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First portion of session is inaudible.
Good for you and good for the teacher who identified that or helped you identify that talent. Rita, you want to say a little bit about your school, please. Two or three sentences.
We have 180 kids about and it goes up from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Okay. 180 kids, kindergarten through 12th grade. Great! Nora, how about your school?
We have about 90 to 100 students, and it ranges from 6th to 12th grade.
Cool! One of the things that we asked you to do some thinking about is sort of -- What are the pros and cons? I think Nora and I talked about this about 7:00 this morning. She was up, and one of the questions was -- What are the pros and cons? So maybe you could each say something that you really like about the school and something that you would to see improved.
I really like the fact that our school is small. We have a really good learning environment. The teachers are really cool. And I don’t like the fact that there aren’t that many extracurricular activities for us.
Okay. Rita?
Basically, I like the teachers the best because they’re nice and they explain things a lot. And I probably wish that they could have more field trips and stuff.
They’d like to see more field trips. Okay. James, how about you?
Well, we’re located on USC, the University of Southern Colorado, and it’s been a great experience. It’s a pro to the school. I mean, we have every advantage you would think of. I mean, fitness. You want to display musical talents, there’s a building for it. If you want to build a table, there’s a building for it. You can do whatever you want. I mean, you can take this off to the next level. There’s not many cons about it but the bad thing about it is, again, this school’s getting started off. There’s not that many extracurricular activities, and I’d like to see more of that.
Good, okay. Thanks.
The two best things about my school would be the fact that we’re starting. Like, our teachers are preparing us for college, like almost every day they stress on the subject. Like -- You have to go to college and doing what you do, ain’t never going to help you get there. And also, like our teachers reward us with like great field trips, like 5th grade we went to Washington D.C. for a week and 6th grade we went to Utah, 7th grade we took an East Coast trip all over. And this year, hopefully, we’re going to California, Yosemite and all the different great cities in California. And probably the one bad thing about my school would be the fact that ever since 5th grade, every year we have to move from different locations to another location.
So you’ve moved.
Yeah, we’re not stable.
How many other schools have found they had to go from one place to another place around the country or in their community? I know we have some examples from visiting various schools. In fact, first charter in the United States, City Academy, started off in one community center in St. Paul. There was some neighborhood static. And rather than fight that, they moved to another place where the youngsters, I know, are doing a lot of community service projects and that community let’s them in. There’s also Minnesota New Country School which is here today. And Minnesota New Country School started off on three store fronts of the main street of Le Sueur, Minnesota. And then an interesting thing happened about three years after the school started in a town about seven or eight miles away, a town named Henderson, Minnesota. Remember Le Sueur is the "Valley of the Jolly Green Giant?" Remember the song, the TV commercials. Good things in the garden, garden in the valley? Remember that? Sort of, some of you. I’m dating myself, all right. That was before MTV, can you believe? There was a time before MTV. Well anyway, so they started this school in Le Sueur, Minnesota and then the people in Henderson several or eight miles away said, "You know, if you’ll move the school over to Henderson, we’ll work with you to sell bonds, and the students and the parents and the teachers of the school can re-design, can design a new school and create a new school. And today on the main street of Henderson, Minnesota, there’s a new charter building. So sometimes facilities are an issue, sometimes they work out really well. And sometimes, people want your schools so much that they’re willing to sell bonds to get you to come there. How about Curtis? What’s one thing you really like and something you’d like to see improved in your school, sir?
One thing that I really like about my school is that we have a lot of hands-on activities.
Mm hm.
And everybody there likes every, cares about what they do and they communicate with each other very, very good. There’s no, really, no gang stuff or nothing going on like that. The only thing that I don’t like about it is there’s no extracurricular skills or no activities or nothing like that. We go out and they have a basketball court. That ain’t really nothing. You know what I’m saying? There’s a lot of people there that’s able and have skills to do things, and there’s no benefits out of that.
Thank you. You know, it’s interesting. We just had a list of seven very important questions and those are, unquestionably, questions for those of us who help to create schools, but I think four of the five people here have said that one of the issues in their mind is extracurricular. So maybe we ought to have a session about - How do charter schools arrange for extracurricular activities? That’s clearly on the minds of the young people.
