Sticky Issues
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In this section, principals tell how they handled a challenging situation, how some policy that was in place actually worked, and the lessons learned from dealing with these Sticky Issues. Send your stories to principal@osu.edu. Please indicate if we may use your name in the “contributor” credits.
Charter Schools Seek Collaboration, Too!
Co-operation
Co-habitation
Co-llaboration
Can it be?
Is it possible for a public charter or community school to open in your city? Indeed it is. If your district is struggling with its state report card and has a delineation of Academic Watch or Emergency your students may have a choice as to where they attend school. Is it probable that there will be some resentment as this process unfolds? Indeed there will be. Can we as professional educators make this scenario work for our children? Indeed we must. This article is about the realities of what is going on in the world of education today.
There are several areas that may present themselves as barriers when a public charter school opens as they are reliant on the local city school district for certain services and information.
Transportation
The local school district is responsible for transporting your students at no cost. Scheduling is usually a major area of concern depending on your numbers, your start and stop times and the demographics of your students. Getting this process to run smoothly may take some visits to the transportation department and/or a local board meeting. Districts have a few other options when it comes to serving charter school students one of which is that the board opts to pay the parent a specific amount of money to transport their own child. Either way, there must be an arrangement of some type for getting the students to and from school. When the school calendars differ on such things as vacations and length of the school year problems may arise, especially when it comes to funding issues.
School Records
Getting school records released in a timely manner may often be a barrier. It is vital to have any special education paperwork, custody information, or medical records at the start of school. Often, parents rely on what is in the cumulative file from when their child first enrolled in school and do not have this information readily available when enrolling at a new school.
Funding
Title monies, free and reduced lunch programs, after-school extracurricular activities, tutoring, and transportation costs have an impact in a charter/community school setting and the public school setting. Utilizing staff effectively also affects funding. Schools could actually share teachers to cut down on costs. We as professional educators must work to ensure that all the resources we have at our disposal are used no matter where the services are being delivered. If a district happens to not be in good fiscal health the issue is even more troublesome.
Access to Community Resources
All the services available in the public school should be accessible to a charter school. Whether it is a program on bullying or the opportunity to participate in a sports program. This area is of particular importance as the community is everyone’s and not isolated to a specific district.
Accountability is where the rubber meets the road no matter where the source of the services. Cooperation, cohabitation, and collaboration…it can be done for the benefit of all children.
