Charter School Nightmare

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/01/12/charter-failure.html

This article may be dated, but I found it a couple months ago and it still really shocks me. One thing that jarred me when I stumbled upon this news was the fact that I had sat in countless meetings last year at the community center I interned at listening to representatives pushing academy's and charter schools such as this. And at the time I was sold. I thought they had great ideas and seemed like they really cared about their potential students. Some of these meetings were with the group of Mom's we worked with through the Family to Family program and it struck me that they could have really bought into this idea of charter schools as a viable option for their kids. And these families were already struggling, so it kind of gave me the feeling of taking advantage of a population of people who are looking for some sort of "answer" which could be a big selling point. These families saw violence and bullying in their schools, are having financial hardships and really just want their kids to have a better future than what they are able to give them. Really what parent doesn't? But in this area, with these families that are struggling someone coming in and offering a solution wrapped up in a bow during desperate times really feels like preying on a weakness to me. It may not be as drastic or malicious in intent but it could definitely be viewed that way.  So what does everybody think, in terms of charter schools? With the public school system facing struggles are charter schools and academies the miracle cure? I think that some of these school really had good intentions and had the kids best interest at heart, but is our kids education and future worth the risk? and who takes responsibility for these failures?