Let’s see. We’ve talked about some advantages and disadvantages of your school. Curtis, maybe you could say a little bit about what was the difference between the school that you’re in now and the previous school that you attended.
Previous school I attended was Central High School, and that school, it’s like it’s a lot of students and they had separate groups that you hang around. And that, it causes fusion. They’ve got a lot of security guards. They like, you know what I’m saying, they try to break everybody up, do your little own little thing. The school I’m at now, you usually sit down and converse with everybody. You can hold a conversation with the teachers and keep a smile on your face.
Fisel, how about you? How would you compare the school you’re at now with the previous school you attended?
Well, I went to an elementary public high school, so I really explain that much because I, like, well all my middle school years, I’ve been going to a charter school, so.
Okay. So it’s sort of hard to compare.
Yeah.
Okay. James, how about you?
Okay, I have two things. Going to be a little long, but no. The first thing is in the public school you would study this part of some century during this part of the year. Next year, you’ll study the science part of that same thing, and you’re like skipping around everywhere. As to the school I’m at now, you go science class is about this, everything is about the same part. It’s about the Civil War or science class, oh, this is kind of science is different in the Civil War, scientists, etc. Another thing is you can move at your own pace, and that’s just a great thing. I mean, if you’re a 9th grader, you want to get out of high school, you go ahead and do it, you pass your classes. You just show what you have inside you. And our school also, the district we belong to, the District 60, we sort of belong to. They even have things set up to help us. They’ll pay most of our tuition to go into college. I forgot what it’s called. Something program. But I mean, the opportunities there, and you can move through high school, you can move through your education as fast as you want. You just show what you can do.
Good. Rita, how about you?
I think it’s better than my other school before because the teachers are nicer and they explain things, and you’re able to move ahead at your own speed.
Okay, Nora?
A big thing at our school is our band program. We, like, we went from nothing to something like wonderful. We’re going to be playing.
I’m sorry. What’s the name of the program?
Our band program.
Band program.
Yeah.
Okay.
We’re going to be playing here tonight, our jazz band is. Well, the high school that I went to or the middle school that I went to didn’t have much of a band program at all, and I think that’s the best thing at our school.
Okay. So here’s an example of an extracurricular activity that is in your school that you didn’t have in a previous school.
Yeah.
This is sort of asking you to step back for a minute. What difference has your school made in your life? I mean, how are you different than you were two or three years ago and do you think the charter move, the charter school has any impact on it? How do you think you’re different? You want to start?
I think the teachers really helped me believe in myself. They helped me mature a lot.
Great! Okay.
I think my attitude’s better than it was before, and the teachers helped me and encouraged me in that so I was happy.
Okay. You think your attitude is better and the teachers encourage you. Can you hear Rita? Okay. We’re going to ask you - real loud because you’re saying real important things. Okay. I’m sorry. James?
Okay. It’s really matured me, personally. This charter, it teaches you, prepares you for every day life. It doesn’t teach you about things you’ll probably never use. It’ll teach you about speaking in public. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t in a charter school, I’d be scared somewhere back there. So basically, it really prepares you for life and it sends you on your way prepared.
The best thing about charter school that has an influence on me would be the fact that my school has played a major role, like now, like education is more important to me. Like, I have friends like that me and them went to elementary school but, as we were growing up, I could see that I’m going on the right path and they’re not. And since they’re going on public
Excuse me. I want to make sure everybody heard that. Would you say that really loud, please.
Like as I was growing up with my friends in elementary school like, as time passed, I felt that I’m going on the right path and they’re not. And charter school has helped me with that.
Great! Thanks. Curtis?
Me? Like, it gave me motivation. Now, I’m like able to do stuff without having any trouble, just and discipline - be able to respect people more as a person and what they are.
I want to tell you a very brief story about a young man named David. David and I got to know each other in 1973 when David had been kicked out of another public school in St. Paul, Minnesota because he had assaulted a teacher. The teacher had demanded that he take a hat off his head, and David did not follow the teacher’s direction and said, "If you don’t take that hat off your head, I’m going to knock it off your head." And David kept walking down the hall, so the teacher knocked the hat off David’s head. And that was unfortunate. At which point David knocked the teacher on the floor, which was also unfortunate. And David was found guilty of assault. He was given his choice of several schools. He was given 200 hours of community service. Teacher had a note put in his file that if probably wasn’t a good idea to hit kids. David was found guilty of assault, so think about that for a minute. But I think that both of them probably misbehaved a bit.
