They can call charter schools public schools all they want. They will never be public until they accept ALL children and hire credentialed teachers, led by actual school administrators who understand children and how they learn.
How sad for New Orleans. How sad for a country that was conned into thinking charters were going to be learning labs for real teachers and parents to run.
Someone tweeted that free market guru Milton Friedman was giggling from the grave upon hearing the news that there were no more traditional public schools in New Orleans.
I don’t think so. I prefer to think he is in a place where no matter how many glasses of water he has to choose from, they are all lukewarm and tainted. Yes I think weirdly like that.
According to Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, despite old age and poor health, Friedman determined that instead of fixing NOLA schools after Katrina, the government would do better to give vouchers to families to spend on private schools, some for-profit, and that this should be permanent and no trial run. They would use this disaster to quasi-privatize schooling for good.
Now you can go pick your school like you are shopping for a new car or boat at an Expo! And read the fine print. Here is the Agenda for Children group whose motto is “Good for Louisiana Children. Good for Louisiana Business.” They do some good things for children but are big supporters of charter schools.
But charter schools never earned the right for a takeover in NOLA or anywhere else in this country. They have not proven themselves to be better than traditional public schools. Mercedes Schneider on her blog disputes well all the Washington Post NOLA charter school takeover support talk.
Furthermore, it is common knowledge that charter schools are run much different than public schools. They don’t always serve students with disabilities and ELL students. If traditional public schools did that, they would have students with perfect test scores. Everyone would dance merrily on to acceptance letters from 5, or even 10 Ivy league schools.
But such privilege, used to drive away challenging or exceptionally unique students, doesn’t make a successful school. It is nothing but elitism.
Public schools deal with challenges. It is the challenges that are costly. And it is determining how to handle the challenges that make a school great. Giving mediocre, or even failed, charter schools credit for fixing problems, when they have not, is deceptive.
Families who get their children into the good charters in NOLA supposedly like them. But ask yourself this question. Who helped the good people of New Orleans fix their schools before Katrina? If you’re given nothing to eat to begin with, a baloney sandwich looks mighty tasty. But in the end it is just a baloney sandwich. It’s definitely no gumbo!
What could real public schools have looked like if money had fixed them legitimately…if all children had been served, not just the students who floated above the flood waters? How could the children of New Orleans been brought together? Do you not wonder?
And what is so unique about the charter schools there?
I have been to NOLA after Katrina. I’ve happened upon the old school building with the KIPP Fleur-de-lis sign stretched over the old public school name. But you can’t fool me with that symbol. KIPP may look like it’s something special in NOLA, but it’s the same old “march in single file” KIPP you will find in LA or NYC or Memphis, TN. How does that (yawn) distinguish itself from the status quo?
NOLA had trouble with charter schools from the start. Just ask the Southern Poverty Law Center who has been standing in support of those families whose children with special needs are excluded. I noticed the New Orleans Parish is now including special education classrooms in their newly constructed school buildings. Now? After years of casting these children aside?
Also, pay attention to the wealthier charter kids who protested over especially strict discipline and mistreatment in the The Atlantic. Teenagers are smarter than they are given credit. They know some things are not right when they too are forced to march in one straight line and when their teacher gets fired for no good reason. I believe they can also smell a real teacher as opposed to a fake one. Thank goodness these students are able to still ask questions!
I know that the public schools in New Orleans had problems before Katrina. But a lot of those problems were pushed aside by a state and country that could, but would not help. Like the Formosan termite problem that plagued facilities for years. Yet, despite all the lacking support, there was some indication schools were bouncing back.
Where were all the foundations then? Where was Oprah?
Then Katrina.
Never was there a more recognizable sign of poverty than Katrina. Katrina gave us a chance to recruit great teachers and restart a community of hope. But not one penny went to real public schools. Forty eight million went to the charters as 7,500 staff were laid off. Four thousand of those individuals were teachers. They were fired at the worst time ever.
Now watch for more of a push to make those charters online schools. Here is a clue.
Arne Duncan was criticized for saying that Katrina was “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans.” Oh give him a break. He didn’t mean it the way it sounded. After all, Duncan and the Obama administration don’t need a hurricane to quasi privatize public schools…just look at Chicago, Philly, and Memphis…or visit the Motor City where they are racing to catch up to New Orleans like they are in the Grand Prix.
Au Revoir NOLA public schools. Au Revoir.
***Note! I have been reminded that there are still 5 public schools surviving in New Orleans. This makes sense. I wondered where the students with disabilities and those rejected by the charter schools were going. I would like to hear what the plans for these schools are and how long they are expected to survive.
Alexander, Maria. 2007. “Reinventing a Broken Wheel? The Fight to Reclaim Education in New Orleans.” Social Policy. 115 (2) 44-51.
Klein, Naomi. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. (NY: Picador, 2007) 5.
Rasheed, Aesba. “Education in New Orleans: Some Background.” High School Journal. 90 (2) 4-7.
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