Please post your questions for the "Is Charter a Better Way" community forum below. There will be ample to time to ask questions which will be submitted to our moderator to ask the panel. Please note that there will also be the opportunity to write questions for the moderator at the forum - but to the extent we can get question before the session it will help facilitate and streamline the process so more questions can be heard.
For more information about the conversations in our cluster, please see: Point Loma Cluster Governance.
For more information about the forum, please see: Is Charter a Better Way?
Please post questions below. They will be pulled from this blog up to the 4pm the day of the event.
27 comments:
If a school elects to go charter is every student in the feeder pattern assured to be able to attend this school?
I live outside the school boundary and have transportation provided by the district - if the school converts to charter will transportation still be provided?
How do charter schools meet California Ed code requirements including Science, VAPA, Library, Physical Education, etc.? Have you found any benefits to cross-interdisciplinary learning?
What centralized support services and discretionary funding do charter schools receive from the district?
Can charter schools participate in CIF athletic leagues and in the CIF academic league?
What are the behavioral and academic achievement expectations for students, parents, and staff? What are the consequences for poor choices?
Please describe the plan at High Tech High, High Tech Middle, and Explorer Elementary to ensure desirable skill sets are being learned as students matriculate through the charter system. What is the plan at these schools to provide time for teacher collaboration and professional development?
What types of principals and teachers thrive in a charter environment; and what are the main reasons that a principal or teacher would not thrive in a charter environment? How do charter schools provide for job security for teachers - expectations, evaluations, etc.?
What does it mean to be an educated person in the 21st century? Test scores, educational models (budget, leadership, evaluation, instruction), and international competition are interesting to discuss and we could debate the successes and failures of all at length. But, if we do not have a common definition of what it means to be educated and what truly will define citizenship for the future, how can we proceed with creating the best systems to achieve this?
Would charter schools accept President Obama reform plan or fight reform like the current union elected school board?
Mary McConnell notes in “The Virtues of Charter School Failure” (in Law, Religion and Ethics) that charter schools “…fail. Often.” Statistics from the pro-charter Center on Education Reform reports that 11% of charters nationwide have closed because they did not perform at required levels or were unable to attract enough students to be financially viable. What assurances do we have that by going charter the Point Loma cluster will not be another statistic added to the “failure” list?
What types of students thrive in a charter environment? What are the expectations of involvement of parents?
What benefits would a charter school provide the cluster that the feeder schools do not currently provide?
Is the overall goal to establish more charter schools at the elementary and middle school levels to feed into Point Loma High school, or to imitate High Tech schools and offer charters at all three levels?
For 2008-09 through 2012-13, the State of California authorized school districts complete flexibility to use funds from 39 categorical funds, including fund balances, for any educational purpose. The SDUSD Board voted to combine these funds into a discretionary X factor funding formula; and approved a funding formula for Title I funds based upon a 75% or greater school-wide eligible population. The Board also decided to sweep categorical fund balances, such as VAPA which was intended to implement school VAPA plans.
Is funding to charter schools based upon these same SDUSD Board decisions, or do all categorical funds – Title I, Special Education, Library Block Grant, VAPA grant, etc. - flow through to the charter schools?
One of the things that make this cluster work is the cohesiveness of ALL our schools working together, so as the kids move from school to school the same “themes” are supported (i.e. Chinese offered at the Elementary, is also offered at the High School)……It seems by taking the High School Charter we could possibly create an opportunity for a “silo” and disconnect from our feeder schools, it seems that in order to avoid those issues the entire Cluster would need to go Charter?
How are programs like VEEP and Magnet impacted if we go Charter?
If one or more schools within the Point Loma Cluster turns charter, must they all?
How long would it take to make the decision to make a school a charter and once decided, how long to implement? (Is there a timeline available?)
What happens to class sizes at a charter?
How will teachers be reassigned if the schools move to charter?
It is my understanding that charter schools take the same standardized tests as regular public schools, but that this is not the best way to measure a school’s success. How do you measure the success of a charter school, its students, and its teachers?
