May 1, 2008
The Voice on the Patrick Henry charter school
19 Comments »Not surprisingly, their take isn’t exactly enthusiastic. While the article doesn’t out-and-out accuse the PH Initiative of promoting school segregation, it certainly floats the suggestion. REA President Wade Ellegood (who, you might recall, is on the committee to recruit a new RPS Superintendent), is particularly opposed:
I think they are making a major mistake by allowing this charter school even though it has not met the criteria of the state…Outside of that 90 percent of what’s in their application does not meet state standards and it does not make any sense for us to invest in something that doesn’t meet state standards.
Richmond City Parent Teacher Association President Tichi Pickney Eppes is only slightly less disagreeable towards the concept, stating that “all of our elementary schools are accredited. So if that is the case we don’t necessarily need another chartered elementary school. The kids are doing fine it would appear in their current environment.”
If you’ll pardon the editorializing again….Does Mr. Ellegood include the 7 or 8 current RPS schools that didn’t meet Adequate Yearly Progress in his comments about not investing “in something that doesn’t meet state standards?” And does Ms. Eppes really believe that all of “the kids are doing fine…in their current environment?”
Finally, the article mentions “traditional charter schools that are operating currently in RPS.” Would someone be so kind as to inform me which RPS schools are charter schools? Because the state Dept. Of Education seems to think there are only 3 (with a 4th due in August) public charter schools in Virginia, and none are in the Richmond area.
Yikes, that’s one poorly written article. The folks at The Voice should consider editors and fact checkers at some point.
Draw a walking-distance circle around Patrick Henry. There are lots of low-income areas. Now draw the same circle around Mumford and Fox. See the same thing?
Despite Ellegood’s assertion that transportation “…is important for Black students because many parents either do not have the transportation or are not able to drive them back and forth daily”, I don’t understand why people can’t walk. We’re planning to, and we’ve got two cars. Is he saying that black parents can only put their kids in good schools if someone else takes responsibility for getting them there? I doubt that’s what he means, but the whole point to the school is that parents or guardians commit to their children’s educations. If you gotta walk, you walk. *Anyone* who is willing to make the commitment will have the wholehearted support of the school community.
Ellegood fails to acknowledge the high number of black students who attend out of district schools. An example is our neighborhood school, Bellevue. It is predominately black (around eight white students attend) and the majority of the students are from out of district and their parents drive them to school daily. So few are from in district that only two school buses are needed.
Ellegood and The Voice have done a disservice to the people they claim to represent by painting it a “black” and “white” issue instead of informing parents about an exciting new alternative educational opportunity for their children. There are children attending our neighborhood school that would greatly benefit and thrive in the Patrick Henry Charter school. Not all children learn well in a “teach to the test” enviroment. The chatter between parents on our school steps while waiting for dismissal often revolves around the questions, “what school should our children attend next year? How do we get in?” Because of the megazone lines we are barred from the best RPS schools. The eastend would appreciate this Charter school option.
Ellegood with his assumptions and The Voice’s bent are the ones closing the door on the black community by slapping up an unwelcomed sign on the charter school door.
Ellegood should be honest. This isn’t about black and white and segregation –it is about the battle between the political idealogies. Time for Ellegood to open his eyes and see the independent thinking parents in search of a better education for their children. For us, it is about the children, not the politics.
Please excuse my multitude of mistakes and typos in post #3. Word perfect and copy and paste from now on.
What bothers me most about this story is that I was not surprised by it.
Thank goodness the TD finally decided to cover it. The story will come out tommmorow according to this:
http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/barticles/story/give_them_patrick_henry/
Does anyone take The Voice seriously? My fifth-grade class writes better news articles than this.
T-D op-ed is online now.
Let’s be honest there are parents in Richmond who have transportation problems and a charter school in South side would be an issue for them. I don’t think that should be the main basis of anyone’s arguement against the charter school. I have a car but if I chose to use public transportation I would have to leave my home two hours early and catch two buses. Trust me I’ve had to do it and that was before I had children who needed to be transported to school. I just had to get to Parham Road from the East End by 8:00 am every morning. I think first and foremost the issue of equal access should be addressed. What about exception education students? Those parents who see this as a saving grace need to think if children of teachers and staff get the first slots and the class size is kept small how many of our children will get in. I think choice is a good thing but I think some of the school boards questions really need to be answered and maybe we all should be asking questions.
From the conversation over on the rvanews board, it appears that the children of teachers and staff will have to take part in the same lottery as everyone else. I’m not sure which of the questions the school board/review panel has haven’t been answered – it’s more a question of whether they’ve heard what they want to hear yet.
Carletta, what SB questions has the PHI not answered? What would your questions be?
