I regret that business obligations will keep me away from the SRC
Meeting tomorrow. I’ve just gotten off the phone with Pierre, one of our
parents and he’s promised to keep me informed when (and if) a decision
happens tomorrow. I had signed up to speak at the November meeting, in
which we all know the decision was canceled at the last minute,
(literally). I know I'm not the only one who really can't take the
suspense anymore.
I also never thought my message of the
primacy of academic excellence was unique to me. But it seemed earlier
this year that what we as parents desired had become confused by people
who spoke for us in the absence of our own voices. Well, we have spoken
up, clearly and with purpose about the reasons to preserve Lab Charter.
Our Board of Trustees has heard us. The School Reform Commission and the
Philadelphia School District have heard us.
Parents stepped
up at SRC and Lab Charter Board Meetings. So when we were offered an
opportunity to engage on a decision-making level, I submitted my resume.
I won’t pretend that I wasn’t disappointed that another
parent was chosen for the Board of Trustees position. But our board’s
single most urgent task ahead is the preservation of the school’s unique
academic culture without direction from the “Main Line” office. The
Board recognized this when it formed a crucial educational subcommittee
this month.
It chose its newest member well and wisely. Twanna
Mae, as an educator AND a parent, was and is the best most logical
choice. I guess I shouldn’t be amazed that she wasn’t even the only
candidate with compelling education credentials. This month’s Board of
Trustees meeting underscored what I always suspected, that parents in
the know, teacher-parents in the know, seek out Laboratory Charter for
the best education in the city.
Lab Charter is unique, not
just among public schools, but among charter schools. There is a growing
academic industry that is competing for public school dollars. There’s a
lot of money being made out there and lots of debate as to whether
large scale for-profit corporations put our children first and give
parents a real stake in their education. There have also been plenty of
scandals surrounding charter programs that promised much but deliver
little.
Lab Charter always delivered and is now (hopefully)
ending a painful period in which it was nearly destroyed by the profit
motive of a few individuals. I’d hate to see it go through this now,
only to be absorbed by another larger, for-profit corporation in the
future. By staying small, independent and focused on the education of
our children, Lab Charter may not be the only solution to the school
crisis in this city, but it is one of the best ones. It works.
If I am asked to submit my resume again in June for board
consideration, I will do this gladly. A few months make no difference in
my willingness to serve such an effective and worthwhile leader in the
future of our children's education.
Merry Christmas and Happy
Holidays to the students, teachers and parents of Laboratory Charter
School. I and my family are blessed to be part of this community.
