[Excerpt]
San Antonio ISD officials during a Tuesday night meeting struggled to answer basic questions from concerned parents about curricula, sports and transportation options for students at three campuses the district recently handed over to an out-of-state charter operator.
Hosted by the watchdog group COPS/Metro, the forum was arranged so SAISD could address parents’ concerns that the district is privatizing public campuses. However, some attending the gathering said they left with more questions than answers…
Shawn Bird, SAISD’s deputy superintendent of school leadership and partnership services, told parents that (charter operator) Third Future had a strong record of correcting problems at former public campuses. However, he couldn’t answer parents’ basic questions about curriculum changes coming to the SAISD campuses Third Future will now be running.
“I don’t know the specifics of this program, but they do have a track record of turning schools around,” Bird said.
That answer didn’t sit well with public-education activist Melody Herrera, who was in attendance.
“How do you not know when y’all are the ones that recommended them?” Herrera fired back. “That’s very concerning to me as a parent that you don’t know.”
“I don’t work for Third Future, so I don’t know the intricacies of their program design,” Bird responded.“So what did y’all base your decision on?” Herrera asked.
“Their track record of turning around schools,” Bird said, appearing to backtrack to square one….
Extracurricular activities were a sore point for the SAISD parents gathered at the COPS/Metro forum.
“They’re gonna take sports out of there too, aren’t they?” concerned parent Priscilla Torres pressed SAISD officials.
“Well, it depends,” said Patti Salzmann, SAISD’s deputy superintendent of operations, human capital management and strategy. “They’re going to have extracurriculars and sports.”
“How can you say that if y’all don’t even have the curriculum?” Torres continued…
Father Mike DeGerolami, who co- chairs COPS/Metro’s public education action team, said Tuesday’s forum was a “good start.” More are planned in the coming weeks.
San Antonio ISD Officials Struggle to Answer Basic Questions about Charter School Takeover, San Antonio Current [pdf]
Crece Preocupación Entre Padres por el Cierre de Escuelas de SAISD, Telemundo 60 San Antonio [video]