In any case, David became involved in a school in a school at which I worked, where young people solved consumer problems that adults referred to them. And David was very angry. Very, very angry young man, full of rage. And we had a case, for example, one time where the students were asked to help solve a problem that somebody had with an automobile agency. Some of the kids said, "Well, you ought to call the Better Business Bureau or you ought to go talk with the agency." David’s suggestion about to solve the problem was to write down the problem, explain that we wanted action, wrap it around a brick and throw it through the window of the dealership. This was a very, very angry young man. Well gradually, David learned how to use his energy and his rage and he became involved in this consumer project, as I mentioned. And the youngster solved hundreds of consumer problems.
One day a newspaper reporter came to visit the school and talk with the students, and the students had voted that about seven or eight of the youngsters ought to be in the picture and talk with the reporter. So David had his name and his picture in the newspaper a few weeks later, along with several of the other students. And then he came to me about three weeks later and said, "You know Joe, I often thought I might have my name in the newspaper. In fact, I even thought I might have my picture in the newspaper, but I never thought it would be for something good."
And I believe that the reason that more than a thousand people are in this room today is that we believe that we can make a difference in the lives of these young people. And thousands and thousands and thousands of others. And I believe one of the reasons that the charter movement is spreading so rapidly is that we offer, as the president said, hope for young people, hope for families and opportunity, that we offer some of the best things of America.
I have one last thing to say about David. With the help of Wayne Jennings, who’s in this room, a veteran public school educator who now helps people start charter schools and is, in fact, the director of a couple of charter schools in St. Paul, Minnesota - With the help of Wayne Jennings, David, who had worked, after he graduated from our school, for the artist formerly known as Prince. He worked with that recording artist for several years and then he set up, with Wayne Jennings, helped set up a recording studio in downtown St. Paul. And David, who’s now in his thirties, noticed a couple of years ago that many young people coming into record hip hop music and other kinds of music, were much like him twenty years earlier, that they were angry. They were enraged but they loved music. And so David helped them. And then this last Fall, with Wayne Jennings’ help and with the State of Minnesota help and the Federal start-up money help, David Ellis, this young man who formerly had as a solution of the problems of the world - wrapping it up in a brick and throwing it through a window - David Ellis, now a college graduate, started a charter public school.
So that brings us to your plans after you graduate. Curtis, what would you like to do when you graduate, sir? What do you think you might like to do?
When I graduate from high school, I would like to continue my career my music.
Mm hm. In music, marvelous. Well, I’ve got a young man in St. Paul, Minnesota who might be able to help you. Fisel, how about you?
After my years at Kipp Academy, I would like to, like you say before, like I’ve been accepted to two high schools and, hopefully, then I’m hoping that they will help me go to an Ivy League school or Duke University, which is.
Ivy League school. Okay, great. James, how about you?
It’s not too decided yet, but I have a love for arguing, I guess you could say. So I guess the medical. I mean, not medical, law profession would be there for me.
There’s some arguments in Madison too. The law profession, okay.
Yeah, law profession. I mean, it’s been a while but I have aunties, uncles who are in the law profession and I could sit there for hours just watching what they do. And to some people it’s so boring but then to me, I’m like, "Yeah."
Good for you. Good for you, James. How about you, ma’am, Rita?
I want to go to college and maybe try to be a lawyer or a teacher.
Lawyer or teacher, great! Nora, how about you?
I hope to go to Northern Michigan University, and I would like to go into counseling or teaching.
What do your friends say about charter school? You have friends that say, ah, I won’t put words in your mouth. What do they say? James, let’s start with you this time.
Okay.
What do your friends say about the charter school that you’re going to?
