An always frenetic back-to-school week reached new heights in Livermore as two local charter schools were accused of operating fraudulently and parents pulled hundreds of kids out of their classrooms.
The schools at the center of the controversy are Livermore Valley Charter School and Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory, both in operation since 2005, and now accused of fraud, misuse of public funds, and criminal wrongdoing, issues news commentary host John Oliver addressed just this past weekend:
As if that were not enough the two charter schools are also being accused of denying pay to teachers, unlawfully charging foreign exchange students tuition, and transferring some students to a school in Stockton – a move that did not sit well with either parents or students.
Accusations are flying so hot and fast that the state superintendent of schools is looking into the situation while parents and public school officials try to figure out how to welcome about 400 kids back into the public school system.
Livermore Valley Joint United School District Superintendent Chris Van Schaack is telling parents and reporters that the number of students “adrift” after being pulled from the charter schools can be done, though parents are worried about classroom overcrowding.
Look for a public board meeting at district headquarters to address the scholastic needs of the 400 students pulled from the two charter facilities, and some brainstorming on ways to keep the schools operating and serving their students.
Charter schools are highly unregulated. I feel badly for the kids, the parents and the teachers, but I’m not the least bit surprised. I hope things get better.
The John Oliver piece, as usual, is a biased hatchet job. When I agree with his bias, I think he’s hilarious. But here, I think he is being unfair. I don’t know anything about the specific Livermore schools here, but the latest objective studies from Stanford’s CREDO project indicate that charter schools, in general, are better at english and about the same in math. If parents do 15 minutes of Googling, they can quickly find what types of schools are best for their kids and avoid the worst ones and seek out the awesome ones (unlike local public schools that you are stuck with based on random geography and/or family wealth).
See: https://credo.stanford.edu
Here’s a post from HuffPo from the CREDO director explaining how the teachers’ unions consistently distort the facts about charter schools (duh).
Many charters are about making money for top executives (wealthy backers). Educating children, when it actually happens, is at best a by-product. The “reality” of charter schools saddens me.
Any parent who’s thinking of sending their children to ANY charter school. Please educate yourself as to what charter schools are all about.