7 minute read
Start of a modern inquiry
California Matters
California’s charter school war flares up again
When Gavin Newsom succeeded Jerry Brown as California’s governor two years ago, it re-ignited the Capitol’s long-running confl ict over charter schools, which receive public funds but operate independently of traditional public school DAN WALTERS systems.
As mayor of Oakland, Brown had founded two charter schools, the Oakland Military Institute and the Oakland School for the Arts, and during his second governorship was protective of the charter alternative.
However, the public school establishment, led by the very powerful California Teachers Association, saw Newsom as a potential ally in its years-long e ort to suppress, or even eliminate, the charter school movement.
Advocates of charter schools, parents particularly, see them as workable alternatives for students who aren’t succeeding in traditional schools but critics portray them as elitist institutions that siphon money away. The fact that many charters are non-union is a big factor in the confl ict, perhaps SUMMARY the dominant one. During Newsom’s California’s fi rst year in o ce, the perpetual confl ict anti-charter coalition mounted a major assault, which ended with some over charter schools fl ared up new regulations but again this year, fell short of strangling charters, which now enroll more than 10% resulting in a temporary truce. of the state’s public school students and have been growing as traditional schools have seen enrollment declines.
Everything went on hold during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic as all public schools shut their doors and tried, with varying degrees of success, to conduct classes at home through the internet. However, a pandemic-induced school fi nance measure aimed at shoring up school district fi nances did take a bite out of money for charters.
The confl ict fl ared up again this year with the introduction of Assembly Bill 1316, carried by Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, a Democrat from Long Beach and former teacher who chairs the Assembly Education Committee and is closely aligned with the teachers’ union and other anticharter interests.
Ostensibly, the bill would reform oversight of charter schools that o er home instruction, rather than classroom schooling, citing a scandal in San
■ See WALTERS, page A5
Letters to the Editor
Congratulations
EDITOR:
Congratulations to our local 2021 graduates.
All the best to our young folks who are making big decisions in their lives at this particular moment in time. We are counting on you all to make a di erence in a good way.
A shout-out to all of the academic and athletic scholarship recipients who keep pushing forward, everyday and in every way with your dreams.
We always wish the best for our local youth.
Wishing you all well and good luck Riley Smith at the National High School Rodeo Finals in Des Moines, Iowa.
JULIE MATTINGLY HOWARD El Dorado
There’s nothing new
EDITOR:
I’m awed by how people have unifi ed under the belief that this country and the world need to all be on the same page politically. I’m impressed with their love of our government, believing the government will provide a new better way of life to those who believe and trust it.
I fear for those who oppose the“majority’s points of view and wonder when those who do not obey, who have been demonized as sub-human and beyond contempt will be further singled out. I’m saddened by the fact that those who are pushing for this new, exciting, better way of life do not understand that their actions are the very defi nition of fascism.
KEN STEERS Cameron Park
The Proud Boys
EDITOR:
Whether or not the Wagon Train hired The Proud Boys as security, I would like to ask the people of Placerville and the great El Dorado County community what I think is a rather serious question. Do we sincerely want to invite and encourage The Proud Boys to actively participate in community activities?
Perhaps it seems like a benign organization but it is not. In 2018 the FBI categorized it as an extremist group with connections to white supremacy groups. The founder and leader of the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes, is well known for his extremely racists and right-wing views and his violent tendencies. The Proud Boys’ rhetoric is very disturbing. It is racist, homophobic, antiSemitic and misogynistic. They helped plan and actively participated in the Jan. 6 attack on The Capitol. They have also been involved in violent demonstrations across the U.S. and have been known for attacking people on the streets of New York. They also act as a recruitment and training group for even more extreme racist organizations.
I hope the people of our community realize how much of our economy depends on tourism, including Apple Hill, the numerous wineries, the recreational areas of Eldorado National Forest, Main Street’s shops and restaurants and South Lake Tahoe. For our tourism industry to do well we need people from the greater community to feel welcome.
Having The Proud Boys present does just the opposite. Many people, including people of color, members of the LGTBQ community, people of conscience and people afraid of violence taking place at such events, may just decide to stay home or go somewhere else to spend their money.
More importantly, we live in a state that is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse places in the world. Increasing numbers of people of color, members of the LGTBQ community and people with di ering views will continue to move here and be a vital part of our community and I believe we will be better for it. To deny that fact is to deny reality. The sooner we learn to live together the better o we will be. Racism, discrimination and The Proud Boys must have no place here and I would hope that The Proud Boys’ presence in our community will be strongly discouraged. SCOTT TAYLOR Placerville
WANT TO SEE YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR? Visit our website at mtdemocrat.com, click on “Submissions” and then click on “Letter to the Editor” to submit your letter.
The Not So Weekly Daley
Busted — That’s not your hand in the cookie jar?
Itaught junior high school for a couple of years in Davis in the ‘70s. Seventhgrade social studies mainly with an eighthgrade history chaser from time to time.
In my experience the two grade levels were as di erent as night and day, oil and water, sweet and savory. When confronting a seventhgrade spitballer, the perp often began his response with “Nuh uh, Mr. D!”
“Uh huh Jimmy,” said I. “You tore a page out of your notebook, wadded it up, put it in your mouth for 57 seconds, soaked it up good and let fl y at 10:22 a.m. this 11th day of April, 1975. It’s there on the blackboard right now and you will have it removed and into the wastebasket by the time I count to eight. Isn’t that right? — one.”
“Sorry Mr. D.”
“Thanks, Jimmy.”
Next period, American history,
Rebecca passed a note to Tom during the Friday quiz. She wasn’t cheating per se. “She was just helping Tom,” who hadn’t read a chapter since early October. “I didn’t pass a note to Tom,” she challenged. “You always think CHRIS DALEY I’m doing something wrong when I try to help somebody. I’m gonna tell my mom and you’ll be sooo sorry. Can me and Maria go to the bathroom?” The specifi c scenarios changed from day to day or hour to hour, but each was a moment in time of being caught red-handed, denying, then admitting versus continuing to deny despite crystal clear evidence. You learn to kind of expect it in junior high school. I don’t remember it much when I taught English at Davis High and certainly not during my years with Chapman University. The few examples there showed some
fairly signifi cant pathology, but on the bright side they didn’t threaten to call their mom. And they rarely came back.
Fast forward to today and we see rather similar behaviors emanating from a large handful of elected o cials. They’re like the infant, hands in front of face saying, “You can’t see me.”
I’m thinking most particularly about Georgia Congressman Andrew Clyde. He is shown on video from Jan. 6 helping other members and Capitol guards pushing large furniture to barricade the doors of their chambers against the “normal tourist crowds” shouting “hang Mike Pence” and other peaceful words and slogans.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said something like, “I was there and I didn’t see anything violent or out of the ordinary, just some leftists and BLM people trying to be annoying.”
Interviews over the past several weeks and months with a few of the rioters recall the eighth-grade notepassers.
“You’re lying and you are fake news. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Wait a sec, you’re saying all that video and hundreds of selfi es taken in the Capitol are fake and made up?”
“Yep, all of it.”
“Uh huh.”
Given the age di erence between Sen. Johnson and Jimmy or Rebecca and Rep. Clyde, it can’t be some factor of age/maturity. In my mind that only leaves signifi cant pathology ... and that’s pretty scary. Chris Daley is a biweekly columnist for the Mountain Democrat.
