Most Democrats think vouchers and charter schools are ideological attempts to privatize our public educational system. I know I do. So I was struck by the irony of the current objections to artificially high standards and penalties by those same advocates. One of the first charter all girl schools, Milwaukee Spectrum, known for enrolling "at-risk" girls from MPS hasn’t met with it’s contractual obligations for academic progress and attendance.
In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report, “there had…been cases of classes being taught by teachers without proper credentials…(and) administrator Peter Dundon said at a recent meeting that the low rate of academic success "was due to the 'losers' the school has enrolled…to be able to earn 4.5 academic credits in one year.”
Where have you heard a statement like this: “Dundon said the contract with MPS has been progressively punitive with rules that increase costs to the school.” That’s right, from those evil unionized teachers living the high life on taxpayer dollars.
No Child Left Behind is punitive and takes funding away, even though according to Dundon, the “rules increase costs to the school.”
"They create an environment that they knew would be difficult to meet, then
they grade you on it," said Dundon.
So there you have it, taxpayer funded private schools are now making the same argument the public schools have been making for years, that NCLB “created an environment they knew would be difficult to meet.”
And when your taking in “at risk” students, would it surprise anyone that the test results are below average. “In Wisconsin's standardized tests given last fall, 10th-graders…performed below the average for MPS in each of five subjects. Only 5% of the students were rated proficient in math or science and 29% in reading.” I’m actually sympathizing with the charter school. Public schools, who must take in all available children, losers and winners, have had similar problems.
And somehow, NCLB expects all public schools to be perfect by 2014.
Note 1: Dundon definitely could have chosen a better word than “loser”, and he acknowledged that: "You take in students who are two years behind and totally truant. Give it another word," Dundon said. "We take students who are losers and turn them into winners."
Note 2: MPS officials said Ramona Phillips, who was fired as Spectrum principal in March, has submitted a proposal to open a similar program beginning in September 2009. That would be called Pristine High School for Girls. Would the private sector dare recycle bad administrators? Nah, only unions protect failed members.
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