Take it From Someone Who's Done It

Not many of us have taught both high school in a traditional neighborhood school and at a charter high school. Brett McNeil has done both and he offers some profound insights in a full page Opinion 'Viewpoint' in the Monday edition of the Chicago Sun Times. I didn't think Mr. McNeil was ranting or raving, instead pointing out the differences based on his experiences.

The author found that the charter high school, in which he taught, lacked many of the programs of the traditional high school. There was no student council, no auto shop classes, no Art program, no swimming pool, no International Baccalaureate program and much more. Mr. McNeil's work at the charter had no library or librarians. Of course this is not the situation at every charter but his words are instructive. It's not unusual for a charter to have fewer programs.

One of the other problems/issues expressed by Brett concerned that of teacher retention/stability. Said Mr. McNeil, "The year I was hired to teach, all except one of the 10th grade teachers were new to the school, including English, math, history, and foreign language." He went on to note, "The principal who hired me is gone, the department chair is gone, dozens of teacher positions have turned over, in some cases multiple times, in the last five years."

Stability will always be a hallmark, certainly not the only one, of a great school. Unless schools of any type/structure can promote it they will surely confront huge problems, perhaps even failure.

Dick