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Charter schools preserve a parent’s right to choose
TweetCharter schools preserve a parent’s right to choose
EDITOR:
This letter is in response to the recent Vindicator editorial that charter schools are a “bill of goods.”
I have three children who have attended St. Christine Catholic School. I chose this parochial school for its excellent academics, its strong discipline and the Catholic based education that is ever prevalent. This was my choice.
My children have also attended and graduated from Western Reserve Local Schools. I chose this public school option for the exceptional academics and personal attention to students that is provided there. This is my choice.
I also have a child with profound disabilities. She attends the charter/community school, Outreach Academy, located on the campus of Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities in Mantua, Ohio, where my child resides. This school provides unique year-round learning opportunities for its students. Because of the medical fragility of some of the students, flexible schedules are a necessity. Teachers will come to the bedside and teach students if they are unable to physically attend school. If the students need to return to their residence for a period of time, they can re-enter class when they are able. Physical, occupational and speech therapy are available when needed. Outreach Academy utilizes the most current therapies and adaptive equipment.
For me, though, the personal touch, care and individual attention given to each and every student who attends is the reason why I choose this charter school. This school provides my child, and the many other students who attend, the unique opportunity to learn, grow and become the best person they can in the face of their physical or mental challenges. She could not receive this education in a private or local public school. I choose this charter school because it best suits the needs of my daughter.
Perhaps there are charter schools that are not performing. But recent statistics show Youngstown local schools are not performing either. All schools should show evidence of performance.
Certainly though, the “bill of goods” the editor speaks of is not evident in my daughter’s school. This school works. Do not paint a broad brush and disband all charter schools because of the few that don’t perform. It is a parent’s right to choose the school that will deliver the most proficient education for their child. I choose a charter school for my daughter. It’s my choice.
REBECCA SEVACHKO TOMAN
Ellsworth
A true moment of silence
EDITOR:
At Friday night’s Austintown Fitch football game they had a moment of silence for all the lives that were lost on that awful Sept. 11 attack on America. Then taps were played.
Austintown put on a wonderful tribute and all who were in attendance responded: You could have heard a pin drop. We have moved on, but we must never forget.
KAREN BIGGS
Austintown
Comments
Pro, if you want to see school socializing people, the heart of it is in the text books. With text books today they are literally rewriting history. I took a history class in college, I learned more in grade school... all they do anymore is say the white man took advantage of Native Americans. They hardly touch history of the Constitution and those events. They practically recite who wrote the documents and that's about it.
I am glad Ms. Toman was able to find appropriate care for her child.
That education probably comes at the cost of $21,000. per student, so I would expect it to be excellent. This good charter school is the exception, not the norm among these schools, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Vindicator's call for more oversight of them.
It is indeed Ms. Toman's choice to send her children to St. Christine School, for which she contributed part of their tuition.
Your further choices were supported by Ohio taxpayers. I am not sure that in this case, a parent has unlimited choice of placement regardless of the effects on other children in the school district.
In particular the education provided to disabled students by public school districts exists because of the work of parents of disabled children and supporters in government, including Ted Kennedy.
Previously, you would have been on your own to provide education to your own daughter.
Senator Kennedy was an original cosponsor of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which later became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The law served to amend the Education of the Handicapped Act and to guarantee a free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities, regardless of their severity, in all states.
http://www.tedkennedy.org/service/ite...
In 2004, Kennedy was the sponsor and lead negotiator of the reauthorization of the IDEA, with a new focus on promoting better alignment of special education with general education and having school districts be accountable for the educational outcome of all students, including students with all ranges of disabilities.
Charter schools are public education.
Actually Ted Kennedy was a sponsor with George Bush, of the "No Child Left Behind" law, and was a supporter of charter schools.
IDEA gives parents a voice in selecting the "least restrictive setting" for their disabled students. That means the one most like a regular classroom. Yes, it makes it difficult for teachers.
I looked up the school in the letter. Each teacher is assigned either 4 or 5 students.
Imagine putting these kinds of resources toward the education of our most gifted children. Remember, the difference a teacher can make in the learning of a student is limited by the receptive ability of the child. A graph would take the shape of a funnel. The top wide end represents the amount of difference teaching makes to gifted children. The small end represents the difference a teacher can make for a cognitively disabled student.
A teacher and parents can spend years teaching the alphabet -- which is forgotten a year after school is over.