This reminds me of the logic around why people are against gay marriage - "I'm not interested in it, and it undermines things I might be interested in."
There were, I think, 3 new charter schools this year? How does the location of this charter school impact the funding for Hampden Elementary? The school will be funded either way, and it truly won't change the budget for Hampden Elementary. It's healthy for BCPSS to close schools that aren't working and offer opportunities for community members, parents, and educators to try new models with new schools.

Erica I really hope that you don't believe that dribble. Charter Schools are the outsourcing the government’s responsibility to offer a quality educational system to all of its citizens.

The charter reform movement was revived in the early 1970s about the same time that there were a number of education equity law suit filed across the country. One of the charter movement’s earlier selling points was that they could do it better for less. Eliminate the bloated bureaucracy and there would be a savings. Well years later the most successful charter networks actually cost more and are only marginally better.

American business leaders have also seized upon education as a growth business since this country no longer makes anything. Gates and Broad have invested billions into the privatization of public education and are now considered the experts. Gates considers reform like Microsoft’s Windows, how many versions of that are there and it is still not bug free. Public education is like SKYPE, nearly a trillion dollar enterprise with little hard assets and no clear bottom line.

The explosive growth in urban areas takes advantage of the LACK of parent involvement. And as for BCPSS, the Council of PTAs - gone-, PCAB - corrupted, SECAC – ignored. Where does that voice of the parent come from? The commissioners… I doubt it.

Good for this citizen for standing up for her COMMUNITY.

@ Anon - It not 3 in one year but 30 overall.

Last year a charter elementary was opened in my community. recruitment was done during the hottest months of the year. Its main selling points were smaller class sizes and air conditioning. It quickly filled up its K and 1st grade goal. Now the existing non-failing school, two blocks, away will have its budget cut because it lost students to that charter. Nothing innovative academically about the new school just the quest for cool. Go figure.

Erica, can you get us the actual number of new schools that were approved this year to open next year?

@OTT, that's exactly what I'm talking about. You're giving one example of something that happened in your neighborhood, and projecting it on all other potential new schools. Many new schools have incredibly well thought out approaches. I can think of 2 dozen new schools (new as in opened in the past couple of years) that are extraordinarily innovative and successful, with great outcomes for students and families. I'm sorry you had one bad experience with one school that only offered, as far as you know, air conditioning. I would bet that the school's teachers, administration, students, and families might contend that it offers more, though it's difficult to respond to an unnamed single example.

@Anon - It is a sum zero game. You also have to determine how many schools closed because of "competition". Dunbar Middle was closed because of the opening of two charter schools in the same area. This caused a negative enrollment trend, as would be expected, but more students stayed then left and it was still closed. Winston Middle school the same. The full effect of this onslaught has not been felt yet because most new charters have not grown to full capacity.

And – "I can think of 2 dozen new schools (new as in opened in the past couple of years) that are extraordinarily innovative and successful, with great outcomes for students and families." – Sorry not happening. One of the last things we heard from the former Director of Research @ BCPSS was that both locally and nationally charters school are not performing better than the existing schools. There will always be out-layers in both forms but overall it has been proven that there isn't a big difference.

One of my concerns is that people speak of choice and competition but the movement has unfair advantages. The system is cutting "deals" to promote this method of reform because it is unstoppable. The game is rigged in their favor and to act like it isn't is disingenuous. I just heard Anne Emery state that parents at her charter/transformation school REQUIRES that parents come in the third Saturday of every month. That had to be a condition (and a violation of the charter law) to allow a student to attend that single-sex school (another violation of the charter law).

Some time back, one of the parent groups asked the Board what was the plan for charter schools in Baltimore. I believe the response was, there was no plan. I think that is still true today. So, to all of you who have sipped the M. Rhee kool-aid, do you truly believe that charter school expansion if unchecked will would not lead to the same imbalances that it was created to solve?

Hey, great irony when Anonymous takes a shot at an unnamed single example!

Dunbar Middle School was not closed because of two charter schools in the area OTT. Dunbar was taken over by NAF. Please get your facts straight before you pontificate about things you know nothing about.

I agree with Overthetop:

I don't think it's possible that some charter's can do better than public schools because they actually do a better job and/or the students try harder than they otherwise would.

I believe that if a school is full of impoverished children and/or minorities they will always perform poorly because of intrinsic stupidity.

I believe that teachers who themselves were poor students/have a poor work ethic will not do any better than brighter and more energetic teachers in every case.

I believe that all private money is evil. My spouse who works for a company is evil. No exceptions. I know based on experience.

Anybody who disagrees with me and has an out of the box idea is inherently wrong. Always at all times.

Thank you for being the voice of reason in the most nuanced and articulate way possible Overthetop. May we continue to pontificate and evangelize blogdom. A worthy use of time!! Hear hear.

@OTT-
What are the recent charter middle schools opening in the area of Winston Middle? The Stadium School has been around since before the charter law change. Other than that I'm drawing a blank.

I feel like a lot of this stuff has been hash and re-hashed on this board, but... you can "require" parents to log hours at a school in the same way a student handbook "requires" that students leave cell phones at home or "requires" that a GPA be maintained to stay at a school. Until someone has actually been kicked out of a school for "violating" these "rules" they are basically suggestions or wishful thinking.

