Posted on 10/16/2005 10:48:31 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Charter school enrollment in California has exploded over the past two years, a sign that parents are desperate for solutions to the public school fiasco. Trouble is, the education establishment doesn't want to pay much attention to this trend, especially in Los Angeles, where school district unions and administrators try hard to ignore the glaring fact that charters are extremely popular with parents and growing numbers of teachers.
According to the California Charter School Association, there are 574 charter schools in the state - 86 just within the LAUSD, 20 more than the year before. At this rate, by 2012, 20 percent of all public school students will be enrolled in charter schools, maybe even more.
Parents clearly favor this brand of small, intimate education that involves them over the consistent failures of the traditional classroom.
It behooves educators such as those at the LAUSD to take charters seriously. And it would be a start to offer more than the $50 million they've set aside for charters out of the $4 billion bond they're asking voters to approve next month.
Obviously some parents do care about their kids enough to ensure they do get an adequate education.
NEA Airlines
Coming to a mountain side near you soon.
We can only hope that the homeschool movement and Charter schools success will crush the NEA. The politicians fear them.
It would be nice here if the government bureaucrats (in the state leg.) who run the schools here would allow neighborhood schools some of those things. They pile on more regulations each year for community schools, but look the other way on charter schools.
I'm working with a group of parents to start a charter in San Jose. You might remember, we are also trying to split San Jose Unified.
We started on the charter because we feel like we can get help for our children quicker, and then we will focus on splitting the district.
Never heard of a "neighborhood school." Is that another name for "Government school under total control of the NEA?"
I remember quite well.
Good luck!
Never heard of a "neighborhood school." Is that another name for "Government school under total control of the NEA?"
HEHE. Nope. It's the school in my neighborhood. That makes me wonder. Did Mr. Rogers have one in his neighborhood?
Administrators going for a major raise and expansion of their useless ranks.
How much is required for illegal alien education? PC, sodomite and anti-Christian programs?
Yes, I don't like it when administrators go for big raises, much as I don't like it when I see the same in other areas too.
I'm with you on illegal alien education pretty much and the PC stuff from both sides too. I don't like any gay stuff around kids either. Our parents trained us how to deal with it so if we had had to do so in our community's schools, we would have been able to. We did get plenty of religious education too (that includes my brother still in high school).
I'm glad that others have the choice to have children and to complain about it too.
One of my teachers said that Walter Mondale was going to pull off the biggest upset of all time. :) Now that's funny. Funny that the teacher has that much time.
I taught PE (elementary) for two years. One of the students went home and told her mom that I was requiring them to come to PE dressed in shorts and t-shirts and that I didn't like the girl's overalls. I had NEVER said any of those things and never had any problem with the girl. The mom bawled out the daughter's fifth grade teacher twice without coming to me. After the third time, she came to me and things were resolved in two minutes. The daughter never said anything that wasn't true and the parent became a big supporter and a nice acquaintance.
I taught high school history for three years in CA after college (65-68). They were the best schools in the country, at the time. New York also had excellent schools. But once I left, scores began to plummet. :) It is as if they were deliberately destroyed. I also note that Stanford still does experimental programs to improve schools in East Palo Alto, even though 40 years of such attention has not improved the situation. My children went to midwestern schools that deliberately skipped all of the experimentation of that period.
Since you left? You must have had an impact:). Yes, some of those midwestern schools are pretty good. There was some experimentation when I was going through (some obe, though not in my classrooms), but the schools have remained community centers. My high school principal is still a legend even though he died 8 years ago. It's been nice to see that some of my classmates (many of them good solid people) have gone back and now teach at some of the local schools. A couple of my brothers and sisters have had them. There have been MANY societal factors going into California education it seems, not the least of which may include the illegal immigration problem as well as the changing demographics and attitudes.
Yes, it was called "the land of make believe" kinda like the elementary school I attended: we "pretend" that we are a "blue ribbon school" while giving the kids the shaft and demoralizing the good teachers.
From firsthand experience, there are a few things that demoralize teachers (I'm not talking about the without morals meaning here;). One is other teachers who make the profession look bad. No one resents that more than I. Another is those who encourage disrespect towards teachers. Yes, there are good teachers out there, but sometimes the remarks tend to seem to include ALL teachers. There are all sorts of factors we can look at.
Regardless of the teacher, my parents expected us to get our butts to class and learn something. We were expected to be well-behaved. If somethng did come up, we were able to deal with it as we were given the tools to do so. TV was for after homework was done and playing with friends (in secondary school) was usually left for weekends AFTER our jobs were done and NOT on Sundays because of the Sabbath. Religion and family were paramount in importance and we got plenty of both of them.
Nothing buoys a teacher like a good compliment from a parent. I hear many from the parents of students in my neighborhood (I live in my school boundaries), but often they aren't said directly to the teacher. I tell parents when I hear good compliments about their kids and teachers when I hear good compliments about them too.
I am lucky though, I head compliments a lot--many of them probably undeserved. For some reason, I just get blessed every year to have great students and parents.
I wish I had the opportunity to complain about my child. When the time comes, if it ever does, that I can have one, I will probably complain:-(). More likely, I will love that child every day and never stop thanking God for the opportunity to have one. For now, I never stop thanking God for the many things I have been blessed with already.
More likely it was unions.
One component probably, but hardly ALL of it.
I did like the student union building in college though.
It means a school without busing, aka, no magnet programs.
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