In order to be fair MATH should be closed. Its the charter at all cost attitude that cast doubt on the migration to charter schools. Baltimore has more charter schools than the entire state and only a few have proven results.

One school was closed in mid school year due to its lack of performance.
Now Alonzo is truly showing exactly where he is standing when it comes to our children and their education. What was the vote to close Homeland Security in mid year? Why was it not closed in June so that those students would not have to struggle to complete the end of the school year and now thos schools will be judged based on this.
Over 100 jobs being lost, schools closing but yet the Board fights to keep a charter school that is not performing any better than a lot of the schools in the city.
How is this fair to our children, the teachers and the parents?

@OTT -
It's hard to argue when we're talking generalities and not specifics. Here's a list from the BCPSS website of charter schools (there are also innovation and transformation schools listed, but you said charter, so I'll just put them here):
City Spring School(preK-8)
The Stadium School (6 – 8)
Montebello Elementary (Edison)K – 7)
Hampstead Hill Academy (preK-8)
Rosemont (preK-8)
Collington Square School (preK-8)
Gilmor Elementary (Edison)(K – 6)
Furman L. Templeton Elementary(Edison)(K – 5)
Empowerment Academy (preK-8)
Midtown Academy (K-8)
KIPP Ujima Academy (5-8)
City Neighbors Charter (K-8)
Patterson Park (K-7)
Southwest Charter (K-5)
Inner Harbor East (K-7)
Northwood Appold Community Academy (K-5)
MATHS (Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences) (6-11)
The Green School (K-5)
City Neighbors Hamilton (K-4)

Let's start with not judging a school that's been open for less than two years (I've removed schools from the list if the opening date was 2007, 2008 or future, or at least that's what I tried to do, searching on the web for opening dates). So of the remaining schools, which are the few that have proven results? I'm not arguing, I just think general statements about how most charter schools are doing a bad job end up making a situation sound much more negative than it actually is. Once you specify schools, maybe then I'll argue.

Allow me for a moment to play devil's advocate here:

A child is suspended because of breaking the rules. They have decided to act in a way that hurts their learning community, and thus, the administrator must hand down a consequence. Is it possible that BCPSS schools with higher numbers of suspensions aren't any more or less dangerous than others; that instead, they are actually doing a GOOD job of maintaining order and discipline so that EVERY student has an opportunity to learn in a safe and productive environment?

That said, yes, I know, only handing down consequences will not create a productive learning environment. You must also provide incentives for positive behavior that are meaningful. But let's not crucify those adults who are willing to hold children accountable for their actions despite facing career repercussions for doing so.

@a parent - IMO the purpose of a charter is to do a better job at educating children than the existing school. So when I say proven results, don't infer "bad job" just that they have not moved the bar higher for its students. KIPP, City Neighbors, Midtown, Gilmore and maybe Paterson Park have proven results.

@ Artie - there was a big movement at the last school year to revamp the Student Code of Conduct to reduce suspensions for non-violent offenses. If MATH numbers were high, either they did not adhere to the policy or they were trying to get rid of students with issues... what does AAA always say...the kids come as is...so MATH should be held accountable for not dealing with its students properly.

@OTT - I don't have enough time to do much arguing right now, but I'll put forward these five schools as doing an extraodinary job:

From BCP website - City Springs has improved percentage of proficient reading from 2.1% to 49.7%, Collinton Square from 10.3% to 44.2%, Hampstead Hill from 15.6% to 65.1%

From the MSA report card - The Green School has 87.5% proficient & advanced in math and 93.8% in reading.

From the MSA report card - Inner Harbor East has between 61.1% and 83.3% proficient & advanced in math and between 74.3% and 94.4%in reading.

These MSA scores are significantly better than the city average and in some cases better than the state.

Maybe people who care about some of these other charters who read InsideEd could come to their defense, or give me a chance and I'll give it a shot.

