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LEAD Academy

What is “school choice”? LEAD Academy is the perfect example

There is no better example of the disaster that unregulated, undefined "school choice" can bring than Montgomery's first charter school.
March 20, 2023

Instead of fixing a school for military kids, how about just fixing the schools for all kids?

The education of police officers’ kids isn’t worth any extra effort.  Same for the kids of nurses and firefighters. Ditto for the kids of preachers and social workers.  No, in the eyes of the Republican-led Alabama Legislature, the children of this state get what they get and lawmakers aren’t going to go out of their … Continued
February 26, 2020

New report offers advice for fixing state’s charter school issues

Local school boards should have more authority in approving proposed charter schools and parents of students attending the charters should have a larger role on the schools’ governing boards.  Those were two of the suggestions contained within a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which reviewed problems with Alabama’s charter school law and the … Continued
February 6, 2020

Alabama Charter School Commission finally did its job

Finally, the Alabama Charter School Commission is doing its job.  On Monday, the Commission voted to revoke the charter for Woodland Prep, the beleaguered charter school in Washington County, and it took steps to force LEAD Academy, the steadily failing charter in Montgomery, to provide the Commission with necessary information to assure it is operating … Continued
February 4, 2020

An open letter to Senator Del Marsh

Senator: While you and I could not disagree much more on what we need to do to help Alabama schools and educators, I have never questioned that you are a successful politician and businessman. You could have tremendous impact on education in this state–if you would listen to real educators and teachers instead of latching … Continued
January 13, 2020

The colossal charter mess in Montgomery

It is nigh impossible to figure out what is going on with charter schools in Montgomery.  Whether it is by design, deception or a bushel of inaptitude, the situation is clearly defying sections of the charter law and thumbs its nose at what is legal and what is not. The charter law was passed in … Continued
January 6, 2020

The most under-reported stories of 2019

With an abundance of news source and a never-ending stream of daily political news, there are inevitably a handful of stories — important, meaningful stories — that slip through the cracks and go under-reported and under-read.  For whatever reason, these stories in 2019 didn’t go viral and weren’t a hot topic among your friends and … Continued
December 31, 2019