Georgia PTA To Host Educational Summit On Charter School Bill
The summit will discuss the upcoming charter school referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The Georgia PTA will be on hand Tuesday night to discuss the upcoming referendum on charter schools voters will consider on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
The summit will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Clark Creek STEM Academy. The school is located at 3219 Hunt Road in Acworth.
Sally Fitzgerald, educational policy consultant for Georgia PTA, will be the guest speaker at the event and will discuss H.B. 1162, the enabling legislation that put the question on the ballot.
Voters will consider whether the state can bypass local boards of education in approving charter schools. If approved, it would amend the Georgia constitution to allow the state to approve charter schools. The Georgia PTA has come out in opposition to the amendment.
Kimberly Carson, the legislative chair for Chapman Intermediate and Clark Creek Elementary PTA organizations, said the summit serves as an "opportunity to come and learn more and get educated on House Bill 1162."
Carson, who is also the vice president of Chapman Intermediate's PTA, added discussions with some in the community propelled the need for the summit to take place. She noted some people react with a "deer caught in headlights" look whenever they first learn about the referendum.
"I just think people don't know about it," she said. "That's the feeling I get. They don't really understand what's going on."
Jessie
9:02 am on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
I am excited to hear what Ms. FitzGerald has to say tonight. I think she was the woman who was pushed by a charter school supporter last week at the Capitol.
Clyde Edwards
9:16 am on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
I think it is abhorrent that an organization like the PTA would attempt to stand between a child and the education their parents think is best. This is the ultimate end game of the PTA's efforts to fight the School Choice Ammendment; parents will have less choices and will be forced into a school system that the parents already know doesn't work for their kids. It's shameful.
Maria
9:44 am on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Charter schools when created appropriately can be very successful. The problem with this bill is that it allows private, for profit companies like the one currently in Cherokee County to run their own corporations and increase there bottom line with our money. All local school boards do need to step it up and seriously make more choices available for the children of every county. I am totally against state money going to fund the education of 1000 students chosen by the luck of the draw (may I add with no witnesses of county people present) when we have 39,000 students in our schools. I also believe that counties need take a closer look at all schools and get rid of the teachers that totally suck at their jobs. I am certain that our current charter school has some caliber teachers that when put in the right school can help to make remarkable gains in them. Remember one thing, Choice means to be able to freely choose where your child goes. Choice is not let me apply and see if I get lucky, that is called gambling.
Steely Dan
11:22 am on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Maria, if not for that charter school, those STEM schools being opened wouldn't exist. I wonder what criteria for being accepted into one of those allegedly-public STEM schools is. Looks like first-come, first-served. Not very 'public', since not every student can attend and likely preferential treatment is given to those students who are cozy to certain PTAs or school admins.
But they're still a step in the right direction and only exist due to the competition being provided by the single charter academy. Imagine the choices & changes that would occur if there were more than 1 charter school.
Kathleen A.
1:33 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Maria, I couldn't agree with you more. Instead of filtering my tax dollars into a for profit company that so happens to run schools, we should keep that money in the current schools and invest in IMPROVING what we already have. It just makes more sense!
Steely Dan
2:54 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Kathleen, we've been doing that for years: I.E Repeating the same thing and hoping for different results. It's called 'insanity'.
The traditional public school model has been tried and not-fixed in GA for decades now. Continuing to throw money at it and hope it changes is naive. Nothing will ever change with GA public schooling so I am voting YES to 1162 and YES to 21st-century education.
Jessie
10:01 am on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
@Clyde, actually PTAs are not against choice, parental rights or charter schools. PTA supports all of those things. Many charter schools have successful PTAs in their schools.
This amendment is NOT about CHOICE. Choices wills till exist. This amendment is about making another layer of government to approve those choices. Local school boards and the state school board can already review charter school applications.
@Maria, Thank you, well said.
Clyde Edwards
10:22 am on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
This ammendment ia all about choice. You all can keep trying to pass that line around but it is false. If the ammendment fails then parents will have less choices, and that is the bottom line. The PTA is standing against educational freedom, and they should be ashamed.
Clyde Edwards
10:27 am on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
@Maria, if there wasn't such a huge demand for schools like CCA, then there wouldn't be a waiting list to get in. You could just simply apply and be accepted. But because more people see it as a better fit for their kid than there are spots open, there has to be a lottery. But folks like you would rather there be no other options than to have the chance to get into something that might be better for your kid. I'm sorry but that just doesn't make sense.
Frank Jones
12:42 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
FWIW...For many pro-charter parents, this is about their desire for an alternative to traditional schools - choice if you will - and their perception that anything is better than traditional schools. It's about their children...their children only.
For many of the anti-Amendment people, it's about the state creating an additional bureaucracy, austerity cuts, disproportionate state funding of charter schools, lies & misinformation by pro-charter groups & legislators, corporate greed, and the dismantling of the traditional public school system.
For those who argue that there is great demand for charters as proven by the waiting lists...there isn't. Cherokee County has 39,000 students and only about 1,000 go to CCA (i.e. 2%). Even if the waiting list were 1,000 (it isn't), the total demand would be 4% of the population. Not exactly overwhelming demand!
Roswell Parent
7:55 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
I'm all for reforming public schools so our children are prepared to work in a rapidly evolving technical society. Unfortunately, change will take decades if we expect it to come from the people who are working within the "system". Just like in business, we need a "disruptive technology" to change the paradigm of education. Charters are the closest thing I know to that, though there are other hopeful ways... like the Khan Academy on YouTube. I'm voting YES.