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Digitalvision
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Username: Digitalvision

Post Number: 257
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 11:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Successful schools are about parents.

Of course, in any job, there are a few bad apples or in this case, poor teachers. But really, the overriding problem in districts like Detroit is not that teachers are bad, it is that teachers should be teaching, and parents parenting.

Pretty much every teacher I've ever met or had loved their job, was passionate about it, and did the absolute best they could. It's easy to blame administrators, teachers, etc. because it's tangible. It's something we perceive we can fix, as something must be done.

When in fact, it's yet another sign of the urban crisis our nation faces that costs us as a country billions of dollars.

Regardless of charter/public, the problem really starts when teachers have to parent because the kids come to school without eating breakfast, there is no pressure/impetus to do homework.

No matter what district you send your kids, you can't outsource their education - and what I mean by outsourcing is you are the one who has to get involved. I've seen many great kids come out of DPS - and what is the difference?

Their parents were involved. Regardless of the families' income, books, education and homework were family priorities.

Sure, more money can help. Educational environment can help, and are all valid factors. But for the most part, education starts at home.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2511
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 3:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That is a very good point dvision.One of the attractions to some parents is that each charter in a sense is their own school system with a board of directors.

I suppose if parents were involved they would be involved at the public schools as well.But charters may offer what some feel is a more manageable school.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1101
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 4:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

At the high school level, most charters "specialize" in something. There those out there that specialize is mechanics, technology, engineering, performing arts, etc. This might be the attraction that many parents and students have at the HS level (I don't know much about elementary grades). With taking so much of the electives/vo-tech training out of public schools, this leaves little for those who wish to explore those options.

I have firsthand knowledge of charters from a parent's perspective, as well as a public school teacher. My son went to a charter for HS that specialized in mechanics. He just couldn't get that at the public schools. I watched the Henry Ford Academy grow since its inception. Both offer what traditional public schools can't/won't offer anymore...a place to let kids learn and explore.

Public schools are so test driven that we are losing sight of what we are there for...the kids. Kids get test burnout (we give 5 separate high stakes tests to the 9th and 10th graders). Seems we are trying so hard to get the kids to pass the tests that we are losing sight of the actual education. Charters have tests, but they are privately funded and don't have to rely so heavily on gov't. funding being taken away if kids don't "pass" the high stakes tests. Takes a lot of pressure off of the kids and teachers.

It sound like I am a charter school advocate...but that isn't the case. I am an education advocate. Whatever fits the kids/parents is what is best. We do have great kids in DPS and we have some real slimeballs (that goes for parents, too). Parental involvement and support is key for success no matter what the school is called.
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 6294
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 5:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Worse thing about charters is the teachers. Anyone who is less experience in education will be able to get a job. That's another reason that most charter schools FAILED! in the MEAP, SAT and ACT standarized texts.
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 6295
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 5:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroitteacher,

I'm glad that you're for DPS special ed like my cousin who teaches special ed at Keidan Elemanatary. Charter schools don't have special ed students so they are being left out. So try not to leave the DFT for other successful schools. Dr. Calloway have a plan to revive DPS educational burnout soon.
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Eec
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Username: Eec

Post Number: 100
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 6:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Livernoisyard-
An IQ of 150 and reading comprehension that low? I don't believe it. Was this one of those online IQ tests, or did it come in a box of Cracker Jacks?

Small words, for the supergenius among us:

I DON'T know how much money is being siphoned off above the school level. I DO know that not enough reaches the schools.

Furthermore, there's no better way to look like a self-important fool than to start bragging about your IQ.

Citylover-
You trust your family member. That's fine. I'll go with data from the majority of unbiased sources and my own experience. If you'd prefer to take the word of someone with an obvious vested interest in making charters look good, I can understand that, given that it's family. You'll have to excuse the rest of the world, however, for having a worldview that more closely approximates reality.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2512
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 - 12:36 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sad eec, you are truly sad or perhaps you are mentally unbalanced.I really don't know how else to respond.

I have told you several times that this person (never said it was a family member) I know has never made any claims about charters.They do about the same as public schools.

I am truly sorry that you continue to perpetuate lies.But giving to the idea that you may well be mentally unbalanced I see how you must continue to lie.

