Meetings and hearings on Achievement First's application to open Mayor Academies in Providence

Regular Providence Schools and Beyond readers will know that for much of 2011, citizens of Providence, Cranston, and other municipalities have been debating the merits and detriments of a proposal from charter management organization Achievement First to open two Mayoral Academies in the coming years to serve K-12 students. Following the Rhode Island Board of Regents’ rejection of a version of the proposal to open the schools in Cranston to serve students in grades K-12 from Cranston and Providence, Achievement First resubmitted the charter application with a view to open the schools in Providence in 2013 and 2014 to serve students not only from Providence and Cranston but also (name other surrounding towns). That proposal is front and center in Providence this week.

Yesterday, a coalition of Providence neighborhood associations, parent organizations, student organizing groups, private-sector unions, community organizing groups, and public officials (including the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization, of which I am a member) announced its opposition to the establishment of a network of Achievement First Mayoral Academies in Providence. The coalition held a rally and press conference at the State House and delivered a letter to the Governor expressing its concern about and lack of interest in the prospect of Achievement First’s establishment of the Mayoral Academies in Providence. Click here to view the letter on Google Docs. The group used Facebook to organize - if you want to join in, go here: http://www.facebook.com/events/245049805555073/. The Brown Daily Herald covered yesterday's protest nicely here.

More Achievement First news, this from Councilman Sam Zurier’s Ward 2 email newsletter: tonight (Tuesday, November 29) at 5:00pm, the Providence City Council’s Education Subcommittee will hear a presentation from representatives of Achievement First, which has applied to operate a mayoral academy charter school in Providence.  Members of the City Council will ask questions, including questions submitted from the public. Councilman Zurier did not say this, but I would guess that you cannot be there, as I cannot due to work obligations, he may accept questions via email or phone calls.  The hearing will take place in Providence City Hall, 25 Dorrance Street.

Next week, on Tuesday, December 6, the Providence City Council Education Subcommittee will hear the School Department’s projection of the financial impact of the new charter school if it is approved.  I’ll share the time when it’s announced.

Both of these Providence City Council Education Subcommittee Meetings precede next week’s Rhode Island Board of Regents’ hearings on the proposed Achievement First Mayoral Academies. WRNI’s Education Blog reports that the hearings will take place as follows:

• Wednesday, December 7, 6:00pm, Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School, 195 Nelson Street in Providence
• Thursday, December 8, 6:00pm Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School, 375 Adelaide Avenue in Providence

Please - whether you're avidly opposed to or in support of Achievement First--and especially if you want to know more--do what you can to learn about the financial, social, educational and other impacts these schools may have on our city. Come to the hearings and sign up for public comment - make your views known. 

Rhode Island Public Charter School Consortium, March 2: Kozol speaking + more

The Rhode Island League of Charter Schools is hosting the 2011 Rhode Island Public Charter School Consortium, which will take place from 3:30-7:30pm on March 2 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. Writer/education activist Jonathan Kozol will speak. Dinner, a cash bar, a Rhode Island charter school expo will follow, and Mr. Kozol will sign his books.

The consortium is sponsored by the Rhode Island Foundation, which is using the occasion to give an award named for past Rhode Island education commissioner Peter McWalters to Steve Nardelli, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools.

I'm eager to hear Mr. Kozol speak and am using the event as a push to re-read of The Shame of the Nation and to read Letters to a Young Teacher for the first time. Here's a link to a thoughtful interview in Salon with Kozol on Letters to a Young Teacher. Go to your local independent bookstore to pick up copies of those books and other Kozol works.  

An outspoken critic of No Child Left Behind as an example of policies and practices that exacerbate de facto segregation and inequity, Kozol is no fan of current federal education policy. He attracted significant notice in 2007 by embarking on a hunger strike in protest of NCLB; here's his statement about the hunger strike and his motivations. He's strongly opposed to the use of high-stakes standardized tests as a main factor of what school systems use to determine the fates of individual children, their teachers, and their schools, a cornerstone of NCLB and a subject of much recent debate in our state. So of course, I am intrigued about what his keynoting this event may signify about our state's charter school association's stance in relation to the Fed's current strong charter push as a central component of public school improvement. Will Kozol address the charter debate that's happening now in Rhode Island, in which Governor Chafee called for a thoughtful pause before continuing to add charter schools as stipulated in Rhode Island's federal Race to the Top funds? Will he acknowledge the range of ways charter schools can contribute to real change as exemplified by the partnership that The Learning Community has with the Central Falls School District aimed at improving elementary reading achievement? Will he address the limits to the idea that charter school expansion is the most magical bullet to large-scale school improvement? Lots of questions.

I also hope that this event will inspire the Rhode Island Department of Education and other statewide agencies and organizations to showcase strong examples of practice across Rhode Island's district public schools. This sort of event, sponsored by local funders, seems like an ideal way to share practices across districts, demonstrate to the public some of the real strengths of public schools across the state, and get stakeholders together to focus on persistent challenges. Count me in to lend a hand.