Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302140107
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH SHUSTER LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
CRITICS MOCK PROPOSED FOR-PROFIT `MCSCHOOLS'
With the Los Angeles public school system in disarray, Benno C. Schmidt Jr. came to the suburban San Fernando Valley last week as pitchman for a national network of for-profit schools that he said would be "a revolution in education."Schmidt, who abruptly resigned nine months ago as president of Yale University to join the Edison Project, said the valley would be the site of one of the first schools "created from scratch" by the project.
The schools would provide an advanced curriculum of academics, athletics and the arts. Students would be fluent in a foreign language by the second grade. Every child would have a portable computer on which to work.
The school day and the academic year would be longer so students would learn more. Campuses would be open 11 to 12 hours a day, to accommodate before- and after-school programs. Tuition would be $7,000 to $8,000 a year.
Teachers would be hired and fired based on assessment of their performance in the classroom, undergo a residency program similar to medical students, and earn up to $90,000 a year.
"It sounds great," said Cherie Crane, a suburban Sherman Oaks parent with three young children who attended an invitation-only briefing by Schmidt last week.
"I think if they can hold down the cost, it'll be terrific," Crane said. "I think it's very promising."
But to skeptics - particularly officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District - the schools would be discriminatory, overly commercial and unable to provide for students with difficulties or language problems.
"I find it offensive that people will be making a profit off of the kids' education," said Jeff Horton, a member of the Los Angeles Board of Education.
"Kids with impoverished parents . . . are not going to make them a profit. Their base is going to be parents who can afford it," Horton said.
"I call them `McSchools,' " he said. "[They're] turning schools into McDonald's franchises."
In attempt to gauge public support for an Edison School in the Valley, Schmidt and other Edison officials held evening meetings last week with a select group of specially invited parents.
Edison officials declined to say how they selected those who were invited, despite being asked by several people who received invitations. But the audiences at the meeting were predominantly white, middle-class parents.
Supporters say the Edison Project will be an important and valuable alternative to the nation's troubled public school systems.
"Public education as it is now governed and structured simply can not be reformed far enough or fast enough to save the next generation of kids," said John Chubb, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and one of the co-founders of the Edison plan.
"Public education is incredibly important," Chubb said. "That's why it needs a jolt from outside."
The public school system in Los Angeles has been beset by crisis for more than two years.
Tests scores are declining and well below the state and national averages. Budget reductions have forced deep program and salary cuts - which in turn have led to a threatened teachers strike on Feb. 23.
A campaign to break up the school district has drawn serious support, particularly in the San Fernando Valley. A separate plan to keep the district intact but impose sweeping reforms also is being debated.
Many public education officials say the community should put its energy into improving the public schools, rather than abandoning them in favor of programs like the Edison Project.
"I'm just sorry that Benno Schmidt decided to devote his energy to developing private schools rather than trying to improve public education in this country," Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said after the project was announced last year.
"This represents a serious challenge to the public schools, and at this point, it's all unsubstantiated claims and empty public relations," Shanker said.
Helen Bernstein, president of the United Teachers-Los Angeles union, said she has not given up hope that the Los Angeles public school system can be saved. But she said many teachers are ready to abandon ship.
"They're mad, they're angry, they feel demoralized," Bernstein said. "I'm not far behind. I'd be looking for another job too. I think people are so desperate, they'd go anywhere."