Thieves in the education temple

At last night’s meeting, as reported by Rob S. the County Board of Education did, in fact, vote to deny the appeal for the NCLC/ACLC/Nea Charter School.    The vote came out differently than I had imagined it would, personally I thought the spread would have been a little closer, but instead there was a resounding 6-0 “no” vote.

And, as mentioned by Rob S. I should have put some context behind Mirna R.’s remarks that I had quoted in yesterday’s post.   Certainly I should have not expected anyone to actually watch the video prior to commenting, but I supposed I assumed that curiosity would have pulled in some watchers.   Mirna R.’s remarks were a direct response to two other speakers that had been heard before her, the first was Carlton Grizzle, who has posted here previously, is on the ACLC staff and as been one of the most vocal boosters for the new Charter School.   Since I watched the video recently, personally I did not find his testimony to be his most shining moment during this entire debate about the new Charter School.   Here were a few of his greatest hits from that night (starts at about 55:16):

• “That is the complacency and entitlement that is smothering our children’s love for learning” while throwing an arm and pointing a finger in the general vicinity of the folks who came to speak out against the school.
• “A great teacher once said, ‘the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy’, our detractors steal our children’s state provide educational money by holding them hostage in schools that don’t serve them, they kill our student’s enthusiasm by…for learning by smothering them with district mandated standardized testing and scripted lessons, they destroy innovation and hope by tying down the NCLC team in technicality and bureaucracy.”
• “There is hope however, it only takes four of you to stop the thieves.”

Seriously, with this sort of rhetoric and attitude from one of the key members of the ACLC team is it any wonder that there is animosity on the Encinal campus?   You want to talk about an “us vs. them” stance, it comes directly from some of the supporters of the Nea charter school who talk about the failures of the school district, the “smothering” of a student’s love for learning on one hand yet on the other pillages and capitalizes on the resources of that school district that they have just excoriated in order to make the point that their system of education is better and more superior.   Yet, that horrible student smothering system is the same one that they send the kids who just don’t cut it in their system back to, it’s the same system that the majority of their kids orginiate from.

The second speakers Mirna R. was referring to was a student from ACLC who talked about his immediate sense that he needed a level of “maturity” when entering ACLC.  I would imagine that other students on campus would have a much clearer understanding about the goings on in their neighbor’s home.   So when students like Mirna R, and others like her retell their experiences with ACLC kids running loose through the halls of Encinal, the truancy issues, and the couch surfing, I would tend to believe their every day experience more than a prospective parent who had maybe done a site visit once or twice, with notice to the school prior to that site visit, of course.

Anyway, do not fear ACLC/NCLC/Nea supporters though, you still have one more big appeal and this time you will definitely be before a much more sympathetic and receptive audience than perhaps you have had previously.   Or perhaps you will just do what you were tasked to do the first time, which is put together a comprehensive, bullet proof application rather than rest on your laurels to get you a K-6 program.   Although, don’t count on the Woodstock site being available anymore, at the last City Council meeting it appears that Alternatives in Action’s BASE charter school will be moving there and I believe the new Boys and Girls Club is also siting a facility there as well.