| transparency, community and charter schools |
6/7/04 7:10 AM |
| Author:
MaryBeth Merritt
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I became involved in the charter school movement in the early 90's in Massachusetts as a parent and education "activist". Over time, I have seen that charter schools are not always the best answer to ed reform. A community's response to a charter school initiative is very much based on the economic impact it will have. Initially, my work was in the fast growing suburbs that could absorb another school because of a growing need for more schools. In rural Massachusetts, the demographics are much different and the loss of even 10 students to a charter school has a severe impact on the sending district. It proves to be quite divisive to the community.
I too believe that transparency is essential. Charter groups should not spring their plan on the community, but strive to work with the schools. The schools in turn ought to be responsive to legitimate concerns about the education they are providing to the students in a community. The Department of Education might look at encouraging real dialogue amongst the constituencies of the public educational system at the local level. Perhaps after thinking and learning together, the community and the school would agree that a charter school might be the best vehicle for creating the kinds of reponse to eductional concerns. Each community has its own set of issues that need to be addressed.
Statewide mandates don't always result in what was intended. The system of competition versus cooperation also is a fundamental block towards meeting each students needs within the context of society's needs. Here again, open dialogue is a necessary first step to create understanding .
As far as the media is concerned, I found it difficult to operate in a non-divisive or conflicted way because the media thrives on sensationalism and wants to know "what is wrong" about the system, to cast it in a bad light which then justifies a charter initiative. So, the media has to be educated about education and about reporting truth as not a simple single-faceted thing , but rather, especially where human beings are concerned, multi-dimensional and pluralistic, the same qualities needed say, for a democratic society.
Posted as a reply to:
Community and Media Relations by David Harris 
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