When first reading about Tom Vander Ark’s history as former director of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and his ambitious plan to create a network of his own charter schools, I thought he and his schools were sure to be another charter success story. However, his efforts to open charters in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and Newark can be described as nothing less than an epic fail.
After spending more than $1.5 million of investors’ money, Mr. Vander Ark has walked away from the project, and the schools will not open as planned this fall, leaving others involved “stunned and frustrated”.
One consultant puts into words the thoughts of many charter school critics that seemed to come alive in this particular case, “…it signals what’s wrong with the so-called charter school community. Somebody who doesn’t deserve a charter gets a charter. Somebody who doesn’t deserve a building gets a building. And then somebody who doesn’t care about the communities can turn their head and walk away.”
Obviously what happened in the case of Mr. Vander Ark is not exemplary of every charter school, and many find much more success than their traditional counterparts. However, I think it does provide a warning for anyone hoping to open a charter in the future as well as a possible deterrent to school districts’ desires to expand their charter numbers.
1 comment:
It's easy to look at a character like Tom Vander Ark and want to do away with charters. In many ways, his actions demonstrate the risks some charter school programs present. His incompetence cost a community money that could have been put to much better use educationally. Business ventures go under, and when they do it can hurt a lot of people. But when leaders gamble in the educational realm they hurt students, too. Still, I think it's unwise to take this painful example and use it as a representation of the charter movement. In defense of the movement, Vander Ark seemed to be a reasonable bet. Vander Ark lost out and so did several communities, but we also have to consider the strength and innovation we have witnessed in programs like KIPP.
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