Say No To Quest: One Group's Fight Against a Montclair Charter School

1. Quest needs to be put to rest…for good. Not one penny of Montclair’s tax dollars should be forced to fund this nonsense.

2. Ever watch the movie “the cartel”? Its about NJ charter schools, and the NJEA Union. Good flick and may change your mind about Charter Schools

3. You can debate the allotment of funds I think. But choice in public schools will make the schools better

4. Baristanet is waaaaaaay behind Patch on this one. Galaxies behind. Mary Beth already wrote an op-ed for Patch on this very subject that got a gazillion comments. Come on, Baristas, you’re phoning it in. This is no way to win a media war.

   Oh, and by the way, featured comment has been the same for 48 hours now. The lights are on, but nobody’s home.

5. nothing good can ever come from this charter school nonsense – let’s kick em to the curb

6. Funding for Quest will come right out of Montclair’s school budget, starting with $2 million in 2012

   Yes but, as I understand it, the *sending* district also sends the funding. So conceivably if *no* Montclair residents sign up, then Quest will get *none* of our tax dollars. Or am I misguided in my interpretation?

   And remember, once the “corporate donation” (read: corporate tax-break) voucher thing kicks in, then we will *all* be paying for it due to lost tax revenue. Yahoo.

7. This represents the Public School confederation of fear that mobilized to oppose the last time when the Elect the BOE was on the ballot. Now they are repeating this because they are terrified that Quest will succeed and suck money and kids from the mediocrity that passes for schools in this town.

8. What do you know about the schools, whatsup? Anything at all? Can you do anything but sneer?

   Those are rhetorical questions, by the way.

9. No one would want to hire an unlicensed doctor, dentist or lawyer.

   We do people want to hire unlicensed teachers?

10. Dearest Roo, I know you’re being rhetorical but here are some examples.
    My girl passed the Algebra I year-end test in 8th grade. So yesterday morning, as the 9th graders who are taking that test were sequestered away, all the kids who had already passed the exam were herded into a room to sit and do nothing for 2+ hours. Is this a good way to stimulate the brains of children? Really? So she went late to school … (ahem, she had an appointment.) When she arrived they sent her to the Little Theater. Then she was told they moved the kids out of there because it was too cold, and to go to the cafeteria. When she got there it was clearly not the group she was looking for. Then she was directed to the main building. When she got there, the supervising adult just had her sign a piece of paper. There was no checklist of who should be in that room and who shouldn’t. Seems to me that a bunch of kids could have wandered around aimlessly for the morning and no one would have noticed or cared.

    Couldn’t they have done something to interest and perhaps inspire these kids? How about a math professor from MSU to talk about what cool and excellent things can be done with higher math? Bill Nye the Science Guy? Anything??

    Here’s another example (and this may be more to do with NJ curriculum standards than anything else, still investigating). My girl wants to take 4 years of the standard 4 academics, plus Spanish, and still keep her one true elective that she loves. In order to fit in the required classes (finance and “practical arts”) she would either be required to take a “zero period” gym class at 7AM, or drop an academic or her one elective, for a year and a half. Since we both agree that 7AM gym class is ridiculous, and she does need to eat lunch (apparently some kids are allowed to skip that period and replace it with a subject class), she will likely drop Spanish in her Senior year in order to take…. get this… classes that amount to *home economics and auto shop*. Really??!! I had those classes in Junior High!! Is there no way around this? Can a school or State Board of Ed honestly prefer that an academically-driven student be forced to take these classes and drop Spanish, or Science??

    Finally, she says the bathrooms are so filthy that she would rather ‘hold it’ and wait until she gets home.

11. My Dearest Kay,

    First of all, I can’t believe you have a kid in high school–I had you for a young’un. I was deceived by your enthusiasm and good cheer.

