Submitted by David B. Somerville (not verified) on September 3, 2006 - 07:26.
I teach in an area charter school. Our school is unique in that we focus on a strong Science-Mathematics based curriculum. Although we are much smaller than the area's "regular" high schools (200 as opposed to 4000 students), we seem to have higher scores on all standard state and national tests in mathematics and our students perform extremely well in science competitons.
We have been open for eight years and have made some enemies amongst local supporters of the local high schools. They accuse us of "stealing" their top students. In truth, most of our students feel safer in a small school and don't feel distracted by a sports-mad mentality, which sometimes pervades the thinking of our local community.
We have given our students an opportunity to play sports in a limited season and we have active league soccer, volleyball and basketball teams. We also offer students "typical" prep school club sports like rowing and cricket. In all sports, however, students admit they love to play and winning is only an extra benefit, "if that happens".
Our music program is outstanding. We have emphasized quality rather than quantity, so we have an award winning choir and two excellent symphonic orchestras and no marching band.
With all of our successes we are still the bane of the many "good ol' boys" who see us as a threat to public education. Our local electricity company refuses to give any money to support charter schools, although they will support private and other non-private schools. We have to go out of our community in order to get support for our robotics team and our various science, mathematics, business teams. Very recently,we have been getting some local support and we think more will come as our alumni base matures.
It gives one a feeling of great satisfaction to see our local school districts become bothered enough to feel that we are a threat to their stance as the only provider of education in the area. They have gone out of their way to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisement to say they "are the smarter choice" when the figures prove differently. One district even tried to mirror our success by attempting to open a "magnet" school. Their staff did not have the dedication, nor the qualifications to make it a viable operation, so they are trying other ideas to attract more students to their already over crowded schools.
In the meantime, we are happy to continue offering areas students and parents a small charter school with a dedicated and very well qualified staff (most have masters and doctors degrees) which is not mired down in bureaucratic decision making and very happy to have a large waiting list of children who can't wait to become part of our academic community. Did I mention that we are also offering our students high school/university dual credit classes in nearly all disciplines?
I teach in an area charter
Submitted by David B. Somerville (not verified) on September 3, 2006 - 07:26.
I teach in an area charter school. Our school is unique in that we focus on a strong Science-Mathematics based curriculum. Although we are much smaller than the area's "regular" high schools (200 as opposed to 4000 students), we seem to have higher scores on all standard state and national tests in mathematics and our students perform extremely well in science competitons.
We have been open for eight years and have made some enemies amongst local supporters of the local high schools. They accuse us of "stealing" their top students. In truth, most of our students feel safer in a small school and don't feel distracted by a sports-mad mentality, which sometimes pervades the thinking of our local community.
We have given our students an opportunity to play sports in a limited season and we have active league soccer, volleyball and basketball teams. We also offer students "typical" prep school club sports like rowing and cricket. In all sports, however, students admit they love to play and winning is only an extra benefit, "if that happens".
Our music program is outstanding. We have emphasized quality rather than quantity, so we have an award winning choir and two excellent symphonic orchestras and no marching band.
With all of our successes we are still the bane of the many "good ol' boys" who see us as a threat to public education. Our local electricity company refuses to give any money to support charter schools, although they will support private and other non-private schools. We have to go out of our community in order to get support for our robotics team and our various science, mathematics, business teams. Very recently,we have been getting some local support and we think more will come as our alumni base matures.
It gives one a feeling of great satisfaction to see our local school districts become bothered enough to feel that we are a threat to their stance as the only provider of education in the area. They have gone out of their way to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisement to say they "are the smarter choice" when the figures prove differently. One district even tried to mirror our success by attempting to open a "magnet" school. Their staff did not have the dedication, nor the qualifications to make it a viable operation, so they are trying other ideas to attract more students to their already over crowded schools.
In the meantime, we are happy to continue offering areas students and parents a small charter school with a dedicated and very well qualified staff (most have masters and doctors degrees) which is not mired down in bureaucratic decision making and very happy to have a large waiting list of children who can't wait to become part of our academic community. Did I mention that we are also offering our students high school/university dual credit classes in nearly all disciplines?