RALPH BAILEY: On charter schools, educators missing the big picture
| Saturday, Dec 18 2010 12:00 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Dec 18 2010 12:00 PM
We're considered to be one of the "dumbest" counties in the state, with graduation and dropout rates that would make "The Dead End Kids" look like Rhodes scholars and still many educators remain blind to the goal and vital role charter schools play in the future of our educational system.
It happened again Tuesday when the Kern County Board of Education said no to this newfangled idea and to folks in McFarland. However, logistics more than ideology more than likely failed folks in the north county and their bid for an online charter school.
And now Barbara Grimm-Marshall and the folks out at Grimmway Farms must wait and hope they've answered all the questions necessary to get their academy off the ground in Arvin.
While educators continue to pooh-pooh the idea of charter schools, many refuse to see the forest and continue to concentrate solely on test scores and money.
"What a lot of people fail to recognize is charter schools represent the fundamental right of parents to have a direct say in their child's education," said state Sen. Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, former superintendent of the Bakersfield City School District.
While Fuller refused to say it was a money grab, she did concede, "Superintendents must answer to their board, Ralph. They are responsible for those scores and the funding."
Meantime, the county education board and any other tackling this issue should openly discuss the pros and cons of charters and educate parents, many of whom have never heard of several provisions in the law such as one that allows them to effect a citizens' coup d'état.
It's called "the parent trigger." If 51 percent of the parents at a given school sign a petition, they can force radical change. No board. No superintendent. Just concerned parents who want to change the school management team or most of the staff or who also have the alternative of turning the school into a charter.
The provision has grown faster than Facebook. Several states, including Illinois and Connecticut, are considering adopting the measure. Here the state allows only 75 such schools and in Los Angeles, former Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan, chairman of the board for Inner City Education Foundation, operates 15 charters and has plunked down more than $2 million of his own money for schools located in south and southwest Los Angeles.
In addition, a group called "Parent Revolution" spearheads many of the parental mutinies in the southland, including a controversial attempt in the Compton Unified School District where the need for further transparency reared its ugly head.
Charges of misconduct were leveled against petition organizers, who allegedly intimidated folks to sign the petition. Supporters supposedly told undocumented parents they'd be sent back to their home country if they did not sign the petition in favor of the charter.
The accusations fly from both sides. Organizers insisted that teachers at Compton's McKinley Elementary who discovered a charter movement was afoot began warning students about the dangers of charters and how their school would be negatively affected.
Similar allegations that charters take money away from traditional schools were raised here last week as well.
Charter supporters say they believe the districts have lost sight of the prize.
"It is all about the money," said Damon Smothers, a local licensed educational psychologist. "It's never been about the kids and I only wish someone would step up and just tell the truth."
Arvin Union School District Superintendent Michelle McLean was recently quoted in The Californian conceding that very point. She said the district would lose close to $19 million over a five-year period if Grimm-Marshall gets her wish and gets her academy off the Arvin ground.
But I believe charters are held to an odd standard. If they succeed, opposition claims it's because they have chosen students much like private schools, so the kids and parents are more motivated.
Not so!
Charters must accept whoever wants to sign up, including special education students. But if they get off to a slow start, like Paramount Bard, our most recent charter in Delano, detractors hurriedly cite their early test scores as proof of failure.
In fact, Paramount Bard has adopted a college preparatory regimen, which includes longer class hours, more humanities and a theory of learning that is so unique it's creating a teaching school for the faculty. And students will be garnering enough college credits to earn associate's degrees, cutting college costs in half.
Charter schools have never been nor will they ever be the complete cure to our educational woes. However, they are a first step in allowing parents direct say in the curriculum and, mostly in poorer neighborhoods, provide a choice, a fighting chance, some hope.
Ralph Bailey, who hosts a talk show on AM 1560 KNZR, is one of four community columnists whose work appears here every Saturday. These are the opinions of Bailey, not necessarily The Californian. You can e-mail him at rbailey@bakersfield. com. Next week: Heather Ijames.
