November study: “Undeniably, pilot schools have done well.”
Therefore, Boston Foundation announced Monday it hopes to create 7 more. Basically, they pay a school’s teachers $20,000 to meet, talk about how school might blossom with pilot autonomy.
However, before a faculty vote, union president gets face time to emphasize dangers of pilot status. Last time around, only 1 of 9 schools which took planning grants became pilots. That’s about as bad as the Colorado Rockies batting average during the World Series.
Globe editorial board chimed in, as did columnist Adrian Walker (generally a fan of the union):
The problem here is the whole notion of pilot schools runs counter to the union’s interests. And its interests, in this case, are different from those of parents and students who are languishing in underperforming schools.
I went to my pilot school board meeting last night, and I saw 4 teacher trustees (til 9pm after full day teaching) shaping the school budget and launching a Saturday program.
In “Charter Still Grade A”, Boston Herald Op-Ed puts 2 and 2 together.
With Boston bumping up against the (charter) cap, the threat of competition from charters has receded. Absent that competitive pressure, the progress of reforms like pilot schools has slowed to a snail’s pace.
-Guestblogger Mike Goldstein
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