A Tale of Two Rockaway School Closings (With Apologies to Charles Dickens)

UPDATED: SAt. Jan. 21 11PM

NOTE: PS 215 closing school hearing Friday at 6 PM
Support them on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SavePS215
Email messages about keeping PS 215 school open at D27Proposals@schools.nyc.gov or call to leave a phone message at 212 374 7621.

SEE VIDEO OF THE JAN. 20 MEETING:

Video: Walcott Takes Heat From Parents, Teachers and UFT Officials at Contentious Closing School Hearing (PS 215) in Rockaway

Published in The Wave Jan. 20, 2011 (www.rockawave.com)


A Tale of Two Rockaway School Closings (With Apologies to Charles Dickens)

By Norm Scott

It is the best worst of times, it is the age of wisdom foolishness, it is the epoch of belief incredulity, it is the season of light darkness, it is the spring of hope winter of despair for two Rockaway schools, one public and one charter, slated for closing by the meat cleaver wielded by the hatchet bearers from the Tweed building, the HQ of the NYC Department of Education. In last week’s Wave Howie Schwach predicted, facetiously but all too close to reality, that Tweed would close every Rockaway school except for three. C’mon Howie, why leave even three standing?

The Wave’s Miriam Rosenberg and I attended a January 10 evening meeting held at the Sorrentino Rec Center called by PS 215 supporters that attracted a spirited audience of parents, teachers and Queens UFT officials. Miriam’s report in the Jan. 13 Wave was comprehensive so I’ll address only a few points about the decision to phase out the school by Tweed.

I was struck by the case made for saving the formerly A-rated school which dropped to an F-rating last year. What happened? The teaching staff, which based on the turnout seems loaded with experienced (don’t forget this point as a factor in targeting schools for closure– higher salaried) staff has remained constant. So has the administration. With all the attention being paid to the (false) concept that the quality of the teaching is the crucial element in the success or failure of students, how can a school go from A to F with basically the same staff? What did change was the number of students needing special help while the resources needed were cut, as was the rise in the percentage of children getting free lunch (a poverty index) and the percentage of student turnover – an instability factor. And the cuts in staff from reading specialist, ESL teachers and guidance counselors. Oh, and supplies.

I found out about the meeting when I went to the school early in the morning of January 6 to distribute leaflets to parents and teachers informing them of meetings Occupy the DOE have been holding every Sunday at 2PM at 60 Wall Street focused on reaching out to schools on the closing list and public schools being invaded by charter co-locations in an effort to get them to fight the battle together instead of separately.

Over the past years we have found that no matter what a school does to argue their case (and I think PS 215 has a case to be made) or how many people they bring out to a hearing held at the school, or how passionate they are at the Bloomberg controlled Panel for Educational Policy meetings, the PEP will vote against them. In the past, immediately after the vote to close takes place the spirit and militancy of the school drops to zero and a sort of school-wide depression takes hold as teachers, administrators and parents begin to think of the end-game. This is especially exasperated by the clear message from the DOE that the school will get even less resources.

Now I don’t mean to demean the required by law PS 215 closing school hearing on Friday January 20 at 6PM (an outrage to call a hearing on a Friday night --- one would hope the Jewish Orthodox community which has the right to attend would protest) as being a waste of time. These meetings serve to bring people together and take them to the next step of militancy which is at the PEP meeting at Brooklyn Tech on February 9 where the Bloomberg PEP puppets will vote to close all the schools --- unless there is behind the scenes political intervention.

It was nice to see the Queens PEP rep Dmytro Fedkowskyj at the meeting but he didn’t speak or offer any encouragement. How will he vote? The way Queens borough President Helen Marshal, a Bloomberg supporter, tells him to. Since his vote doesn’t mean much with Bloomberg controlling at least 8 out of 13 votes, he may very well vote to keep PS 215 open. But his votes have been very disappointing in allowing charter co-locations around the city, especially the Evil Moskowitz invasions and his practically zero presence at PEP meetings. Ahhh, don’t we wish we had a BPres with some guts to do what is right and appoint a truly independent voice on the PEP to join Manhattan’s Patrick Sullivan (who gets a big round of applause when introduced at PEP meetings). A representative from Gregory Meeks’ office was also present and he refused to respond when I asked him if Meeks would support PS 215.

