MAYOR MENINO’S recent embrace of charter schools could get even tighter in January if he appoints one or more charter proponents to the Boston School Committee. The city’s recalcitrant teachers union may be serving as an unwitting matchmaker, but there are many good reasons to bring charter activists onto the board.
The list of finalists for two open seats has been whittled down from about 20 to just six. The short list, which is expected to be announced today, will likely include two prominent charter school backers: Meg Campbell, founder and head of the Codman Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester; and Mark Culliton, the CEO of the Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses and treasurer of the Boston Preparatory Charter Public School in Hyde Park.
By including such names, Menino may simply be sending a message to the Boston Teachers Union before contract negotiations begin. The union is resisting Menino’s attempt to create in-district charter schools, where school officials could suspend collective bargaining contracts in what are now the city’s underperforming schools. The union is also undermining efforts to provide merit pay to teachers of Advanced Placement courses.
A longer school day, flexible curricula, and the ability to remove ineffective teachers are core strengths of the charter movement. But charters serve relatively few students. Bringing the energy and innovation of the best charter schools into the school system will help far more children.
Both Campbell and Culliton would be significant additions to the board. Campbell runs a successful charter high school in Codman Square. Culliton, a strong voice for accountability in the city’s nonprofit sector, helped to create several charter schools in the Midwest before coming to Boston. Both have shown faith in the promise of the system by enrolling their own children in the Boston Public Schools. The school committee needs such strong and committed voices for reform.
