This was a new one for me. In a conversation I had with a school board member recently, I learned of something I'd never encountered before: cyber schools--or--virtual charter schools. I had always known of "home-schooling" or "correspondence courses," as growing up in rural Alaska, it was fairly common for parents to choose these options. If my parents weren't school teachers themselves, I'm sure they would have preferred to teach us at home, as they were very private people, and always wary of the "dangerous" influences of other people's children. Being that we lived over 20 miles from the nearest school, no one would have faulted them for home-schooling. But no, we tromped through the snow up the driveway and got onto a yellow school bus like most everyone else in America.
That was over three decades ago (yikes). Now there is this newfangled business called "cyber school." Students whose parents elect not to send their kids to public school are given a new computer, books and supplies, and the kids stay home doing schoolwork, rather than learning socialization skills by being with other kids, rather than eating in the cafeteria, or using other school facilities. Now, I can imagine that overly-cautious parents like my own might be tempted to keep their children away from other kids in an urban setting and guide their schooling out of a desire to protect their kids and ensure that they get the best education possible, especially in our dismal school system. That is a personal choice for concerned parents to make. But what I was shocked to hear, was that our school district has to pay $8,135 per student to these cyber schools--75% of the money allotted to each student in our brick-and-mortar public schools. 75%, when all they need is a computer and some supplies. 75% of the money that should be going into the bricks and mortar of our brick-and-mortar schools. 75% of our tax money, and with zero accountability as to how the money is spent, because cyber schools are not bound by the Sunshine Law. This would be a
slightly easier pill to swallow, if students in these virtual schools were performing well, but they are failing miserably.
"This school year, Northampton County's eight school districts expected to pay cyber schools $4.96 million to educate an estimated 587 students."
Please read the Express Times article below for the full story by Douglas B. Brill:
Express Times Article by Douglass Brill on Pennsylvania's Cyber Schools
And here is a second article from the Express Times by Sara K. Satullo, explaining how New Jersey school districts do not have to pay for cyber schools with tax money:
Express Times Article by Sara K. Satullo on New Jersey Cyber Schools
Now before we all throw more kerosene on the fire under the butts of the Easton Area School District, let's keep one thing in mind--this is a State issue. So this is something our school board needs our help with. One more great reason to write a letter to our State officials, like Senator Mensch, who commented on our blog regarding pension reform earlier this week.
So are you mad enough to get involved yet? This is your tax money being wasted, and it's your tax money that the EASD is asking for in their proposed 11.85% tax hike. Here is the contact info for writing our State officials:
Legislator Contact Info:
Representative Robert Freeman: www.pahouse.com/freeman/contact.asp
Representative Rich Grucela: www.pahouse.com/grucela/contact.asp
PA Senate:
Lisa Boscola: boscola@pasenate.com
Bob Mensch: bmensch@pasen.gov
Governor Edward Rendell:
http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Governor/govmail.html
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15 comments:
As I posted my feelings on the whole issue facing the District and making the comment about the popping up of the Charter Schools,in the back of my mind was the whole Cyber School issue and ironically or fortuitously I am not sure which low and behold guess what popped up.And yes,this is a State issue and something that the District definitely need the Community's help with.
With the creation of the "No Child Left Behind" Act also came the charter school and the cyber school issues.As you can see by the reporting the State in what I can only assume as an effort to reach the so called non traditional student whether it be the "gifted" community or the "at risk" community and no pun intended it virtually gave a carte blanche opportunity for communities to fund these schools.Well perhaps in hind sight this created yet another fiasco.The internet has created an entire education system of schools with no oversight and left the districts with no means to over see this situation.One only needs to check your junk mail to see all of the so called schools of higher learning that offer all sorts of accreditation that may or may not be valuable. So it is like a buyer beware and the same with the cyber schooling. While I fully support the use of technology in our schools I clearly have a problem with the lack of accountability and the problems these schools have created.Again the taxpayer is footing the bill for an entire entity with no accountability and as the saga unfurls I can only hope that our state would head along the path that New Jersey has and put conditional funding with them or no funding at all.
I would also like to address a social aspect of the rising popularity of these cyber schools, which I feel reflects a dangerous trend in our society--that when we as Americans see things in our community going downhill in this new millennium, rather than being engaged citizens and fighting via our democracy to make it what we want it to be, there is a tendency now, which I feel is fed by decades of prioritizing consumerism, for families to withdraw and look out only for themselves, rather than engaging and fighting for their community as a whole, even though the only way to improve one's quality of life in a neighborhood is to fight for the whole.
So if there's crime on the street, we don't fight it, we just make our kids play inside. Rather than leaving our porch lights on at night, we turn them off and draw all the curtains. Some people even go as far in this neighborhood as to build up walls with very small windows around their porches, shutting out the world. Or if there is increased gang activity in a school system, rather than engaging with public officials, outreach nonprofits, faith-based orgs and our police department to reduce crime as a cohesive community, we sign our kids up for cyber schools, with the attitude that "as long as my kids are ok, I'm not responsible for anyone else." If we hear noise on the street, we can always turn up the TV, and from the TV we consume our escapism.
