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crud...I just posted this big long thread and deleted it accidentally 
I hate it when that happens.
The short version:
What experience do you guys have with charter schools? I attended a parent meeting for a charter school opening fall 2005 that will initially be k-5 and will expand to be k-12.
The good points? The school day is 8-3.30. Monday-Thursdays will be structured learning and Fridays the kids will put on skits (based on their readings during the week), have theater, art, music and tutoring for those who are behind. The kids will be tested when they come in and appropriate work loads will be assigned and this will be reevaluated every 6 weeks. In addition, they do a 90 days on/3 weeks off schedule to avoid the 3 1/2 months of lost knowledge that kids have during summer.
The bad points? They seemed disorganized and a tad unprofessional. It is a husband wife team. I didn't hear the husband's qualifications (though he will be principal) but the woman is a prof at our state u here in education. She talked on and on about publishing the results of this school and making the school a place where education students come to learn how to be good teachers, etc.
What really got to me was when I asked a question about whether or not they would offer a foreign language, the said that they were going to offer spanish because it was a 'useful' language, unlike 'german'. :| When the husband noticed that I was a little put off by that he added that he had 'nothing against german as he was german himself, etc'. Then one of the parents piped up though and added that german was "totally useless, let's be honest". So....being the PC person that I am :
: I felt that I had to say that it depended on what part of the world you were in as to how useful the language was. So he said he was talking about having his kids be able to speak spanish here in MN...I wanted to scream: "Oh, I was talking about raising world citizens who could potentially communicate with customers in europe or africa etc. There is a world beyond North America". 
Ummm....aren't you glad I controlled myself.
In any case, I said that I speak german and teach it to kids at the germanic american institute as well as adults here in town and that I didn't think it was useless at all considering my husband is german and I met him in germany.
So I ended up offering to teach german at the school if our kids go....as a volunteer...how did THAT happen?
The same parents who found german useless also told us all that their 5 year old had been reading since she was 3 and her favorite literature was shakespeare...ummm...yah, whatever.....
So...I did enroll the kids because I didn't want to miss out in case there was a chance that I wanted them to go. They still haven't picked a site though to build and they just seemed a bit unprofessional. I can't really pinpoint what bothered me about it other than to say that they rambled on and on, argued with each other from time to time (or at least they contradicted each other) etc.
I kept telling myself that they wouldn't be teaching and as long as they hired good teachers their ideas are good.
What are your thoughts on charter schools?
kris
I hate it when that happens.
The short version:
What experience do you guys have with charter schools? I attended a parent meeting for a charter school opening fall 2005 that will initially be k-5 and will expand to be k-12.
The good points? The school day is 8-3.30. Monday-Thursdays will be structured learning and Fridays the kids will put on skits (based on their readings during the week), have theater, art, music and tutoring for those who are behind. The kids will be tested when they come in and appropriate work loads will be assigned and this will be reevaluated every 6 weeks. In addition, they do a 90 days on/3 weeks off schedule to avoid the 3 1/2 months of lost knowledge that kids have during summer.
The bad points? They seemed disorganized and a tad unprofessional. It is a husband wife team. I didn't hear the husband's qualifications (though he will be principal) but the woman is a prof at our state u here in education. She talked on and on about publishing the results of this school and making the school a place where education students come to learn how to be good teachers, etc.
What really got to me was when I asked a question about whether or not they would offer a foreign language, the said that they were going to offer spanish because it was a 'useful' language, unlike 'german'. :| When the husband noticed that I was a little put off by that he added that he had 'nothing against german as he was german himself, etc'. Then one of the parents piped up though and added that german was "totally useless, let's be honest". So....being the PC person that I am :
: I felt that I had to say that it depended on what part of the world you were in as to how useful the language was. So he said he was talking about having his kids be able to speak spanish here in MN...I wanted to scream: "Oh, I was talking about raising world citizens who could potentially communicate with customers in europe or africa etc. There is a world beyond North America". Ummm....aren't you glad I controlled myself.In any case, I said that I speak german and teach it to kids at the germanic american institute as well as adults here in town and that I didn't think it was useless at all considering my husband is german and I met him in germany.
So I ended up offering to teach german at the school if our kids go....as a volunteer...how did THAT happen? The same parents who found german useless also told us all that their 5 year old had been reading since she was 3 and her favorite literature was shakespeare...ummm...yah, whatever.....
So...I did enroll the kids because I didn't want to miss out in case there was a chance that I wanted them to go. They still haven't picked a site though to build and they just seemed a bit unprofessional. I can't really pinpoint what bothered me about it other than to say that they rambled on and on, argued with each other from time to time (or at least they contradicted each other) etc.
I kept telling myself that they wouldn't be teaching and as long as they hired good teachers their ideas are good.
What are your thoughts on charter schools?
kris
btw, is there some funky shift in the universe or are people just particularily annoying these days? A lady clipped my ankle, I swear on purpose in the store yesterday, and it was all I could do to keep my cool. 
).
but it has totally been worth it. And it led to me having the opportunity to teach there this year, when we took a 22K paycut by refusing the last Air Force bonus....I don't know how we could have kept the kids there otherwise.
). The difference between that charter school and the co-op seems to be that the parents have much more control at the co-op (ie no principle but there are rules for admission, class size, etc - it's set up much like a community college with kids of all ages taking what they want at the maturity level best suited for them). Parents must volunteer to teach a class a semester (ie you would probably be teaching a science course or German) and you can pull out at any time if things aren't meeting your expectations. I wonder if I can find a large, well-organized homeschooling co-op in your area with some research.... Hmmmm....
Jennifer
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