The UFT was in the house at that meeting with a passionate (and long) speech by Queens political director Dermot Smyth who gave people hope that with a big Jan. 20 turnout that would give Tweed an earful, they could save the school. When I asked him if the UFT would provide buses to the PEP at Brooklyn Tech on Feb. 9 he made it seem that the school could be saved by a big turnout on Jan. 20. I understand the need to keep people motivated but the failure of the tactic of fighting that battle one school at a time should be clear by now.

With 25 schools on the list added to the threat to close, 33 more on June 30 and reopen them on July 1 while removing at least 50% of the teachers and a new unreported list of about 60 PLA (Persistently Low Achieving) schools targeted, this amounts to a total assault on the union and the public school system while shutting out the parents, students and community from any basic decision making about their own fates. The ed deformers at the national, state and local levels have successfully managed to make it all about the (bad) teacher as a distraction from the real issue: the increasing privatization of the public schools through charterization.

Given that, it might seem like a contradiction for the DOE to close Peninsula Prep Academy, a charter in Rockaway that does not seem to be a failure with three C ratings in a row. (People do graduate with C grades.) I have mixed feelings given my opposition to charters, but the closing of PPA seems unfair. I met with Josmar Trujilo, an articulate and passionate parent advocate at PPA and he makes a very convincing case (see my video interview with him on you tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03-XBo3a7-U), pointing out that PPA has higher ratings than 9 out of 10 zoned Rockaway schools.

While I don’t put much stock in these numbers, I do think that the ties of Malcolm Smith, the school’s founder, and Gregory Meeks who served on the Board has hurt the school due to the political and corruption problems they have faced. I wrote an analysis on my blog that argued that the closing of PPA is a political hit job (http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-peninsula-prep-is-closing-what.html), possibly because there may be bad news coming from the Smith/Meeks investigations and Walcott who is from Southeastern Queens wants to get out from under sooner rather than later.

Norm blogs at ednotesonline.blogspot.com, email: normsco@gmail.com
If you want to know more about the fight to save PPA you can reach Josmar through the school.

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Josmar Trujilio on why PPA should be kept open.

Why Peninsula Prep is Closing: What Times Article Left Out

The politics behind closing a "C" rated school that claims to outperform 9 out of 10 schools in the area. Scandal-plagued politicians connected to school may have spurred closing to forestall future embarrassment over how political connections helped get the charter school. Did Walcott, who comes from a part of Queens where he would be well aware of the activities of these politicians, decide to cut the cord before more scandals emerge? Does Walcott know something will come out soon?

Today's front page article in the NY Times on the closing of Peninsula Prep Charter School in Rockaway might leave some people scratching their heads given the fact that up to now a serial killer who wanted a charter from Joel Klein, who was the authorizer, could get one. A charter school would have to be outrageous in its actions - like Williamburg/Believe Charters (Williamsburg/Believe Charter with Slimeball Leader Eddie Negron - Charter Revoked) which we wrote about the other day or Ross Global run by celebrity/socialite Courntey Sales Ross in the past (Ross Global Charter to be Closed Along with 11).

For the first time, New York City is closing a charter school for the offense of simply being mediocre.

The announcement this week that the city planned to shut Peninsula Preparatory Charter School, a seven-year-old elementary school in Far Rockaway, Queens, was unusual by any definition. Since 2004, the city has closed only a few of its 142 charters that have opened — schools that are publicly financed but privately managed, and are a source of competition for traditional schools.

But as more of the city’s charter schools have matured, reaching the five-year renewal mark, the Education Department has become increasingly impatient with weak-performing ones. With the closing of Peninsula Prep, which had received a grade of C on each of its last four progress reports, Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott seemed to be signaling that the city’s 136 charters will now be held to a higher standard.

And increasing scrutiny of New York charter schools could have widespread implications, prompting a wider conversation across the country about what the bar for closing should be, and how much charter schools should be expected to outperform public schools.

More unusual, the Times piece left out the fact that State Senator Malcolm Smith was the founder of the school and despite denials of still having connections to the school, people in Rockaway believe his influence is still felt. (I saw a tweet from one reporter the day the closing was announced that Smith had given the school a $100,000 in earmarks and speculated about the fate of those funds.) What does happen to this money --- I say give it to PS 215 in Far Rockaway which the DOE is trying to close despite starving the school of resources.

