Wednesday, December 29, 2004
On Second Thought
I couldn't help it. Here is my response to Ms. Wells in a letter to the editor:
Dear Sir:
When I read Amy Stuart Well's column today regarding her perceived failure of charter school I felt like crying into my cup of coffee. What if, I thought, what she has written stops a movement dead in its tracks? What would this mean?
First, we would have to tell the families of 16,000 students in D.C. (21% of the entire student population) that they must return their children to the traditional public schools which have failed to meet their educational needs in the past, many of which (because of the presence of drug dealers and those who carry weapons) are dangerous places to be. Next, we would be forced to poor additional money into a school system which spends more per child then any other school system in the country to achieve the lowest standardized test results. Third, we would have to increase our construction of prisons, halfway houses, and shelters so that we can provide a home to theses kids once they become adults and enter the workforce with a severe lack of skills, both hard (reading, writing) and soft (how to interview, how to present yourself at work). It is not a future that I envision. That is why I will continue to use all of my energy and resources to support the powerful and popular charter school movement in the nation's capital.
Sincerely,
Mark S. Lerner
Chairman of the Board of Directors
William E. Doar, Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts
PermaLink | 6:09 AM |
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Dear Sir:
When I read Amy Stuart Well's column today regarding her perceived failure of charter school I felt like crying into my cup of coffee. What if, I thought, what she has written stops a movement dead in its tracks? What would this mean?
First, we would have to tell the families of 16,000 students in D.C. (21% of the entire student population) that they must return their children to the traditional public schools which have failed to meet their educational needs in the past, many of which (because of the presence of drug dealers and those who carry weapons) are dangerous places to be. Next, we would be forced to poor additional money into a school system which spends more per child then any other school system in the country to achieve the lowest standardized test results. Third, we would have to increase our construction of prisons, halfway houses, and shelters so that we can provide a home to theses kids once they become adults and enter the workforce with a severe lack of skills, both hard (reading, writing) and soft (how to interview, how to present yourself at work). It is not a future that I envision. That is why I will continue to use all of my energy and resources to support the powerful and popular charter school movement in the nation's capital.
Sincerely,
Mark S. Lerner
Chairman of the Board of Directors
William E. Doar, Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts
PermaLink | 6:09 AM |
| 