There is no point in discussing anything with you.You are incapable of dealing in truth.


What is right to the point and relevant is charters are not going anywhere. That is the truth and none of your goddamned lies are gonna be able to do a damn thing about it_ in the meantime get some help.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2513
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 - 12:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh one more thing eec this person I know has no "vested" interest in anything.On the off chance that charters are somehow deemed non existent sometime after martians invade earth this person will simply retire_ something they could have done long ago.
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Lfrac88
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Username: Lfrac88

Post Number: 2
Registered: 07-2007
Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 - 2:25 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Danny,

Lack of experience does not necessarily equal bad teaching.

At the charter school I graduated from (second class), out of all my teachers, the best were the ones right out of school- they were fresh, motivated, and still had a sincere desire to do the best job they could- not as much can be said for some of the other, severely jaded teachers who could care less about their job and students.

And I would bet the biggest reason for failing test scores is the lack of funding- not necessarily the teachers.
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Philbert
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Username: Philbert

Post Number: 260
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 - 3:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote "My IQ's over 150"

OMG NO WAY!!

lol
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 6299
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 12:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Lfrac88,


WOW! Then your educational experience in those EVIL charter school from those unqualified teacher made you half prepare to for college or the working world.
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Ray
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Username: Ray

Post Number: 960
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 1:23 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Anything that might break the fing teachers unions has my support.

There many qualified people who would make great teachers, but the teaching industry has conived its way into a postion of complete control so that only their so-called "education majors" can teach.

I would love to teach one hour per day of junior high or high school science. I would be great at it and I would do it for free. And there are many people like me. But there's no chance we can volunteer because the greedy, selfish, bloodsucking education industry would never tolerate it.

The whole system is rotten to the core. I actually think we should get rid of pubic schools completely, give every kid a $10,000 per year voucher and let private and religious schools run the show.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2514
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 7:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

C,mon Ray that is a bit harsh.Public education has been our most successful endeavor historically in the U.S. Millions upon millions have gotten great educations and continue to in public schools.

My wrath is toward those with agendas that continue to spew misinformation about charter schools.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1103
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 8:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ray: What do we do with those kids that the charters and private schools don't want? I have plenty in my classes that have been kicked out of both. Public schools are the ONLY place left for them because we must accept and keep all students who enter our doors. It would be nice and I could do much more with my students if I could hand pick them.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2515
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 8:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroit teacher please show valid documentation that states charters are not bound by the same rules and rgulations as public schools.
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Lfrac88
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Username: Lfrac88

Post Number: 3
Registered: 07-2007
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 12:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Danny,

Yeah, since compared to some of my friends who went to a normal public high school, I was the one who got a well rounded education.

Also, since I'm a music performance major, yeah, my arts high-school prepared me for the working world a great deal more than if I had stayed at my small, rural school that had a miniscule music department, with teachers who didn't consider music a career.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1104
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 12:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

CL: It's a matter of unwritten rule. Charters can dismiss students from attending for a number of infractions and do not have to allow them back, public schools do. Charters must accept anyone who wishes to attend or hold a lottery, the issue is keeping those students when the students act up.

Charters also only have to offer special ed services through the home school district of the child. They DO NOT have to have special ed services on site, as do public schools (although some do).

I'm not knocking charters (please see my previous posts on this thread). I am merely stating what I know through experience as both a parent of a student who attended a charter and as a public school teacher (who also knows plenty of teachers who teach in charters).
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 6305
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 1:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great post Detroitteacher well written.

YAY CLAP CLAP!!!

Most EVIL charter schools back then are being set up from the grants of foundations of various colleges and universities designed to be college perparatory magnet level. EVIL charter schools want students who BEHAVE and don't clown around. THEY don't want AT RISK problem children.

In most EVIL charter schools, they expect students to have a C average or better ( that is according to their colleges and universities) or get excluded NEVER to come back to any EVIL charter school ever again until their records are kept clean. EVIL charter schools want to see a higher graduation rate, lower dropout rate as well as higher MEAP, SAT and ACT culturally biased standarized test scores in which they are having problems at this moment. EVIL charter schools is like getting your 6 year child into college or university before they get to any college and university and that's their plan force competition in the American educational system.


