I have been spending some time going through the results of the HES Parents' Survey over the past few days. I will be presenting these results to the Board during the public comment period on Monday and openly distributing them (as promised) via this blog before the meeting.
One the of most interesting things I have seen in the data is the strong interest that will exist among HES parents for charter school opportunities if HES is dismantled.
According to survey respondents, enrolling their children in a charter school will be second only to returning to their neighborhood school among parents that say they will not keep their children at a merged CES/HES. I found that to be pretty surprising.
As I have said many times, I am not well versed in the complexity of public schools nor did I pay much attention to the different flavors of education before enrolling my son at HES. We looked at our neighborhood school, considered a few local private schools and then we visited HES, and the decision was made for us. The idea of a charter school never even crossed my mind.
After seeing the importance many other parents are placing on this option, I started doing some reading and I found some interesting information on the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools website.
Did you know that you can convert an existing public school into a charter school if a "majority of the teachers" and support staff, and a "significant number of parents" support the idea?
"§ 115C‑238.29B. Eligible applicants; contents of applications; submission of applications for approval.
(a) Any person, group of persons, or nonprofit corporation seeking to establish a charter school may apply to establish a charter school. If the applicant seeks to convert a public school to a charter school, the application shall include a statement signed by a majority of the teachers and instructional support personnel currently employed at the school indicating that they favor the conversion and evidence that a significant number of parents of children enrolled in the school favor conversion."
And, to make things even more interesting, the application to convert an existing school into a charter school can be made directly to the State Board of Education - in essence, entirely bypassing the local School Board. The local Board will be allowed to comment on the application but the decision is entirely up to the State Board.
The administration of a charter school is entirely up to that school's Board of Directors. They "decide matters related to the operation of the school, including budgeting, curriculum, and operating procedures" without input from the local School Board. Even so, the local School Board is required by state law to fund the charter school "an amount equal to the per pupil local current expense appropriation to the local school administrative unit for the fiscal year" and "no other terms may be imposed on the charter school as a condition for receipt of local funds."
This may be a viable alternative should the OC Board of Education move forward with dismantling HES.
Hillsborough Charter Elementary School has a pretty nice ring to it.
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4 comments:
I see a constant theme of there being some kind of dilusion that you are going to have it your way no matter how much you have to kick and scream to get it. In essence you are acting like a child.
It's interesting how the chief motivation for supporting the merger for some of these posters is that it's a chance to exert power over the "privileged" children and parents of HES. I've seen several posts exulting in how the decision will "wake you up to reality" or "take away your choice"; several others about how the rich, white parents are terrified of minority children but they're going to be "forced" to let them in...
It's pretty creepy really. There is a lot of anger and prejudice in these posts.
It's also interesting in that they're basically admitting that the new school is going to go waaaay waaaay down in quality, but they're just happy that there's nothing you can do about it!
FYI-- a public education is not a privilege, it is a right for the kids in Orange County. Fact--Hillsborough Elementary is a Public School. Fact--Hillsborough Elementary children are not required to have parents that are wealthy. Fact: my kid, which goes to HES, has parents that are not wealthy, but are middle class. Before you ramble with your ignorant talk, Jon, think about how you are perceived by all children and parents. Don't make this a socio-economic issue. Don't make this a race issue, make this an educational issue. First, start with you own education.
Hi anonymous,
You have misunderstood my post (I hope). We seem to, in fact, agree.
I was responding to other anonymous posters who, as you say, let their concerns about race and wealth overwhelm any other considerations. They have no regard for the impact a merger might have on the quality of education, especially for HES students.
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