Meeting figures to benefit district
LOCAL charter school leaders sat down recently with members of the Oklahoma City School Board. Here’s hoping the result proves beneficial to both sides, because their goals are the same — providing district children the best education possible.
The relationship between the board and charter schools has been bumpy at times since charters became part of the district in 2000. The same has been true in locations across the country, as backers of traditional public schools worry about charters’ potential impact on enrollments.
Some locales are outright hostile to charters. The best example may be New York City, where charter enrollment continues to grow but Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has rejected dozens of requests by charter schools to use space in existing school buildings that sit half-empty.
While the relationship here is far better, local charter schools have certainly longed for better facilities. Before moving into a new building last year, Santa Fe South High School had been housed in one of the district’s former elementary school buildings that dated to 1911. Through the years, classes for other Santa Fe students have been held in a refurbished dance hall and a former racquetball court at an old YMCA building.
Perhaps last week’s meeting will help move the needle in this area. After all, charters are public schools too — their management structure differs from traditional public schools, and they receive no local property tax revenue — and in Oklahoma City they serve roughly one-tenth of the district’s 46,000 students.
Santa Fe’s superintendent and founder, Chris Brewster, was thrilled by the sitdown.
“None of us could recall a time when we could remember all of these parties being together around the same table,” Brewster told The Oklahoman’s Tim Willert. Brewster credited Oklahoma City’s new superintendent, Sean McDaniel, for being willing to get to know the charters and build professional relationships.
The idea for the meeting came from board member Mark Mann, who is chairman of the panel’s charter committee. Mann says his committee is working to establish “how we cooperate” and how “charters fit in with the district.”
“I don’t know in the past that we’ve had a real understanding of what the path is,” he told Willert.
The meeting dealt with ways to work together to help all the district’s students. Tracy McDaniel, executive director of KIPP Oklahoma City who has had disagreements with the district over KIPP expansion plans, said he wanted Sean McDaniel to know they’re interested in “a partnership” that involves sharing best practices.
McDaniel, who has been on the job only a few months, sounded amenable. “We need to learn from each other and implement the things that lead to success for kids,” he said.
That’s a welcome approach. We share Brewster’s hope that the meeting marks a new beginning and leads in time to “an excellent working relationship between schools of all types who are doing a great job with educating the public.”