Danny: Street Prophet member to The Ghettoman #174 and I'm a Detroit Public Schools graduate and they help me get into Wayne State University and proud of it.

DPS FOREVER, CHARTER SCHOOLS NEVER!!
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Eec
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Username: Eec

Post Number: 103
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 11:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ray said:
_____

I would love to teach one hour per day of junior high or high school science. I would be great at it and I would do it for free. And there are many people like me. But there's no chance we can volunteer because the greedy, selfish, bloodsucking education industry would never tolerate it.
_____

I'm tempted to say that this is funny. Perhaps even funnier than Livernoisyard boating about his/her IQ or Citylover's simultaneous ignorance and accusations of lying. But I'm willing to give Ray the benefit of the doubt.

Ray, what is it that makes you think you'd be so great at someone else's job? Because you know, I watched Top Gun last week, and I think I'd make an excellent fighter pilot. Looks easy enough. I bet I'd be great at it.
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Tammypio
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Username: Tammypio

Post Number: 139
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 1:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Funny....anytime I have parents come in to volunteer or chaperone a field trip...I get..."I wouldn't trade jobs with you for anything. I don't know how you do it. You earn every penny you make. I'll stick to my own job. etc... etc..
My parents come from all different occupations..doctors, firefighters, business,etc. They realize that there is more to teaching than just standing in front of a class and lecturing.
I wish that more people, like Ray above, would realize this. Granted, I teach first grade and spend my year teaching children to read, write and to do simple math (along with science, social studies and social skills of course!) and I realize that junior high and high school is a lot different. However, I still know that it isn't all just standing in front and lecturing.
Most people think that since they have experience seeing teachers work (in their years as students themselves) that they know how to teach. Sorry, but that's just not true!
As far as charter schools go, I am biased. I teach in a Catholic school and charters are one of the big reasons that city Catholic schools are struggling so much to stay open right now. I've had many students leave to go to charters and come back and I've had kids come from charters and stay at our school. Most parents realize that they aren't always what their children need. In addition, I've met many teachers who have taught or teach at charter schools. Not a happy teacher among them.
I applaud DPS teachers who are there for the best interest of the students and always give props to Detroitteacher. DT..you sound like an awesome teacher and I applaud you for your personal sacrifices and your willingness to stick it out for your students.
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 3556
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 1:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

I would love to teach one hour per day of junior high or high school science. I would be great at it and I would do it for free. And there are many people like me. But there's no chance we can volunteer because the greedy, selfish, bloodsucking education industry would never tolerate it.


President Bush, after returning to the US as a bomber pilot in WWII, volunteered to teach for nothing in his home's school district . However, the teachers' union would not permit that to happen.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1106
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 8:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Tammypio for the kudos. I hear the same comments that you hear about my job. Most people think it's so easy...then they have to start dealing with the young lady who is being raped at home or the young man who just found out his "girlfriend" is pregnant or the many kids who are hungry are sitting in class thinking of nothing else other than where they're going to get their next meal. If all I had to do was stand in front of a class and lecture, my job would be a piece of cake. I have many things to deal with as well as trying to differentiate instruction for my students because they don't all "get it" the same way (as I am sure you do for yours), dealing with parents who think their child has been wronged in some capacity (even though I don't see these folks at parent teacher conference time), dealing with admin (who also think they can do your job better but won't go back to the classroom or sub when we need them), dealing with discipline problems (including the kid who is sitting in the class with a gun).

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If anyone would like to come and "help" me do my job for a week, please feel free. I'm not complaining, merely setting the stage for a FEW of the issues I deal with on a DAILY basis. It's quite obvious that I am not in this because it's some glamour job or that it's easy. I am in it for the kids.

As for my summers free...I haven't had much free time because I've been working on next year's lessons, reading novels that I purchased (yes, with my own money) for next year (even though they are changing the curriculum and we have yet to be given copies of what that new curriculum is), doing my homework for the classes I am taking so that I can provide my kids with a better experience, etc.

