Seattle Schools Community Forum

Besides the hilarious (and true) account of charter school mishaps across the country from John Oliver, there's this news:

I mentioned - weeks ago - that I had wanted to do a round-up of charter schools and their outcomes in this country.  I am always amused when people say there's just a "handful" of stories being blown up.  Just not true. Here's we go. I don't know how anyone missed this one - a 1st grader in a big-chain charter school in NYC getting bullied by her teacher.  Before the teacher says anything, you should look at the posture and body language of those students.  It's caught on video by another teacher who was very concerned for this class.  Horrific.  The mother of was beyond upset and yet felt marginalized and ignored by the head of the charter system.  She pulled her daughter out.

There are so many truly "must-read" stories I'm going to group them into different threads. This one?  The "everything but the kitchen sink one." First up, in New London, Connecticut , the school board has postpone the hiring of one Terrence P. Carter as superintendent.  Why?  Because apparently the search firm they hired managed to miss that he had been using "PhD" and "Dr." for at least five years with no accredited degree.  (He lied about going to Stanford and getting his degree when he never even attended it.  What's weird is that he is completing a Ph.D. from a university and will be awarded it in August.  So why lie?)

Updates from the Orlando Sentinel , about the story about the charter school principal who got $500K when the school was forced to close.  I got it wrong - it was $519K and her take for the whole year?  $824,000.  In June, the charter school's board cited Young for "leadership" and "providing an excellent educational opportunity for at risk and underprivileged children in Orange County" in its resolution authorizing the payout of more than $500,000 upon the school's closing. A principal of a school of 180 kids and; In 2011-12, NorthStar High School's directors paid Principal Kelly Young more than twice as much money as they spent on the school's educational program. By comparison, the school spent $366,042 on instruction, including teacher salaries, last school year, according to an audit paid for by the school. The school lacked computers, a library or cafeteria services at its facility in concrete portables on Curry Ford Road. Acc...