My friends don’t like it. They’re like, "Ooh, 60 people. There’s not many girls." Like, okay. So I try to get my cousins, my family members to get into it because they don’t know what they’re missing. Again, like I was saying earlier, we’re located on the University of Southern Colorado. It’s a college atmosphere. It’s one of the greatest. I love it, and they’re laughing at something great. And I think they should get into it.
Fisel, how about you?
I will say that, like, I wouldn’t consider them my friends then, you know. If they don’t like what I do and what I do, they wouldn’t be my friends.
I have a feeling we have young people up here who are 12 and 14 and 16 going on 30. That’s very wise. That’s a very wise way to think about it. Curtis, how about you? What do your friends say about the school? I asked Curtis, he has a lot of friends. So tell me what some of your friends think about.
Some of my friends think it’s great that I’m 19 now and I’m still able to graduate from high school. And some think like it’s just a waste of time.
Uh huh.
The ones that think that, I don’t even bother with them. They ain’t headed nowhere in life.
That’s right. Rita, how about you? Real loud. What do your friends think about the school?
Some of my friends go there so they really, really liked it. Then some of them think it’s kind of weird, just don’t like it, but I just don’t care.
Okay. Nora, how about you?
Well, when I went to the middle school and I started going to the charter school, I lost a lot of my friends but then I got more at the charter school. So they, basically, agree with me at charter school.
Okay, good. I mentioned the school that Wayne Jennings directed that started in the Fall of 1971 in St. Paul. And by the way, is still around. Last Fall it celebrated its 27th year. And that school has had a lot of impact on the charter school movement in the United States because the experiences that some of us had in this innovative public school, where a lot of good things happened, where graduation was based on demonstration. It is based on demonstration of skill and knowledge and where there’s a family, student, teacher conference before school starts. And where, in 1973, we practiced what’s now called "school site management." We traded in the assistant principal position on a van. And so, young people were able to travel. How many assistant principals we have in the room, I’ve just alienated? I was assistant principal. Not there, but. One of the marvelous things about the charter movement is that it is able to give people real decision making power over money and over who works in the school. And a number of the young people have talked about the teachers who you say really care about you, who go the extra mile. James talked about the teacher who was able to help you identify a skill that you really had.
So it is folks such as you all throughout the United States who have stepped forward. The charter movement was an opportunity, but there were no guarantees. When the idea was first proposed in 1990 in Minnesota, some opponents said, "Well, nobody will actually do this. Nobody will really want to step forward and say, ‘I’m willing to put my job on the line to demonstrate improved achieved.’" And obviously, the fact that we’ve gone from one school, as Peggy mentioned, to more than 1,100 in the last seven years, suggest that there are a thousand people in this room and thousands and thousands more who really care a lot about young people and who care about making a difference and believe that we can make a difference. And that, I guess, brings us to a question I have about -- You’ve done a marvelous here of talking with great wisdom. [Applause] We’re not done yet. Thank you. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t tell people to shut up. You want to applaud, applaud. I’ll applaud with you. I’m sorry, that was disrespectful. I apologize. You’ve done a marvelous job of sharing your thoughts and your ideas. You’re talking with people from most of the United States who are going to return and think carefully about the good things that they’re doing in school and some things that need to be improved. And you’ve had some good suggestions to make about that.
As you think about education, as you think about your education, think not just about your charter school but sort of about your schooling. What’s one thing you’d like to say to folks? Curtis, you want to start?
No.
Okay. People who work with Curtis ought to be really proud. You have helped him be comfortable in saying what he thinks. That’s great. All right. Fisel, you want to? You have some advice for people thinking about schools or learning or education or your charter school? Have some advice for people in the room?
Yeah. I say that like when you all go back home, you all should like try to like get some more charter schools because I don’t know. Like without them like I don’t know, like, on a rank of the world’s like leading countries on education, United States wasn’t even in the top 20. And for us to get there, I think we have to like have more charter schools so people get more educated because public schools aren’t working.
Want to take a crack at it?
Okay. For the people out there who aren’t in charter schools, I’d say, "Find out what you’re missing. It’s a great environment. Find out, just find out what you’re missing." And you sit here, what I noticed here is you sit here, applaud us. I think that, especially from my point of view, I think Mr. Holder back there. I think because I would congratulate Mr. Holder every chance I got. He showed me. He’s the reason I’m up here. I wouldn’t be up here. I’d be in the back somewhere again. But I think instead of applauding us, you also, also need to applaud yourselves. You’ve done a great job with the charter schools. Mr. Joe Nathan has and the teachers are, you’re our leaders.
