Alternative schools?

@msolga,

Thanks Olga.

I intend to really check it out. After the interview they give a tour and the kids have to have a shadow day where they attend a day of school before they're accepted.

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Here's an interesting article about charter schools and how they discriminate against disabled children:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-21/oprah-backed-charter-school-denying-disabled-collides-with-law.html

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@boomerang,

I think the part about lower funding per student in charters is interesting. I wasn't expecting that. I thought that there would be equal funding for all students within the public system.

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@ehBeth,

It's because of the buildings.

As I pointed out earlier, the tax breaks companies receive to build the schools are a real money maker.

My neighbor's kid has a disability and attends a charter school.

His disability?

Aspergers. He's a math savant.

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@boomerang,

Interesting. The folks I know in the U.S. who have children in charter schools were the developers of their schools. No big companies involved.

They've all been very happy with the results of their charter schools for their children. I do understand a bit more now about the fund-raising they've had to do for their schools.

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Charters are really, really variable.

That's built into the system -- it's supposed to foster innovation, and so there is a lot of freedom.

Different schools do different things with that freedom.

I was involved with a couple of Deaf charter schools (one that exists, one that I was trying to create), and those were both excellent schools. (Especially the one I was trying to create! Smile

) (Never happened though.)

The fact that so many charter schools are shady was a real obstacle by the time I was trying to get mine together.

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They had a real problem with charter schools in the Columbus, Ohio area after the state passed the enabling legislation. A couple were scams which folded when it came time to actually set up a school and run it. One notorious case in Columbus was a charter supposedly tailored for black students, which proved to be completely unprepared to teach, and in which the founder, a retired career soldier, was alleged to have physically abused the students. Many people in the area developed a knee-jerk reaction of charter school=scam.

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@Setanta,

Yeah, I think I've heard about that.

When I was heavily involved in trying to set up a Deaf charter school, that was in Chicago.

This is the existing one I had in mind -- I wasn't involved in any meaningful way (I didn't help set it up), just knew about it and have been impressed by it:

http://www.mdsmn.org/

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I think as much as the problem of the scams was the problem that when a high quality charter school was set up, people didn't want to believe it because they were skeptical. Off to read your link . . .

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@Setanta,

YES, definitely.

MDS was one of the very earliest charter schools (I think the second one at all in America). It's a very good school and I'm happy it exists. I'm not sure that it could've started now, because of the suspicion.

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I think there are good charter schools but I think we're right to be suspicious. The whole idea has really been bastardized.

I didn't sleep well last night so I got up and started poking around the TED talks and came across this presentation by a teacher now at a charter school that I'm sure is a very good one:

(It's not completely related to the topic but it's still interesting)

Soz, a transcript can be found here, if you're interested: http://www.ted.com/talks/diana_laufenberg_3_ways_to_teach.html

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@boomerang,

It is interesting, boomer.
"Embracing failure" as a an important aspect of the learning process.
I really like that!

These Ted talks you post from time to time are really interesting.

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@boomerang,

Thanks for the transcript!

That was the subject of last Sunday's NYT cover article, too:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/09/18/magazine/18-magcover-20110918/18-magcover-20110918-sfSpan.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html

Very good article.

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Mo was wait listed at the school when they did admissions but we just got a call that they've had some openings! We have an interview tomorrow!

Fingers crossed.....

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@boomerang,

Great!

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@boomerang,

Please let us know! We are all rooting for him and wish you all the best.

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Fingers crossed here.

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He's in!

He loved it. He's actually excited about going there -- even if it does start two weeks earlier than regular school.

Yeah!!!

Alternative schools?

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