"A public school has components of schooling that include the responsibility for teaching the principles, habits, and obligations of citizenship" (Hess pg.158). As I think about the question of who should be permitted to provide public schooling I believe we need to look further than these components that are a part of any school public or private. First of all, whose to say that only a public school includes those components mentioned. In my opinion we could see a responsibility for teaching principles, habits, and obligations of citizenship at any type of school. Second of all, I believe that any school can consider themselves a public school if they are funded by a state and they are held accountable for things such as attendance, test scores, their teachers, their funding etc. Hess also said on pg.157 that "schools that are considered public are those schools that policy making and oversight are the responsibility of governmental bodies, such as a local school board". The third thing is that a public school is a school that is available to anyone regardless of your status, wealth, race, or religion.
The best example of this for me is the school that I work at. I work at a charter school and although it is a public school many people think that we are private. We are privately operated public schools financed through state of Ohio per-pupil foundation funds. At my school we receive no local property tax money/cannot charge tuition but we do collect a materials fee. We accept all students and cannot discriminate on any basis. All of our teachers are state certified. Our students are required to pass state-mandated proficiency (or achievement) tests as other public schools. We are subjected to financial audits by the auditor of the state of Ohio to ensure long term financial viability and accountability for taxpayer funds. At my school we focus on student academic excellence, promote good character, and ensure small class sizes (only 20 students per class). The reason that we are a public school is because we are accountable to the state over everything we do. I just recently found out that if our attendance rate is 93% or lower on the principal report each month we can be shut down. We also can be shut down based on discipline reports (too many suspensions etc) and of course our testing scores. We strive to be an "effective school" of which we were rated last year and this year our goal is to be rated "excellent". After speaking with my principal I later found out that our schools are actually way more accountable than other schools.
I can't exactly say whether the definition of a public school should be redefined but I do know that those schools who are accountable in some ways and who use the states money should be under the category of a "public" school. Also, any school who accepts students regardless of their status, wealth, race, or religion also should be considered a public school. I feel we need to look further than the components and focus more on the accountability aspect. We may be a charter school but we are dedicated and accountable far more than most schools and we do not receive the credit of which we too deserve the recognition.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"In my opinion we could see a responsibility for teaching principles, habits, and obligations of citizenship at any type of school." I think this is exactly Hess' point, Amanda--that all schools serve this (public) purpose, and so we need to redefine what we call "public."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought up--and described--your charter school. These schools are obviously a huge part of this question (as I'm sure we'll see even more clearly next week.) Your description clearly illustrates the "gray areas" of this question.
Nice job Amanda. I've taught in Lorain City Schools for 11 years and I taught at Constellation Community Schools for one. Constellation is considered one of the best charter schools in the area. I witnessed many positive aspects of that school, but also some negative. One issue was safety. Lockdown drills were not conducted or discussed. We had some issues with a few "trouble" students last year, and in one incident, a 9th grade male who had been suspended was hanging around the property in a vehicle. He had just threatened that morning to "shoot the place up". There was confusion at the end of the day on what to do with our students. We ended up dismissing as usual because the police had cleared the situation. There was never a lockdown or any discussion on what should be done in the future. I mentioned this to my principal, but was ignored.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect is discipline. You said that your school can be shut down for low attendance, too many suspensions, etc. In the Constellation school I was in, we had a principal who, although a very nice person, was very weak on discipline and follow-through. She was very reluctant to suspend or discipline because she had to appease the state. I had a student who was a constant problem. I'm the kind of teacher who has a great rapport with my students, and I can usually discipline and handle my classroom on my own. I rarely need to use the office. Our Building Manager once said that if I sent a kid to the office she knew that student had been a real problem. I had finally had it with one particular student and sent him to the office with a write up. He was sent back to class and I was called down to the office. The principal asked me what I thought the discipline should be! I told her that I had used up my arsenal on him: removal from others, private talks, behavior contract & weekly report, rewards when earned, detentions, phone calls & notes to parents, etc. and that now I needed her to intervene. She acted like she didn't know what to do! How refreshing that this school year when I send a student down to the office, the situation is dealt with!
Another drawback for Charter Schools are inexperienced teachers. Almost all of the teachers at the building I was at had 3-4 years experience or less. I was an 11 year teacher and the dinosaur of the building. In the public school system I'm in, I'm a youngin'. The absence of veteran teachers in the building hurts the young ones. A mix of youth and age is best, in my opinion. The lady teaching next to me got nothing done in her class. The kids ran her into the ground. I don't think I ever saw the principal doing teacher observations and evaluations either. This is my 12th year teaching, and my principal has been in my classroom for 4 observations this year already in Lorain!
Now, class sizes of 20, character ed., etc. are nice aspects of that particular Charter School. I agree that we need to learn from each other. I also liked Progressbook and the uniform policy. Parent involvement was also much higher. The Friends of PCA parent group was very strong in fundraising and activities. I believe that because the parents had chosen the community school for their child, they had a more vested interest. The parent participation was amazing! Lorain should consider letting families have more choice in the schools, rather than require the kids go to their neighborhood school.
In the end, I think more choice and competition will make us all better at what we do, and will pay off for the kids.
Amanda I loved your explanation about charter schools. Last year I worked at Horizon Science Academy H.S. on the East side and they were rated an "excellect school". It's funny you mention the third definition of a public school=
ReplyDeletea school that is available to anyone regardless of your status, wealth, race, or religion. Working in Horizon confused me though. They would have kids take an entrance exam and based on the score from the test and previous school records they would turn some kids down. I also see where Brian is coming from in terms of teaching experience in the charter schools and how a mixture of experience is more good than harm. Horizon negatively swayed my opinions about charter schools. HSA is ran by Turkish educators who are muslim. Thats fine, but how are you a "public school" imposing your religious beliefs on staff/students? When I would get health posters with women showing their legs or arms, I was not allowed to display the poster. Why did they use one of the classrooms as a prayer room? Is that acceptable? They accepted students left and right but did poor follow up on required paperwork for state enrollment. When I took the "school nurse" position, I had no idea what I was getting into. By the time I left, the director referred to me as the "attendance officer" and I was often tricked into duties that did not fit my RN position. So, I do agree that schools supported by government funding should be held accountable to public school standards of operation. It also becomes a problem when some schools get government funding and use other monies inappropriately.
Amanda- I can't believe how many people mistake charter schools for a private school. I also can not believe how many people look down on charter schools. I once had someone tell me that if you've worked at a charter school, no school district would hire you. It's really sad how little people know about charter schools.
ReplyDelete