More on Charters - Part III

Despite many of the claims of superiority, the accomplishments of charters is mixed when compared to their public school counterparts. It has been my experience in working with New Orleans and Chicago Public Schools that a fair number of charters allow certain practices, in my view, which should be brought to the attention of the public-at-large.

I am fully aware of the fact that a significant number of charters don't accept every Educational Services student who tries to enroll at said charter. This is in spite of the fact that charters typically state that they have open enrollment. No public school, of any sort, should get away with the practice of prohibiting any student from entering their school.

It has also been brought to my attention that some charters are quick to dismiss students who are failing or who have behavior/disciplinary issues. I have had a number of traditional public school principals recite taking-in charter students who have been dropped from the charter school for the above reasons. Again, no public school should engage in such practices.

On more than a couple of occasions I have had public school principals confide in me their disdain for some charters actively recruiting their students. Of course this type of 'recruitment' deals with the best performing students in the traditional public school setting. I find this 'skimming' practice deplorable!

There are other concerns I have pertaining to charters. The point I am making here is thaty charter public schools often don't subscribe to the same rules and practices of their counterpart neighborhood schools. In a very real sense, as I see it, the playing field isn't level.

The above practices can, and do, distort the accomplishments of some charters. Such considerations need to be taken into account when assessing the performance of charters. They certainly influence our work with traditional public schools.

Dick