My daughter had to miss the review for tomorrow’s math test today. Des Moines Public School officials thought a sales pitch by the folks from the new charter school would be a better use of some Callanan Middle School students’ time. The pitchers wanted to make sure the Gifted and Talented kids and English Language Learners knew they were equally welcome to apply. Just like late night infomercial hucksters, the sales team had a strong closing message for the kids, “every student accepted at our shiny new school gets a completely free laptop of his or her very own.”
The problem, I don’t send my children to school to get sold to, I send them to learn.
Des Moines School Officials are Selling their Charter School to a Live Student Audience Near You
The new charter school has been plagued with controversy since before it opened its doors. Organizers of the charter school spent a great deal of time during a school board meeting in 2009 selling the board on the concept. Only after every member of the audience left, save one dedicated Drake journalism student, did the superintendent reveal the picture was not so rosy and the funding was not secure. And, the supposedly independent group overseeing the charter school hired Des Moines Schools’ superintendent Nancy Sebring’s twin sister without – “wink, wink” – knowing the relationship. Since then the Des Moines Public School District has appropriated resources to create this new charter school in extremely difficult economic times. And, it is rumored the school is shy of the enrollment numbers that were promised, which leads to today’s recruiting session.
But, enough about the charter school. Even if the place were a raging success, it is not appropriate to take kids away from learning time to hear a sales pitch; especially one their parents know nothing about. When it comes to deciding which school is appropriate for a child, at a minimum, an attempt needs to be made to get the information to the parents first.
District officials are quick to point out a charter school operates independently from the public school district and a charter school is exempt from many public school restrictions. Therefore, it is no more appropriate for the charter school to recruit students during the school day than it would be for a private school to do so. (Should Merrill Middle School be able recruit at other schools for its International Baccalaureate Program? Should the private Bergman Academy present to public school students about its educational model?)
No matter how I look at this, this official school assembly smells. My daughter missed valuable class time the day before her math exam. The charter school was allowed open access to recruit public school students, providing it an advantage over every other public school in an open enrollment enabled district as well as every other private school. Parents were not informed of or involved in the charter school sales session, meaning they have to get the information from their children in a silly game of catch-up. Teachers lost more minutes teaching and students lost learning time.
Admittedly, I am skeptical when education administrators roll out a new program that takes resources from existing programs. When the new dream project flounders and these same administrators try to sell directly to students, I get concerned their priorities really are out of whack.
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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.
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