Earlier this week, I read a letter written by a UTLA area chair that described this week’s strike in apocalyptic terms: “this is our Armageddon. This strike has slowly developed into the ultimate battle between good and evil…” He argues that if the district were to win this fight, it would be a win for the charter movement.
I don’t see it this way. I strike because the charter movement has already won.
School choice is already a reality in Los Angeles. Over 140,000 students go to charter schools. I watch students in charter school uniforms take the Metro 81 bus from the stop in front of my school every morning. Not only that, LAUSD itself has expanded its magnet program, which is a choice program.
The only way my school, any school, stays alive now is through participating in that competition. In order to attract students we need to innovate, to be a positive force and offer something that appeals to parents and students.
What appeals to parents and students?
Small class sizes.
Counseling services.
Nurses.
Libraries.
Electives and P.E.
and yes, test scores.
I am game for competition. I want to compete with charter schools; I think that the competition drives us all to be better educators, and offer better programs.
But when the board approves charter schools with charter petitions whose model includes small class sizes, they need to level the playing field. Here are a few of the board approved charter petitions that include lower class sizes:
Aspire Antonio Maria Luga Academy (Page 20)
Arts in Action Community Middle School (Page 26)
Ararat Charter School (Page 33)
APEX Academy (Page 100)
Academia Modern (Page 30)
(That’s five and I didn’t even get out of the charter schools that start with the letter A!)
How can the board approve schools that espouse the benefits lower class sizes and then deny that right to its own students? How can we compete with those schools when they do not give us the same tools?
I strike because I believe in school choice. I believe that we can compete. I believe we have something excellent to offer. But I also believe in fair competition. And this ain’t it.
So I strike for our students, for our school, for our community. I strike for a fair school choice.
*Comments have been disabled on this post because the I don’t need that negativity. If you have something to say, go to the contact section.