Charter school?

Rink08

DH took a job which will be relocating us soon. DS1 is currently enrolled in a private school for preschool. He'll have another year of preschool before being able to start kindergarten. Since we just found out about the move, we're late applying to the schools in that area. We should be able to get on the waitlist and plan to do that. However, we are also looking into the PA Cyber Charter School. According to their website, he would be in Kindergarten in their program ( only has to be 4) Does anyone have any experience with charter schools?

Amya

I think the charter school depends on the area.  I teach and have worked at both charter and public.  The main difference is that a charter school is owned by a company and typically has an area of expertise.  For example, a charter I worked at was a performing arts school. 

My advice to you would be to research the schools and see who has the better test scores.  Also, charters will typically give you a tour.  I would stop in and have a look around before school lets out for the year. 

www.greatschools.org is a way to easily look up scores and other information about different schools.  GL and let me know if you have any other questions.   

JOEBunny

Charters here vary greatly.  Most have been set up because the schools in the communities they are in are so bad as to be completely unacceptable to any parent.  There are neighborhood schools here that are so bad they have virtually no enrollment because everyone who could sends their child to a charter or private school.  The charters are far better than the neighborhood school and are usually created by groups of parents who fight to get them.  They require parent involvement in many cases, but are all different by definition. 

The issue we have here is that the rules of who can go and how the enrollment is handled is constantly changing, so you could move to a guaranteed zone to go the charter, only to find out the following year that you are no longer eligible and will have to enter a lottery with kids from all over the city.  The other issue is funding.  That neighborhood school that used to have 500 kids, now has 100, because of the charters, but it still has the same fixed expenses and has not been shut down, so there is not enough money to fund all the school.  Instead of shutting down the crap school, the school board has in a lot cases cancelled funding of the charter school. 

sourapplemartini

Rink08:

According to their website, he would be in Kindergarten in their program ( only has to be 4)

If you plan on continuing in public school, he'll likely have to repeat kindergarten because he won't be old enough to enroll in 1st grade. Districts have gotten very strict with age requirements. Besides the fact that most 4 yr olds aren't developmentally ready for many of the skills taught in kindergarten. 

flyingsaucer

I worked in a charter school and ditto pp's that each one is VERY different.  You should visit

stellasam

I currently teach at a charter school. Like others have said, they all differ greatly, and you really need to visit, research, and talk to other parents. Although I think there are some good things about my charter school, I would never send my son to my school for K- it is way too long a day and way too intense/academic and not really much fun. I believe K should be fun and low-pressure. But that's just my school- it's definitely worth checking it out! Good luck!

Rink08

sourapplemartini:

Rink08:

According to their website, he would be in Kindergarten in their program ( only has to be 4)

If you plan on continuing in public school, he'll likely have to repeat kindergarten because he won't be old enough to enroll in 1st grade. Districts have gotten very strict with age requirements. Besides the fact that most 4 yr olds aren't developmentally ready for many of the skills taught in kindergarten. 

We plan on continuing in private school however this year we have missed the application dates since we were unaware of our relocation until recently. The schools are now only accepting applications for the waitlist which we will apply for. We'd plan on having him have two years of kindergarten if we do enroll him in the charter school.

Rink08

Thanks everyone. You've given me a lot to look into and discuss with DH. I knew that I would be able to find helpful information here!

pea-kay

The boys will be starting at a charter school in the fall for pre-k 3. New Orleans has shitty public schools, so this is our best option for good schooling for them. (We have to pay for pre-K, but after that, it's free.)

I'm sure it depends a lot on the area, but there are a lot of great charter schools here. The one the boys will be attending is a French immersion school.

Pesky

I'm looking into this myself and like pps said, it varies by school.  Charters require a great deal of parent involvement, usually a minimum hour commitment, and have a great deal of parental input, which can be both good and bad depending on the parents.  I'd ask around and you can probably figure out which are good schools.  GL!