I emailed Anna Philips who wrote the piece and she pointed me to her Schoolbook article the other day where she wrote:

Opened in 2004, Peninsula Preparatory Charter School was founded by State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, who served as a board member until 2006. Another Queens politician, Rep. Gregory Meeks, was also a member of the elementary school’s board.

Despite its political connections, Peninsula Prep struggled from the outset. Originally located in a Far Rockaway middle school, it moved into a complex of trailers near a large real estate development owned by one of Mr. Smith’s campaign donors, leaving its students without a gym or playground. For the last three years, it has received C’s on its progress reports from the city.

But what the article doesn't say is that both Smith and Meeks have been embroiled in scandal, with the Times ( State Sen. Malcolm Smith Tied To Scandal-Scarred Charity)
doing a major piece on Smith in October 2010 (see below the fold for entire article which makes no mention of the Smith connection to PP Charter) which opens with this:

St. Sen. Malcolm Smith

Federal prosecutors are investigating a nonprofit group founded by Mr. Smith. They subpoenaed records in February 2010 from his office detailing funds he has directed to community groups over the last decade. Some of the group's employees were also Mr. Smith's aides in Albany.

The article paints a picture of a failed businessman and a shady politician. The staff of an embattled Queens nonprofit overlaps closely with the payroll of state Sen. Malcolm Smith, one of the charity's founders. At least four workers at the New Direction Local Development Group—which is under federal investigation and allegedly fleeced Hurricane Katrina victims out of about $30,000 raised on their behalf—have also worked for Smith at a time when the politician gave the organization about $56,000 in state funds.

Yet Smith was shown political favor by allowing him to open up a charter school. I thought it interesting at the time that this article made no mention of the charter school connection. And the fact that both articles by Anna made no mention of the Smith scandals make the paranoid in me work overtime. But if you click the Malcolm Smith link in Anna's Schoolbook piece it takes you to the Times article about the scandal. Anna is a meticulous reporter and makes it her business to know everything there is to know about education in this city. Having to click to make that connection makes me think that the NY Times editors were concerned about making the obvious connection to scandal in an article about the charter. Why mention Smith (which I view as Anna's way of leading the dog to the bone) without openly mentioning the scandals?

Smith's pal Gregory Meeks, who was on the PPrep Board, Congressman from the east end of Rockaway is also under scrutiny. Meeks was mentioned the other day (Edul Ahmad Accused of Defrauding Guyanese Immigrants)
(See below for a few quick hits from a google search on Meeks.)

I agree with Anna's speculation that charters will get closer scrutiny to try to stop the growing scandals that in the long-run threaten the charter school movement. Given that most of these schools perform no better than public schools and many perform worse, the question of why create a dual system with wasted resources will continue to be raised. Thus you see charter school slugs who make a living off charter schools -- people like Michael Duffy and James Merriman -- quoted in Anna's article.

I feel that Peninsula Prep Charter is a special case for closing and not necessarily a sign of closer scrutiny due to the scandals engrossing Smith and Meeks (and their mentor Floyd Flake, whose scandalous behavior was also profiled in the NY Times -

Deal Shows How Floyd Flake Can Gain From Ministry - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/nyregion/18flake.html?pagewanted...

Jun 17, 2010 – The Rev. Floyd Flake, an influential New York pastor, had a role as both seller and buyer of church-owned buildings.

REV FLOYD FLAKEGATE - VJ MACHIAVELLI-THE VOICE OF THE ...

vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com/2011/.../welcome-to-rev-floyd-flakegate...

Oct 9, 2011 – Posted:2:04 AM, October 9, 2011. New York political kingmaker and religious leader Floyd Flake rakes in the cash -- and leaves wreckage ...

Dennis Walcott is from a corner of Queens where he knows full-well these politicians. I would bet he is not happy about these scandals and is sensitive to how they may come back to bite Tweed in terms of authorizing a charter school controlled by these guys.

So in my mind these are the politics behind closing a charter school that under normal conditions would not face closing.

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By the way, Peninsula Prep had it's own record of tossing kids as you can see in this piece in the local Rockaway paper The Wave (where I write a column):

The Wave Reports: Peninsula Prep Academy Charter Tosses 5-Year ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../wave-reports-peninsula-prep-academ...