Where’s Mr. Holder? You want to stand up, sir? Rita, real loud. You have some advice for us?
Basically, all I can really think of is -- Have more field trips.
You know, we ought to sell this video -- America’s Funniest Home Videos or America’s Best Conference Videos. Okay. Very good idea. I agree. How about you, ma’am?
I think that in my community the schools are like competing, and I think that if we all work together, like the schools work together, it’d be a better learning environment.
Great. Just want to say one quick thing about that. One of the things that a number of States have started to do is to bring together charter public school and other innovative public schools and some private and some parochial schools to say, "What are we learning from each other?" There are marvelous things happening in some public schools that are not charter public schools. There are some marvelous things that are happening in independent schools and parochial schools. And I think one of the next steps that many of us hope this movement takes is to say, "Let’s learn from each other. Let’s recognize that all of us have some challenges. Let’s find out how public schools arrange for extracurricular activities and field trips, for example. Let’s learn from each other." I mentioned the Minnesota New Country School. I know that that Charter public school arranges with a local school district so that youngsters can participate in sports and in drama and some other things there. And I also know that there are some students who have been allowed to come to the Minnesota New Country School and some of the other charter schools to take courses. So I think the point you make is really good. Let’s learn from each other. Let’s recognize that in existing systems there are some really good things happening, as well as some problems. And in the charters there are some really good things happening, as well as the problems. And as we move forward into the new millennium, I think learning from each other, as Nora suggests, is a really wise idea.
Let’s say a little bit about what your hopes for this conference are. What would you like to see happen over the next couple of days? Anybody want to take a crack at it? This is a new question. This is not on their list, so.
I will go.
You want?
Yeah.
Okay.
Going off of what I was just saying about you, I’d like to see the teachers acknowledge more that they are the step we’re using, I’ll put it like that. They’re the step we’re using and without you, we couldn’t do it. I mean, we couldn’t do it by ourselves. I couldn’t, personally. We need leadership and you’re giving us the leadership we need. And I’d like the teachers to go away from this conference feeling proud that they’ve done something in somebody’s lives. I’m sure you already know that but, again, I’ll stress the point. You’re helping a lot of people.
All right. Anybody else want to take a crack? What would you like to see happen at this conference? Yes sir.
I would like all you fortunate people who have like a lot of money and everything, like, donate like form charter schools because without you all, we’ll just be a basic normal school. And the government hasn’t been giving us enough money.
Okay. I think there are some people who agree with you on that. You want to comment?
Can you say that question again?
Sure. What would you like to see happen at the conference, at this conference, over the next couple of days?
At this conference for everybody in here that listened to what we had to say, to go back home and apply that to their schools.
All right. Curtis, you have a couple of teachers in this school, in this room from your school?
Yeah.
Could you tell us their names. They could stand up, please.
Mike Webb and Bernice.
Right over here.
Right there.
Fisel, how about you? You have one or two people from your school who are here?
Yeah. I have a great teacher who is willing to give up his Spring break to come all the way over here from
He gave up his Spring break to come here.
Yes.
All right. Could you introduce him to us, please.
Mr. Sam Lopez.
Sam Lopez. Okay. Rita, you have someone you could introduce us to, please?
Miss Anderson, probably, because she came here and she supported me.
Okay, and where is she? Right over here. Nora, how about you?
I think Angela Moorehouse is here. I’m not sure. Oh, there she is.
Right back there. And your mom is here too, right? Where’s your mom? Right there. And Rita? Rita’s mom is here. Rita, where is your mom? Where is Rita’s mom. Yes, no? Show me. Oh. Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world." Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. The charter movement began with a group of people at a table in 1990, late 1988, who wrote down some ideas on an envelope, on a napkin, went to a courageous Minnesota State Senator named Ember Ricecott Young who is, by the way, a Democrat. She worked with some Republicans. We saw the kind of bipartisan support this movement has produced here with Peggy and Bill, a Democrat and Republican. We’ve seen the charter idea move from one State to 34 and so on.
