A Tale of Two Peisches

Parents make tremendous sacrifices for their children. My mother rented a small apartment in Wellesley in my freshman year of high school so we could attend a good public school. Our teeny home was filled with ill placed reminders of a middle class life; comically oversized Ethan Allen furniture created an awkward maze through our tiny two bedroom apartment. Piece by piece, my mother sold off the remnants of the life we had before my parents divorced. We learned lessons we will never forget, both from the amazing teachers at Wellesley High and from the School of Hard Knocks: a lower middle class teen from New Jersey will never fit into an affluent New England town.
 

So it’s with great irony for me that the bill to raise the charter cap to help under-privileged children was authored by Representative Alice Peisch of Wellesley (previously Bill H4091, now H4108). She was kind enough to protect the children of her own district from the invasive tentacles of her bill; a population minimum will exempt Wellesley families from feeling the impact of this legislation. Why, then, does she have an interest in charter school expansion if it will not affect her own constituents?

Ms. Peisch’s daughter is a teacher at Boston Collegiate Charter School (BCCS) in Boston; surely this must be where the elder Peisch has formed such a positive opinion of charter schools. At first I was relieved to learn this surprising coincidence, I thought perhaps this gave them insight into the challenges of successfully educating a diverse urban population. However, the demographics of BCCS are quite different from Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) enrollment data, despite the BCCS claim that they are using a “random public lottery” for admittance. BPS has 35% African-American, 40% Hispanic, 13% White students and 12% other. BCCS has 26% African-American, 16% Hispanic, 54% White students and 6% other.

The BCCS website boasts:  “We currently have a waiting list of over 2,500 students.” Something must be going terribly wrong with the management of this enormous waitlist, because according to the DOE website, BSSC has vacancies after the 6th grade. They do not seem to be filling in their vacancies from this waitlist, but instead use the existence of the waitlist itself as proof of desirability of the school.

The BCCS website boasts: “For nine consecutive years, BCCS graduates have posted 100% college acceptance results.” What the website doesn’t mention is that while ~100 students enter in the 5th grade, by the end of 12th grade last year there were only 30 students left. For students entering BCCS, you have a 1 in 3 chance of making it through to the 12th grade at BCCS, and if you’re an African-American or Hispanic boy, your chances seem lower than that. In 2013, only 6 boys graduated from BCCS. What measures are they taking to maintain this 9 year 100% college acceptance streak?

The BCCS website boasts: “BCCS is the only public, non-exam school in the state in which 100% of students have passed the 10th grade Math MCAS for the past 11 years.” It’s interesting to note that as their enrollment declines, MCAS scores increase. Is this really closing the achievement gap, or merely purging the rolls of their most troubled students? Why is it that only extremely high-performing, high-testing students remain at BCCS by their senior year?

I bring all of this data to light not to attack the Peisch family or the performance of Boston Collegiate Charter School. I have children in Boston Public Schools and I understand some of the challenges to academic success in an urban environment. However, BCCS is not being transparent about how and why they are achieving their “success”, and at what cost to the children who did not succeed in this school. I’m finally starting to understand why Ms. Peisch and charter school lobbyists believed that the amendments to H4091 that would have prevented skimming and increase attrition rates were not conducive to the “success” of some of these charter schools.

All of the data cited here is from the BCCS website:

http://www.bostoncollegiate.org/aboutUs/ourResults.php

And the DOE website:

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/grad/grad_report.aspx?orgcode=04490305&orgtypecode=6&).

A letter to our Senators from the House Gallery

Dear Senators,

On May 21st, I sat in the House Gallery and viewed with great interest the process we have come to know as our democracy. As the House considered H4091, An Act relative to improving student achievement [aka "The Charter Cap Bill"], I watched Representatives read and withdraw the amendments they had carefully written to ensure that charter schools would offer some level of accountability and basic civil rights for children. A group of parents sat stunned in the House Gallery, asking each other WHY so many of these amendments were being withdrawn without any debate or explanation.

Fortunately for us, a charter school lobbyist from the Brennan Group was in the House Gallery too, and she let us in on the little joke: “This bill will pass today, without these amendments. A deal has already been struck.” Michael Norton of the State House News Service reported, "House Democrats appear intent on using the back channels, as they did during recent budget debate, to settle the more than dozen amendments pending to the bill." I ask you: Why did a paid lobbyist know more than the voters, parents, or even some of the Representatives on the House floor?

As a parent, as a constituent, as a citizen, I am asking you to please start asking questions too.

• Why is there a rush to pass a bill, without any amendments, that does not take effect until 2017?
• Why are we raising the charter cap before Auditor Suzanne Bump has completed her audit of charter school finances in Massachusetts? Please review and consider the report of this audit before voting on H4108.
• Why is it that charter school promoters will accept no compromise, and consider amendments to ensure basic civil rights, teacher licensing, equity and fairness for our children a compromise for THEM? Why are charter school lobbyists calling the shots and being granted better access to our elected officials than their own constituents?
• Why isn’t there a separate and equitable state funding mechanism for charter schools that does not divert state aid from traditional public schools?

I ask our elected officials to start considering the same questions parents are asking about charter schools, BEFORE voting on bill H4108 or allowing them to expand under the current inequitable funding structure and without any basic measures of accountability.

Thank you for your time, your public service, and your consideration.

Sincerely,

Krissy Cabbage