Another untrue rumor being spread to undermine the Palm Lane Elementary charter petition drive
RUMOR: “The Palm Lane parents are the trying to close the school.”
TRUTH: That’s ridiculous because the only purpose of the petition campaign is to make the school better for our children. The District told some of us that if we didn’t like the quality of the school that we should send our children to a school somewhere else.
The most persuasive untruths tend to be built on a grain of truth. Parents of Palm Lane Elementary United are pursuing the “restart model” of conversion to charter school status. According to state law, “A restart model is one in which an LEA converts a school or closes and reopens a school under a charter school operator, a charter management organization (CMO), or an education management organization (EMO) that has been selected through a rigorous review process. (A CMO is a non-profit organization that operates or manages charter schools by centralizing or sharing certain functions and resources among schools. An EMO is a for-profit or non-profit organization that provides “whole-school operation” services to an LEA.) A restart model must enroll, within the grades it serves, any former student who wishes to attend the school.
So while a school “closes” in a technical sense under the restart model, it doesn’t shut its doors and cease operating, contrary to the disinformation being spread.
