A Tale of Two Students (Charter versus Public Schools)

Charter schools in Oklahoma are becoming more and more popular in the two largest cities. Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Capitol Hill Public School has not had a good reputation over the years. Once again we see the difference in a school where teachers have to perform versus the public schools where they can just show up if they are tenured. Their union membership protects them whether they are an outstanding, good, mediocre or a poor teacher -- makes no difference to the union.

Anyone who has been reading this site understands we are against public unions and especially teacher unions. In Chicago they have mandatory union membership for adjunct professors. The unions do nothing for their members except take their union dues to spend on political activities. One caveat is if you are a minority they will pull out all stops to protect you.

We are fortunate in Oklahoma that we are a Right to Work state so union membership is not mandatory. There is a strong counter to joining the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) union for teachers who care about their students -- Professional Oklahoma Educators.

Many teachers across Oklahoma opt to join the Professional Oklahoma Educators which is located in Norman in an area next to The University of Oklahoma. This Group has the same or greater benefits than the teachers can get from OEA and the resources for teachers provided by this organization far surpass what teachers get from the OEA

Ginger Tinney, who is the Executive Director of the Professional Oklahoma Educators, is one of the most dynamic people I have met in Oklahoma. She put together and made this organization a force in Oklahoma education. A lot of Oklahoma students today have a better education because of Ginger Tinney who had the foresight and interest to do something about OEA as the sole organization for professional teachers in Oklahoma. We could use someone like Ginger in every state and school district in America to help educate our students.

The first core value of Professional Oklahoma Educators gives the best reason that teachers should belong to this organization not the OEA:

Education is about children first.
Outstanding educators place the needs of students above their own. This means that we take a stand on important issues without impairing the learning process by leaving the classrooms in protest. Educators must be in the classroom drawing out the potential of their students in order to achieve the Professional Oklahoma Educators mission of advancing Oklahoma education through integrity, professionalism and excellence!

That paragraph should be the core value of every teacher in every state. If it was, we would have the best educated students in the world. The National Education Association and its state groups like OEA had a chance to make a difference but they were more interested in protecting weak teachers and electing Democrats to protect them than educating students in a lot of instances.

This example by the Wall Street Journal of the difference between a public and charter school shows just what union teachers can do to a school even when they have an Administrator and a few teachers who really care. There are union teachers who care but one would have to ask why any teacher in Oklahoma still belongs to the union when they have the Professional Educators Association that puts the students first and encourages teachers to keep learning in order to become better teachers and earn better pay.

We have witnessed what happens in Chicago public schools run by the Chicago Teachers Union where teachers have very high paying positions while their students are very poor performers. In Chicago Public schools you are not allowed to fail students -- pass them on even if they cannot read or write. The few teachers who do speak out about administrators changing grades are shunned for the most part in the Chicago schools. We noted one huge difference in Chicago is that they advertise the fact that they are a Teachers Union unlike places like Oklahoma that hide behind the Educators Association label when they are a union associated with the AFL/CIO.

To think that the Obama appointed the Secretary of the Department of Education who was the Superintendent of Chicago schools sends a chill up your spine. Obama would not send his own daughters to Chicago Public School. Arne Duncan should not have been Superintendent in Chicago because of all the poor performing schools so what qualified him to become Secretary of Education other than the fact he was friends with the President? American students certainly do not need the Chicago model for public schools -- high teacher salaries and low performing schools.

As you read this article from the Wall Street Journal comparing a public and charter school ask yourself why we still have teachers unions and what can be done to put the student first in every school across America.

A Tale of Two Students

In middle school, Ivan and Laura shared a brief romance and a knack for trouble. Then they parted ways. Now he is college-bound and she isn't. How different schools shaped their paths.
May 29, 2010

In middle school, Ivan Cantera ran with a Latino gang; Laura Corro was a spunky teen. At age 13, they shared their first kiss. Both made it a habit to skip class. In high school, they went their separate ways.

This fall, Ivan will enter the University of Oklahoma, armed with a prestigious scholarship. "I want to be the first Hispanic governor of Oklahoma," declares the clean-cut 18-year-old, standing on the steps of Santa Fe South High School, the charter school in the heart of this city's Hispanic enclave that he says put him on a new path.

Laura, who is 17, rose to senior class president at Capitol Hill High School, a large public school in the same neighborhood. But after scraping together enough credits to graduate, Laura isn't sure where she's headed. She never took college entrance exams.

The divergent paths taken by Laura and Ivan were shaped by many forces, but their schools played a striking role. Capitol Hill and Santa Fe South both serve the same poor, Hispanic population. Both comply with federal guidelines and meet state requirements for standardized exams and curriculum. Santa Fe South enrolls about 490 high school students, while Capitol Hill has nearly 900.

At Santa Fe South, the school day is 45 minutes longer; graduation requirements are more rigorous (four years of math, science and social studies compared with three at public schools); and there is a tough attendance policy.

This year, the majority of Santa Fe South's graduates will attend a vocational, two- or four-year college. About one-third of the graduates from Capitol Hill plan to get a higher education.

While neither school is allowed to select students, Santa Fe South can turn them down if it's full. Capitol Hill must welcome anyone who wishes to enroll. Santa Fe South, whose teachers are on a one-year renewable contract, can remove incompetent instructors more easily than Capitol Hill, where teachers are unionized.

Excerpt: Read More at the Wall Street Jouornal