How does a charter improve upon the needs of individual students that are either considered “special needs” or “gifted”? Would there still be a seminar-type program?
I would like to hear someone with hands-on classroom experience (i.e. a teacher) speak to the possible drawbacks to the students of converting a school to charter.
Thank you for providing an opportunity for teachers, parents, staff and community members to learn more about the education of the local children. Things on the local front are far worse than I thought at each school. Not one school ranked in the 90th percentile for math standardized tests, that seem horrific to me. Please let's do something. Break off to our own district and let's expect and get more. Let's give our future leaders an opportunity to be successful.
I want a great charter school for my child but I'm hoping the charter movement helps all kids and doesn't further disparity and segregation in the public school system.
Great and informative meeting last night....Kudos to PL Cluster Foundation for organizing the event, let’s keep momentum moving forward.
Can anyone give more info on what the effect of the charter school "mega-waiver" that Laryy and others mentioned last night? From what regulations does that release the schools from and how might that help the quality of education? Thanks.
Will you be posting minutes/answers to the questions from the forum? I wasn't able to make the meeting, but am extremely interested in the info.
A video of the forum will posted up on the cluster webpage and we will be putting together a summary of themes from the questions that were posed -- both those that were answered at the forum and those that were not.
RE: Charter schools' discretionary funding? CIF, even athletic fields? ie. Hi Tech's 5 schools There are No physical facilities for ALL the schools-noting that PLHS is the 'smallest high school' in the District!: After Rock 'fell out of escrow' with the 'Public's' 2 gymnasiums and POOL, WHY didn't this CLUSTER COUNCIL - DEMAND - that the Pool & 2 Gymnasiums go to the PUBLIC's Benefit, including the Charter Schools? They can even be 'rented out' for 'non-school' use, when not used. The Developer, with NO real 'public' oversight has been getting near to over $2 million+ Every Year since the base was converted-to do with whatever it wants-and doing NOTHING for the PUBLIC FACILITIES - that are required for any other area! The 'parks' were the Developer's first responsibility & it took nearly 10 years to have them with grass! If the Developer 'built his own project', he'd HAVE to build Pubic Recreational Facilities for the project! Without these recreational facilities, this 'project' doesn't even meet the 'new building' requirements for the Municipal Code. Not enough parks, not enough Public Recreational Facilities, and now the Developer's Added More 'Schools.' Get with it Peninsula residents, make the Developer take that Tax Increment of Millions of Dollars each year and Remodel the Pool and Gyms for Your Children..and You. This whole project was 'supposed' to bring in the City - $500 million. To date, they've received ZERO. No new police stations, No new fire stations, No new 'public' recreational facilities, No new Public School Sites (that Private Funds didn't Pay for), and NO Property Taxes, since at least 2000! And what have we, including NTC residents received? Insufficient parking, insufficient traffic 'mitigation', No 'promised' 3 story parking garage, parks that are 'overused', jammed up traffic on our 3 'outlets off' our peninsula, no new 'hospital or emergency site', increased accidents, increased crime and little 'access' to any of the 'beneficial stores' that are there. If there are no 'facilities' for athletics, fat chance there'll be any access.
I can't thank the Point Loma Cluster enough for the time and energy that went in to organizing
the Community Forum last night. I'll admit that I came to the event on the defensive, my gloves on and ready to swing. However, the professionalism of the forum, the thoughtful choices of panelists, and the vision of how to
engage as many people in dialogue as possible (submit questions on the blog, on notecards at the event, open mike, on Twitter, etc...) put me at ease and
allowed me to engage in the conversation.
The video of the Point Loma Cluster Forum "Is Charter a Better Way has been posted - see pointlomacluster.com and select the video tab - or http://tiny.cc/hyro1
If PLCS' go Charter, would there be a waiting lists/ lotteries? Is it funded on a per student basis? And how is the foundation going to meet required academic standards while accountable to keep the books straight?
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