Hypocrisy

Or more aptly, in the case of Corbett School District Superintendent Bob Dunton, a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Dunton, who has proposed a charter school for Corbett in order to boost enrollment, is "irked" that neighboring districts, namely Reynolds and Gresham, are offended by the proposal.  He calls the objections unethical:

"I wasn't going to let them take kids who want to be here, whose parents want them to be here," ... Dunton said. "Kids are not a means to an end, to financially support you as a district. That is unethical."

But that's precisely what Dunton's charter school proposal is, a "means to an end, to financially support" the Corbett School District.  He said so:

"...Dunton said he feared his 10-year quest to make the 700-student district a success would stall if schools in Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale and east Portland stopped allowing their students to transfer to Corbett."

Voila!  A K-12 Charter Academy that will merely mimic the programs up and running in the existing K-12 school.  Corbett already relies on transfers for a quarter of its enrollment.  The new charter will allow it to increase enrollment by an additional 300 students, each bringing in about $5K to district coffers.

The best part of the charter plan is that state law allows any student to enroll in a charter school --it doesn't matter where they live.

That's clearly a surefire financial "means to an end". 

Supposedly Corbett offers a superior learning environment to neighboring districts.  Maybe so.

But that's not so surprising given Corbett's small size and its lilly white demographics.  According to the Oregon Department of Education, 92% of its 700 students are white.

That will go a long way toward boosting a school's reputation.

Comments

[Kenneth Libby]

Terry,
The demographics are deeper than simply all-white vs. others - it's also about ELL students, special education students, and poverty as well. I've put up a bit on the Corbett statistics here www.ourglobaleducation.com/2009/08/corbetts-charter-magic-neoliberal.html and you're more than welcome to post any of the information on your blog as well. It's pretty shocking, if you ask me.
I also received an anonymous response from a Corbett parent detailing some other issues surrounding the charter school. It's also available on www.ourglobaleducation.com.

-Ken

[Marcia]

Glad to see you back Terry. I really missed your perspective on all the important issues.

[Steve Buckstein]

Any financial enterprise is a “means to an end” for its owners. Corbett Superintendent Dunton is simply pointing out that neighboring districts want to keep students within their boundaries captive in order to retain the financial payments that follow those students. That’s the unethical part.

The Corbett charter school, on the other hand, can’t capture any students. Only those who freely choose to attend bring any financial payments with them.

[trueblue]

Exactly Steve. I agree with Obama that charter schools create choice and competition that may help lift our public school system out of its chronic mediocrity. I understand the fear and loathing public schools and school teachers have for this competition. However, I believe they can compete when pushed. For similar reasons, I also agree with Obama that we need to move to an incentive pay system for teachers

[Notyou]

Haven't checked in for quite some time. Nice to see you writing again.