Anyone have any experience and can provide more info?
Re: Charter Schools
A cousin’s son goes to KIPPS and they seem to love it. It’s free of course, and first come first get in (not on merit admission.) They require a lot of parents involvement. The only thing I don’t like is they don’t have a full summer and also he is at school until 4ish. He doesn’t get home until 5:30ish.
Re: Charter Schools
My children went to a charter school for 3 years (and I worked there as well for 2 years). I have mixed feelings about them. There are some charter schools in my city/state that outrank the best of the best private schools and are consistently named as the top schools in the entire country. Those are the hardest to get into, since admission to charter schools is solely based on your luck…it’s a lottery type admission. Siblings get admission preference as well, so what little spots are open, go to siblings of admitted students. When I applied for my son at one for KG admission, for 72 available seats 298 applied. The next year for 1at grade only 3 seats were open.
Then there are new, up and coming charter schools, such as the one I sent kids to and worked at. Here are the pros and cons I experienced:
**pros:
**smaller class sizes, more individualized attention
varied/specialized curriculum–although Charter Schools still have to adhere to the States curriculum, they have more leeway in how they teach and the manner in which run the schools and often expose their students to much cooler experiences and learning environments
diversity–they attract a wide demographic and are usually more accepting of different races and religions…it’s easier to blend in IMO
**cons
**funding—especially if you’re at a fledgling school. Charter Schools do not get funding from tax dollars like a public school does. They only get operating finds based on student enrollment. So that’s only about 30% of what a traditional public school gets. That means they have to make it up with fundraising and grants. Grants are not easy to come by and of you have a Board of administration that doesn’t know what they are doing than it doesn’t bode well for students or parents or staff
ammenities/extra curricular activities—to put it bluntly, there are little to none. Unless you’re at a premier, established hi/fi charter school, the facilities and amenities are no where near that of a public school. Proper libraries, cafeterias etc are usually not high on the priority list.
Many often have much longer school day hours like Rabia mentioned
Like I said it’s a mixed bag…it’s not for everyone and you really, really, really have to do your research
Re: Charter Schools
Thanks for the info guys. That gave me lots to think about khatti!