Charter School Proposal Being Met With Resistance

WISC-TV reports:

A tug of war over students and state aid could be shaping up in Dane County. News 3’s Toni Morrissey has been looking into plans for a charter school that’s making waves in the public school community. . .
“We agree with the concept of charter schools,” said Joe Quick, legislative liaison for Madison School District. “We embrace it. But we’ve got grave reservations about setting up a charter school that there’s no oversight and accountability from locally elected officials.


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2 thoughts on “Charter School Proposal Being Met With Resistance”

  1. I find Joe Quick’s comments of concern that the new charter school may not be accountable to locally elect officials.
    At what point has the locally elected officials shown any desire for oversight or accountability? In fact, the Board constantly reinforces their role to nod ‘yes’. There has been no desire to oversee the performance and assessment of our kids, curriculum or teaching methodology; there has been no desire to oversee MMSD financial system; there has been no desire to evaluate the Superintendent or staff for effectiveness or to set real goals; there has been no desire to listen to the public or parents concerns about the direction of the school system (see Sherman MS issues).
    On the other hand, my grave concern is that the MMSD have any oversight whatsoever of the new charter school. Oversight needs to be handled solely by the parents — the only group of adults who are actually interested in ensuring the effective education of their children.

  2. Larry,
    I agree with you on the role of parents in oversight of a school, and I find it disturbing that the MMSD administration and board members would immediately criticize how the International School might be managed without ever talking to anyone from the school. A board of directors with parents could be a powerul mechanism for oversight.
    Do the MMSD administration and board members believe that private schools are poorly managed because they don’t have publicly elected members of a board?
    Why does the MMSD even care about the International Academy? From what I understand, the school wouldn’t even be located in the MMSD. I’ve never heard the administration or board try to tell McFarland how to run its school system. Why would they try to tell the International Academy how to operate?

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