Letter: Union should support successful charter program

New Bedford Standard Times

Letter to the Editor

December 18, 2011

To the Editor:

The New Bedford teachers union (Charter schools "lose" too many students - December 14) trots out tired and unfounded arguments in its criticism of New Bedford’s Global Learning Charter Public School.

I wonder why the union takes so much time and energy to fight a successful school rather than work collaboratively with hard working educators who want to improve education for all New Bedford children? Global Learning has a strong record of academic achievement and ranks among the top performing schools in the district.

It’s true the teachers who teach there are not members of the union. But the school is a public school, open to all children from all backgrounds. Its enrollment is determined by lottery so every family has an equal chance to enroll their children. The children who learn there are public school children and they live in the community. Their parents pay taxes to support public education and they have made a choice they feel is in the best interest of their children. Why is the union trying to make educational decisions for all New Bedford parents?

The time to fight the existence of charter public schools has passed. Cities like Boston are embracing the innovations charters have adopted and are working collaboratively with us to improve educational outcomes for all children.

Last year, the Legislature approved legislation allowing charters to double the number of students we can educate in low-performing school districts like New Bedford. The MCPSA has launched an initiative focused on expanding charters in Gateway Cities like New Bedford. We look forward to working with parents and community leaders in the city to offer more educational options for New Bedford families.

Sincerely,

Marc Kenen

Executive Director

Massachusetts Charter Public School Association

Editorial: Charter school merits chance at stability after new green light

Glouchester Times Editorial

December 22, 2011

On one hand, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has now cleared the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School for at least another year of operation.

That should at least allow the charter school's leaders, its 136 students and their parents to look toward and beyond next fall, when most of the students will be heading into their third year at the school.

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Stuck in Somerville

Boston Herald Editorial

December 12, 2011

We’re hard pressed to think of a better argument against the call for local referendums on charter schools than the troubling example of a Somerville charter proposal and the forces in the city aligned against it.

The powers that be, apparently concerned first and foremost about their bottom line, are campaigning to kill a proposed K-8 charter school which has pledged to tailor its curriculum to serve the city’s diverse population, including students for whom English is not their first language. And according to a complaint filed by a state group that advocates for charter schools, they’re playing dirty.

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Old-School Thinking

Boston Globe

December 8, 2011

By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Columnist

Talking to Boston Teachers Union chief Richard Stutman can feel like chatting with a United Auto Workers rep in the days before Toyota. He makes sense, as long as you ignore the fact that it’s 2011, and a new crop of more efficient carmakers - that would be charter schools - are sucking away customers at an alarming clip.

After months of not talking, the Boston Public Schools and the teachers union will finally be back at the table negotiating a new contract next week. One big thing they’ll wrangle over is the length of the school day. Charter schools, which now educate about 5,000 of the city’s 61,000 public school children, offer more classroom time than the average public school - about eight hours, compared with the district’s 6.5. That’s a huge draw for parents, not just because the extra time often translates into higher achievement, but also because longer days mirror those of working parents.

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Our View: Learning from the charter school

Salem Evening News Editorial

December 2, 2011

It's hardly surprising the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education this week approved the Salem Academy Charter School's application to add 64 seats to its high school program.

The independent public school in a former factory building at Shetland Park has been achieving — at least in terms of MCAS scores — at a level far in excess of the regular public schools in the city. One of the latter, Bentley Elementary School, was recently labeled as underperforming by the state, and four others were identified as being very close to achieving that dubious distinction.

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