The Seaside Charter school represents all that is wrong in Florida's education system. Established by affluent whites for affluent white paid for by the public dime.
District 2 has some of the finest schools not just in the city but in the state. If District 2 was its own school district it would give St. Johns county a run for number one.
If charter schools were created to save mostly poor and minority students from failing schools, what they were originally and disingenuously sold as then there is absolutely no reason for their to be any charters east of the inter-coastal.
If the founders of the Seaside Charter school really cared about kids that the public school system has failed why did they set up in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in town? The answer is they don't they just wanted their kids to not go to school with yours.
Seaside segregates its self by putting requirements on parents and by eliminating services that poor and many families of color rely on. They don't provide lunch and transportation and they require parents to pay 250 dollars for supplies, though, you know more is always appreciated. A district official outraged by their hypocrisy told me, “yeah... that’s not going to serve a disadvantaged or minority population at all...”
You might be saying, but students are chosen by a lottery, that is poor and minority kids apply they have just as much chance of getting in as anybody. Well friends that may or may not be true. You see charters are charged with doing their own lotteries and do so with no over site from the district. So maybe but who knows. A very wise man once told me, its better to show me than tell me, but sadly charters are under no obligation to show anyone.
Then if you look at their registration form they ask questions beyond just race that might indicate if they are their type of student or not. They ask:
Student resides on federal property
Student resides in low rent housing
Parent employed on low rent housing in Duval County
Name of last school attended
School type (public including charters, private, pre-k and home education)
Student residence information (who to they live with, both parents, single parent, guardian, etc.)
Is student a teen parent
Check all that apply,
The student has been arrested or prosecuted for a violation of criminal statute resulting in a charge
The student has been expelled from school
The student has been involved with the juvenile justice system
Then parents are told to sign under penalty of perjury which they point out is a felony.
https://www.cognitoforms.com/SeasideConsortium/StudentRegistrationForm
Um how many parents do you think stopped right there because they didn't want to risk being prosecuted for a felony?
All of these questions can be used to weed out applicants that Seaside doesn't want to admit and does anybody think they haven't? If so have you seen them do their lottery?
Seaside was denied an expansion because they lacked diversity, then feigned outrage, well after reading their application, I submit that may have been their attention all along.
District 2 has some of the finest schools not just in the city but in the state. If District 2 was its own school district it would give St. Johns county a run for number one.
If charter schools were created to save mostly poor and minority students from failing schools, what they were originally and disingenuously sold as then there is absolutely no reason for their to be any charters east of the inter-coastal.
If the founders of the Seaside Charter school really cared about kids that the public school system has failed why did they set up in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in town? The answer is they don't they just wanted their kids to not go to school with yours.
Seaside segregates its self by putting requirements on parents and by eliminating services that poor and many families of color rely on. They don't provide lunch and transportation and they require parents to pay 250 dollars for supplies, though, you know more is always appreciated. A district official outraged by their hypocrisy told me, “yeah... that’s not going to serve a disadvantaged or minority population at all...”
You might be saying, but students are chosen by a lottery, that is poor and minority kids apply they have just as much chance of getting in as anybody. Well friends that may or may not be true. You see charters are charged with doing their own lotteries and do so with no over site from the district. So maybe but who knows. A very wise man once told me, its better to show me than tell me, but sadly charters are under no obligation to show anyone.
Then if you look at their registration form they ask questions beyond just race that might indicate if they are their type of student or not. They ask:
Student resides on federal property
Student resides in low rent housing
Parent employed on low rent housing in Duval County
Name of last school attended
School type (public including charters, private, pre-k and home education)
Student residence information (who to they live with, both parents, single parent, guardian, etc.)
Is student a teen parent
Check all that apply,
The student has been arrested or prosecuted for a violation of criminal statute resulting in a charge
The student has been expelled from school
The student has been involved with the juvenile justice system
Then parents are told to sign under penalty of perjury which they point out is a felony.
https://www.cognitoforms.com/SeasideConsortium/StudentRegistrationForm
Um how many parents do you think stopped right there because they didn't want to risk being prosecuted for a felony?
All of these questions can be used to weed out applicants that Seaside doesn't want to admit and does anybody think they haven't? If so have you seen them do their lottery?
Seaside was denied an expansion because they lacked diversity, then feigned outrage, well after reading their application, I submit that may have been their attention all along.
Wait, so you're saying organic beeswax crayons and yoga mats aren't standard school supply items??? They also require parents to volunteer a set number of hours or donate money. Keep digging, you'll find all sorts of other outrageous information about how they run that school and what they do to keep poor people out.
ReplyDeleteLet me count not just Seaside but also Chater School USA in the mix. Between the two of them, they set up Charter Schools at the beach, Mandarin, next to Deerwood Country Club and Jacksonville Golf and Country Club. No transportation is necessary when you can walk from the country club clubhouse. Until these charter schools set up first at Golfair and Main to prove their worth, we know their intent is to subsidize private school for their wealthy white constituents via tax payer funds with no accountability. Hats off to the superintendent and board for seeing through this and denying their latest school.
ReplyDelete