https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 23 Apr 2026 22:43:01 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869924 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 17:25:01 +0000 Anagram 2869924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ElbieKay: we applied to the dual language school and the one close to our house but not the third—just to have options. And space on or town is the thing you can’t fix. Especially with 3 kiddos. It takes a lot of $$$$ to have bedrooms and outdoor space. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869922 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 17:11:03 +0000 ElbieKay 2869922@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: So did you apply for any of our charters? I am ok with the fact that we did not get in and am planning to use our neighborhood school for K in the fall. We are currently planning to stay in town for at least another 4.5 years, until my oldest completes 3rd grade and my twins complete PK4. During that last year we will assess the school outlook and decide if we will stay for another chunk of time or move out to the burbs. But. If we have a bad experience with K or 1st grade then we may need to accelerate the plan.</p> <p>Also since we have three kids -- we'd planned on two -- we may realistically have to move for space reasons. A townhouse is probably out of reach for us. Right now when I work from home I have to sit on my bed and listen to babies crying through the door. And our living room is constantly overrun with toys. I would love a fourth bedroom / office, a play room, and a slightly bigger living room. I think that will only get harder as the babies grow. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869850 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 12:01:59 +0000 Sams Mom 2869850@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't have charter schools in our state outside of the 2 largest cities (3 hours in opposite directions of where I live). We do have a magnet school where I live. The waiting list for fall 2020 K is already a thing (my son will be 2021 K). </p> <p>This magnet school is a STEM focused school, it is just down the road from us (maybe 3/4 of a mile), where as the district elementary is diagonal to our house. My husband and I made a pros and cons of if we want to go on the waiting list next year or not. </p> <p>At the end, we decided that we are lucky to have found an affordable house in the top elementary of 35 elementary schools in our district. The class sizes might be a little large (24:1 with an aid sometimes), but I LOVE LOVE LOVE that your kid gets the same teacher for K &amp; 1st Grade, so she will already know my son's learning style, strengths, weaknesses, personality. We decided not to take a spot in the magnet school, because some kid from the north side of town that might have got stuck in a loop so to speak if they didn't get a chance at the magnet school because we thumbed our noses at a great district school, just to get the opportunity of a STEM school. </p> <p>We have the time and resources to foster his interest in STEM through extracurricular activities if he is interested in them at all. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869848 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:48:51 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 2869848@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: yes. this. I do feel like I ran an experiment on my child to an extent.</p> <p>To answer the question- we didn't ultimately send to charter, but did get a spot in one. The reason we were going to send there was because of the bilingual program. After talking to parents that sent their kids there we decided to go with public because charter was too test-centric for me. I think they said they lose funding if they can't keep a certain level of scores.<br /> But then in the end we ditched public as well because it just wasn't serving my child's needs. We are in a very diverse district and it is amazing the lengths parents will go to in order to avoid the mediocre/"bad" public schools. I didn't understand it, until I did. :shrug: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869843 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:33:19 +0000 looch 2869843@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: you wrote this: </p> <p>At the same time, very few people want to run social experiments on their own kids--</p> <p>and it really resonated because that's me as well. My state is rated #3 in education in the US, but my particular town is more diverse and has the usual lower test scores that accompany it. When it came time for my son to enter Kindergarten, I was torn because I do understand that by us choosing the neighborhood school, it would mean that the school would benefit from my resources (time, involvement) but I didn't want my son to have to go to school in a building that was 60 years old because no one can get their act together to build a new school in town! So we ended up at a magnet school in a neighboring town where they are building a brand new building and they have a program that we are very interested in. My town is still debating the location of the new school (it is amazing to me that people don't want a school on their street ) and I just don't have the time to wait. I feel like I am contributing to the problem, but I do not feel like it is right for me to sacrifice the education of my son. He doesn't get a second chance. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869840 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:14:08 +0000 Chuckles 2869840@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: The elementary school in our old neighborhood in Chicago has gone through a really interesting change recently. A new principal came in who lives in the neighborhood and is sending his kids there. He has really great ideas about progressive education and has done an excellent job of getting resources for the school and publicizing the school around the neighborhood. But what's happened is that test scores are increasing in part because the gentrifying families in the area are now choosing to send their kids there and the percentage of ELL students is decreasing. I'd like to attribute some of the change to the leadership in the school and teaching practices, but you can't ignore the changes in the population. I will also say, though, that the overall changes in leadership, resources, and instructional