Charter School Battle Shifts to Affluent Suburbs

[no_hypocrisy]

-snip-

Mr. Stewart, a stay-at-home father of three boys, moved to this wealthy township, about 20 miles from Midtown Manhattan, three years ago, filling his life with class activities and soccer practices. But in recent months, he has traded play dates for protests, enlisting more than 200 families in a campaign to block two Mandarin-immersion charter schools from opening in the area.

The group, Millburn Parents Against Charter Schools, argues that the schools would siphon money from its children’s education for unnecessarily specialized programs. The schools, to be based in nearby Maplewood and Livingston, would draw students and resources from Millburn and other area districts.

-snip-

Millburn’s superintendent, James Crisfield, said he was caught off guard by the plan for charters because “most of us thought of it as another idea to help students in districts where achievement is not what it should be.” He said the district could lose $270,000 — or $13,500 for each of 20 charter students — and that would most likely increase as the schools added a grade each year.

“We don’t have enough money to run the schools as it is,” Mr. Crisfield said, adding that the district eliminated 18 positions and reduced bus services this year.

-more-

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/education/17charters.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=general&src=me

[kratos00]

1. Brilliant Idea

Rich folk support charter schools when they are in poor folks districts, all we need to turn the tide is an organized effort to establish charter schools in rich districts. The cherry on top could be to have those schools specialize in educated underprivileged populations. The one thing rich folks wont stand for is to have resources siphoned away from their kids education.

[midnight]

2. I'm glad these parents have the energy to stop this....

[Dawson Leery]

3. STOP Charter Schools NOW! Indeed.

Eventually these parasites were going to attack the public schools in the suburbs. This must be stopped!