Albany Park charter school. Aspira-Haugan Middle School has decided to offer what amounts to a $100 bounty for every kid lured through its doors. The student must "attend through September to qualify for the $100 gift card," the small print on the offer states. So, no hanky panky and double-enrollment somewhere else, guys. (Chicago Daily Observer)
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
If I gave you $100, then would you enroll your child in my charter school?
I've been trying to stay away from charter school scandals for a while. There's just to many to keep track of. Plus, I could never be as good at it as these guys. But I had to say something about this, since it's practically in my backyard.
Here's a story about a school in Brooklyn doing the same thing:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/bounty_for_klyn_jhs_kids_PNMTuK7PSl4l6TFGqgio2N
Now-fizzled for-profit Edison Schools' big hallmark was giving every student a laptop, back when Edison was being hailed as the future of education. I know a family who enrolled their kids in Edison Charter Academy here in San Francisco specifically because of the laptop offer (they pulled the kids after a year). For that matter, the famed KIPP schools offer a prize to KIPP families who recruit new enrollees to KIPP, or at least I know that one has done so. When I went with my daughter to do a little undercover research inquiring about enrolling her at KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy -- this would have been early fall 2007 -- there were posters on the hallway walls announcing gift cards for KIPP families who recruited new enrollees. I think that was right around the time that the NY Times' Paul Tough, in a piece in the Times magazine, stated that all KIPP schools have long waiting lists.
ReplyDelete