A frank and civil dialogue on charters
Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess
For years, charter schools leaders and their supporters in Silicon Valley, and district officials and teachers have been talking at each other at charter hearings and accusingly behind each other’s backs. Rarely had they talked directly to one another frankly and civilly – at least for any length of time. But that’s what happened for seven hours Saturday during a Charter Summit that the trustees of the Santa Clara County Office of Education organized. County trustees were the natural conveners, because they have felt caught in between districts’ antagonisms and charters’ ambitions. They have taken seriously their obligation to hear charter appeals, and granted charters that districts had rejected, based on an objective reading of the state charter law. (more...)