Charter schools aren’t the answer for education’s ills

Charter schools aren’t the answer for education’s ills

EDITOR:

According to a 2004 study, Texas and Ohio have the worst records for charter school failure. In Texas, one out of every six fail. In Ohio, over half have been rated deficient compared to 10 percent of traditional schools.

On the surface, charter schools appear to be attractive. Public schools get such bad press that many parents think that charter schools are better. In Chicago, a parent boasted about a feature of her child’s charter school. “Tasha has all of her teachers’ phone numbers in case we have questions about her homework.”

No matter what charter schools do to make their programs attractive, to put it bluntly, a charter school is no more than a non-union public school. Other features are usually smaller class sizes and a more flexible curriculum. Teacher tenure or job security is not attainable.

Teachers need union protection. Teaching is difficult enough and more so if you are dealing with inner city children. In the wake of today’s technology and the way that many of our children are being raised, anything can happen in the classroom. It is not fair for a teacher to be dismissed based solely on the discretion of a principal or local school council. What’s even worse is to lose your job because your students didn’t make the required growth on a standardized test.

Governor Ted Strickland signed legislation in March that makes it easier to remove teachers and license others from other careers. Somebody with a business degree could be teaching your child how to read. An accountant could be teaching your child geometry. As a former teacher, I observed this practice in Chicago. In fact, the Chicago Board of Education had teachers in the classrooms who had not yet finished their graduation course work.

The educational systems and state legislatures are not leaning toward the charter school model so much because of its effectiveness in educating our children. The model saves the system money and allows for greater teacher manipulation. Educator Sonali Murarka, an advocate of charter schools, said, “Most charter schools take advantage of their increased flexibility in hiring and firing teachers.” She went on to say that dismissal of teachers is common place in charter schools.

If teacher dismissal is common place in charter schools, something is inherently wrong with the model. No wonder many charter schools fail. If a teaching staff is to be effective, emotional stability is crucial. How can a teacher feel secure in his job if teachers around him are losing theirs. You don’t have to be a psychologist to know that if teachers are insecure, students learn less.

Educators know that it takes a few years to develop effective teaching technique. The goal of educational reformers should be to come up with innovative ways to support our young teachers while they learn how to teach.

ALFRED SPENCER

Warren

Terry and O’Reilly were right

EDITOR:

Your June 4 editorial on the murder of the abortion doctor, Dr. Tiller, said Randall Terry and Bill O’Reilly encouraged the doctor’s murder by calling him a mass murderer.

Dr. Tiller was an abortion doctor for 35 years and aborted approximately 60,000 babies. During the next Super Bowl observe the 50,000 people in the stadium. Then realize Dr. Tiller killed 10,000 more people than are in that stadium. For those of us who believe abortion is murder, I’d say Dr. Tiller was a mass murderer. Bill O’Reilly and Randall Terry only told the truth.

Incidentally, Dr. Tiller performed late term abortions. Only a handful of late term abortion doctors are in the U.S. It is an especially heinous procedure. My opinion is a person would have to be extremely cold blooded to perform a late term abortion on a kicking baby suspended helplessly in the air while being killed by a doctor.

NELL HIGGINS

Hubbard