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School whistle-blower fears retaliation

I continue to laugh at the charter people. They think they can do it better yet we keep hearing about charters and their problems. Now this school will probably fire the one person that actually new what the rules are.

I'm just amazed that parents will experiment with their own child's education and hope for the best.

It's like the people that send their life savings to these guys committing fraud. Later they say, "they promised us good results...it sounded like a good idea".

We only know about this because of a whistle blower. If all charters were inspected, we would see countless problems.

First charters were going to be cheaper than other public schools, then they would cost the same. Now they get more. This year they did not get the same budgets cuts as regular public schools. When will Utahns realize these are just pet projects for the legislature at the expense of Utah children. We already spend by far the least per child, we cannot afford these costly pet projects.

Charters are under a larger microscope than Districts making every little misstep known. That is why posts like "Yet Another Charter BUST" look so foolish. The true experiment lies with leaving your child to the vices of your neighborhood school where violations happen all the time but are hidden very well from the public.

District schools rarely meet every law too, particularly those regarding special education. That is why Charters are a popular choice right now, because they provide both hope and escape for parents who don't want to continue experimenting with their own child's education.

Most District schools break special education laws. The most common violation is the underservicing of the student's IEP. If the document says a child should get X amount of special one on one tutoring, the school is required to do so. They give a fraction of what is required unless the parent goes in and raises caine.

I don't hold much hope for our District schools. We have teachers who can't teach working with kids who they think can't learn. Send your kids to a place that has teacfhers who CAN teach and believe students CAN learn.

Oh yes the charters do wonders with special ed. Oh wait they don't take special ed kids. What was I thinking?

Also, what kind of teacher would choose to work in a charter over a public school? You just don't get the same benefits or stability. I would like to see an article about who is teaching at these schools.

I find it interesting that comments made on charter and/or public school is found to be only one way or the other. Charter Schools are best...no public school are best....blahblahblah. I would say that there are some amazing public school and yes amazing charter schools. Why is it an all or nothing deal? Parents do have choice. But just because one parent had a bad experience at a public school does not make all public schools bad. And just because one charter school has ran into a few snags does not make all charter schools bad. Those of us in the educational system are in it for the students. Believe it or not....we do it for the kids. If you're going to make comments only based on your experience (or that of your neighbor) then your comments are not going to be based on the reality of what education looks like across the board. So OWN your personal experience and not make a blanket statement about what education is very everyone!

Rockwell is a great school. Unlike the School District, they can't just raise taxes when they have problems, so they have to actually cut their budget. Cutting a budget is always a painful process that produces hurt feelings. (In sharp contrast, Alpine School District just built a high school a couple miles away in Saratoga Springs with an original budget of $40 million that ended up costing $60 million. Why? Because taxpayers give them a blank check.)

Is there a single allegation of wrong doing in the article? No, just a list of a few minor issues of non-compliance.

No one is required to attend Rockwell. All students make a choice to go there. If they are unhappy, they'll leave. If they're happy, then they'll stay.

Finally, charter schools are not better than traditional district schools -- only different. And Rockwell has a special education program and is prohibited by law from basing enrollment on any need for special education.

Anonymous made the comment that Charters don't take special ed kids. WRONG!

In fact most charters have a higher percentage of Special Ed students than District schools. THERE ARE NO EXCLUSIONS to getting into a Charter school other than max. capacity of classes and school. That's why we use an impartial lottery system to enroll students.

Also, Charter schools have amazing teachers, just as there are many great teachers in the district schools.

Reasons include:
+better pay
+better retirement
+more progressive educational programs
+access to more classroom supplies
+co-workers that want to teach instead of just collect a tenured teachers paycheck.

Every Charter has different priorities for funding but our Charter School seeks to pay better and appreciate our talented teachers.

And just so we are clear---each of our Charter School teachers must meet the same high standards of teaching credentials as District teachers. They are all certified through the same office at the USOE.

I will never put my children in charters again. We did Mountainville Academy. While Wade Glather was the director the school was wonderful. Then the board decided they didn't like him, tried to scape goat him for all of their troubles (which backfired on them) and now they are on their third director in a year. BTW the new director has absolutely no experience running a school. She is just barely finishing up school herself. MVA turned into a terrible experiment in stupidity in a very short period of time because they have a board who has gone wild and out of control with their own egos. I have learned my lesson, charters have very little regulation. And those who are regulating them are more worried about bad press then quality education.

Charter schools cost the tax payers more money! If the charter school can provide a service not offered in the neighborhood schools, such as an Autism program, I am for it. If their program competes with the neighborhood school, then they should not exist. Honors programs should be in neighborhood schools for all students, but there must be around 20 students for the class to be cost effective. When the charter schools take out students, the programs for the remaining students suffer due to lack of enrollment. I am tired of paying for those who think their kids are better than everyone else. If these parents put as much effort into their neighborhood schools education for all children would improve. Charter school parents are selfish.

Who names a high school after an assassin? It's way past time to stop pretending that Porter Rockwell was some kind of hero.

How many Charter schools have to be investigated by the State before there is more oversight? In the 2008-09 school year there have been:

Mountainville Academy-firing teachers mid-year, mid-quarter, when they "discovered" that they were non-compliant with their charter. The funny thing is that there were Board members who wrote the Charter and yet were "surprised" when they were non-compliant. They have also had financial troubles and may or may not still be in debt over $100,000.

