Charter School Blues...
Interesting story in the Bee today about apparent financial abuses at a statewide charter school. Among the allegations: conflict of interest, faulty accounting practices, and excessive compensation for executives.
Oh, and it's not VAPAC. ( Is it us or does this seem to be the operational model of choice for many charter schools??)
Read about it here: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14292737p-15132036c.html
We tend to get wistful this time of year. Sac High has been closed since '03. St HOPE continues to operate in spite of dwindling enrollment. Now they've taken over a school in New York. We find it interesting that the New York project is characterized as a "partnership" with St. HOPE given 2 years to hammer out the details before, presumably, a final agreement is made with regard to their running of the school in conjunction with the city's Education Department (New York Daily News 7/24/06). Seems like a sane approach by a school board -- better than handing over a school in its entirety to an unproven entity like our local school board. Funny how there is no mention of this arrangement in the Bee, but there is that great quote from Mr. Johnson referring to the Sac High proceedings as a "takeover." And a takeover from which he admits he is still trying to recover.
On another note...
Once again the Bee is doing battle with that evil teachers union. This time over surplussing. Now we agree that hiring and promotions at all levels of government employment are fraught with rather bizarre rules governing the movement of employees from position to position or department to department, but allowing a principal to create his or her own fiefdom is even more distressing. We are not saying that there isn't room for improvement in the situation, but oversight is needed lest a principal pack a school with his or her cronies regardless of competence.
Of course, we are used to dealing with questionable competence from some administrators.
Feel free to comment...
http://scusdwatch.proboards100.com/
Oh, and it's not VAPAC. ( Is it us or does this seem to be the operational model of choice for many charter schools??)
Read about it here: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14292737p-15132036c.html
We tend to get wistful this time of year. Sac High has been closed since '03. St HOPE continues to operate in spite of dwindling enrollment. Now they've taken over a school in New York. We find it interesting that the New York project is characterized as a "partnership" with St. HOPE given 2 years to hammer out the details before, presumably, a final agreement is made with regard to their running of the school in conjunction with the city's Education Department (New York Daily News 7/24/06). Seems like a sane approach by a school board -- better than handing over a school in its entirety to an unproven entity like our local school board. Funny how there is no mention of this arrangement in the Bee, but there is that great quote from Mr. Johnson referring to the Sac High proceedings as a "takeover." And a takeover from which he admits he is still trying to recover.
On another note...
Once again the Bee is doing battle with that evil teachers union. This time over surplussing. Now we agree that hiring and promotions at all levels of government employment are fraught with rather bizarre rules governing the movement of employees from position to position or department to department, but allowing a principal to create his or her own fiefdom is even more distressing. We are not saying that there isn't room for improvement in the situation, but oversight is needed lest a principal pack a school with his or her cronies regardless of competence.
Of course, we are used to dealing with questionable competence from some administrators.
Feel free to comment...
http://scusdwatch.proboards100.com/
posted by All of Us at
6:19 AM
12 Comments