To more than a quarter million. And it’s growing every year and every day. Last week I was in New York State where hundreds of people showed up to find out how they could do this. This movement, it seems to me, taps on some of the best of America, which is about opportunity, responsibility and choice. As a parent of young people, as a person who has been involved, one way or another for the last 29 years in public education, I want to do two things. First of all, I want to thank Nora, Rita, Curtis, James and Fisel for their insight and their wisdom and their humor and, frankly, their courage in sitting up here in front of a thousand people.
Recently, I visited a marvelous inner city charter that has had its contract renewed in California. And we have some folks from that school here today. One of them told me, "You know, Joe, it’s great that you write books and there are all these articles and, you know, it’s nice to have conferences," but she said to me, "You know, Joe, the problem with good ideas is that they inevitably degenerate into hard work." This is a room full of people who are willing to work very hard because we know we can make an enormous different in the lives of young people. So, I want to thank you for being here and thank you for your marvelous work.
Let’s give Joe Nathan and this wonderful group of students another round of applause. Thank you, great. Great! Okay. Don’t go anywhere yet. We have about four or five announcements. First is that on your table, you’ll notice an addendum that has a list of room changes. And there are two in particular that I’d like to highlight. One is the room change for the Missouri State Team. It will be in Governor’s Square Number 9. You weren’t even listed in the regular program. You’re the Show Me State and we decided to show you, so you do have a room to go to. Second is not in the addendum -- Is that the Denver Broncos are going to be signing posters outside here after this session. Right. Not really. But I thought you might want to go outside here and meander around in this common area and mix and mingle because there will be some time. The next session will begin at 11:15.
Also, I’d like to turn your attention to the page that has all the acknowledgments on it. And when you look through your program, there is a tremendous amount of effort that’s gone into making this conference. Much of the effort was done by the presenters who are going to be presenting this afternoon and later on. There are 135 of you and there are also about 20 or so other people who read all the proposals. And we can’t name you all, but please know how much we appreciate your effort, your support of this wonderful gathering. You’ll also note that there are a lot of folks here from the U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. This is such a vital topic to so much of the work that we’re doing that this is a learning experience for all of us as well. And so we will be here to listen, to gather your information, try to take it back to Washington and apply it to all of our different fields to benefit you and benefit the whole charter school effort. So I wanted to acknowledge and thank all the Department of Education staff who are here. Also, to acknowledge all the Colorado volunteers that are here. There was a tremendous amount of volunteer effort gone into making this all come together. And, of course, the National Logistic Center from the University of Oklahoma that’s in charge of all these logistics of moving everybody around. They deserve a lot of credit. Another thing to mention is that there will be audio tapes for sale of most of the sessions, including this one, that will be for sale outside in the commons area. You should also know that on our website, the U.S. Department of Education’s website for charter schools, that will have the video that you just saw. The video version, the digitized video version, of what you just witnessed will be put on the website probably in a couple of weeks or so. So if you want to see this again, you can just access it through your computer. And if you don’t know what the website address is, I’ll tell you right now. It’s US Charter Schools.ORG. US Charter Schools.ORG. I hope you can visit that site.
Two more announcements. There is an evaluation form in your packet. It’s a conference evaluation form. Now, you’ll be filling out evaluation forms in each one of your sessions, but we’d really, really like you to fill out the overall conference evaluation form before you leave. Don’t fill it out now. Wait ‘til you get ready to go. But we really would like you to fill out that form. And finally, you should know that this charter schools’ conference is one of a number of conference activities and institutes and workshops that are taking place during the course of the year that we our organizing under the framework of what we call the Improving America Schools conferences. There are three of these big mega-conferences that will be taking place next Fall on a regional basis. And there’s information in your book or in your packet of materials about the Improving America Schools conferences that I think all of you should attend, and let everybody else know about how great charter schools are and how they apply to comprehensive school change.
Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been a wonderful audience for this opening session. It speaks well of what is to come. We’re all very excited. Go out, mix, mingle, network and do all of those kind of things. And go to your State meetings beginning at 11:15. Thank you so much.