Another thing that comes to mind about AAA's comment that parents want to send their kids to MATHS - I've heard it put forward on comments to this blog that charter schools have an unfair advantage because their parents are more involved in a charter school. I'd argue that in my experience a charter school can be much more welcoming to parental involvement, but either way...If MATHS had more involved supportive parents, arguing to keep it open, and parental involvement is one of the ways schools are now being rated, perhaps keeping MATHS open (at least conditionally) isn't all that surprising. This is a total conjecture, I've got no involvement in this school.

MATHS has very strong parental support and a waiting list to get in - 2 powerful indicators that may mean
a successful future. A 2 year renewal is a conditional renewal - MATHS must make system-mandated improvements right away to be able to continue after 2011. Seems fair.

Over the Top:

Why not do a little research before making blanket statements? In addition to the 8-10 charters already listed, I'll add a few more.

Sadly, only THREE stand-alone middle schools in the entire city made AYP (a low bar, but a measure nonetheless) last year. ALL THREE WERE CHARTERS. KIPP, Bluford Drew Jemison, and Crossroads.

Also, two high school charters - Baltimore Freedom Academy and Coppin Academy - are achieving at far higher levels than their counterparts. And no, they don't have entrance criteria. These schools are not without flaws. But BFA (along with a number of City Schools with entrance criteria) was recently named one of the best high schools in America.

Note that I'm not defending MATHS here. But what you did - throwing an entire group of schools under the bus because ONE is failing (on one notable measure) - is ridiculous.

What I find most amusing is that anti-charter folks think all people who work with charters are super gung ho pro-charter-no-matter-what. False.

The reality is that the staunchest advocates for closing failing charters are the strong charters. They don't want the bums giving them a bad rap.

As a teacher at MATHS, I was very surprised at the vote by the school board. I guess I expected a "yes" or "no". It feels odd to be in this limbo.

I understand people's concerns that public charters need to be held at a higher level. I completely agree. I am a rookie teacher, but even I want to be held at a higher level. I think all MATHS teachers would concur.

I do not have the answers, but I do know MATHS is a good school. Our attendance is high, the kids enjoy being there, and the staff is solid. Every school could improve, I agree. However, in talking with other teachers in the system, I feel as though our school has got it together overall.

I will attempt to be at the next board meeting to see what happens.

I try to be informed but sometimes I just like to argue...

@ aparent - iaw the 2008 Md Report Card both City Springs and Collington Square did not make AYP. Green School is a macro school (78 students) with a defacto entrance requirement - mandated volunteer hour by parents. IHE don't know much about

@ hamparent - KIPP recruits and its "requirements" do weed out the unmotivated: BDJ - too new to factor in & Crossroards another macro school whose program does not benefit the greater good.

I don't accept the label as anti-charter because I did consider charters for my children. Just that, at this point, few that I know of offer the complete package. There is work to be done and my original contention still stands. In order to appear non-bias, with the closing of traditional schools for non-performance, a charter can not be allowed to hide under table.

@OTT - I'm not sure I understand "Green School is a macro school (78 students) with a defacto entrance requirement - mandated volunteer hour by parents. "
Are you saying schools can't be small? They are adding one grade every year so I'd say currently there at more like 100 than 80. Again, I'm not sure why that makes them questionable performance-wise. Certainly their MSA scores are only one year (since they just had a 3rd grade last year), so you can't say anything about trends yet. Regardless, small schools seem to be seen as a plus these days, at least in high schools.

The same would apply to the comment about volunteer requirements - why does that make their performance questionable? I'm pretty sure City Neighbors (which was on your original list of schools that are doing a good job) has similar requirements. At least that's what they say at their open houses. I'm betting that neither school has ever removed a child from the school when volunteer hours aren't completed, but that's a total guess on my part.

In regards to KIPP - I don't have much current information, but I did watch an excellent documentary about KIPP in Baltimore on PBS. If they "recruit", the kids that they chose for the class in the documentary met some sort of goals that I couldn't figure out. They had all sorts of behavior problems and academic problems. They were all African American boys, if that's a recruiting criteria.

Discussing the individual merits of each school was not the point of my original post. My contention is that the same standards of performance must be applied across the board. Closing Homeland Security and Lemmel are being applauded as the right move. What happens when a non-traditional school does not meet standards... begging and pleading for three more years......