There’s a push to turn all of York City Schools into charter schools by next year. At a meeting Wednesday night, the chief recovery officer, David Meckley, says the York City School Board will vote on a proposed charter school plan next week. If the board votes against the plan, it risks going into receivership, essentially stripping the board of its power.
Community members and teachers say they feel like they’ve been backed into a corner. The school board already voted no to a partial charter district plan a few weeks ago. But the issue will be up for a vote again next week. This time the proposal is to move to a fully-charter district. For many, this is deja-vu.
Meckley says he will present a 5 year agreement with Charter Schools USA to the York city school board next Wednesday. He says if the board does not pass the proposal it risks going into receivership which would strip the board of its power. Meckley detailed his plan but won’t provide a copy to the public until Friday. He recommends transitioning to a fully-charter district because collective bargaining agreements have failed as well as an internal transformation among schools. He cites failing test grades specifically in reading and math. The plan requires all buildings to transition in July and be fully functioning by September of 2015. Charter Schools USA would provide all services to the school except for administration. The fee arraignment would be a base rate per student, but that exact amount was not made public. Not one community member spoke in favor of this plan.
“There are people in this community and we can draw on resources and if I may because it’s bugging me to death..Charter Schools USA, when you get up to talk.. don’t be so demeaning to us,” said one teacher.
“What plans does he have to improve? Why do we have to get another group to come in when we have paid another hundred thousand dollars to a superintendent who’s job is to go find out why we can’t get these programs and our test scores up. If he can’t do it, get rid of him,” said another community member.
Meckley stated, “Charter schools USA has provided an agreement and they have a track record and turn around school where they can get performance that is more than an academic year per year.”
Some members of the community education council say there is a dysfunctional relationship between administrators and teachers and believe charter schools are the best option. But other members of the council are not in favor of it. They say the council as a whole never voted on the plan.
The board is expected to vote on the plan November 19th.
