Please Don’t Hate Me

ms lipstick over at Organized Chaos* will be attending the inauguration of the new Virginia governor this weekend and asks us don’t be mad.

She explains that she didn’t vote in last November’s gubernatorial election because she didn’t believe in either candidate (we really did have crap to choose from).

Despite that, she will be going to the inaugural balls in Richmond, the result of invitations received by her husband (you don’t actually think they invite teachers to these things, do you? :-).

Not because she likes the man elected, but because of an attraction to “putting on fancy clothes and dancing”.

While looking forward to the parties, ms lipstick is still feeling a little guilty, based in no small measure on the incoming governor’s choice for Secretary of Education.

This on the day that I learned our governor elect has nominated Gerard Robinson to be our secretary of education. A man whose bio includes starting numerous charter schools, serving as president on the board of Black Alliance for Educational Options. “He is a nationally recognized expert on the modern charter school movement and serves on the Policy Advisory Council at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and on the board of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Charter School Resource Center.”

We are in trouble.

Indeed!

Charter schools have shown, at best, mixed results in improving student achievement (aka standardized test scores) over the years while sucking money from the ever shrinking education budget.

In most cases, charters are like private schools in that students who don’t fall in line behind the charter’s mandate are encouraged to seek education elsewhere, unlike public schools who take – and keep – pretty much everyone.

Even the exalted KIPP schools have a high turnover of students, with the result that those students remaining fit the “KIPP model” and show the schools in the best light possible.

Anyway, I for one am certainly not mad at ms lipstick.

I’m sure she will represent us well if she get the chance to use any of the notes assembled from her research during those cocktail party conversations about education.

On the other hand, forget it. Those discussions can wait for another day.

Instead, just have fun.

*An excellent blog that should be among your regular reads, written by someone with the secret identity of mild-mannered Kindergarten teacher here in the overly-large school district.