DOE money to flow to schools which defy their unions. To districts which form charter schools.

madfloridian

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Sat Oct-24-09 10:52 PM
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DOE money to flow to schools which defy their unions. To districts which form charter schools.

There is a name for that which I hesitate to use. In reality it is union busting. It is undermining the teachers' unions by offering money to the districts to form charter schools.

The Los Angeles area is one of the most heavily hit by takeovers by charter school companies. In fact this year up to 250 public schools will be put up to outside bidders.

One place to start looking at the tremendous growth of these seemingly grass-root groups of parents is in the city of Los Angeles where not only 250 schools have been given the bums rush out of the corridors of public management, but they are due to be thrown into the laps of non-profit outfits like Green Dot Public Schools or Alliance Public Schools, to name just a few. It is truly astounding, for in the case of the non-profit school systems that are emerging, these non-profit EMO’s are bent on creating a new, national retail chain of charter schools with outlets in as many states and school districts they can possibly get their hands on and their tactics are not unlike the ‘grass-root’ town hall health care meetings.

These schools are being released from "public governance", and will be turned over to charter school companies...to bidders outside the public school system.

They appear to be organizing there in Los Angeles to fight these takeovers. Unfortunately most union leaders are going along with Arne to get the money....and that is to the consternation of teachers overall.

From Labor Notes:

Teacher Reformers Prepare for Battle over Public Education

LA teachers, parents, and students rallied against the school district's summer decision to open hundreds of public schools to charter bids--a move spurred on by President Obama's "Race to the Top" fund. Teachers from LA, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., met before the school year began to shape an alternative to the plan. Photo: UTLA

The president’s “Race to the Top” fund, championed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, promises billions in federal dollars to cash-strapped states. But there will be “winners and losers,” Obama says. The unprecedented payout takes a bead on the teachers unions: money will flow to districts that alter pay and seniority provisions in union contracts and states that roll out the carpet for (mostly non-union) charter schools. The reformers will meet again in October for a workshop on gearing up their unions to fight. They’ll organize forums and joint press releases in each city before the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention in Seattle next year—where they will bring a vision of education reform that puts educators, not “education management organizations,” in the driver’s seat.

EMOs sound suspiciously like HMOs, which are not regulated either. And unions are the losers.

It is not just Los Angeles. But they are the main target.

The Los Angeles Unified School District took a big step in that direction in August. Charter operators and other groups will get a crack at running 250 city schools—including 50 brand new, taxpayer-funded buildings.

In effect Los Angeles is turning their schools over to outside management, and there is a lack of regulation and oversight.

Not just Los Angeles. From Chicago...problems arising.

In a gentrifying Latino neighborhood in Chicago, Kristine Mayle learned firsthand about the “renaissance” Obama’s Department of Education wants to bring to the rest of the nation. The district shut down the award-winning De La Cruz middle school where she worked until last year, citing low enrollment and the need for major renovations—only to lease the building to the charter operator United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) a year later for $1.

...."UNO has a reputation for cherry-picking students—Mayle says UNO students were routinely kicked back to her school. And the operator hires very few special education teachers, failing to maintain De La Cruz’s legacy as a highly touted special ed provider.

People argue and say charter schools don't cherry-pick. Yes, they do. I taught many of those rejected myself before I retired.

And from New York. Bloomberg is doubling the number of charter schools this year. He has total control of the public schools, so there is no arguing with him. There is no room, so the traditional public school students are being moved aside so the charters can move into the buildings. My first thought...what if they don't move out?

NEW YORK: Two floors, "two tiers" of treatment.

Public School 123, for example, now shares a building with Harlem Success Academy, after the city’s Department of Education (DOE) forced the elementary school (good test scores and all) to relinquish its third floor to the charter operator. Over the summer, HSA hired contractors to dismantle classrooms while district dollars paid for renovations—of HSA’s floor only. Parents and teachers gathered outside, chanting, “Paint the whole school!”

When classes began in September, teachers and parents protested again after finding the school in disarray: movers had piled teachers’ equipment into unmarked boxes to make way for HSA. A special education class was moved to a dusty basement, and other classes were pushed into the library.

Did you read that carefully. The Success Academy painted only their parts while parents begged them to paint the whole school. Did you read that? They moved teachers' equipment to make way for their charter. They are taking over the public school.

No matter what one's opinion of charter schools, public schools, no matter how hard one tries to defend this.....it is almost impossible to make this okay.

As a retired teacher, it breaks my heart to see the disrespect shown to public education by a Democratic Secretary of Education with the blessing of the Democratic president.