The invite is open to join my classroom as a guest instructor. I doubt many would last a week.
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Yelloweyes
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Username: Yelloweyes

Post Number: 166
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 9:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In these education forums people talk about how horrible the teachers union is. What evils have they done?
As far as I'm concerned the charters are worse, because they lower teacher's salaries and take the excess money for profit.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1110
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 9:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Quoting Ray: would love to teach one hour per day of junior high or high school science

Why only one hour, Ray? Why not give up your current job and teach full time? Please explain why you would only want to be in the classroom one hour a day...I'm curious.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2516
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 9:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Charters are also done by universities.And eec continues with the bullshit_

No claims have been made by me saying charters are better or worse; they are the same as public schools ....they are public schools.

Your agenda is so fucking transparent eec it is laughable.

The answer to my question I assume dteacher is that charters are bound to the same regulations as public schools. And btw there are, as you know, many public schools that are not in compliance on any number of issues.

The point is and remains that despite eec's et,al attempts to discredit charters on average they perform on par with public schools. And that to some parents and students charters are more attractive than traditional public schools.
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Quozl
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Username: Quozl

Post Number: 1080
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 9:21 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

The invite is open to join my classroom as a guest instructor.

I'll take you up on your offer Detroitteacher. My expertise is Chemical Engineering, Combined-cycle generation of electricity, Siemens-Westinghouse Combustion Turbines, the Arabic language and Rock n Roll. I would dedicate the time to help you for a week and am quite certain it would be a real eye opener. Let me know.

Sorry we were unable to meet up last month as previously discussed, I hope you are having a great summer and that you completed the classes you were taking with the greatest of ease.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2517
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 9:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Tammypio charters are not the reason for catholic schools shrinkage.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1111
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 9:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Quozl: The main emphasis in my classroom is Literature. While I am sure that the physics and chemistry classes would be dazzled by your expertise, my students would be less than attentive. Sharpen your skills with Beowulf, The Crucible, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm and other delights in Lit and you are more than welcome to join us. If you'd just like to sit in on a few classes, though, that can be arranged. Bring your own chair.
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Tammypio
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Username: Tammypio

Post Number: 140
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 2:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

Tammypio charters are not the reason for catholic schools shrinkage



Citylover: If you read my post, you will see that I said that charter schools are ONE of the reasons that CITY Catholic schools are struggling to stay open RIGHT NOW. It is obvious that most of the white Catholics have fled the city for the suburbs...this happened a while back. However, many of the city Catholic schools were doing fine, or at least hanging on, in the 90s. When I started at my school in 1992, the school was probably 97% African American with most of those students non-Catholics. Parents sent their children to Catholic schools to 1) keep their children out of what they considered poor performing Detroit Public Schools and 2) to give their child some sort of religious based education.
As charters opened up left and right, parents that just wanted to keep their children from DPS now took their children to what they considered a "prestigious" charter school. Anything with the word "academy" next to it sounded pretty great to them! Our enrollment began to shrink significantly.
Now, even the parents who really want their children in a religious school are having trouble affording it as tuition costs increase and the economy in our state continues to suffer.
Granted, Catholic school enrollment is suffering due to the fact that we have to charge higher tuition to pay lay teachers. I realize that when Vatican II was in place and religious sisters began to leave the orders, more and more lay teachers who needed more salary to teach caused big problems in the system. At my particular school, we had many IHM sisters still teaching when I started 15 years ago. Now, they have all retired to the motherhouse or passed away and the school employs lay teachers across the board.
So again, while I understand that charter schools are not the ONLY reason that Catholic school in the city are suffering, I KNOW for a fact that they are a big factor in the enrollment decline over the last 10 years.
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Eec
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Username: Eec

Post Number: 104
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 4:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yelloweyes said:
_____
In these education forums people talk about how horrible the teachers union is. What evils have they done?
As far as I'm concerned the charters are worse, because they lower teacher's salaries and take the excess money for profit.
_____

The unions have done horrible things like ask for half the pay they'd make for comparable jobs elsewhere, lobby for class sizes small enough to teach kids, and actually demand enough textbooks for each student to have one. You know, evil things like that.

And yes, I think siphoning off public education money for profit is worse than the mostly reasonable things the teachers' union asks for, too.

