D11 fights off quality charter
A combination of anti-charter D11 administrators, board members, and union leaders have teamed up to cause Cesar Chavez Charter Academy to pull its application to become a D11 charter school. Cesar Chavez is one of the highest performing schools in Colorado, so naturally it is a threat to status quo leaders in D11.
Cesar Chavez is highly populated with minority students, particularly Hispanic students. Due to its phenomenal academic achievement rates, it is attracting students of all colors from all around Pueblo. School Director Dr. Lawrence Hernandez wanted to open another campus in D11. He vowed to make this school as high performing as his Pueblo campus. Cesar Chavez was going to locate in the southern area of D11 where minority students are generally not well served.
Why would anyone oppose an opportunity to have a top-notch school in our district? The Colorado Springs Education Association labor union objects to charters in general because charters are not unionized. The labor union views everything in terms of political funds. Their leadership has no interest in whether or not minority students are being educated. If the teachers are not paying union dues, then the union leadership will automatically oppose the school. It is not about kids for the union leaders.
D11 administrators oppose charters for several reasons. First they will claim that charters drain money from the neighborhood schools. Their concern is not that parents will have a quality school for their children, but that the district continues to receive state funding by trapping kids in poor performing schools. A high quality charter school also has the effect of highlighting the fact that minority and poor students CAN actually learn. The administration has built a legacy of failure on the backs of poor and minority students. It needs to be able to blame poor performance on the color of a student or the wealth of the parent. If Cesar Chavez came into D11 and succeeded, administrators would be left without an important excuse for failure.
As for board members, John Gudvangen, Tami Hasling, and Sandra Mann had their seats purchased for them by the labor union and their left-wing allies. If the union directs them to oppose a charter, then they will dutifully do so.
A vote was never cast for or against Cesar Chavez, so what was done to dissuade the founders from locating in D11? Sources from Pueblo D60 say that John Gudvangen and Tami Hasling have been in contact with D60 board members to try to find ways to undermine Cesar Chavez. Here you have a school that has proven to be able to educate minority kids, and these two wealthy white board members have been actively attempting to undermine the school. Sources from within the CSEA labor union say that union leaders were rallying their forces to muster a large presence at the now cancelled December 6 BOE meeting. This large presence was an attempt to intimidate board members into opposing Cesar Chavez. It is not clear whether the union leadership was going to invite their AFL-CIO colleagues for more muscle power.
The administration's contribution to the "No on quality education" effort was led by short timer Doris Caine. Caine has been a part time employee for several years now after retiring from D11. She has been the primary charter school representative for D11. According to several sources around the D11 community, Caine has been speaking very harshly of Cesar Chavez in an attempt to drum up opposition to the school. Once again, having a school that could successfully educate poor and minority students is just too threatening to bureaucrats who just really don't want to work very hard.
Rather than fight people in D11 who do not view quality education as all that important for minority students, Dr. Hernandez chose to submit his charter application through the state chartering authority. What this means, of course, is that Cesar Chavez will take even more D11 students when it opens, but now D11 will receive no state dollars for the enrollment, nor will it receive credit for the excellent test scores.
The fight for mediocrity continues in D11.
Cesar Chavez is highly populated with minority students, particularly Hispanic students. Due to its phenomenal academic achievement rates, it is attracting students of all colors from all around Pueblo. School Director Dr. Lawrence Hernandez wanted to open another campus in D11. He vowed to make this school as high performing as his Pueblo campus. Cesar Chavez was going to locate in the southern area of D11 where minority students are generally not well served.
Why would anyone oppose an opportunity to have a top-notch school in our district? The Colorado Springs Education Association labor union objects to charters in general because charters are not unionized. The labor union views everything in terms of political funds. Their leadership has no interest in whether or not minority students are being educated. If the teachers are not paying union dues, then the union leadership will automatically oppose the school. It is not about kids for the union leaders.
D11 administrators oppose charters for several reasons. First they will claim that charters drain money from the neighborhood schools. Their concern is not that parents will have a quality school for their children, but that the district continues to receive state funding by trapping kids in poor performing schools. A high quality charter school also has the effect of highlighting the fact that minority and poor students CAN actually learn. The administration has built a legacy of failure on the backs of poor and minority students. It needs to be able to blame poor performance on the color of a student or the wealth of the parent. If Cesar Chavez came into D11 and succeeded, administrators would be left without an important excuse for failure.
As for board members, John Gudvangen, Tami Hasling, and Sandra Mann had their seats purchased for them by the labor union and their left-wing allies. If the union directs them to oppose a charter, then they will dutifully do so.
A vote was never cast for or against Cesar Chavez, so what was done to dissuade the founders from locating in D11? Sources from Pueblo D60 say that John Gudvangen and Tami Hasling have been in contact with D60 board members to try to find ways to undermine Cesar Chavez. Here you have a school that has proven to be able to educate minority kids, and these two wealthy white board members have been actively attempting to undermine the school. Sources from within the CSEA labor union say that union leaders were rallying their forces to muster a large presence at the now cancelled December 6 BOE meeting. This large presence was an attempt to intimidate board members into opposing Cesar Chavez. It is not clear whether the union leadership was going to invite their AFL-CIO colleagues for more muscle power.
The administration's contribution to the "No on quality education" effort was led by short timer Doris Caine. Caine has been a part time employee for several years now after retiring from D11. She has been the primary charter school representative for D11. According to several sources around the D11 community, Caine has been speaking very harshly of Cesar Chavez in an attempt to drum up opposition to the school. Once again, having a school that could successfully educate poor and minority students is just too threatening to bureaucrats who just really don't want to work very hard.
Rather than fight people in D11 who do not view quality education as all that important for minority students, Dr. Hernandez chose to submit his charter application through the state chartering authority. What this means, of course, is that Cesar Chavez will take even more D11 students when it opens, but now D11 will receive no state dollars for the enrollment, nor will it receive credit for the excellent test scores.
The fight for mediocrity continues in D11.
posted by Craig Cox | 10:37 AM
1 Comments:
Craig...thank you for wisely informing my wife and I! We would rather see Shakes and Christen ride their terms out at no extra cost. But, rest assured there will be at least two votes going for Garcia and Schley. What a blessing knowing you are on the D11 Board!
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