But what about the students who have special needs?

     One of my biggest pet peeves with the charter school I was employed at, was the identification and treatment of the special needs population. Having studied ESE education and having a special needs family member, this area was always of most importance to me. While I will always applaud teachers and the work they do, this particular school frowned on identifying special needs students, and therefore did not adequately train the teachers on the RTI process. The school was not very keen on spending money for special needs services, and the services that were offered for extremely limited.
     From what I experienced while employed there, I saw countless students with obvious signs on learning disabilities not receiving intervention, and what intervention that was received was not from qualified professionals. A lot of times students would be taken in as transfers, already having an IEP, which was almost completely ignored by staff and teachers alike. To defend the teachers, most were not trained in any way in special needs education, and I caught myself (still a student) often explaining ESE policies, laws, and teaching strategies to the classroom teachers. If an IEP was followed, it was the very minimum accommodations that could be given. I found that a lot of the parents had no clue that the IEP was not being followed, and even more of them had not had very much explained and didn't understand what an IEP was.
     Gifted education was even worse. Nothing was done for gifted students identified and possessing an EP. As little as the staff knew about students with special needs, they knew nothing about gifted education and students. Gifted students needs were either ignored entirely or they were given extra grade level work to keep them busy. With the lack of special needs education at the school, teachers were unable to inform parents about other school options and programs outside of the school, without fear of not being asked to return the next year. At certain points in this area, teaching jobs were very hard to come by, with layoffs and funding cuts at the public school level. Teachers just learned to keep their mouths shut and play along if they wanted to stay employed. This policy extended to pretty much everything to do with the school.

Just to be clear

     Before I proceed with what happened after school started I want to make clear why I am doing this. I am not a disgruntled ex-employee. I left voluntarily, mainly because I felt the owner and I had vastly different beliefs about education. My belief was that kids should matter more than money in education, and in order to properly run a school you should perhaps treat your teachers with dignity and respect. The owner of the school felt that students had price tags and teachers were over paid morons. I don't know what happens in other charter schools, however from stories I have heard from other educators, conditions are similar across the board, with some charter schools being slightly better and some charter schools being much worse. There are a lot of traits that most charter schools share. You can read and decide for yourself what was unique to this particular charter school and what may represent them across the board.
    I also want to say again that since I am unaware of the laws regarding exposing inside workings, I will keep all names out of the blog. You can therefore draw your own conclusions about what school I am talking about, because honestly it could be any charter school. I am a parent and educator who wants what is best for the future of my children as well as every other child in this country.

First Impressions

     As an inner city parent signing my child up for school the first time, I had three choices (private school not an option) public school, public school magnet program, and charter school. Considering my options I figured my assigned public school was not a fit for my child based on demographics and school grade. I attempted to have my child enrolled in a local magnet program, however my child was waitlisted. I figured at this point a charter school was my only option, and someone I knew highly recommended a certain one.
     I figured at this point it was too late to enroll my child in this school, since most good schools in this area have a waiting list, especially at the point my child was waitlisted for the magnet program. I called the charter school and was informed that they still had space so I rushed over to enroll the child. My first warning sign should have been the fact that when I requested a tour of the campus (which was space rented from a church) I was denied. I was so worried about my child getting the best education we could afford (meaning free), that I let it slide. I sincerely figured that the assigned public school was not an option, our county had a slot of scandal, an we had one of the worse school districts in the country.
     I enrolled my child and in a couple of weeks decided to submit my resume for employment, since I had the qualifications to substitute teach and had genuinely enjoyed teaching my own child at home before school age. I was hired over the summer before school started in a position that matched my credentials.  I had no idea what things were going to be like when school actually started. I'll be honest, it was very different than what was advertised, both when I registered my child and when I interviewed for the position I received.

The main thing

I sent my child to public school this year for the first time, let me tell you what the differences are:

1. An actual S.S. curriculum at the public school
2. School lunch is less expensive and more nutritious.
3. School grounds are cleaner.
4. Media center in public school.
5. Music classes at public school.
6. Smaller class sizes in the public school.

This is just what I noticed the first week.

I have heard from former co-workers that are still at the charter school that every class has at least 32 students this year. With all the reform on class sizes, how do they get away with it? Smoke and mirrors....

A brief intro to why I am doing this

I was employed at a charter school that my child attended, I honestly thought it was a better alternative to the local public school system. The staff are sales people who sell their school, without telling parents about what their children are really getting. I call it a bait and switch. Had I not been employed there (the only employee whose child attended the school should have told me something) I may never have known how bad the situation really was. I voluntarily ended my employment there, and pulled my child out. I have since realized that even the worse public school is still much better than the charter option. I want our government to stop wasting our tax money making businessmen richer at the expense of our children. Charter Schools do not equal a better education, it is not even equivalent. I do not know the laws about exposing the true workings of a business, even one receiving public funds, so I am staying anonymous and not mentioning particular names. I am fairly certain that the chain of schools I worked for are not unique and that this charter school problem is an epidemic that needs to end.