy development in public education, and hope that we can continue to serve the needs of parents who entrust us with their kids. We fully support the District’s proposal and look forward to working with parents in both communities.

By: van schoales

van schoales — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:17:32 +0000

While no plan is perfect and many details will need to be worked out, this is the most impressive plan I have seen from DPS on school improvement since moving to Colorado in 1996. This is the first time that I have seen the district integrate a set of best practices from other urban districts into a Denver context. Denver is often lagging 5-10 years behind other urban districts. It is also the first time that I have witnessed the district design an improvement strategy that puts kids ahead of adults. It’s a brave and audacious start.

By: Robert Reichardt

Robert Reichardt — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:09:30 +0000

I think this is the obvious next step for charters. To be sustainable, people have to be able to attend the “public” schools that are in their neighborhood when the only other option is miles away.

By: Guerin Green

Guerin Green — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:05:02 +0000

Absolutely spot on, Alan. This is a great precis of what is happening, and what is at stake. Honestly, I do not think that DPS has thought this through at the level of detail that you have just expressed.

“The district is going to have to do a far better job explaining its plans to the community than Chief Academic Officer Ana Tilton did last night at Lake. Tilton seemed unprepared; she gave stumbling, incomplete, occasionally inaccurate answers to the kinds of basic, informational questions the district must have known were coming. What she said hardly inspired confidence in the sparse audience.”

I will add that the district must do a better job of counting noses– the numbers in Lake plan are at best mythical, and put the whole enterprise at risk, no matter how you view the experiment. DPS need to be absolutely, fanatically transparent in both its projection of enrollment for the Lake diaspora- which is actually four schools, and how it will fund, and at what level, the remaining public school part of Lake (the residual IB program).