I wonder if Ronald J. Harnek, president of Seaside’s governing board, will threaten to sue me like he did Greene, you know because that’s what charter school supporters do, have tantrums when they are questioned or don’t get their way, and I know that from experience, but more on that later.
Superintend Greene along with the majority of the school board voted to deny the Seaside Charter school from opening up a third campus on the Northside of town for a litany of reasons.
The most glaring is they didn’t meet all the requirements on the application not that there shouldn’t be a greater requirement than being able to fill out an application. How is it the districts fault that Seaside turned in an incomplete and poorly filled out application?
Perhaps more troubling is it seems they want to open the campus up on the Northside to get around a diversity problem. Their campuses at the beach are not very diverse and to be honest I don’t think that is completely their fault. If you live in a neighborhood that isn’t that diverse like the beach their schools aren’t going to be super diverse and that’s just the long and short of it.
That being said it seems to me and many others that their desire to open a campus on the Northside is just a self-serving way to meet diversity requirements, I to have grave concerns that them helping children of color is their true mission.
Seaside has skirted the rules before like last fall when they endorsed Nick Howland for school board. in case you didn't know it public schools, even nominal ones like Seaside aren't supposed to endorse candidates.
I am going to go ahead and say it and I know for some that it’s not going to be popular, and I do so acknowledging that the vast majority of Seaside Charter schools’ families are happy with the school, but Seaside is the worst and represents all that is wrong with the system.
Entitled white families wanting to get a private school like feel paid for by the public dime.
District 2 has not just some of the best schools in the city, but in the state. If it was a district on its own it would be one of the best districts in the state giving even St. Johns a run for their money. There is absolutely no reason that Seaside is there let alone any charter school.
If charter schools were supposed to save children from their zip codes, well friends the zip codes at the beach are doing just fine.
I don’t think these families care one bit about anybody but their own and some of you might think that is all right, I acknowledge that, but its thinking like that which harms us all.
I am proud of superintendent Greene and the majority of the board for standing up to Seaside though I don’t think any of us should fool ourselves, the system is so stacked in favor of charters that this is just a blip and I have no doubt will do anything but slow them down. That being said it’s still important to fight for what is right.
Okay I mentioned above some experiences I have had with charter school fans. If you are familiar with the blog you know about my run ins with the former district 2 representative Scott Shine but I have also been threatened to be sued by Charter Schools USA twice. The second time, I said okay, see you in court and never heard from them again.
Charter school fans have also threatened to release my arrest record, over twenty years ago and nothing that stopped me from being a teacher called, and they said go ahead, and have repeatedly said my teaching certificate was revoked. It wasn’t but I was put on five years of probation for not properly filling out my initial teaching cert application and then complaining about my state case manager. I weighed the option of fighting it or just taking it and one saw me in the classroom immediately and the other saw me in courts for years.
They also almost always attack me not my argument which I figure means I am winning.
Well superintendent Greene you are winning in my book.
to read more, click the link, https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190305/duval-school-board-denies-charter-school-application
Kuddos to Dr. Greene and the board members that denied the request. Seaside has the lowest rate of low income students of any school (charter or public) in the entire county. The fact that the beach location sits just a few blocks from the beach school with the highest rate of low income students (and the only title 1 school in the beaches) should be alarming. They are obviously not serving the community in which they operate. Those charters require a ridiculous supply list, parent volunteer hours and additional donations from the families that attend. They make it cost prohibitive for poor families to attend and make that very clear in the application process.
ReplyDeleteAs a low income family that lives in the North side and could not afford to five my children to the beach I am looking forward to having Seaside on the Northside. Because there are no good options here right now we homeschool, but I am looking into putting my preschooler and coming first grader in Seaside North.
ReplyDeleteI think there are plenty of great schools on that side of town. I think the Seaside schools are a bit racist and seriously elitist.
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