While the 2016 statewide ballot question to expand charter schools failed to pass, the battle over charter schools continues to rage on in Massachusetts. Down here on the Southcoast, the Alma Del Mar Charter school in New Bedford is seeking to expand by adding two new schools and over 1,100 new charter school seats. The school currently serves approximately 400 students in grades K-8, so this represents a significant expansion of charter school capacity in the community. According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, the city school district serves approximately 1,100 to 1,200 students per grade in elementary school, so this proposed expansion would be akin to eliminating an entire grade from the New Bedford public schools.
As one can expect from a large change like this, there are good people on both sides of the political aisle in this debate. Commonwealth Magazine picked up on this heated debate, running op-eds on both sides of the issue. I have friends down here active in favor of and in opposition to this expansion, so I read both of the op-eds with interest. And in the end, I have to say I was deeply disappointed by Commonwealth Magazine’s decision to feature an op-ed in support of the proposed expansion by someone not from our community. That piece characterizes those opposed to this expansion as “special interests” and says these people are part of the “regressive anti-innovation crowd.”
So let’s take a look at some of the folks involved in this debate, and maybe you can tell me who is the special interest here. The piece in opposition to the expansion was written by Josh Amaral and Bruce Rose. I know Josh Amaral, because Josh was a student of mine several years ago. Josh grew up in New Bedford and attended New Bedford High School. He graduated from UMass Dartmouth, and after graduation, he started working in New Bedford for PACE (People Acting in Community Endeavors). PACE is a not-for-profit organization that provides services and resources for people in need in the Greater New Bedford area. Josh ran for the New Bedford School Committee shortly after graduation and has served for several terms seeking to improve the schools he attended and loves.
His co-author is a former colleague Bruce Rose. I met Bruce through his work at UMass Dartmouth, where he served as a Vice Chancellor for Student Services; his role there was to support and engage our students. Since retiring, Bruce continues to volunteer in the community and currently serves as Chapter President of the New Bedford NAACP.
Yes, Bruce and Josh are political leaders in the city of New Bedford, but they are also community leaders who are deeply committed to the city. They are joined by other community organizers opposed to this expansion. For example, my colleague Ricardo Rosa is also involved in the movement to oppose charter schools. Ricardo is a professor of Public Policy at UMass Dartmouth, but he is also a father who is raising his kids and sending them to public schools in New Bedford. Ricardo is the co-chair of the New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools, a grassroots organization opposed to the proposed charter school expansion. I spoke with Ricardo about a recent hearing on the issue, and he was excited about the number of New Bedford families who had shown up to speak out against this expansion. Anyone who knows Ricardo knows there is not an ounce of “special interest” in his body, unless you count the poor, minority, and working class students Ricardo has devoted his life’s work to as a “special interest.”
On the other side, we have Kerri Rodrigues the founder of Massachusetts Parents United, an organization that supports charter schools, who authored the Commonwealth piece in support of the proposed expansion. Ms. Rodrigues does not live in New Bedford and to my knowledge, she doesn’t know the people she is writing about. However, as my colleague Mo Cunningham has written about extensively, while there are parents involved in the Massachusetts Parents United organization, they are bankrolled by organizations like the Longfield Family and Walton Family Foundations. As Prof. Cunningham has extensively detailed, MPU has deep ties to dark money organizations that support charter schools. Exactly the sorts of interests Ms. Rodrigues proclaims to be opposed to.
As I stated earlier, I have friends on both sides of this debate. And as I tell my students in class, reasonable people disagree about important issues in today’s politics, including the question of the Alma Del Mar expansion. Personally, I agree with my friends opposed to the charter school expansion, as I believe the loss of funding that the New Bedford public schools will suffer will be devastating. It’s worth mentioning that the majority of New Bedford residents appear to feel the same way, as 58.2% of them voted in opposition to the ballot question to expand charter schools in the Commonwealth. Perhaps these are the families that state officials should be listening to.
But I understand the arguments of my friends on the other side of that debate as well, two of whom serve or have served on the Alma del Mar board. Regardless of where one stands on the issue, Ms. Rodrigues is wrong to characterize good, hard working people committed to the city of New Bedford as special interests simply because they are opposed to this expansion. Make the arguments on the merits Ms. Rodrigues, without insulting good people you do not know.
The ultimate failure of this problem falls on Gus Bickford, yet no one seems to be courageous enough to say that. I supported the No on 2 campaign, especially because of the impact it had on rural school districts in Massachusetts. After the No on 2 won the campaign was dismantled and here we are 2 years later still talking about the financial failures and woes of our public school education. The campaign did not carry on the membership after the vote to push or put any real political pressure to addressing the Chapter 70 funding or even the transportation funding. Same problems today, same concerns today, and ultimately the same failures today that were existent 2 years ago and years before that when Spilka first confirmed it in her report. I’m uncomfortable with the notion that families who want a solution, a real solution, to the educational issues they face are repeatedly put on public display as though they are some sort of traitors to education. Since we are all so politically sophisticated and compassionate these days we know that the answer is not to tell families to move to a better district, so one can easily understand why a Charter seems to be a solution in a sea of problems that are never quite addressed and are actually increased year by year by budget constraints and policy issues. This seems more like a hit piece on Keri. I’ve never met her but as a mother I have to say that if I lived in a district that was neglected year after year after year I would want an “out” too. I almost find it negligent that no one can pause and meet in the middle on that “idea”. With all the weight of the No on 2 it should have been carried to fruition but it ended after a promotion. It’s safe to sit in a suburban neighborhood and complain about purchasing supplies and another to actually have to line children up outside as a call for attention. It’s borderline irrational to not expect parents to hit a limit and seek some sort of leverage when there is no real tangible solution. Hold Gus responsible not a parent who seeks what every parent does, the opportunity for their child to receive an equal opportunity at an education. I am sure we can ALL agree on that.
Keri lives in Somerville. That’s not a “neglected” district.