We tend to walk only from our doorsteps to our cars, from our cars to our jobs, malls, movie theatres, and then back into our cars to our doorsteps. We do not get to know our neighbors, because that would require engaging--most Americans don't even read the papers or vote, and as a result, we have no control over the direction our community is going.The problem with this behavior is that without the spirit of sacrifice, cooperation and civic engagement of a community working together to do creative problem-solving and move toward a healthier vision for all, the world deteriorates around us while we hide our heads in the sand (our TVs) like ostriches.
We consume. That's what Americans have been doing for decades, and where we used to be industrious and MAKE things, including MAKING our community bright place to live, we now expect to consume everything--from food to clothes to household appliances, renovations, vacations, movies--until we even expect to consume law enforcement, school services, city services, without lifting a finger ourselves. We just keep forking over more and more tax money for the services we expect to consume without offering the oversight of engaged citizens, watching where our money goes. We shut ourselves in and watch TV, expecting everything to be done FOR us.
(cont.)
...(cont.)
This is why it is so important to shake it all off, and GET OUT OF THE HOUSE to participate in our local democracy as engaged citizens. BE ON THE LOOKOUT for neighbors who might make good candidates OR CONSIDER RUNNING YOURSELF, so that we can vote the cronies out of office that make all these self-serving decisions that are bad for our community and waste our tax money, and ATTEND PUBLIC MEETINGS--that's why they're called "public" meetings--because the public is supposed to be there. And when the cat's away, the mice will play.
But most of all, we need to begin to think of ourselves as part of a neighborhood fabric again--not hundreds of little isolated islands of self-interest within blocks of each other. Talk to your neighbors. Walk downtown or around the neighborhood once in a while instead of driving the car. Invite people over--Spring is right around the corner--I can't wait to start the BBQ again. It's when neighbors begin to pull together in small settings that a sense of community begins to come together, and conversations lead to action.
No one is going to give our community back--we have to take it back, and we can only do that TOGETHER.
All that aside, the idea that virtual charter schools are getting the same amount of tax money per student that the EASD is for students who actually use the buildings, with no oversight is terrific waste--a waste we could have prevented if we had been watching this all along, and a waste we can only prevent now if we exercise our rights as engaged citizens and make our voices (and pens and votes) heard.
There is an accredition for internet schools (Middle States and CITA do this under the category of Distance Learning.) School District money should only be given to internet schools that have this recognized accreditation because most colleges and universities (which are themselves accredited) don't accept students from schools that are not accredited. By the way, Northampton Community College has an excellent Distance Learning Program in early age education. Accreditation by a regional authority (MSA is just one of serveral of them) is like a good housekeeping seal. So is ISO.
I dont know...Home Schooling and Distance Learning may be the way out of this rotting public educational system. Home Schoolers have their own little groups that socialize together. For example, some week day afternoons you can find Home Schooler Goups at the Municipal Ice Rink in Bethlehem. I would have liked that instead gym.
first of all how can public dollars fund cyber schools and charter schools when they don't fund parochial schools and private schools.
And yes Noel there is a real problem brewing if we don't teach young people at an early age how to socialize with others in a diverse culture.
I'm not going to rant on too much about this cyber-school topic because I am very opinionated on the topic. I don't want to rile anybody up. All I will say is that in an age when we have allowed our technological capabilities at creating new devices to greatly outpace our cultural/behavioral capabilities at managing them, we risk great damage to the cohesiveness of future communities by further isolation of formerly communal activites.
It is bad enough that kids (and adults) spend the majority of their free time engaged in personal communication devices, laptops, Ipods, computer games, etc. without adding schooling to the list.
School is a place for intellectual intercourse; where the conversation can stray onto topics other than that day's lesson plan - simply because people are unpredictable and sitting in the same space allows for the individual randomness of thought and action that being human requires. This is a good thing.
An excellent but short article in this month's AARP magazine laments the loss of conversation. This is not about tweeting, texting, emailing or blogging. It's about the art of face-to-face communication which could become a thing of the past if we're not careful.
DRL
Noel,
since it seems much of your comments in this post are directed towards me and the views I've expressed on this blog, I guess I should say something.
since this is 'your' blog you can say what you want, but it seems you are using it more and more to advance your own agenda instead of that which benefits all 'neighbors' of Easton. you only accept your own ideas of solutions and denigrate anyone that disagrees with you.
the local school districts are now going on the offensive to distract us from the real issue, that they are a greedy bloated failng institution that cannot operate effieciently.as you yourself have pointed out, the EASD is in Corrective Action II, which means it is FAILING. you and they cannot blame cyber schools for that. more money isn't going to correct an incompetent district that is more concerned with the wrestlers getting to the championship than actually providing a quality education.
kids in cyber schools are still required to complete state assessment tests, the PSSAs. if home schooled kids were failing these then there would be a problem. but they do better than public school educated kids. my kids have a full schedule of classes and interact with their teacher throughout the week.
as far as the 'social skills' kids are supposed to learn in public school? this is the oft-repeated refrain of people opposed to cyber schools. these kids don't spend all day inside. they go on school trips and interact w/ their friends of all age groups in our congregation. we can hardly go out without strangers approaching us and commenting how well behaved and well spoken our children are.
as for your last point, engaging in our community. well, Noel, there are many ways to do this, and surprise! they aren't all the same way as you. my entire family is involved in a Bible education work, engaging directly with our neighbors. we do get to know our neighbors and live by example.
