2010. This may be the pivotal year in public school reform. Will dramatic change take hold to provide the best education for public school students, especially those in failing inner city schools? It’s not looking good from the start.
Hope High School in Providence has been a beacon in Rhode Island school reform. It was undoubtedly the worst school in the state just five or six years ago. But with RIDE intervention, Hope has turned around. No one can deny the dramatic gains made by the students and teachers at Hope.
The city, however, according to the Journal, is seeking to significantly alter the academic model that was instrumental in Hope’s success. Bureaucrats want to curb the autonomy granted to the school, and eliminate the block schedule that has brought teachers together and established a much needed school community. School leaders want continuity among schools, and claim they cannot afford the additional costs of the Hope model.
Regent Anna Cano-Morales was exactly right when she said, according to the Journal
Speaking for myself, I don’t understand the one-size-fits-all model. It was a historical moment when Peter McWalters reconstituted Hope High School. I don’t want to miss an opportunity to learn [from those changes].
Granted times are tough for cities and towns, particularly with the state cuts to education. But can there be anything more important than success at Hope High? If we truly put kids first, Hope’s budget should be last on the cutting block.
In Washington, DC, a voucher program has allowed choice for poor families with kids stuck in failing schools. After taking over Congress, Democrats have worked to eliminate this voucher program. In September, many students will have to leave their current schools, and return to their neighborhood schools.
The voucher program was so successful it is supported by DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Mayor Thomas Fenty, a Democrat, said the education of the current voucher students should not be disrupted. Two former mayors and a majority of the city council, all Democrats, support continuation of the program.
And in a letter to the DC congressional delegation, education advocate Joseph Robert wrote:
Congressional leaders, do you not hear that local cry for help? Perhaps not if the voice in the other ear is the teachers’ unions, telling you how things will go for you at the polls next year if you don’t lie down for their misguided, out-dated positions, which have little if anything to do with the well-being of children.
Shame on you. Shame on all public officials who would rather relegate low-income children to continued cycles of poverty and illiteracy than take on the forces that benefit from the status quo of a broke education system. All you need to do is listen to the local community and continue a successful program that is already in place.
Those congressional leaders didn’t listen to the community. The voucher program was been axed.
And in New York, Democrat legislative leaders today joined teacher union leadership at a press conference to reign in charter schools, and to make them more like public schools. Included in their recommended changes to the charter school law is this gem:
ensuring workers’ rights by applying prevailing wage laws to charter school construction/renovation projects, and automatically recognizing local school district unions as the bargaining representatives for charter school employees
The choice to unionize is, apparently, no enough. Union leaders want to make in mandatory.
Those who have been obstacles to school reform are getting desperate, and will no doubt seek greater influence in the political arena. We must continue to hold our elected officials accountable for doing what is truly best for kids.
“We judge a man’s wisdom by his hope.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson.
