Comments about ‘Charter schools celebrate 10 years of educating Utahns’

We've got some of the best public schools in the nation. We don't need charters and they are filtering off money from the REAL schools.

Very few are attracting the numbers they thought they would and are constantly recruiting in my neighborhood.

For the most part they are a big joke. I'll admit there are a couple of good ones but for the most part the education received at a charter is not up to par with your local school.

If parents want a private school, start a private school and charge tuition. Otherwise stop being parasites and sucking the funds away from the REAL schools.

The charter by me keeps putting recruiting notices on my door. They can't get enough students to fill the place.

All they are doing is syphoning funds away from our school. They had a bunch of the kids sign up to attend their school then about 50% of them came back when they saw how poorly it was being run. The problem is that the funding at our local school was already set by then. So now we have WAY overcrowded classrooms while the charter can't get enough students to be worthwhile.

We need a law that says if you go to a charter, you commit to stay there at least 3 years.

Charter schools=segregation! Charter schools=overpaid administrators. Charter schools=pick and choose students. Charter schools=fancy, expensive new buildings. Charter schools=elitism. They only educate 5% of Utah's students. Let's pull back and focus of the 95%!

My daughter attends high school at a Charter School where the class sizes are small, the teachers are wonderful and the school building is modest. Her only other alternative was a huge high school, which is fine if you are a jock/cheerleader/rah rah person, but she recoiled with fear on visiting it. Not all people can tolerate big boisterous classes and crowded halls. Charters provide a choice for parents.

I'm not convinced all of these different school options help youngsters learn to cope with real world situations. Children in my neighborhood who go to Charter schools haven't done as well in other non-school social situations where they aren't allowed to pick and choose what they learn.

I'm not for it.

look at all the "we love the status quo" commenters coming out. just wait, the "lets throw more money at the traditional system" commenters are coming next...

yeah, don't look at the rest of the country and the world and their innovation. just keep things the way they are here in Utah. It would be nice if someone besides school district employees had time to log on and make some intelligent posts.

Great schools with parental involvement, teachers concerned about reaching students, and administrators that listen to parents and teachers are desperatley needed. If your Charter School does this- wonderful! Educate the child, the indivdual.

Charter Schools are the best thing that has happened to Utah education. All you people crying and knocking them look so foolish.

Yeah the one by me just dropped teachers without any notification. Actually escorted their teachers out the door.

What teacher would ever want to work there?

I work in education, and I have never understood the devisiveness of this issue. NO SCHOOL IS PERFECT!! The fact is that no school can possibly meet the needs of every student. If we are truly looking out for the best interests of every student, why not consider the fact that charter schools exist because they are meeting a need? Some parents are unhappy with traditional schools because the "one size fits all" approach is not appropriate for their child/children. In many cases, charter schools offer unique teaching methods, smaller class sizes, and many other benefits that traditional schools are failing to provide. Are we so worried about losing money, or winning a debate, or proving a point that we are willing to let students languish in inappropriate learning environments? Are we willing to let students fail because we are afraid of something new? Yes, charter schools have faced many challenges, but we should all be working together to provide a variety of educational options for children who are well worth the effort.

I had my kids in charters for a while and they are a joke. I will never put my kids in a charter ever again. Traditional public schools are of a much higher caliber.

of course some charters are great, some traditionals are great. You can't honestly believe "traditional public schools are of a much higher caliber" - what a silly generalization. So my charter school, which scores 34 percentile points above the state average on national math tests, with 98% parental satisfaction, is of "lower caliber" than the 3 schools in my district that don't make adequate yearly progress and students aren't learning? Ridiculous.

People who resort to saying things like "charter kids don't do as well socially" are also ridiculous. Kids are kids - and it is so mean to look at a group of kids - any kids - and judge them by saying "they don't do well socially". What on EARTH does that mean? That they don't join in the frivolous, "popular" group activities they may find meaningless? That they don't join in church activities at the level you think means they are "well adjusted?"

As a society we must support children in learning, and in growing up. Judging them hurts kids and hurts our society.

Everything we do and say hurts or helps. Think about it before you spout off.

Jan,

None of your information is accurate regarding Charter Schools.

Charter schools have less administration costs than a District School does because they hire fewer. That money saved allows schools to offer lower class sizes with paraprofessionals assisting the classroom teacher.

The State runs the lottery for school admission, not the schools themselves. Parents know where they are on the wait list and the school must take them in the order they appear on that list. While a few exceptions to that rule exist (mostly in sibling preference or school founders kids) the rules are kept.

Charter school buildings are no where near comparable in cost to build, nor do they come with the standard bells and whistles most District schools have. The buildings are often leased saving taxpayers millions. No Charter building has compared to any District one built in the past ten years.

As a regular public school teacher I must admit that I like Charters.

They provide a "choice" for the ultra conservative or liberal parents in our society.

In all of my years of teaching, I have never had a student that I could not reach and be successful with. However, every year my school has one or two parents that are very difficult. For example, a few years ago we had a parent who did not want her daughter to read "The Diary of Anne Frank" because it was an example of "Pro-Zionist Propaganda" according to this wacko mother. I cannot even begin to describe the time and effort that was wasted working with this horrible woman. I hope (but doubt) she is much happier now that her daughter is at the nearby Charter. I know we miss the student but certainly not her mother!