Monticello Academy-the State investigated and removed the Director after many complaints from parents. There was a conflict of interest between the Director and her husband serving on the Board. The interesting thing is they did not think it was a conflict to have one spouse signing the others paycheck.

Now we have Rockwell, who might be in financial trouble and non-compliant with their charter.

Believe it or not, it is not the same to run a school and a business.

Opinions and hearsay are not the same as facts. Be

i completely agree. the shady dealings of charter schools never seeems to get investigated. they just get a slap on the wrist and sent on their way. i personally have learned my charter school lesson. recently mountainville fired almost all of their middle school staff. how did the teachers find out? when they saw their jobs listed online. really classy. it will be a nice day when alpine turns their $90,000 a month building into a library or senior center. then the mva headache will be a thing of the past for alpine.

I worked with a student who needed speech therapy. The charter he came from said he refused services. He said they did not have a program. Guess what, they do not provide speech services. Just because a charter provides some special ed services, do not believe they provide what students need.

It is time to see charters for what they are, a passing fad. We are all better off investing in our neighborhood schools and believing in our communities again rather than dividing our neighborhoods and communities.

Sometimes the "policies and procedures" that are violated are pretty stupid. When I was on the board of a charter in CA, we got fined 2 MILLION dollars because of "violations". We had 5000 students, and the state auditor pulled 50 files. The violation that sticks in my memory was a report where the comma between the day and year on a date was missing. The state found 5 such violations, declared that 10% of our student records where out of compliance, applied that to our enrollment, which gives you 500 non-compliant files. Hence the 2 million dollar fine.

Interestingly enough, we ran a "performance-based" charter school. Kids didn't pass a class unless they were proficient with the material. We were sent 40 kids who had been kicked out of every other school in the city - and in two years they were *all* at or above grade level and making progress on becoming responsibile citizens. But in the newspapers, all you read about was the violation of someone forgetting a comma, and a 2 million dollar fine.

hopefully the fad will pass quickly so the state can get back into the business of educating students correctly and not trying to please parents with no experience in running a school or business. charters are disasters. rarely do they turn out well. there are problems at the state level with regular public schools, but nothing like the problems most charters are dealing with.

I will not disagree that SOME charters are disasters. They end up in the paper and on the news. A little faster than neighborhood schools that are not working because they don't have a district to front for them. But there are many charters that are working. They are based on countless hours of volunteer service and a vested interest in education. I applaud parents who take such an interest in their child's education, regardless of the school they choose. Studies indicate that children are much more likely to succeed when parents are involved in their education. My children have attended both a neighborhood and a charter school. I respect the choice of those who remain at our neighborhood school. It is a great place with dedicated parents and teachers. At the same time, I am so grateful to be a part of my children's charter school. If charters are a passing fad, thank goodness my children (and thousands of others) get to be a part of it. Each charter is so different lumping them all together is inaccurate and unfair. Let the great ones keep doing their thing. The bad ones will weed themselves out.

the problem is the bad ones are not getting weeded out. they are turning into long drawn out experiments in bad education. take mountainville academy for instance. they had a school that was working well, except for the overspending of their board. they were warned by the first director and financial advisor this was a problem. what did they do? they fired both of them and put in their second director who not only had no experience running a school but also had no people skills. they fired their wonderful 6th grade staff two weeks before christmas and when the parents revolted they blamed it on "micommunication." now they fired her, but told the press she left for personal reasons. they are now on their third director who just barely finished school. again NO EXPERIENCE running a school. the board has no idea what they are doing. they changed the format of the school twice and now are changing the curriculum. they just haven't bothered to tell the parents this yet. MVA is the poster child of what is wrong with charter schools. Brian Allen should have taken over the school but he is more interested in good press.

Sounds like some of you have an issue with Mountainville Academy....like other posters have said, don't lump all Charters into one group. I attended a "neighborhood" school and was educated on The Price Is Right, Wheel of Fortune and other game shows, instead of my science class....my geography teacher thought it was more important to critique my outfits everyday, instead of teaching me the cultures of different countries, and the school counselor thought I was in some sort of satanic cult because I wore PEACE signs......My point is your going to have issues whether you are in a charter or a neighborhood school. Don't base your opinions of ALL charters, based on one bad one.

Overall, public schools get a bad rap. Public schools are not allowed to pick and choose which students attend their particualar school. We deal with every child, no matter their skills (or lack of), their desire to learn (or lack of), their parental support (or lack of). Yes, the public schools had to cut budgets; teachers got loaded with larger class sizes, lost several days' pay, and some districts got no raises or step increases. I don't see where your taxes were raised to help pad our pocketbooks this year! Utah has an awesome public school system that would rival any state in the nation. The main problem is the low priority our culture gives education. Entertainment takes so much more precedence over eduacting our children. Family vacations, sports activities, and various other activities are becoming more important to having our kids actively involved in getting an education. Until our parents and culture make education a higher priority in each home, we will continue to have the bad apples and challenges that public schools have. Charter schools may have their place, but they are certainly not the be all, end all, of a person's learning. GO PUBLIC SCHOOLS!