Apr 9, 2011 – The motto of the Peninsula Preparatory Academy charter school on Beach 111 ....

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Parent at PPA writes to Leonie
But to be fair, here is an email from a parent at the school sent to Leonie Haimson pointing to the conflcit this school is causing:

I am a follower and supporter of your work for a very long time. However, the last few years my child has gone to a charter school which (while being in contradiction with many of my political and philosophical views on education) have put me into a much more pragmatic position especially with the conditions of where I live, Rockaway. And while I still support your fight for public education on the long term an imminent problem has arisen for myself and 340 other families out here in Queens: our school's charter has not been renewed and it will close at the conclusion of the school year. This means that the children will be pushed into their zoned schools in Far Rockaway and Arverne, NY where 9/10 schools performed WORSE than our school that is being closed down. This, of course, using the same dreaded standards that the DOE used to justify our school's closure, in essence telling our community that PPA wasn't good enough but the inferior (by their standards) and underfunded local public schools will now have to take in 341 new students. Obviously this will affect class size and student-teacher ratio as well for the local schools.

I'm reaching out to you in desperation to see if you could put me in contact with any local activists that could join forces with our parents in protesting, picketing and shaming the DOE for this move. The parents feel betrayed and we have sensed that our best bet is to get outside of the system. I think that although the charter issue may be different than those of traditional public schools, we all face challenges from the same failed policies.

I too am conflicted about working with this parent but I think it would be the right thing to do even Mona Davids sent a rep out to meet with the charter to assist them but they weren't interested.

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1. Congressman Gregory Meeks Admits He's Been Subpoenaed ...

   blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/04/congressman_gre.php

   Apr 15, 2010 – Things are getting so bad for scandal-plagued Queens Democratic congressman Gregory Meeks that he had to acknowledge on the House ...

2. Meeks passes the bucks on scandal (video) - New York Post

   www.nypost.com/.../meeks_passes_the_bucks_on_scandal_...

   Mar 16, 2010 – Gregory Meeks ended weeks of dodging yesterday, taking to TV to insist he's in the dark about ... Meeks passes the bucks on scandal (video) ...

3. US Cricket Team ensnared in Queens scandal involving Meeks ...

   www.nypost.com/.../in_sticky_wicket_MCWvLcM7JPkoKN7nOoKf...

   Dec 25, 2011 – A Queens scandal that threatens to engulf Rep. Gregory Meeks has an unusual collateral victim — the US Cricket Team.

4. New York Papers Scrutinize Meeks Loan Scandal Figure | National ...

   nlpc.org/stories/2010/07/.../new-york-papers-scrutinize-meeks-‘frien...

   Jul 21, 2010 – New York Papers Scrutinize Meeks Loan Scandal Figure ... Gregory Meeks (D-NY), is today scrutinized by the New York Times and New York ...

5. The Last Tradition: Democrat Gregory Meeks Changes Story on ...

   thelasttradition.blogspot.com/.../democrat-gregory-meeks-changes-st...

   Mar 15, 2010 – Gregory Meeks claimed that "every dime" raised by a charity he ... It's the biggest scandal the legacy media purposely does not report. Why do ...

6. Meeks Scandal Impacts US Cricket Team | www.rockawave.com ...

   www.rockawave.com/.../Meeks_Scandal_Impacts_US_Cricket_Team...

   Meeks Scandal Impacts US Cricket Team. 2011-12-30 / Top Stories. By Howard Schwach. Congressman Gregory Meeks has been enmeshed in scandal for ...

7. U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks Passes The Bucks On Scandal - Hip Hop ...

   hiphoprepublican.com/.../us-rep-gregory-meeks-passes-the-bucks-on...

   Mar 18, 2010 – Embattled U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) ended weeks of dodging yesterday, taking to TV to insist he's in the dark about the gone-missing ...

8. Gregory W. Meeks News - The New York Times

   topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/.../gregory_w_meeks/index.html

   ... W. Meeks. Commentary and archival information about Gregory W. Meeks from The New York Times. ... N.Y. Senate Leader Tied to Figure in Loan Scandal ...