Citylover said:
_____
The point is and remains that despite eec's et,al attempts to discredit charters on average they perform on par with public schools. And that to some parents and students charters are more attractive than traditional public schools.
_____

There's no point in arguing with you. For anyone who's wondering which pot is calling which kettle black, I advise you to look up research on charters. According to the research, they usually fare worse in most measures of student achievement. When they don't, the research is often by a biased source or based on cooked numbers once you dig into it, but in most of the research I've read, charters underperform.

As for the "fewer regulations" thing, that's pretty much the definition of a charter school: one that's run on public monies but has been released from some of the regulations that bind traditional public schools in exchange for a promise to promote student achievement. Oversight is almost always so lax, however, that they don't close down even though their students tend (with some exceptions) to lag behind in achievement.
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Yelloweyes
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Username: Yelloweyes

Post Number: 169
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 6:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Something else that comes to mind is how many inner-city parents do you think are going online and comparing MEAP results?

The bottom line is parents are choosing charters because they have a choice, and everytime you turn on the evening news DPS has a negative report, or their child has had a negative experience at their local school. The image is that DPS is corrupt and unsafe. I am pretty sure parents are not choosing based on test scores or who "outperforms" who.
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 3578
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 6:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The DPS school board will vote on 9 August to turn over to the feds and the attorney general its evidence of employee fraud concerning the missing, suspect $46 million in wire transfers.
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1113
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 8:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No wonder I can't get books, desks....etc.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 2520
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Thursday, August 02, 2007 - 1:22 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You simply refuse to deal in honesty eec and that is sad.You also refuse to comprehend anything I have written.Which is really about the same as what dteacher has said.

I tell you over and over and fucking over again that the person I know that sets up charters had a very long career in PUBLIC SCHOOLS. I told you these were urban schools.In case you did not understand this person is a traditional public school administrator.This person is not some wild eyed drill sgt that has decided we should blow up our public schools system.Nope just a very very experienced school administrator that makes it their business to know their business.But you can' have that because it does not fit your agenda.

I have pointed out to you ad-nauseun that this person has never claimed that charters were the answer to all education.Instead a very honest and forthcoming .....some do better, some are not as good...... as public schools_ and btw did you get the part about charters being public schools? Did you know that the detroit public school system has charters?

You keep harping about studies.For every study you cite about charters being less than desirable I can find one that says the opposite. I frankly believe my friend that sets up charters.Because there is something honest about someone that is frank and up front about what they are involved with.........that would be the part about some do better some don't.That is an honest assessment something more perhaps than you are capable of.

My guess and you may never reveal it is that either you or someone close to you is a school teacher and you spew the union dogma and so instead of dealing in honest and truth you attempt to twist things. It won't work.Charters are public schools and they are here to stay.
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Barnesfoto
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Username: Barnesfoto

Post Number: 3887
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, August 02, 2007 - 2:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There is a breath of fresh air in Los Angeles, and its' name is Green Dot Public (Charter) Schools.

http://www.greendot.org/home/i ndex.html

At the same time, the dinosaur that is the Los Angeles Unified School District is reforming public education through Small Learning Communities:

http://notebook.lausd.net/port al/page?_pageid=33,153266&_dad =ptl&_schema=PTL_EP

As an alumnus of the DPS, which was run largely by incompetents a quarter century ago, (and there is no evidence that things have changed) I propose that there is room for both systems. What could be worse than doing nothing when we are so clearly confronted with failure?
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Detroitteacher
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Username: Detroitteacher

Post Number: 1115
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Thursday, August 02, 2007 - 7:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

DPS has looked at small learning communities but we (the teachers) have found that they (the Board) don't want radical change like that. We've known small learning communities (schools within schools) have worked for other urban districts for years. The district did pay a company many many dollars to come and try and convince us that SLCs were best. We agreed so DPS did away with the idea. Anything the teachers believe will work, DPS will refuse to acknowledge. It is sad because we (teachers) were excited about this proposal.

Anything DPS even tries is given up before it can start working for a "newer"-fangled method. With the new high school requirements, I doubt we'll have anything coming down the pipeline that will actually help the kids. There is already talk about class size in my bldg exceeding 70 kids a class (how's that for smaller learning communities? HA!

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