[blindkid] Charter School

Tue Feb 18 15:31:35 UTC 2014

Charter schools re public schools and as such must accept pretty much all comers (lotteries decide who gets in if they are popular). Something like a quarter of our students (I say "our" because I've somehow wound up on the board) have IEPs. That's because , simply put, such students are treated with more respect here than at any of our feeder districts. We contract for services we can't provide. But again, all charter schools are not created equal, just like all public schools.
Mindy
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 2/18/14, Marianne Denning <marianne at denningweb.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [blindkid] Charter School
 To: "Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
 Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2014, 9:59 AM

 Hopefully, charter schools will, over
 time, accept students with all
 types of disabilities.  I believe it takes people who
 want their
 children in charter schools to make it happen.  I am in
 my 50's and
 lived in a rural area.  When I started school most
 blind children
 attended a school for the blind.  In fact, eye doctors
 told Mom to
 send me to the state school for the blind.  We lived
 over 200 miles
 from that school and Mom didn't want me away from home all
 of the
 time.  She sent me to the local school and no one knew
 what to do.
 The district made things up as we went along.  We had
 some failures
 and frustrations along the way but the district was
 committed to
 educating me and I graduated and went on to college, an MS
 degree, and
 additional education.  I learned to handle frustrations
 and solve many
 life problems.  That was all because Mom had a driving
 reason to keep
 me at home.  People will have compelling reasons for
 their students to
 attend a charter school and things will begin to
 change.  The question
 I have is do you have a compelling reason for the charter
 school and
 are you willing to put forth the additional effort that may
 be
 required? If so, and the school is willing to work hard too,
 then go
 for it and you can help others who will come behind
 you.  Good luck,
 whatever your decision.

 On 2/17/14, Erin Teply <eteply at cfl.rr.com>
 wrote:
 > I am no expert in this area at all, but we recently had
 a charter school
 > open very near us and I was also very interested. 
 No one really knew much
 > about the company running the charter school, but I
 remembered they are
 > typically *for profit*, meaning they will run as lean
 as they can to make
 > money.  When I approached our TVI and mobility
 teacher on this, they were
 > very quick to discourage me to go any further. 
 Basically, they said that
 > Charter schools can be worse than private schools
 because they have less
 > reasons to abide by the IEP, etc.  That was enough
 for me to keep my son in
 > his current home school, which was going great
 anyway.  Now, knowing more
 > than I did because of friends that have kids at that
 school
 > (normal/sighted), I know I made the right decision as
 it hasn't been
 > stellar.  All that being said, I think you have to
 do research on the
 > company owning the charter school, speak to the
 principal/vice principal and
 > see what their feelings are because if they are on
 board, likely everything
 > will be great!  I'd speak to the TVI's and
 mobility teachers that will be
 > working with your child and see how they feel.  If
 all are open and willing,
 > things should be great.  I really don't know the
 answer to this, but is it
 > really an added expense to the school?  The
 TVI/mobility instruction is
 > covered by the school district regardless if the child
 is in a public,
 > private or charter school?  Again, I may be wrong
 on this as my son goes to
 > our home public elementary school.  Best of luck,
 these decisions are tough
 > :)
 >
 >
 > On Feb 17, 2014, at 12:36 PM, oandemom . <traci.mwd at gmail.com>
 wrote:
 >
 >> Hello all!  I was curious if anyone had their
 child/children in a charter
 >> school.  We have a new science charter school
 opening in our area and
 >> went
 >> to the information meeting and was really excited
 about it.  I know they
 >> are required to meet the requirements of the IEP,
 but I have heard of
 >> other
 >> charter schools, where they don't provide a
 braillists, one doesn't even
 >> get TVI services any longer, etc.  I don't
 know the full stories behind
 >> these issue's, but I was wondering if others had
 any experiences and any
 >> suggestions to share if we were accepted via the
 lottery, which is the
 >> first hurdle.
 >>
 >> I know all the requirements for a VI child (except
 I have two!) is a huge
 >> expense for any school and I don't want their to be
 a sense of resentment
 >> that my children are costing them the most but the
 idea of a 18 child
 >> classroom, project  based and theme based
 instruction is very exci
 >> t
 >> ing
 >>
 >> and I can see a VI child excelling in this
 environment.  I just want to
 >> go
 >> in with both eye's open and know what I'm getting
 into!
 >>
 >> Thanks much,
 >> Traci (
 >> mom to
 >> Olivia & Evan, LCA)
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 >
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 -- 
 Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
 Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
 (513) 607-6053

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