The whole brouhahah about college scholarships for DC public school kids makes a lot more sense now….public charter school students were excluded because it turns out that GWU President Trachtenberg doesn’t know the difference between a public and a private school. So that’s understandable, right? I mean, tony private schools like St. Albans, Sidwell, and Georgetown Day serving affluent kids from Northwest, or public charter schools like Maya Angelou, SEED, or Chavez serving low-income kids from East of the river, c’mon, who can seriously tell the difference? So, no harm no foul.
Well, Nelson Smith doesn’t think so. And Sara Mead points out that most the public schools where this year’s winners hail from are not open admission unlike the, um, public charter schools. So even easier to mix them up with the tony private schools!
Update: The GWU student newspaper is on the case, too. I guess I’m dense because I don’t get this cost issue that keeps being raised as an obstacle to including public charter school kids in this scholarship program. Allowing kids from public charter schools to be eligible, along with other public school students from Washington, would change the composition of the applicant pool, yes, but it wouldn’t change the costs of the scholarship if the same number and amount were given out.