Green Dot and Union collaborate in NY.

From my post in “Rotherham Watch” yesterday:

And don’t be surprised if over the next period of time you see a growing number of union locals, in big urban and smaller suburban districts, working collaboratively with their boards and mayors on alternative forms. And, boy, will that piss off the likes of the anti-union NCLB faction.

NY Times today:

Union to Help Charter Firm Start School in the Bronx

But also in the NY Times today is anothere charter school article. And this one represents all that is wrong with the corporate wing of the charter school movement.

The Beginning With Children Charter School, housed in a former factory in Brooklyn, landed on the state’s list of high-performing schools this year, thanks to rising English and math test scores among black and Hispanic students.

Joseph H. and Carol F. Reich, founders and patrons of the Beginning With Children Charter School in Brooklyn.
But its founders and wealthy patrons, Joseph H. and Carol F. Reich, who have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the school, think it could be better. “It’s above average,” said Mr. Reich, 72, “but considering the effort and the capability and the resources, we don’t feel we’re getting the best we can.”

So last month, the couple — threatening to cut ties, including financial support — forced most of the school’s trustees to resign in a push for wide management changes, and better student achievement.

The move caused an uproar among parents and teachers who said they would be left with no formal say at the school. “My voice is going to be lost,” said Shakema Daise, the mother of a first grader.

The clash has exposed fault lines of wealth and class that are perhaps inevitable as philanthropists, in New York and nationwide, increasingly invest in public education, providing new schools to children in poor neighborhoods while making communities dependent on their generosity.

A real creepy part of this story is the NY Times quote of Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute and the Education Sector, run by our friend, Andy Rotherham:

Frederick M. Hess, an expert on philanthropy in education, said there would be more disputes like the one in Brooklyn as high-profile donors invest their reputations in schools and face “the enormous kind of name-brand question.”

“When those schools disappoint them, when there are disputes or divergence regarding institutional mission,” asked Mr. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, “how are they going to negotiate this relationship?” He added, “What we are seeing is really just the front end of what is going to be a fascinating dynamic.”

The words of a true researcher. It’s a “fascinating dynamic” to study, if it’s not your school, not your kids, not your neighborhood.