    I feel your pain. I am the parent of high-achieving kids who have had to suffer 7 am gym classes, schedules with no lunch period, similar mindless rigidity in policies, neglect by the administration, chaos in the hallways. My daughter’s AP French class was taught for more than a month once by—wait for it–a teacher who COULD NOT SPEAK FRENCH (I sh*t you not) but whom the bureaucracy deemed qualified. Her AP Biology class had THIRTY-SIX students–six to a lab bench–and this is before the recent cuts. It is very frustrating, and I wouldn’t minimize the aggravation.

    However, my kids have also had some world class teachers and wonderful academic experiences. They have managed (or are managing) to get a decent education. (We have at times supplemented the public school offerings with classes elsewhere, at our own expense.) Many people believe that kids who come through the public schools learn something aside from pure academics about how to get along in the world. Is this worth the drawbacks? Who knows. Perhaps.

    How hard to bust your rump to get what you want out of the system is an individual choice. My kids have, in the end, always chosen some inconvenience to avoid giving up an interest. Lunch period is overrated. A lot of kids bring their sandwiches into class, and it’s perfectly acceptable.

    Re the bathrooms, the trick is not to come into contact with any surface. But look at is this way: she’ll also develop strong thighs!

12. FWIW, zero period gym and skipping lunch is nothing new. My friends and I all did this back in the 1970s to get the combination of classes we wanted/needed.

    …Andrew

13. @leffe You raise an interesting question. Interestingly, while I know no physicians that don’t deserve their licenses, I know some lawyers and some teachers that should absolutely not be licensed.

    What this means is that whether or not someone is licensed, at least in those professions, becomes useless as a metric.

    There’s something similar in my own profession (computing or “IT”). The vast majority of the “certifications” available are a joke. I use many as a negative factor when evaluating a potential hire, in fact. I try to envision a world where my profession becomes unionized and we are all required to have those certifications, and I immediately consider alternative professions.

    I wonder if decent teachers and lawyers don’t feel something similar.

    The end result is that I’d rather come to trust a school or school system to hire properly (or not!) than depend upon “licensing” of teachers. In either case, though, I want a veto over the teacher leading my childrens’ classes.

    …Andrew

14. Thanks, ‘Roo and Andrew…(Roo as usual, you are too kind)

    I may again suggest my dear ambitious one that she skip lunch so she can squeeze in the finance class. Though she will probably bemoan the loss of lunchtime socializing and/or going home and watching TV for 30-odd minutes, at least she’d be able to keep the classes she truly wants.

    I do, however, plan on asking whether she can somehow test out of those “practical woodshop” classes. Her dad has his own personal woodshop… how about he supervise some independent study? If I teach her to make cookies, salad and macaroni, would that satisfy “food and nutrition”? (Wait! she already learned that in Ms Beshaw’s class at Hillside…)

    And what’s this Senior Option thing all about?

    p.s. C’mon, Andrew, in the 70’s you were still just a wee twinkle, so I can’t imagine what on earth you’re talking about. ;P

15. I would say that most high achieving kids have zero period and/or skip lunch at some point. My daughter had zero period for three years and has skipped lunch for labs.
    She is enjoying her senior option right now. She was lucky enough to get an internship at a highly decorated science publication in the city.She is learning new things every step of the way, starting with commuting.
    Both of my kids have been through good & bad at the high school, and they are both great kids because of it.
    And all kids hold it til they get home.

16. Senior Option is just an opportunity to get out of class for the last 5 weeks of senior year. What kids make of it depends on them, and their (or their parents’) connections. Some kids land internships at really cool places doing fun things, others just cool their heels.

17. Figures. Like most of the Montclair gov’t Animal Control is a pr sham. When Paws was running things the cost to the town was 55K and was no kill. Thanks to Harnett and now the current Council we’ve got a half million dollar sham that’s open only a few hours per week for adoptions, and kills animals. I guesss Glen Ridge got tired of mediocre and overpriced service.

18. sorry wrong thread!

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