Thursday, May 22, 2008

Can Can’t

The Missouri Department of Education will allow Can Academies, operator of a public school aimed at helping students who have failed at all other schools to earn a GED, get a high school diploma, and begin a career, to suspend operations in St. Louis for a year.

The school, which is a charter school, will keep its charter while its operators reevaluate its staffing, curriculum, and operations. By most accounts, the school was failing its students.

This is a good decision by the school’s state sponsor.

If a charter school isn’t a better choice for its students and their parents than the St. Louis public school district, then the charter school shouldn’t operate. On the other hand, the St. Louis public school district has struggled unsuccessfully for years to find ways to re-involve more of its drop-outs in career preparation.