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Students Give Charters High Marks
But many agree they're not for everyone
BY JOHN WELBES
Pioneer Press
Nell Holden chose a charter school because she wanted to be excited about learning again.
Now a senior at ARTech Charter School in Northfield, she says she likes the project-based
learning and in-depth lessons the school offers.
"I'm not just going through the motions and
doing things for the sake of doing them," she said, adding that she needed the change after
spending her ninth- and 10th-grade years at Northfield High School.
Holden was one of more
than 100 students to take part in Minnesota's first Charter School Student Summit, held
Tuesday at the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul. The event included a diverse
nine-student panel discussing the ins and outs of life at a charter school.
Among the panelists
was Matthew Brown, a student at the recording arts school, where popular music and the business
side of entertainment are worked into the curriculum and the enrollment is predominantly
African-American.
There was Hannah Field, once a home-schooled student who is now a senior at
New Century Charter School in Hutchinson.
And there was Amalia Rose Armendariz, who attends
El Colegio Charter School in Minneapolis, a program geared toward Latino students.
The group
held forth on such topics as what drew them to charter schools in the first place and whether
the schools would work for everyone.
To the latter question, the answer was a resounding "no."
"It's small, so the teachers are always on you," Armendariz said of El Colegio. Brown noted that
the High School for Recording Arts' day runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., "so the hours aren't for
everyone."
All the panelists agreed that students who aren't self-motivated probably wouldn't do
well at charter schools, many of which emphasize independent learning.
As financial problems at
a couple of charter schools this fall have again brought attention to the management of the
schools, the student summit focused on the draw the schools have for kids.
Minnesota launched
the nation's charter school movement more than a decade ago and now has more than 100 of the
schools scattered across the state. Charter schools are publicly financed but run independent
of the school districts in which they're located.
They are commonly launched to provide an
alternative to traditional public schools, and the site of Tuesday's summit fit the bill. The
recording arts school is housed in converted warehouse space on Vandalia Street, and the summit
was held in a large room with exposed brick walls, high ceilings and a tile floor.
The students
also heard from Howard Fuller, a national advocate for charter schools and a former superintendent
of Milwaukee public schools.
"There are people in the world who don't want charter schools to
exist," Fuller said. Some people think they take financial resources from traditional public school
systems, he said, and others think they can't succeed.
"You have to prove them wrong," he told the
crowd. "We need you to be successful. We need you to be there every day."
The Minnesota Legislature
remains committed to the type of choice charter schools offer, Rep. Barb Sykora, R-Excelsior,
told the students. And although there are blips along the way, and she'd like to see some
more work done with sponsors and the financial planning of the schools, Sykora said, "having choices
makes our whole system stronger."
For more information about charter schools in Minnesota,
visit http://www.mncharterschools.org .
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