The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, in rebuffing at least 10 public records requests for information on various aspects of its operations, insists that it is not covered by the sweeping statute guaranteeing public access to the records of government entities. Â
Charter schools
Posted inCourts
Four Supreme Judicial Court cases to watch in NovemberÂ
In November, the seven Supreme Judicial Court justices will wrestle with some disputes that are years or decades in the making. Others touch on current crises. And the Legislature’s action or inaction is often a factor.
Posted inEducation
Mass. education secretary casts string of anti-charter school votes
In one vote after another, Massachusetts Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler turned thumbs down on recommendations from the state’s acting education commissioner to allow expansion of five Massachusetts charter schools and to modify the area served by a sixth one. Â
Posted inOpinion
State ed board should reject Lynn charter school expansion plan
The acting education commissioner’s recommendation to allow KIPP Lynn to add 450 seats represents selective enforcement of the long-standing and clear regulations governing charter school expansion in the Commonwealth.
Posted inEducation
Reading the tea leaves on new education secretary’s charter voteÂ
IN THE ENDLESS debate over charter schools, there is often a stark line dividing people into the pro-charter or anti-charter camp. Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler insists he occupies different ground. […]
Posted inEducation
State board approves controversial Worcester charter school proposal
A SPLIT Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a controversial new charter school in Worcester on Tuesday – the first new charter given the go-ahead during Commissioner of Education […]
Posted inEducation
Charter school proposal roils South Coast
IT’S BEEN MORE than five years since the debate over charter schools in Massachusetts came front and center in the form of a high-profile ballot question that would have raised […]
Posted inEducation
As students leave district schools, charters and vocational schools see growth
MASSACHUSETTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS have seen a large decline in enrollment this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But the drop is not spread evenly across the public school system. Both charter schools and […]
Posted inEducation
Private schools, charters moved forward with remote curriculumÂ
WHEN THIRD-GRADER Alisa Paley’s public elementary school in Canton closed for COVID-19, the school gave students laptops and her teacher held optional daily 40-minute Zoom meetings. A month in, the […]
Posted inEducation
Parents take stock of the school year that was (or wasn’t)Â
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR the summer. Is school out forever? Parents hope not, describing very mixed experiences with the remote learning experience that began in March. The MassINC Polling Group recently […]
Posted inOpinion
Where do charters fit in ed funding debate?
AT THE STATE LEGISLATURE’S early-spring Joint Committee on Education hearing on various proposed K-12 funding bills, the stories from scores of school districts were depressingly familiar. New Bedford is facing […]
Posted inOpinion
New Bedford charter deal is immoral
STATE REPS. Antonio Cabral, Christopher Hendricks, and William Straus have boldly asserted their opposition to the unprecedented charter school model proposed for the city of New Bedford. They have demonstrated […]
Posted inEducation
New Bedford charter legislation delayed again
SEN. PAT JEHLEN of Somerville, an outspoken charter school critic, threw a procedural roadblock in front of a New Bedford home rule petition to advance a novel charter school plan […]
Posted inEducation
With time short, New Bedford charter bill inches along
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A CONTROVERSIAL and time-sensitive New Bedford charter school bill inched along on Beacon Hill Wednesday as the House sent the legislation to the Education Committee for […]
Posted inEducation
Charters facing backlash all over country
IT ALWAYS SEEMS to come back to charter schools. Los Angeles teachers went on strike for just over a week and the strike ended with the teachers getting much of […]
Posted inThe Download
Charters facing backlash all over country
It always seems to come back to charter schools. Los Angeles teachers went on strike for just over a week and the strike ended with the teachers getting much of […]
Posted inEducation
Charter school lesson plans
It feels like an odd time to be celebrating charter school success in Massachusetts, but that’s just what Cara Candal does in a new book that not only touts the […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Charter school lesson plans
It feels like an odd time to be celebrating charter school success in Massachusetts, but that’s just what Cara Candal does in a new book that not only touts the […]
Posted inOpinion
Charter school debate is not over
TWO YEARS AFTER an ill-conceived ballot campaign in which Massachusetts voters rejected raising the cap on charter public schools, the political impulse is to assume this debate is settled. But […]
Posted inEducation
New Bedford’s charter school battle
Nearly two years ago, voters weighed in on a contentious ballot question over charter school expansion in the state. But the battle over the independently run, but publicly funded, schools […]
Posted inThe Download
New Bedford’s charter school battle
Nearly two years ago, voters weighed in on a contentious ballot question over charter school expansion in the state. But the battle over the independently run, but publicly funded, schools […]
Posted inOpinion
Charter school funding formula is broken
ONE DOESN’T HAVE to choose sides in the long debate over charter schools in order to raise legitimate questions about the approach being taken in Massachusetts. I count myself among […]
Posted inEducation
SJC charter school ruling a wake-up call
LAST MONTH, the Supreme Judicial Court dismissed a challenge to the Commonwealth’s charter school cap, ruling that the education clause of the Massachusetts Constitution does not provide students a right […]
Posted inEducation
Charter ruling a step backwards
THESE WOULD BE the best of times for Boston public charter schools were education policy decisions driven by evidence. Boston’s charters are nationwide models and uniquely successful at closing pernicious achievement […]