philosophy will benefit all students, including the low-income and ELL students who were already there. (you know, except for the exponential increase in property values that are pushing them out :bummed: ) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869837 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:06:27 +0000 Anagram 2869837@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: It's a real-life issue for me, since I have two kids in our public schools. So my research is more for my own info than anything else. I'm so obsessed with this stuff, last year I pulled all the 3rd grade scores (the first year they test in our state) from our local school and pulled all the scores of the 6 best suburban schools around us and made a giant spreadsheet so I could show my husband that there's actually not a big difference at all. We are only 4-6 points behind the best schools in our area (and arguably the state) in our 3rd grade Math and ELA scores, even though most of those schools have 0-1% low income and we are more around 10-23% low income in our elementary.</p> <p>Just for my own information, I looked up my 3 local charter school's stats:</p> <p>They all have slightly better scores than the public schools, but it's actually not that disparate (I only looked at 3rd and 4th grade because of the demographic changes I mentioned earlier). BUT the % of kids on free or reduced lunch is pretty disparate. </p> <p>Our bilingual charter school has only 8% low income students across all grades. A charter school in town that goes through grade 8 and has a more progressive curriculum, and they have a 9.5 % low income population. The only charter school in town that goes through grade 12 has a 14% low income pop. While our public high school is 75% low income. That's a huge, huge, huge difference in demographics. So of course their scores are better. Unfortunately, it leads the general public into believing our public school is "bad", so they move away or go private, which perpetuates the cycle. It's very interesting. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869836 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 11:03:58 +0000 Chuckles 2869836@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: Echoing other people to say thanks for sharing your thoughts. I totally agree that there may be specific reasons (e.g., @Mrs. Train: or @lindseykaye:) why choosing a charter may be a better option. It's a magnet, not a charter, but we did end up sending our son to the magnet school in our district mostly because the time of the school day was more convenient for us, and it's K-8 and just a few blocks from our house. If he'd gone to the neighborhood school, we would have had to deal with bussing to the excellent, but more distant, middle school.<br /> It's such a hard thing to balance values/ideals with wanting what's best for your own child/family. We moved from Chicago to the suburbs partially because we knew that in the long-run, the high school options weren't good unless our son could get into a few of the incredibly selective schools. We could have sent him to the neighborhood school based on principle and keeping resources in the school, but we weren't willing to do that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869830 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 10:07:59 +0000 DesertDreams88 2869830@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: geeeetttttt it, girl. Thank you for your mental labor in creating detailed posts / replies exploring the complexities of this issue. I deeply appreciate it. I'd love to comment more, but I have 8 meetings this week outside of school hours (literally worked 7a-7p yesterday because of the district meeting about the budget negotiations) so right now I'm maxed out, but thank you again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869828 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 09:32:33 +0000 Foodnerd81 2869828@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I haven’t considered charter schools, because we moved to a suburb with excellent public schools, but just wanted to say @Anagram: I really enjoy reading your insights into education stuff, including on this thread. And I absolutely identify with the conflict of wanting what’s best for your own kids vs what’s best for society (as in we moved to a lovely suburb with great schools AND held our five year old back from starting K this year). If we had stayed in the city, I would have looked into charters vs neighborhood schools, but we wanted the whole suburban lifestyle anyway. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869823 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 09:04:59 +0000 Anagram 2869823@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ElbieKay: Yes, the demographics for the older grades are totally different from the demographics of the younger grades. Our particular town has 2 main issues that contribute to the flow of families out to the suburbs (housing prices AND school scores). So housing prices won't be solved by good schools. However, I think more people will be content in small spaces with families (like Manhattan or Park Slope) when our schools scores are better; however, if people keep moving out the schools will never be "better" because it's purely a demographics issue. Simply put, if all the families that are currently in pre-k stayed, our scores would already be Park Slope level scores.</p> <p>So it's going to take some marketing on the part of the public schools (which they are doing), plus a little foresight on the part of parents (you could say a leap of faith, but if you check out the statistical trends, it's almost a sure thing) to convince people to stay, and the scores will change automatically as the demographics change. It really is that simple, unfortunately. Good teaching in schools and innovative programs have less impact on school scores than people realize--it really all comes down to education and income level of the parents who stay and keep their kids in public schools.</p> <p>In our local High school, last year there were only 412 students in the entire high school (that's only slightly more than half of what was in Pre-k3). And out of those 412 students, 310 were low income. That's 75% of the students. That puts our HS in a demographic group similar to Paterson and Camden.