NY Times piece on Smith below

Breaking: Williamsburg/Believe Charter with Slimeball Leader Eddie Negron - Charter Revoked

UPDATED: 9:30PM

NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/09/city-seeks-to-close-two-charter-schools/

Gotham School: City moves to close two charter schools, citing mismanagement

RED FLAG ALERT!

 Most of the charges center on founder Eddie Calderon-Melendez, who earned $478,000 last year as the CEO of the Believe Charter Network, which has run Williamsburg and two other high schools.

That's rights folks - Almost half a million for Eddie - but you know he's doing it for the kids.

Here is my comment at Gotham:

What a joke. They're still giving Eddie a month to clean up his act?

Like, did they find out yesterday about Eddie? Ed Notes has been following this story for years. We broke the story of the $100 bounty they were offering kids if they brought in a sucker -- er recruit --- years ago. In the comment section teachers were screaming out in outrage but also in fear of Eddie and his thuggish behavior. He once threatened Susan Ohanian with a "visit" because she had mentioned his poodle business. In the corporate ed deform world it is ok for Eddie to make almost half a million while scamming us taxpayers for years.

Where are John King and Merryl Tisch who are quick to condemn people who fight to keep their schools open as "supporting failure" while a school that clearly was engaging in shady tactics for years was allowed to continue. Eddie's charter should have been revoked before the ink was dry.

As for Penninsula Prep out here in Rockaway where even the sea breezes coudn't wash away the smell of scandal from St Sen Malcolm Smith's equivalent of Rosemary's baby. How about those earmarks he got for the school he founded? I bet they don't end up in a public school in Rockaway. How about giving it to PS 215 which they are closing?

 3:30

Unconfirmed - from good source in District 14:

Lindsey Christ at NY1 confirms and also ads Rockaway's Penninsula Prep - a school founded by NY State Senator Malcolm Smith - talk about conficts of interest even though he claims not to have anything to do with the school. I do hope someone in the media digs into how these schools were founded on the use of political pull.

No time to put up links but use the "search blog" function to find scads of articles we've done on Eddie the Slime. This is the charter that pushed the teacher out of the library at IS 126 after she renovated it. We actually shot a bunch of footage for The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman in front of this charter to highlight the corrupt charter practices but we decided we didn't have room in the film to get into that aspect.

Believe North & Believe South are chartered through the State Education Department (SED ---- where have you been all these years Merryl Tisch, John King, etc?

Watch these clowns take credit for closing down the charter despite waiting for years and letting children's education be destroyed for years. Message to Merryl, who challenges parents at closing schools who fight to keep their schools open with "you are supporting failing schools" - with a reframing: Merry Merryl, why are you supporting failing school policies?

Also confirmed by Mona Davids at New York Charter Parents Association (NYCPA)

NYCPA warned parents about this charter just as we have about others that have been shut down.  Parents have been disrespected, students' IEP's violated, staff harassed for speaking up for students for many years and the DOE's charter office did nothing. Then NYCPA broke the story on the new buidling the Believe Network, the Charter Management Organization (CMO), which runs Williamsburg, Believe North & Believe South High School, couldn't pay AND signed a 30 year lease when charters are renewed every 5 years. Believe North & Believe South are chartered through the State Education Department (SED).  Those schools and Believe Network are under investigation by the State Attorney General's office too.  NYCPA talked about the corruption of the board, the intermingling and incestuous releationship between board members of the three schools and the CMO. DOE should have stepped in a long time ago.  As usual they do nothing until the stench of corruption, mismanagement and cronyism, reaches outside of the DOE office to other agencies. This is why we are pushing charter parents be allowed under law to fire school leaders and replace their boards if they're mismanaging the schools.  If 51% of parents vote to remove leadership, the parents can bring in new leaders and reconstitute the board. We have good charters and bad charters just as we good public schools and bad public schools.  Parents be vigilant, attend your board meetings, request monthly copies of your school's financial reports, get a copy of your school's charter and by-lays.  Protect your children's education, hold your charter accountable and ensure they're doing right by your children. Best regards.

