Business law fundamentals and applications

Charter Schools: Wave of the Future?

The best examples of models for family, community and school collaboration are those which combine the forces of family, church (as well as other community organizations) and the public school. This is especially true amongst parochial schools. On the other side of the coin, charter schools have proven to be very successful as well by incorporating the best of the private world, namely choice. In this case they have incorporated the very best of the private and parochial school world by incorporating accessibility features similar to many public schools. As usual, combining the best of both or all worlds is usually the way to go. Unfortunately, religious and ethnic intolerance jeopardizes this innovative test ground for educational change. While the author sees it as the best alternative for the future of education in America, the basic traditions of ethnic and religious tolerance as well as academic excellence must be maintained at all costs and with no compromise.

First, we must define what a charter school is. Charter schools are secondary or primary schools that receive public funding but are not subject rules and laws that apply to other public school. They receive this funding in return for certain types of public accountability as set forth in the school's charter, hence the name charter school. The school's students attend by choice. While an alternative school to other public schools, they are considered part of the public educational system and as such can not charge any tuition ("Charter connection," 2009). In high demand areas, admission many times takes the form of a lottery. The controversy is that then the excellent schools are then only open to those who are lucky, hence compromising access to the schools ("The life-changing lottery:," 2010). The idea for charter schools came from Ray Budde, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Kolderie, 2005).

One of the best models for the charter school movement existed before such schools were given the charter designation, the famous H-B Woodlawn. It typifies what is seen by many to be the best aspect of charter schools, namely choice. Currently, their program combines two earlier programs, Hoffman-Boston founded in 1972, a 7th to 9th grade school and Woodlawn, a school founded in 1971 for 10th to 12th graders by educators Ray Anderson and Jeffrey Kallan who felt that there was a very pressing need for more individualized attention for students in a caring environment. It is based therefore upon a much more liberal model than many schools, earning the name Hippie High. The school is not a "school" as school as such because it is not "certified." Rather the students are actually on paper members of their "home schools" in Arlington County, VA. The program currently has 600 students in grades 6 to 12. This includes a group of young adult immigrants who are taking classes in the school through the HILT (High Intensity Language Training) program as they pursue high school diplomas or GEDs. Its inclusiveness extends to a small program for severely mentally disabled students, though this program is separately administered and designated "Stratford." H-B Woodlawn's program is consistently rated as one of the most challenging secondary schools in the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C. What keeps the students coming back are the hands off approach to managing the students. After 6th grade, the students have less supervision and are expected to manage their own time and academic standards. The school historically outperforms its rivals in Arlington County, VA and is highly in demand ("H-b woodlawn," 2010).

This liberal policy is the most amazing aspect of the school's policies. To quote the school about their policy "H-B Woodlawn does not provide 'continuous adult supervision.' Rather, students must decide how to use their time wisely to meet their obligations. The amount of "unsupervised" time increases gradually from 6th to 12th grade. Some students use free time for study, while others spend it socially or away from the building. Instead of a system of rules governing their use of time and behavior, H-B Woodlawn students are held accountable for the consequences of their actions. Students must monitor themselves on and off campus. To make this offer of freedom work, we must trust the good intentions of our students and they must reciprocate with a sufficient degree of personal responsibility ("The h-b woodlawn," 1995)." This flies in direct competition to the parochial school model where external discipline is driving the students. Here, internal discipline and drive is doing it.

One of the models that this author is advocating to watch is the Lawrence model. It appears to be at an early stage, where H-B Woodlawn was three decades ago. It is very well rated nationwide and has provided a model in many areas of the U.S. In terms of starting charter schools. The mission statement of the Lawrence, MA Board of Lawrence Family Development & Education Fund, Inc. spells this out very well. The Lawrence Family Development Charter School has become quite the model charter school of the moment. The mission statement says that "Strong families, working in partnership with the school as advocates for academic achievement, will create an environment where every child has the opportunity to acquire the foundation skills and habits of mind that foster life-long learning, citizenship participation, and personal fulfillment ("Lawrence family development," 2010)." The charter school represents a cooperative node that brings together strong parental involvement along with a highly-qualified teaching staff. These are vital components to the program's success. Now in its sixteenth year, LFDCS is providing a strong academic program to 600 students from ranging from early kindergarten with four-year-olds through the Eighth Grade. The graduating classes of 50-55 students apply to and are accepted to admitting schools where more than 80% are attending selective private and parochial schools (ibid).

This proves that charter schools do not necessarily have to be at odds with parochial and private schools. The Lawrence, MA organization does not see that the different schools need to be adversaries but rather allies in the education of children. This would seem to be contradicted, at least in the case of the Lawrence Family Development Charter School where such a large number of the children are going to very selective and parochial schools. Indeed, it seems to be much more modeled on parochial schools than its predecessor, H-B Woodlawn. Certainly, this is due to the time in which it was formed, a much time much more influenced by religion than the period of time that the H-B Woodlawn community was formed in.

The potential rivalry between parochial and charter schools has been spoken of as the primary negative aspect of the relationship between the two institutions. However, polyglot New York City is attempting to break this seeming rivalry by combining aspects of religious and charter schools together in hybrid form. The results are mixed and controversial to say the least. Certainly, the New York experience is on the cusp of changing the present paradigm. Indeed, those who deride the charter school movement cite this tension. New York City's St. Catherine of Sienna school is typical of these parochial schools. It has been replaced by a charter school in the building where it was before, privately run, but secular and funded by the city. It will be minus the religion, but including the ethics and discipline. At the same time, New York City is still engaged in arrangements that involve religious schools, including a plan for a state Board of Regents approved a Hebrew language charter school in Brooklyn and this followed a heated controversy over an Arab language public school (Robinson, 2009).

How can the New York Public School system on the one hand be potentially complicit in the dismantling of the traditional parochial school system of the Roman Catholic church on the on hand while promoting focused, schools that are based upon narrow religious and ethnic agendas for groups that have not traditionally been equally represented in America? Is the New York City School system to be blamed for the woes of the parochial schools, or are other issues involved and the parochial schools (formerly on top) are just simply being rejected in the environment of choice? Certainly, this was a factor that was not foreseen before and is an issue that perhaps could compromise the charter school's relationship with its traditional community partners, especially churches. In this author's opinion, the charter schools can not be held responsible when the members of the religious organizations vote with their feet and leave.

On the positive side, the apparent demise of the parochial school system under competition of the charter school movement, is money coming from religious sources agenda driven? Given the private nature of the funding for charter schools, in the opinion of this author there is a clear and present danger of focused agendas that do not tolerate religiously and ethnic diversity could take over in what has previously been an environment that has brought about such diversity. Without trying to single out Islamic schools, one can not ignore the madrassas many times are funded by Islamic fundamentalists who are exclusively promoting the narrow Wahabist agenda ("Analysis: madrasas," 2010). A Minnesota Charter school is now at the center of a controversy that even has concerned the ACLU about its composition and intolerance. In addition, to make matters worse, issues of teacher accreditation have come up that threaten to compromise the excellence that have made charter schools the alternative choice for many parents ("Madrassa masquerading as," 2009).