Unfair Treatment of Poor Families?

Ari L. NoonanBreaking News, News1 Comment

10th in a series. 

Re: “Mielke: Unfair Edges for Charter Schools” and “All Better, El Camino Claims” 

As president of the Teachers Union in Culver City, David Mielke continued to itemize his lengthy laundry list of gripes against charter schools.

Charters are subtly biased against students from poor families, he contends, saying it is obvious to by the way introductory and application visits are scheduled.

“Charters will often pick and choose families they will accept,” Mr. Mielke said. “They will put it this way: ‘To be admitted to our school, parents will need to volunteer 20 hours a month.’
“The poor kids’ parents might not be able to meet that expectation because they are working two jobs.”

Mr. Mielke’s point: “Ultimately, what you see is segregation of the upper class white kids ending up in the charters, with the poor kids of color ending up in public schools.

“If you believe in public education, that is not what you want.”

Mr, Mielke allowed for an alternative. “If somebody wanted to open a private school and charged tuition,” he said, “by all means. That is a different matter. What we are talking about here (with charter schools) is public money that goes unregulated. “

(To be continued)

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