Maybe someone can enlighten me, then, as to why the long-beleaguered Greg Mathis Charter School would be needed for the same purpose. [See Charter School Skating on Thin Ice in Tuesday's P & C.] According to Tuesday's article,
"Most of Greg Mathis' students have been suspended or expelled from other district schools; and for many of the students, the North Spartan Boulevard school is their last chance to earn a diploma. The only other school that served a similar student population was Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter, which the board closed less than a month ago. That school is appealing the decision."What is this? Down the memory hole? This year, after having its own problems, Murray Hill Academy was changed to a 6-10 school by Superintendent McGinley. However, its brand-spanking-new building could easily hold the 75 students now at Gregg Mathis and then some. That would hardly be a monster-sized school even then, as its limit is supposedly 240 students. So it adds the 11th and 12th grades. That's a problem?
Here's what non-district evaluators say of Greg Mathis:
[They] cited a list of problems, including a lack of clear sense of direction, poor attendance, a need for faculty training, an unorganized governing board and an absence of on-time, four-year graduates. Nearly one-fifth of its students were suspended or expelled for violent or criminal offenses in 2007 [italics mine], and the school did not have a certified special education teacher to ensure its special-needs students received required services, according to the review.Also, "Its estimated budget this year was $607,401. Sellers [its principal] said it's difficult for Greg Mathis to offer a comprehensive high school curriculum because of its small enrollment."
Talk about wasting taxpayers' money! Last Friday when the school was visited, 25 of the school's 75 (approximately) students were absent. Isn't something wrong with this picture?
I wonder how long they've been absent.
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4 comments:
Taxes at work for a charter school - here's one case of when the "must approve a charter application" is NOT in the best interests of anyone. Not the students, taxpayers, or facilities. Of course, anyone who would have voted against it would have been eyed as "anti-charter." Please. Here's proof (along with Sea Island, and EBIA... remember that fiasco?) that charters do their own fair share of squandering funds and minds... without District help.
Wasn't Gregg Mathis the charter school that Hillery supported because his sister was their principal?
CCSD supports charter schools only when they can be used as dumping grounds for its dead wood. I know this is cynical, but why do you think they have let these problem schools like Sea Island Youthbuilt and Gregg Mathis drag on as if they are on life support? As long as these schools exist, CCSD can use them to remove students from its own rolls who score poorly on state tests or who are about to drop out. Here's the game plan. Let the poorest performing students transfer to these "off the books" schools and when they fail or drop out it's no longer a strike against CCSD. Conversely, CCSD see absolutly no advantage to letting successful charter schools exist at all. They attract too many of the good test takers and non-potential drop outs that CCSD needs to keep its other near failing schools afloat. Sorry, but the truth hurts.
Closing schools, consolidating enrollments into larger schools and selling real estate in a down market are other ways that CCSD intends to use in order to hide its mistakes. CCSD needs to quit shuffling the deck and stop blaming others for its fuzzy programs which are designed to fail. CCSD should fix the schools where they are. Do things that will encourage public trust and confidence. Build academic programs that will bring parents back to neighborhood schools that have a verifiable track record of success, not just playing the numbers.
CCSD can start with taking a more positive attitude toward using charter schools as just one of the many good tools to be used in its tool box.
As taxpayers, we should be outraged. We build a prison and we can't seem to figure out why the students we send there act like inmates.
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