@ FDT - actually you are incorrect. Dunbar Middle was closed and NAF moved into the building. The same way Chinquapin Middle was closed and BIT moved into the building

From the Baltimore Sun
"Six schools are closing this summer in Baltimore
Apr 29, 2009 11:38 AM

From The Baltimore Sun: The Baltimore school board has voted to close six schools this summer and a seventh next year . The schools closing: William H. Lemmel Middle, Harriet Tubman Elementary, Samuel Banks High, Thurgood Marshall High, Homeland Security Academy and George Kelson Elementary/Middle. Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle will shut down in the summer of 2010. William Pinderhughes Elementary will move into the building now occupied by Kelson. The National Academy Foundation high school will move to the old Thomas G. Hayes Elementary building, across the street from Dunbar Middle, and next year will expand into both buildings to include the middle school's students. "

Facts are sometimes funny things???

@Eve - Thanks, I enjoyed the irony as I wrote it.
@OTT - you have to look at more than standardized test scores to determine the success of a school. Walk through some schools, maybe even your air conditioned neighborhood school. Check out of the activities that students are involved in, some of the projects they do at school, some of the opportunities afforded to students in smaller settings. Ask parents of special needs students in some of the charter or transformation schools. I can absolutely say two dozen with confidence, and a national report referenced by one person isn't looking at what makes schools successful for its students, it's looking at test scores. Or don't.. I know that people tend to enjoy affirming things they already believe, so I don't actually expect you to be in any way swayed by what I'm saying, and I don't expect you to actually look at evidence. I hope that other more open minded members of the community will be open to listening before making judgement like "It's gotta be just because of the air conditioners" or "new schools are a threat to my way of life, I don't need to know anything about them."
There are also some great traditional schools that have stepped up their game. I'm all for that as well. Both can and should exist.

Finally, on a friendlier note, Michelle Rhee is a disgrace, and being pro-charter has nothing to do with her. (Friendlier meaning I agree with you on that topic.)

@ToOverTheTop - Stop wasting your time trying to distort my words. I do not espouse any of the BS that you put in your attempt at sarcasm.

@AP - NACA recruited heavy in the same catchment area the serves Winston and Northwood Elementary. Add that to Walter P Carter and Guilford going K-8 and Winston was doomed. It is now the temporary home of Pugh's lovechild fashion transformation school.
My statement about BDJ- she was on the LY morning show and made that atatement.. I am not making this up or reading between the lines.

@Anon- one person..Really.. that guy was the head of research for BCPSS. That is like saying Arnie Duncan's statements are... oh well.

But I do agree that it takes more that test scores to make a good or a bad school and that there are sometimes factors beyond the control of intelligent adults that sometimes determine student outcomes.

And I have stated before I do believe that innovation in many forms does have a place in public education and that charters/transformation or whatever should be given an opportunity to succeed.

What this original articles was about placing a charter in an area where there was no perceived need or want. The original batch of new schools seemed to be in places where there was a need as well as a want. Well done, but I have also seen the frustration of the parents who rallied to save the neighborhood schools only to be summarily dismissed by the CEO and the Board. I now live in a community that has no neighborhood schools and our children, who aren't lucky enough to win a lottery, are bused two zip codes away. What happened to our ability to choose?

In the end, I challenge you to scan the horizon. Baltimore is not unique in this social experiment and others are far ahead of this city, this state. Note the successes and the challenges and determine how this city can avoid the infighting that is going on in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle, Washington DC and other "urban areas. Optimistically, we can't when resources are too scarce and we are left fighting for crumbs. It is not always the old guard versus the new, It can be those that have a sense of history and understand that we have been here before it did not turn out well against those who avoid looking at the bright lights of what could be an approaching disaster. Answer me this, name one government function that if privatized would actually benefit the neediest of those that depend on its services? Have a Blessed Night...

This is funny because neither Stadium nor NAF are charters. But let's pretend they are if it suits our argument. Right?

@Hamilton Parent-
About the Stadium School - that's what I meant when I said it was founded before the charter law.

@ HP- read through this again,,,, nobody said they were.

But since you are going to make me work for my dinner... BDJMSTA grades 6-8 opened in 2005, 1.7 miles from Dunbar Middle, Crossroads 6-8, opened in 2005, 3.0 miles from DMS. And they are charter schools. From 2008- 2009 PLDMS lost 213 students while BDJMSTA gained 129 which is pretty good for a single sex school. Old adage.. nothing happens in a vacuum.

I wonder what some individuals communities and schools would look like if they put more time and effort into the real world, rather than this cyber one where we are all nameless and not held accountable for our actions.

Seems as though some of us have all the answers on here, but in the real world the schools still linger on in mediocrity.

Also, did anyone else hear that Roland Park cut the vocal music program from the middle school? If so that is just ridiculous.

"Charter School Battle Shifts to Affluent Suburbs" New York Times July 18, 2011

"Mr. Stewart, a stay-at-home father of three boys, moved to this wealthy township, about 20 miles from Midtown Manhattan, three years ago, filling his life with class activities and soccer practices. But in recent months, he has traded play dates for protests, enlisting more than 200 families in a campaign to block two Mandarin-immersion charter schools from opening in the area."

"Charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently operated, have mostly been promoted as a way to give poor children an alternative to underperforming urban schools — to provide options akin to what those who can afford them have in the suburbs or in private schools.

Now, educators and entrepreneurs are trying to bring the same principles of choice to places where schools generally succeed, typically by creating programs, called “boutique charters” by detractors like Mr. Stewart, with intensive instruction in a particular area."