Last Friday, Newark Charter School students performed a “sit-in” to protest an incident which has been referred to as “The Slappening” among the student body of Newark Charter School. 200 high school students participated in the sit-in until administrators broke up the party in the cafeteria. This is about 1/4th of their student body at their high school. While we don’t know if the teacher was reinstated, we do know that when the majority of the people stand up for something they believe in, people take notice. This was what I attempted to push for the opt out movement in Delaware. If everyone opted out, then Smarter Balanced would have disappeared. We can still do this, but not just with “Smarter” as the DOE puts it (which is ironic because it is dumber), but all standardized tests. Whether they are once a year or embedded as “stealth test” in personalized learning technology coming soon to a school near you. And when it comes to all that ed tech, you can opt out of that as well. If enough parents do it, we can make ed tech irrelevant and be assured our child’s every keystroke isn’t tracked and catalogued by Education Inc. and their data is safe. As well, this will protect the teaching profession so they don’t become glorified TFA or Relay moderators. It’s a win-win. No battle is ever won by sitting at the table and compromising to the point of surrender.
Wait one minute, let’s get back to “The Slappening”. I saw many tweets which indicated the teacher was terminated after the student sit-in at Newark Charter School last Friday. While I won’t put minors tweets on this blog, I can say one tweet was pretty definitive! I have a very good idea of what actually happened between the teacher and the student last week and what led to “The Slappening”. I can’t see, in that situation, where a teacher should have been terminated. That teacher has rights. She also has the right to due process. Had I known about this sit-in beforehand, I would have sat in with the students as well (Yeah right, like Greg Meece would let that happen)! But I do respect what the students did.
This has been a very bizarre year for the higher-ups at Newark Charter School. From their insane awards based on Smarter Balanced results to the “social engineering” of their lottery last winter to my strange discovery they are the only charter school in the state that doesn’t file IRS 990 tax returns to the district-charter funding war which has now become the charter-Christina-DOE lawsuit to “The Slappening”. I have to wonder if a change needs to happen. Not my place, but just putting it out there. Many students were terrified of the sit-in and what could happen to them. But they did it anyway. They stood up (or sat down) to the school leaders and said stop with the madness. Granted, what they were hoping for didn’t happen, but it did draw attention to the school through major Delaware media like the News Journal. Even the students seemed shocked they made delawareonline.
It is 2016. Newark Charter School is having a VERY bizarre year. With absolutely no disrespect intended for the students or the parents, but your administrators and board have made some really strange decisions. It’s refreshing in a weird way that NCS has lost its aura of being such a well-behaved mild-mannered gee we’re awesome school. It brings the school back down to earth. I hope more students and parents speak out about issues going on there. I’m not saying NCS should become a priority school tomorrow, but the era of invincibility is over. NCS had the veil lowered and we are all getting a chance to peek in. Greg Meece has allowed his temper to get the best of him this year and he has been there a loooooooooooooooooong time. He can do one of two things: keep the Harry Potter cloak back on the NCS schools or just let things flow. I’m hoping for the latter. But that will require him also lightening up on a few other things.
I believe the original intent of NCS was for parents to get their kids out of the Christina School District. Did they have cause? Sure they did. But there are really good things happening in Christina right now. There are also bad. As there are in every single school in America. Even NCS. I get the need to protect your child. But if it gets to a point where what one student has means many others do without, how is that teaching any child right and wrong? I’m not saying this to start a fight. Truly. But if we always have this divide in this state, nothing anyone does will ever fix anything. This lawsuit NCS triggered… it’s not good for Delaware. It’s not good for NCS or Christina. Lawsuits cost a ton of money. But more than that, they take away from students. They create long-lasting hostilities that play out for decades. NCS sees this one way and Christina sees it another. Eventually, unless it goes into some type of settlement, a judge will decide. Chances are it isn’t going to play out the way the fifteen charters think it will. I have no doubt Meece thinks he has some smoking gun he thinks will make the case. It might, but not against Christina. The Delaware DOE? Probably. But never underestimate what happens when you poke a bear. If NCS truly thinks Christina will take this like a champ, they are wrong. All 15 charters are wrong.
At a time when Delaware as a whole is trying to figure out pretty much every single aspect of education, from funding to academics to post-secondary outcomes to early childhood to special education to testing, we have a group of charters merrily led by their cheerleader over at the Delaware Charter Schools Network, some legal eagles, and probably a few other “stakeholders” trying to upset the apple cart and make sure they get what they think is their bounty. But have they given one thought to what this means to Delaware students as a whole? Nope.
That teacher the NCS students staged a sit-in for… why don’t they do that for ALL Delaware students. They loved their teacher and fought for what they believed was just and fair. Something was taken away from these students and they didn’t like it. They did what Americans have been doing since the Boston Tea Party. Now imagine all those students in Christina who will have less so the charters can have more. Is that fair to them? NCS has their engaged parents and their cafetorium and all that. Not every school in Christina does. Some schools don’t even have a librarian. Stage a sit-in for that. If the teacher you lost is as great as you say she is, she will find a new job. This issue, due to your efforts, has been very public. But the students in Christina… they might not get those second chances because of this ridiculous lawsuit.
Education is never going to be fixed no matter what all the corporate dreamers think will happen. As long as there is one individual in a school, there will always be issues. But the key is trying to find a way to make it work. Robbing Peter to pay Paul isn’t the way. This is why the charters, despite what they think happened and are behaving worse than any petulant child, are a classic example of what not to do in education. This is making them reviled and hated more than anything I’ve seen in a long time.
The Season Of Myths 