[Brookem]

Does anyone have a child in a charter school or went to one themselves or worked at one or...? I know we have some teachers in here. Any experience?

We live in a town with 10k people, commected to another town with 10k people. you literally can't tell where one ends and one begins. There are a few elementary schools (one right across the street from our house) that are "satisfactory" but the high school gets very poor marks (one high school for both towns, approx 400 kids in each class). It looks nice - completely awesome actually, they just started the begining of a 3 million dollar project with solar panels. But it CONTINUES to barely meet required testing.

There is a charter school 25 minutes away that runs a bus to my town and gets "outstanding" rating each year.

I have been reading about them because we would need to get Violet on the list next year but there seems to be mixed reviews about them in general. The one here has a great reputation... I am just curious about experience dealing with a school that has a curriculum not federally mandated.

Also, we are only interested in Charter or Public. Religious schools will not be considered and Waldorf is trendy here but we are not interested in TOTAL freedom of curriculum. Or the pricetag

[momoftwins]

Ummm I don't even know what a charter school is!! Lol. Clue me in on this one!

Thankfully, public schools here are wonderful and I don't have to worry about that.

[speechteach42]

We have no charter schools here. Our choices are crappy public school or Catholic school. I'm still praying we can sell our house and move before kindergarten! I used to work at the public school in our neighborhood and I know all the teachers and sadly I can think of maybe two or three I would want to leave my child with.

[lunarmagic]

Sorry, no experience with Charter schools, I've never seen one before! Around here there's just the public schools and the catholic school(s). Meh.

[survey77777]

I also know nothing about charter schools but oddly enough I just read a thread on Rav about them too and had no idea what they were talking about either. I occasionally get the school worries already too. I'm ok with public schools though. Violence etc. is really the only thing that would completely deter me from a school and that's not an issue here at this time.

[BobbityBoo]

I'm kind of confused on Charter schools. Some say they are awesome because they get funding... but then others say they are filled with all the "at risk" kids and are not a good place to be. I think it depends on where the school is and how the funds are handled, most likely. I say if your school has a good reputation then go for it! You can always take a tour and talk with the principle and look at the curriculum.

Does your public school have a gifted program? Our has a program called The Challenge Program. The kids have to test into it, but its a totally separate curriculum (that's way better than the regular one). I was hating the school Kaily is in now (she is in 4th grade now). FINALLY, this year the have started some changes to the math program... the added back in the concept of place value. Yes you read that correctly, at one point "place value" was not taught. ***? I'm not sure how that works but it could explain why all the Jr. High parents I talk to say their kids are beyond confused with math. Oy!

Anywho... Kelly is going to Montessori preschool that is great and turns out a lot of kids that wind up in the Challenge program. I am hoping I can get him tested and into it so we can bipass all this BS!

I'm scared of Jr. High in a few years with Kaily. I might just have a heart attack!

[Brookem]

Originally Posted by BobbityBoo

I'm kind of confused on Charter schools. Some say they are awesome because they get funding... but then others say they are filled with all the "at risk" kids and are not a good place to be.

It's the opposite for the most part. They are funded by the government and private $$ so they cannot recruit but often times they do and seem like a "Country Club School" There aren't as many at risk kids, minorities, special education programs... void of diversity really. They market as equal enrollment but the elite stigma makes it intimmedating for less educated parents. They do not have to follow public school regulations for curriculum so they can spend more time in art and less time on health (for instance) if they want. It's more of a freedom environment. They can keep it up as long as they test the same or better than their public school counterparts.

The student to teacher ratio is MUCH lower so more one on one interaction is available.

If I want to get Violet in for sure and not on the wait list I need to do it now for Kindergarten.

Here's an article:

LA Charter Schools Not Truly Free Public Education

Jo - I have taught before and I would NEVER allow my daughter to go there. Some of the teachers were okay and some were horrible.

[speechteach42]

^Yeah working in public school has ruined me on them forever. There are many teachers at our neighborhood school that genuinely and obviously don't enjoy children, and I have to wonder why they keep working at school. It's not like the money is great!

[Brookem]

Originally Posted by speechteach42

^Yeah working in public school has ruined me on them forever. There are many teachers at our neighborhood school that genuinely and obviously don't enjoy children, and I have to wonder why they keep working at school. It's not like the money is great!

I think that making poor wages is part of the problem. There are resentful. They are somany genuine people that are out of a job and these idiots are in charge of our children.