I can't raise everyone elses kids, nor can I tell them how to raise them. that is each one's OWN responsibility. each one is accountable for his or her own actions.
I'll hand you back your soapbox as I don't think I'll be posting here anymore. thanks for your time.
Keith
The controversy over cyber-schools is masking a more sinister power struggle over the very expensive way we educate our children. As you note, cyber schools lack some of the important benefits of bricks and mortar public school such as socialization and structured time for students when their parents don't have to worry about supervising them.
Public schools should,and ultimately will be forced to, be planning on how to incorporate educational resources online into ordinary classrooms. These resources could replace many expensive programs in the school. The students would be exposed to the best teachers available and the classroom staff would only need to master the coursework being presented so that they can answer students' individual questions.
This would be mean better education with much less expensive staff and cultural and recreational programs would be retained.
Teachers and school districts are unlikely to embrace ideas which would cut their budgets significantly until they decide that they have no options.
Teachers, school districts and parents should all be considering these options in a constructive and rational way so that the argument doesn't degerate into an "us-versus-them" struggle. Our children deserve better. -- Steve White
Just as a public school experience can be a depraved nightmare for alot of kids, so too Distance Learning can be poorly executed. But when it is well done it actually looks alot more like the old time one room school house than you might expect. Everybody keeps saying cyber cyber cyber. The cyber part is where you get your curriculum which you can download. Then you go out and do the assignments are active, out in real world, and also social. My experience with Distance Learning through NCC was once of the best educational experiences I ever had. I think its an good option and its a corner of freedom that families may have who dont want and can't afford something else. I dont know anything about the EASD credit - just meant to say if they give financial credit of $8,00 it should be to an accredited school whether its cyber or just a run of the mill clone school.
EHB--this is a forum for civil discourse and debate--that means people are going to disagree sometimes, and yes, i have that right as much as anyone else. there is no need to get defensive or leave the conversation. why not disagree with me and give some good reasons why? (which you did, by the way, and cathy and steve did too, and i learned something) for a community to learn from each other, we have to give each other room to disagree respectfully--that is how we learn from each other, and more importantly, that is how we learn that the sky doesn't fall when we disagree with each other--that we don't have to live a polarized political and philosophical life, and that it's safe to share idea and disagree, and that we'll all learn from it.
i assure you my comments are not about you, personally, EHB, nor am i judging you or anyone who chooses to home-school--i simply have a serious concern that is just as valid as any other resident's concern, and i expressed it. i welcome all responses, especially those that disagree with me, because otherwise, we're all just preaching to the choir.
that's why i said, "parents like my own might be tempted to keep their children away from other kids in an urban setting and guide their schooling out of a desire to protect their kids and ensure that they get the best education possible, especially in our dismal school system. That is a personal choice for concerned parents to make. But what I was shocked to hear, was that our school district has to pay $8,135 per student to these cyber schools..."
my main issue is with the school district having to give cyber schools so much of our tax money, when it could be going to building repairs or tax relief. my second issue is that i worry that our entire society is becoming more insular, more consumerist, and less involved in this government of the people. without "We, the People" involved, it becomes a government that our founding fathers never intended--one that does not serve the people it is meant to.
Dennis, if you can find a link to that AARP article, i would love it if you would post it in a comment here, because i am very passionate in my lament at Americans slowly losing the art of the conversation--especially respectful debate.
EHB, I will be very sad if you don't post any more--I always like your comments, even when we disagree. When you do disagree, you have the choice to get offended, or to try to use it as a "teachable moment" to get your perspective across and hopefully it will be the latter. That's the kind of good debate we're after on this blog. Your comments are welcome and valued here.
The latest in today's Express Times on cyber schools:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/today/index.ssf/2010/03/abuse_among_cyber_schools_is_r.html
Noel, your comments on the habits of consumerism versus engagement struck a chord with me. I thought how well your analysis extends to national debates currently taking place, not just to our local issues. Great insight. Thanks for reminding us that the personal is many times political, to paraphrase Gloria Steinam.
Changing habits successfully takes time and many small steps, sometimes backwards. Thanks to all the "Neighbors of Easton" who are taking the challenge.
Cyber Schools
A problem for another day.
This blog, the people who attended the meeting and others have done a great job beating back the out of control school board. Let us not take our eye off the ball.
Bangor is making the necessary cuts they had a 10% increase and have taken down to 3.6%. Once we get the EASD down to 3.6% like Bangor. Then let us go after cyber schools.
Keep our eyes on the prize
I am fascinated that cyberschools receive 75% of the per student allotment in any given district. It made be very curious about how they use the money...BTW, the funding per student will not be the same in every district, and possibly not even in each school in the district.
For those who want to look more into the funding of PAcyberschools, try this PDF of their 2009 financial report
http://www.pacyber.org/about/files/Audit%20June%202009.pdf
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