</p> <p>Whereas one of our buildings that only has pre-k and a few lower elementary grades was 11% low income across all grades (27 out of 242 kiddos). So there's a huge demographic shift between the lower grades and the upper grades, and it's not really a matter of the schools "improving" before our kids are old enough to go to MS and HS, it's more a matter of convincing ourselves to stay and helping to make that demographic shift ourselves.</p> <p>I think these issues go hand in hand with the charter school issue. I know Charter schools have to have the same standardized tests as public schools, and my preliminary googling tells me in NJ (my state) charter schools are supposed to follow the same standards/requirements public schools have to--except they are allowed to apply for waivers to try new concepts and in our previous Republican administration, it seems waivers were pretty easy to come by.</p> <p>So to the OP, maybe the fact that Charter schools can easily get around restrictions places on public schools is a contributing factor. Similarly, that they can use staffing $$ in different ways, because they don't have to take severely disabled students (who often require a full time teacher, a full time aide, and special class and bathroom facilities to allow for diapering and feeding). For me, it's an issue that causes me internal conflict--I want the best for my own kids for sure!--but I don't want it to come at the expense of the poor and disabled kiddos that don't get into charter schools, either. At the same time, very few people want to run social experiments on their own kids--my husband included. So no matter what statistics I throw at him, he's the typical non-educator parent that just sees test scores and wants our kids to be in a school with "the best" test scores, and he doesn't really want to know about why the scores are what they are. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869812 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 03:42:10 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2869812@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ElbieKay: yes, I see. I’ve been Googling my little fingers out since my not-so-stellar contribution to the post. :meh: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869810 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 03:03:07 +0000 ElbieKay 2869810@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I think magnet is different from charter. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869807 Thu, 31 Jan 2019 01:29:40 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2869807@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lindseykaye: I’m moving back to FL and initially I was looking into Elementary schools to determine where to stay and learned about public school choice- to me this is so confusing. Where did you even begin? We have two more years before we must make a decision on where to buy a house/ rent more permanently. Every school option is on the table for us. One of the magnet schools, I guess that’s the same as charter, consistently appears as the best elementary in my county over other magnets, Private, or public schools. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869785 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 20:49:29 +0000 MrsBeluga 2869785@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Chuckles: The charter we are sending our daughter to had to hold a lottery and also produces an annual report with a full set of financials. We are in MN. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869783 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 20:45:06 +0000 MrsBeluga 2869783@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our oldest will start at a public ‘classical’ charter this fall. We chose it over the neighborhood school because it has better test scores, mid 80s over high 60s. It’s also only a 5 minute drive, it wouldn’t have been an option if it were say 20 minutes away. An added perk is that the charter school day is 30 minutes longer than the public school day which means we can adjust our schedules so we won’t have to use after school care.</p> <p>Once our daughter is ready for middle/high school she will move back to the public school because the charter school can’t compete with the amount of opportunities the public middle/high school has.</p> <p>We also considered the local Catholic school, their inability to produce statistics/info regarding student performance was a big turnoff for me... and both DH and I did 20+ years combined in the Catholic school system. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869762 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:33:27 +0000 lindseykaye 2869762@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We live in a moderate-sized city in north central Florida. We have public school choice state-wide. My husband and I chose to send our daughter to a charter school when we did not get into and of our four public schools of choice.</p> <p>While we LOVE our neighborhood we do not love the districted elementary school. We have a few friends who are in graduate teaching programs and who work at the various schools in town - when talking about our options with them they expressed that our districted school had wonderful instructors and a great volunteer base. However due to the primary needs of the student population most of the extra resources are geared towards ESOL, tutoring, and other types of programs that my child personally does not benefit from.</p> <p>We struggled a lot with our decision. I mean it feels selfish to say that because my child won't use the resources at a school we don't want to attend, but that's what it boiled down to (among the other factors). </p> <p>I wanted my child to have a much lower student-teacher ratio (2:13 vs. 1:25) and to have access to programs that would benefit her personally. The school we chose also has a multi-age classroom (K-2) where my daughter can be with her peers most of the time but participate with older children in areas where she is excelling. </p> <p>Oh! A separate factor was also that our school district did some re-working and instead of every elementary going from K-5 they made one campus entirely for Pre-K and K students with surrounding schools 1-5. That would have put my kid at three different schools within her first three years of school since were already at our charter school for VPK (she got off the waiting list there first). Both my husband and I considered that too much change for LO's personality. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869759 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:18:10 +0000 ElbieKay 2869759@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Chuckles: I didn't research any of the schools at all. The application for each is a quick one-page form, and I filled out all three at a school fair in the fall. The odds of getting into any of them are extremely low -- I think one of them had over 300 lottery entries for 11 non-sibling spots in a 22-headcount K class -- so I did not bother doing any research ahead of time. I figured I would look into it if any of the schools became an option.</p> <p>I have infant twins so this was the best way to manage my time. We didn't get a spot at any of the three schools so I'm glad I didn't waste my time for no reason.</p> <p>If I had gotten a slot I was planning to do some research and/or take a tour before accepting it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869749 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 15:51:35 +0000 Chuckles 2869749@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ElbieKay: Just curious, did you check achievement levels and test results to compare the charter schools to your neighborhood school either before deciding to apply or more recently? Either for the younger grades or high school? Was there something about the schools that attracted you aside from test scores? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869743 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 15:32:26 +0000 ElbieKay 2869743@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram and I live in the same town. I don’t have a background in education. My son will be in K next year. I applied to all three charter lotteries but did not research the schools much ahead of time because the odds of getting a slot are so low. We did not get into any of the schools so public K it is.</p> <p>My understanding which is not thoroughly researched is that the charter schools are not beholden to as many state requirements so have more control over how the day is spent. I feel like there is so much bureaucracy in education that I would welcome any opportunity to reduce that.</p> <p>Also, our town’s upper grades have terrible reputations. One of the charter schools goes through Grade 12. If the public schools don’t improve then we will eventually need to relocate to a different community with a better school system. (I would love to stay where we are because anywhere else would mean a longer commute and a less walkable community.). The charter school would increase the likelihood that we can stay.</p> <p>I heard — I don’t know if this is true — that our middle school has stopped accepting out-of-district students because there are finally enough families staying in town to populate the middle school with residents. Maybe that will continue to high school. It might bode well for our options. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869705 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 13:42:50 +0000 Chuckles 2869705@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@annem1990: 100% agree. In Chicago and many other cities, charters are seen by parents as this magical alternative to neighborhood schools. In reality they often have similar or worse achievement, even while self-selecting for students with fewer behavioral or learning issues. Plus the issue of financial transparency is a huge problem for me. Charters receive state funding but aren't required to be financially transparent like typical public schools.<br /> @Mrs Green Grass: I agree and like the idea of charters being a place where more experimentation can take place. I think that was one of the main principles when charters began to form. However, although experimentation and new ideas may be more accepted in some charters, many go into low income areas as an alternative to the neighborhood school without evidence that they are providing a better education.<br /> Also, in my area where public schools are good, there was recent talk about charter schools wanting to come in. Many parents worried about these schools taking resources from already good neighborhood schools. This, to me, feels like charters wanting to make a profit and capitalize on already strong students.<br /> Okay, I keep adding to this response because apparently I feel really strongly about it. One other issue is that many local governments (like Chicago) who struggle with dealing with the teachers union have strongly courted charter schools as a way to weaken the union. The Chicago Reader (which has an admitted very liberal bent) did a long set of articles a number of years ago about many of these issues. Here's one link: <a href="https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/a-primer-on-charter-schools/Content?oid=4292449" rel="nofollow">https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/a-primer-on-charter-schools/Content?oid=4292449</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869699 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 13:24:52 +0000 Mrs. Train 2869699@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My children go to a charter school. My oldest son was showing signs of milestone delays since birth. In preschool it was a possibility that these delays may have lead to a diagnosis for various learning disabilities. At the time I didn't have a clear answer about whether or not and IEP would be needed but I wasn't happy with the SPED classes in our community school. The Charter that we found is based on full inclusion for all students. So there are no sped classes. Within each classroom there is both a gen ed teacher and a sped teacher along with several other adults that offer children the support they need. I liked the full inclusion model for special education and we were lucky to make it in on the lottery.</p> <p>I have been so happy with our choice because all three of my boys are receiving services for various learning differences. Not only has it helped my kids with their education but they have met some of the coolest kids along they way that at our neighborhood school they never would have had the opportunity to interact with. </p> <p>I was a public school teacher for years. In fact all my friends just went on strike and part of the contract was to limit charters. I was very torn because I love the school my kids are at but public education is so important. It is a very tricky situation and the competition between charters and local school districts can turn really nasty. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869690 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:34:51 +0000 hummusgirl 2869690@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My kid goes to a Montessori charter school. We chose it over our local neighborhood school for a few reasons:<br /> 1. Montessori method and all that entails (focus on the whole child, mixed-age classrooms, focus on fine motor skills, more control over what they "work on"), which our neighborhood school doesn't offer (at the info session, the principal told a story of a kid who was interested in chemistry, so she researched a professor at the local university, emailed and asked if she could visit, found a chaperone from the approved list, found the bus route that would take her there, and arranged her own field trip to meet the professor at her office - granted that's probably not the norm but I love that the school can foster that kind of independence and curiosity)<br /> 2. I've heard stories of the neighborhood school requiring silence in the cafeteria and halls which seems kind of sad to me. I worry that my kid would be labeled with behavioral problems/ADHD for not being able to sit still and do worksheets<br /> 3. A neighbor who works in public schools also sends her kid to our charter school which made me feel better<br /> 4. It has socioeconomic and racial diversity (though so does our neighborhood school)</p> <p>Our charter school is far from perfect (lots of teacher turnover, low standardized test scores) but we're generally happy and our son loves school which is the most important thing. We may switch to our local public school in a few years - I do like the idea of more neighborhood friends and I am a product of and proponent of public school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869683 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:05:39 +0000 Mrsbells 2869683@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: my friend chose a charter school for the same reason @annem1990: mentioned. I've heard many people say charter schools are better just based on the word charter rather than any actual research or evidence. So there is a definite perception that the education is better quality. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869674 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 11:30:26 +0000 dc yoga bee 2869674@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our public schools are some of the best in the state. This is why we chose this expensive nova county over cheaper areas. Schools are very important to us. We both went to great public schools. That being said, our county also has a non-profit charter school that is STEAM. Our pediatrician has warned us to really keep LO engaged and challenged because she’s otherwise going to stay in constant trouble bored in school. That happened to both DH and I even though I did all AP and he did year round sports. we are hoping the charter school will provide her more challenge and like the STEAM aspect and that it includes the Arts (my undergrad degree is English literature). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869667 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:52:19 +0000 JennyPenny 2869667@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LemonJack: @looch: Interesting, we have a really strong magnet program in our county as well including bilingual schools, Montessori and IB. The bilingual and IB schools are very popular. We applied to the magnet IB option for us as well. However, the magnet Montessori school was very disappointing. I think they tried their best, but it's hard to do Montessori when you're still tied to all the standards of the state. I also did a quick look and it looks like for us charters must be non-profit which makes me feel much better. I had never heard of for-profit charters and I was wondering if I had missed something. ETA: Womp, they are allowed to be managed by for-profit institutions but it is heavily discouraged and less likely to have applications approved :-/ (or so they say) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869666 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:45:50 +0000 looch 2869666@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LemonJack: Interestingly, in my town's district, a bilingual elementary program is offered in the public schools, but parents aren't bending over backwards to apply. The bank street model school is the one they are all wanting to attend.</p> <p>The other one I think that more people should learn about is the International Baccalaureate PYP/MYP/DP. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869664 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:38:46 +0000 LemonJack 2869664@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: 100% agreed on the profit vs non profit. I’m a teacher too, but I would still consider a non-profit charter for my own kids if it offered something I couldn’t get at my local public school (bilingual or Montessori come to mind). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869662 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:29:15 +0000 looch 2869662@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think the important distinction that's missing in the conversation about charter schools is profit vs non-profit.</p> <p>The for profit charters are the ones (at least in my state) where they are targeting specific segments of the population, floating school choice and required parental involvement and superior test scores. These are the ones that I would not consider for my son, no matter what the program was that they offered. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kid-goes-to-a-charter#post-2869658 Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:05:18 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2869658@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I work for a large public district in CA. We have district partner charters as well as private charters with a range of terrible to pretty good. As a parent and a district leader, what I like is the flexibility charters have to implement new strategies and programs without beaurocracy. A group of chatter teacher just came to work at the district and they are amazed by the union. People don’t realize that charter teachers typically get paid less and have less job security. </p> <p>It is so hard to continue to do innovative work in public schools with less and less money each year. And I’m sickened that any school could be for profit. </p>