From what I heard at the last SB meeting, it seems that the Charter will be covering and accomplishing much more than RPS. All these years, RPS has ignored ADA compliance and could care less about programs for the academically advanced students. RPS has not lifted a finger to solve it’s own economic and racial segregation issues. All RPS cares about are SOL scores and that is one of the biggest reasons people like myself want the hell out of the system. If SB and RPS does not approve this Charter and offer school choices, I might have to fight for a voucher system. I’m sick of seeing some of Richmond’s brightest students being ignored and falling between the cracks.
My questions don’t specifically relate to ADA. Exceptional ed and ADA are two seperate issues. I have a child with a learning disability and the rate of autism is 1 in 150 births so that is an issue for a number of parents in Richmond. My questions don’t rule out my agreement that some thing different HAS to happen in Richmond but I also look at a board who for years just made decisions that the public later viewed as half cocked (2015 initiative)or failed to act at all(ADA). My questions include: Will transportation be provided? I see it’s not in the budget for years 1-3 but are they willing to try to get transportation? What about exceptional education students? What happens if a parent can’t or won’t volunteer? There are some circumstances that make it impossible for parents to volunteer. The question of NCLB is a valid one. Equal access should be considered. The website says all Richmond Public students are able to attend but transportation could prevent attendance and a disabilty could prevent attendance so that is not necessarily a true statement. I am for CHOICE and a charter school would provide choice but as a parent my issues are different and the same as yours. I want my child to have a quality education. Yet as a parent of a child with a disability I also want to have equal access. Would I vote for the charter – yes, but I would still like some one to take a serious look at those questions.
I think part of the trouble with those questions is that the review board keeps demanding answers that can’t be given without a student population. With a lottery system, there could be one special-needs student or a hundred, and nobody’ll know what accommodations will be necessary until after it’s done. I’m not sure what you mean by “Equal access should be considered,” since nobody’s going to be provided transportation in the current application. That’s certainly equal, but it displeases those who would prefer being given a bus ride. There’s just no way to be able to provide a budget for transporting students when nobody knows who they’re going to be yet! Of course, once the school’s been established, the board will revisit the issue.
As for the question “What happens if a parent can’t or won’t volunteer? There are some circumstances that make it impossible for parents to volunteer,” I’m curious as to what circumstances you have in mind. At any rate, there are multiple suggestions on the Patrick Henry Charter Initiative website for ways to assist families in meeting their time commitments.
It appears that any student in the city can enter the lottery for the Charter School. And like Jennifer C. stated above, the school will go from there.
Do schools such as The Governor’s School, IB at Lucille Brown, Open High, and Community accept exceptional ed students? If I’m not mistaken, not all RPS schools have equal access. Very few applicants get into the RPS I mentioned above.
My children are exceptional as in advanced academically in particular subjects or across the board and they have yet to receive the education they need and deserve in the regular RPS. Because they are not learning disabled, there is not anything the school can do for them. I’ve asked that my youngest be taken out of class to work on advanced reading with a tutor but the tutor’s time is reserved for the students who are academically behind. This is wrong. My children should not be denied the education they deserve.
This Charter is, thus far, our only hope in the city for a great public elementary education.
In answering questions regarding exceptional ed students, the PHI should look into how North Carolina has set up their charter schools.
Also, It would work well if RPS conducted the assessments on exceptional ed students and the one on one or IEP would simply follow the student into Charter school. It wouldn’t make a difference whether RPS paid for the student to attend a regular public school or a charter. The cost would be the same and RPS is already set up to conduct assessments. Matter of fact, a friend of mine had her daughter assessed by RPS only to end up sending her to a private school.
Carletta said:
Seeing as RPS as a whole has cut out transportation for out-of-zone students, I’m not sure why this should be a make-or-break issue for Patrick Henry.
‘Course, it would be nice if RPS went back to the idea of smaller, neighborhood-based schools, at least on the elementary level, so that perhaps transportation wouldn’t be such a hot-button issue.
I may be wrong on this, so some parents can probably correct me. I understand that with open enrollment, we effectively have neighborhood schools. If the parents in the Westover attendance zoe, say, chose Westover as their choice, they get first priority for the slots. If parents want neighborhood schools, they can have them, by stepping up and taking control of the open enrollment process. The problem is…who wants to be first?
David- there are other factors in play too, particularly the archaic attendance boundaries (Hello, 1960s!). Take Albert Hill Middle, for example. It’s in the heart of the Museum District, but it serves more Gilpin Court and Jackson Ward kids than Museum District/West End kids. It’s a little better on the elementary level, but you still have situations with kids who live far closer to Redd & WH going all the way out to Southampton.
Thanks. Don’t the kids get to S’hampton because the neighborhood is not using the school, and slots are avialble for out of zone kids…making Jahnke Road and south the nearest kids for assignment?
I gues my point is…we have neighborhood schools, if we want them. Richmond has such a long history of not supporting public education, that it is hard to get past of barriers.