Thursday, January 15, 2009

Charter school teachers tell of student violence

All is not well in charter school land. As Advocate reporter Charles Lussiere writes here, at least three teachers fired from Prescott Middle School are telling horror stories about conditions in the school, one of three taken over by the state and run by non-profit Advance Baton Rouge.

The teachers speak of violent, out-of-control children, and administrators who turn their backs on the outrages. That doesn't sound too much different than when the school was under parish jurisdiction.

The difference is that, unlike in the past, teachers who complain about conditions in the school can be summarlily fired. Educators in charter schools have no guaranteed due process rights - they cannot file grievances and challenge authority as teachers in regular public schools can.

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