Most charter schools in Chicago and elsewhere are viciously segregated... What Would Dr. King say?

[Hannah Bell]

Whether located in the poorest, brownest neighborhoods of the Twin Cities or in the leafiest, whitest suburbs of North Carolina, charter schools often engage in a form of intensely-segregated schooling that either contains and isolates minorities in urban centers, while offering middle class parents escape routes from traditional schools that are increasingly tainted by the burgeoning poor, which now comprise 20 percent of American children.

In system-wide comparisons, the charters were 20 percent more segregated than the public schools, and in the more localized comparisons, the charters were 18 percent more segregated than neighboring publics. In the words of the Report’s authors, the “data show that we are in the process of subsidizing an expansion of a substantially separate—by race, class, disability and possibly language—sector of schools, with little to no evidence that it provides a systematically better option for parents or that access to these schools of choice is fairly available to all.”

The study found that only 17 percent of charters do better than matched public schools, 46 percent show no significant difference in performance, and 37 percent do worse than matched public peers. Unfortunately, a very recent Fordham Institute study now finds that, despite the charter industry’s mantra that “bad schools don’t last—ei ther they improve or they close,” 72 percent of bad charters remain open five years after they were identified as bad.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. In the coming years, if corporate foundations like Gates, Broad, Fisher, and Walton, along with the political establishment whose favor they curry, would put as much economic and ideological weight behind rebuilding a stronger and more equitable public system of schools, rather than tearing down a system that took almost 200 years to create, then the ideals of American democracy would have a much better chance to survive these difficult times and, perhaps, one day flourish in ways we have yet to witness. I believe Dr. King would agree.

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1926§ion=Article



Black children are as rare as atheists at the UNO charter schools in Chicago. UNO's charter schools in the early days were located in former Catholic schools, like UNO Tamayo (above in 2007) at St. Simon's.



The close relationship between UNO and the Catholic schools is visible in this 2007 photograph. Less visible is the fact that in many ways, UNO, through its charter schools, is perpetuating the segregationist practices against black children that once characterized the majority (not all — just the majority) of Catholic parishes and schools in Chicago.

[Starry Messenger]

1. recommend.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. This just makes me wanna throw up.

Just by itself, this report is sickening. But when it's combined with the (latest) revelations about the vatican and pedophile priests, I think I'd sooner have a gun shop located on school grounds than have a school run by or even near a catholic church.

Tansy Gold, atheist

[Hannah Bell]

3. more sickening is that chicago has *given* public property (old school buildings) to these charters.

that are quasi-religious & quasi-private organizations.

it's really more like the break-up of the ussr, where public industries built by workers over generations was auctioned off to the oligarchs at bargain-basement prices.

if people want to send their kids to religious schools fine by me. let them pay out of their own pockets. and you don't get a free building from the state.

UNO = Catholic.

http://unocharterschools.org/graduate_support.aspx

[sakabatou]

4. Saying anything?

His spinning in his grave! Hell, hook up copper wires and a magnet and he could power a city.