The next hot thing for Chariho

Charter schools for the unvaccinated

By Will Collette

It’s inevitable. I am anticipating that very soon one of the many shrewd companies in the “education reform” business will roll out a chain of charter schools for unvaccinated kids. 

Why should parents have to produce proof of immunization before their little darlings are admitted to public school when they have the “freedom of choice” to send them to a school more consistent with their beliefs.

If ever there were two “movements” that are destined for merger, it’s the anti-vaxxer and the "school choice" mobs.

They are linked by the belief that personal choice, even when it is not justified by facts, finances or logic, trumps the public interest. 

They are also linked by total indifference to the costs and consequences their choices have on everyone else.

Each group claims the moral high ground, flying the banner of “freedom of choice.” Yet what they really want is the privilege of making their choice without consequence or cost to themselves. They expect the rest of us to pick up the tab.

This is especially obvious in the so-called “school choice” issue that is so hot in Rhode Island right now. School choice adherents talk as if they don’t already have a choice when in fact they do. For as long as we have had public schools, we have also had private and religious schools.

I had Sister Mary Discipline in 3rd grade

When I was a child in the 1950s and 60s, my parents wanted me to go to Catholic school, and I did because my parents had the right to choose that for me. 

I ended up doing twelve years of hard time under the tutelage of Sisters of St. Joseph and later, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

In those days, the parish school (long since closed) didn’t charge for the lower grades, but long-gone Sacred Heart Academy in Central Falls did charge a tuition. 

Because of my parents’ choice, I ended up paying for tuition out of my earnings from paper routes, bussing tables at local bingo halls and clerking at the corner drugstore.

I'm not going to judge my parents’ choice; right or wrong, they made it. And they made it knowing there were going to be costs and consequences. Mainly to me.

It’s no different today. Parents still have the same freedom of choice. They can even choose to home school their kids. But the real question behind “school choice” is not the choice itself, but who pays for it.

The Chariho School District (Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton) has been in a long-running battle with the Kingston Hill Academy (KHA), refusing to pay to send Chariho students there because Chariho believes KHA cherry-picks students and sends special needs kids back to Chariho.

Reliable sources have told me that this has been a long-standing problem at KHA.

Chariho Superintendent Barry Ricci escalated his battle when he sought new legislation in the General Assembly that would allow school districts to refuse to pay charter schools when those charter schools do not meet or exceed the standard of education provided at Chariho.

This attempt – which Superintendent Ricci told me in a January 6 e-mail he will not repeat – stirred up a firestorm from the “school choice” people, including a number of Charlestown Citizens Alliance people such as CCA Party School Committee member Donna Chambers. 

As amazing as it seems, these charter advocates argued with a straight face that their “right to choose” should be honored with taxpayer money, even if it pays for an inferior education. After all, I suppose, “school choice” includes the right to make taxpayers pay for their terrible choices.

Sometimes this "freedom of choice" argument takes an even more bizarre twist. Take, for example, the position of one anti-vaxxer who argued that making vaccinations mandatory is yet another step along the slippery slope that inevitably leads to forced abortion, forced treatment and forced sterilization. I'm not making this up.

Chariho’s fight with Kingston Hill goes back at least to 2009 when, according to a sworn statement by Superintendent Ricci, KHA’s principal admitted that KHA would not spend the money to hire a physical therapist and thus would not accept handicapped students whose education plan included physical therapy. 

Later, Superintendent Ricci noted there is no sworn statement from KHA disputing his sworn statement. Click here to read the materials Superintendent Ricci submitted to the state.

I think that's Gist on the right. This photo comes from her
LinkedIn page. She's outta here soon, heading for OK.

Ricci got no sympathy or relief from soon-to-be ex-RI Education Commissioner Deborah Gist. In fact, Gist ruled against Chariho and in favor of Kingston Hill three times. 

Gist also appointed her General Counsel David Abbott to the role of “special visitor” to examine the validity of Ricci’s charges against KHA with predictable results.

Abbott’s report, submitted to Gist on October 27, 2014, went badly for Ricci. Click here to read that report.

Abbott reported no evidence to support the claims Ricci had made of earlier discrimination by KHA against disabled children, noting that even if he did, “none of the three allegations is dispositive,” given the age of the incidents. Abbott reports that he now finds KHA to be in compliance with the law.

Having lost his fight with Kingston Hill, Superintendent Ricci asked to Chariho School Committee to add $53,745 to the upcoming year’s budget to pay for five more kids to go to Kingston Hill. 

There are currently 27 Chariho students at KHA, ten from Charlestown. Click here for enrollment breakdowns. The stats show a total of 87 Chariho students enrolled in five different charter schools; 35 are from Charlestown.

Ricci lost his battle with KHA when charter school fan Deborah Gist ruled against him and when he couldn’t come up with parents willing to speak up about KHA discrimination.

But that is hardly a vindication for KHA – the verdict is not exactly “not guilty,” but more like “not proven.” Nor is it a vindication of charter schools.

Public education is one of the cornerstones of our civil society. We need the best possible public schools we can create. Charter schools only distract attention and resources away from that critical mission. 

Casting the issue as “school choice” panders to the selfish few who want the rest of us to pay for their personal preferences.

Even though Gist will be leaving Rhode Island soon to take over as school chief in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the odds are that Gov. Gina Raimondo will appoint a new state education commissioner who is even more devoted to expanding charter schools.

I'm anticipating Raimondo will sell "naming rights" to our public
schools to all her corporate pals. Why should Alan Shawn 
Feinstein get all the glory?

I say that because Raimondo is married to one of the key corporate “education reform” national players, Andy Moffitt. Raimondo's campaign for Governor was funded in large part by corporate “reformers.” 

Her running mate, Lieutenant Governor Dan McKee, has been most famous for his fervent push for “mayoral academy” charter schools. 

Finally, Raimondo has appointed Stefan Pryor to head the state Commerce Department after Pryor’s disastrous tenure as Connecticut Education head where he created the conditions that led to charter school scandals all across the state.

Yes, I’m afraid charter schools are about to undergo a boom in Rhode Island with such as cast of characters running the state.

Public school superintendents have made the point repeatedly that charter schools add an element of unpredictability that make it hard to create budgets, hire staff and maintain the proper infrastructure, and to do that knowing that you must serve all students, including all those who have special needs.

If “school choice” parents want a school that offers programs that tickle their fancy, then fine – send your kid there, but with your own money. If you want a school that doesn’t require you to present proof that your kids have had all their shots, then fine – send your kids to “Vaxless Academy” but with your own money, And keep those kids aways from everybody else.