Passing Notes

I was appeared recently on 10 News Conference, our local version of “Meet the Press,” with NBC 10 reporters Kelley McGee and Bill Rappleye to discuss public charter schools and the recent expansion of the charter school law in Rhode Island. Joining me was Bob Walsh, Executive Director of the NEARI union, a vocal opponent of expanding innovative new public charter schools. Last month, Mr. Walsh said those of us working to expand educational options for parents have “declared war on public eduction,” and went on to say that NEARI will “do everything we can” to stop the reform. He made those statements before the House voted in favor of the charter school expansion by a 41-30 vote.

The 10 News Conference debate on public charter schools in Rhode Island was spirited. I made the arguments that these schools, to be operated by leading charter management organizations such as KIPP, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, Democracy Prep or other similarly successful non-profits, would offer something new to Rhode Island parents and children. When asked for an example of what would be different, I cited the longer school day and year used with success in many of these inner-city schools to raise student achievement.

As Newark Mayor Cory Booker has told me, “We need to stop thinking about time in school as the constant and student achievement as the variable. Instead, we must define high student achievement as the constant and allow time in school to become the variable.”

Bill Rappleye asked NEARI Executive Director Bob Walsh, “What’s wrong with longer school days?”

Mr. Walsh responded, “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.”

But in 2004, when the Rhode Island Board of Regents took steps to lengthen the school day, NEARI vehemently opposed the step. It was described by the Providence Journal at the time as the “most controversial” education proposal in recent history. NEARI President Larry Purtill stated then: “Not a single piece of research shows that lengthening the school day improves student performance.”

Yet on 10 News Conference, Bob Walsh, Executive Director of NEARI, said, “I like what Angus said about ‘make time the variable.’” And of course, there is plenty of research favoring more time in school for at-risk kids.

As Mr. Walsh said on Channel 10, schools with a longer day “Are giving [children] a place to do their homework; they’re giving them a place with an overall supportive environment…. The police will tell you the trouble doesn’t start at midnight, it starts at about 3 pm.”

This is a stunning reversal, because the unions claimed in 2004 that reforms demanding a longer school day were “a form of educational malpractice” and “patently illegal” (I can’t make this stuff up! Click here to read the Projo Article from that time).

I am thrilled to hear NEARI is now in favor of longer school days for our neediest children, despite what Larry Purtill claimed to the contrary just a few years ago. To see the entire 10 News Conference story, click here, then scroll down and click the link for “June 29, 2008: Mayoral Academies.”