The charter school movement which had some successes opening schools in Bridgeport is also now taking some hits around the state. Charter schools receive public funds but operate independently of traditional school districts. From Hartford Courant reporter Ruth Bruno:
The State Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to begin the process to revoke the charter of Path Academy in Windham, state education officials said.
The school has faced scrutiny by the education department since 2017 when officials found the school was running an unauthorized satellite school in Norwich.
During a probational period, the department said audits and reviews highlighted several areas of concern, including that Path Academy had not been able to provide accurate enrollment records and had set school policies that were not approved.
Documents from the education department also revealed high rates of student absences.
Full story here.
Charter School expansion went before Massachusetts voters in November 2016(same time as Trump/Clinton Presidential Election) and MA voted decisively to stop expansion. Once you start getting the truth about charter schools,you find it’s not the panacea that proponents claim and it’s simply a bad idea.
Frank, neither are public school.
Public Schools in CT suburbs are state of the art. How come??
https://ctmirror.org/2017/07/30/six-problems-the-naacp-has-with-charter-schools/
So what is the problem? Bad school doesn’t produce results and closes. When is the last time that happened to a school run by the State. Now perhaps there will be room for a different set of educators to set up a better program and get results.
Any school that’s fails should be closed but then what?
Charter schools can pick and choose their students. I wonder if that plays a role.
This is the second major charter $chool fraud and theft of taxpayers in just three years. There are only 22 charter $chools in CT.
This charter $chool was caught falsifying its enrollment data because unlike traditional and true public schools that do not get awarded funds per pupil, each charter $chool is awarded $11,000 per student.
They stole $1.6 MILLION DOLLARS from taxpayers for over 100 students they claimed were enrolled but were not.
They had 65% of their students missing 50 or more days per year.
When was the last time any true public school in CT was accused of stealing over a million dollars from taxpayers?
I have never seen a post from JsemJ before. My guess is you are a charter $chool employee or lobbyist.
What is your full name JsemJ? Don’t hide behind a handle. Let us know who you are.
All schools that fail should be closed.
Frank, slow your and take a deep breath. The best high school in Connecticut reported by several Connecticut news outlets was Amistad Academy High School in New Haven. The AP participation rate at Amistad Academy is 100 percent. The student body makeup is 48 percent male and 52 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 99 percent. The student body is 77% Economically Disadvantaged youth. This year 97% of high school class have been accepted at a four year college.
Any questions?
Donald Day..you are referring to just one charter school. Can you please respond to the original story on OIB about Path Academy in Windham. Donald,did you read the posting from me about the NAACP and charter schools. The article was written by a reporter from the Connecticut Mirror and has good analysis about the overall situation with CT charter schools. This is what I believe in;I believe in two school systems-one public and one private. The history of the public school system actually goes back to Prussia in the late 18th/early 19th century. Other countries followed and, historically speaking,it has been hugely successful. You can wiki “Prussian education system”. The greatest challenge to the public school system began in the 1960’s especially in the United States and European countries as well. The huge challeng is how to educate urban school children facing socio-economic cultural challenges and,economically,actual decline. I don’t believe we have found the answer. Beyond that,the charter school system in the United States is incredibly corrupt. Many of you here say,”Follow The Money.” Well,if you followed the money with charter schools you would find a “swamp”- a word that has become popular in the last two years.
Donald..they pick and chose their students so it’s not a surprise that some charter schools have good educational statistics.
Frank, that’s the whole point, Don has pointed out one type of school that is a big success and that’s what the school systems needs to educate our children, successful schools because it doesn’t matter if it’s public, magnet schools and charter schools. We need a mix of school systems because the goal is children education and a school is failing that mission then it should be closed, it doesn’t matter if it’s public, magnet schools and charter schools.
I would compare Amistad to any CT suburban school system.
Frank, what happens when one public school fails? Nothing happens and the taxpayers keep paying that cost of that one public school. Again, if ANY schools fail it should be closed.
Amistad has a very small number of students. One of the key factors in determing the rankings is the number of students in AP courses. If you only have 50 students and 35 of them are taking AP courses, you will rank high on this particular report. Central High School ranked high because of the magnet school program.
The methodology has been challenged by many educators.
It doesn’t matter how many students are “accepted” into 4 year colleges. What matters is how many students actually receive a 4 year degree. Amistad’s results in this area are poor.