Here are a few quick links from a quick search on the web for background:

The Wave Reports: Peninsula Prep Academy Charter Tosses 5-Year Old

The Wave of Rockaway reports on the actions of Peninsula Prep Academy Charter, a Rockaway school founded by State Senator Malcolm Smith - talk about scams -  in a front page article by Editor Howard Schwach, published April 8, 2011. (Just wait 'till you see the videos of the interviews I did with former charter school parents at a Brooklyn charter school on how kids are treated.) Howie is a retired teacher and this week alone The Wave has at least 4 articles on education - and it's not my week to publish my column - the most extensive education coverage of any weekly newspaper (other than Ed Week).

Expulsion At Five

Parent Charges School ‘Stigmatizes’ Son

By Howard Schwach

The Peninsula Preparatory Academy, a local charter school, is trying to expel a kindergarten student for bad behavior. The motto of the Peninsula Preparatory Academy charter school on Beach 111 Street is “The Future is Bright,” but for one little five-year-old kindergarten student, the future looks bleak.

The young boy, whose name is being withheld by The Wave because of his age, was suspended three times this school year by Principal Ericka Wala. His mother, Latesha Thompson is scheduled to face the school’s board of directors and an expulsion hearing later this month.

“They’ve provided my son with an unfair start to his school career,” Thompson told The Wave last week. “They have stigmatized him because the suspensions and the expulsion will be on his permanent school record forever. They have not given him a chance for a decent life.”

In a suspension letter dated March 2, Wala wrote, “We regret that we find it necessary to suspend your son for five days due to the following behavior: disrupting the educational process; being insubordinate; defying or disobeying the lawful authority of school personnel; using force against school personnel, hitting the teacher and engaging in an act of coercion or threatening violence, injury or harm to another.”

These, the mother points out, are the charges against a tiny five-year-old in his first year in a public school setting.”

“The allegations are outrageous,” Thompson said. “My son is a strong-minded little boy who is learning new things every day and he is never aggressive or threatening.”

She says that the teacher asked her son to get out of his seat and he refused.

The teacher then grabbed him hard by both his collar and his arm to get him out of the seat, his mother alleges. He swung at her to get her to let go and hit her hand.

The principal told Thompson that her son had “verbally abused” an assistant principal after the incident.

The principal also said that her son headbutted two other children, but refused to supply any details to the parent.

Thompson believes that the school gave up on her son after he was suspended for the first time in early October. He was suspended again in early March and then again on March 18.

“The school says he can’t stay because he has behavioral problems because they don’t want to deal with a kid who gives them more work than they want to do,” Thompson says. “I came forward because I don’t want any other parents at PPA to have to go through what I am going through. Schools shouldn’t treat either young children or their parents this way. I hope they get away from the harsh punishments they give out such as what they did to my son. I hope they learn to deal with children who may present a problem.”

Thompson says that she may not attend the board meeting in which she expects her son to be expelled.
I am looking for a new school for my son,” she said. “I don’t want him to have to go back there.”
The Wave’s calls to the school were referred to the Department of Education, which sponsors the school.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education declined to comment.

A reader left this comment blaming the parent which exposes the farce of the charter schools which are touted as part of the "no excuses" ed deform movement.

The child was not expelled

Submitted by thomaskerr@mind... on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 18:57.

The child was not expelled arbitrarily. It is in the interest of the school and the folks running it to keep the students there. When I child, even one of 5 years--becomes a problem, he takes educational opportunity and valuable time away from other students having to deal with unwanted behavior.

The school's mandate is not have to deal with poor parenting, but rather educating the boy. By the looks of the story, the school made a principled and correct decision in expelling this boy. It will benefit the others in his class and the boy himself, if allowed to learn from it by the parent. Looks like this is not the case.

Using the euphemism "strong minded" to frame, unruly, poorly disciplined and violent, is laughable. Instead of pointing an index finger at the school, perhaps this parent should take note of the other three pointing back at her. The trouble this boy had started at home and can only be solved there, but by the tone of her response, that does not seem likely. Poor kid, the biggest hurdle to his educational growth is his own parent. 

This kid will end up in a local public school which cannot expel him and if he needs services, he will get them. And if he has issues, some teachers will go mad trying to deal with them. If he disrupts his class other parents will rail about how bad public education is and will consider moving their kid to a charter school. Thus the creaming process that over a decade will result in a desecrated public school system.
Charters claim to be public schools but act like private entities all the while using public tax dollars as part of a dual and dueling school systems.