At its Tuesday night meeting, the Baker School Board addressed an organization attempting to start a Charter School in Baker. (See Baton Rouge Advocate article) The only point emphasized against the proposal was the affect of possibly loosing teaching positions as the money left would leave with the students. However, this is the very school district that received a failing grade of at least a “D” for every school in the district.
I support the hard work of the passionate and dedicated teachers in the Baker School System; the schools have a failing record because there are some under-performing teachers and school leaders, period.
If some teachers unfortunately have to be let go, it should be the under performing teachers we are looking to improve if not replace. As the Baker School System is federally mandated to provide supplemental or alternative educational options, the last concern should be making the jobs of the very underperforming teachers the primary issue.
Having a charter school does not mean that all Baker School District teachers will lose their jobs; however, in any industry, the bottom performers have to accept the possibility of being let go first in response to the poor performance to the organization.
I think the Baker School System cannot say “NO” to making this choice available to the parents of Baker. Choosing the almighty dollar to protect teacher’s jobs should not take precedence over the educational opportunities of our kids.
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