skip.

I disagree with your interpretation. There was no personal attack, nothing was misrepresented by me.

The part I disagree most with is the idea that KIPP employees are “private citizens.’ They are not, they are public employees in that they are paid by taxpayer dollars and given responsibility for the education and well being of children by the state.

More generally, the well established parens patriae doctrine gives the state responsibility for the well being of all children and this includes a responsibility to investigate allegations of child abuse.

One of the most disturbing things about this story and many charter schools is how charter organizations wish to avoid scrutiny and accountability, the scrutiny and accountability for their actions that are givens with public schools and public school employees.

- Avoid personal attacks toward all and challenges directed at specific posters.

It seems to me that repeating, without verifying, allegations the veracity of which you yourself question, allegations which are directed at particular individuals, is tantamount to making a personal attack towards those individuals.
Furthermore, your response to the comments by Eric Jensen does nothing less than twist an honest man’s words to obfuscate a valid point, flinging it back at him as a challenge. That seems to me to be a “challenge directed at a specific poster”.

- Respect the privacy of private citizens that do not want to be mentioned publicly.

Repeating, without verifying, allegations the veracity of which you yourself question, allegations which are directed at particular individuals, is disrespecting the privacy of those private citizens. Yes, the teachers at that school are indeed private citizens, and I would imagine that they would not want to be mentioned publicly — especially in a way that drags their good names through the mud. Just because the Fresno Unified School District had the poor judgment to release their report to the press and the Fresno Bee had the poor judgment to publish it, does not mean that you must follow suit.

- Avoid misrepresentation of articles, research and events.

Again, as you admit that you know, in fact, no facts relating to the story you are writing about, your indiscriminate reprinting of unsubstantiated allegations is the height of irresponsibility. As Mr. Tschang told Mr. Mathews that the “accusations were either false or ripped out of context”, it seems highly probable that you are guilty of misrepresenting events. Indeed, as you admit in your reply to Mr. Jensen, it might be that only one allegation out of all of them is true (probably the very scary one about the principal making the students stay after school to finish their homework); were that the case, you would, by reprinting all of the untrue allegations, be guilty of misrepresenting a seriously large number of events.

Thank you,
Julio Melendez

The spin continues.

If only a single allegation of abuse is true, that is one too many.

My name is Eric Jensen, and I currently teach Spanish at KIPP San Jose Collegiate in the South Bay Area. Last year, I worked at KIPP Fresno last year as the school’s 7th grade history teacher, and personally know both Chi Tschang and Chris Ammon. While I was not witness to the alleged abuses, as the report’s investigations took place before my time on staff, I can comment on the school’s culture and discipline policies. Were Mr. Tschang and other teachers strict at KIPP? They were extremely strict. They expected students to always maintain perfect posture, to always maintain eye contact while listening to their teachers, and to spend every minute in school learning. Were they abusive? Absolutely not. While I did observe (and, as a teacher myself, also contributed to) students being disciplined by having to serve after school detentions, write apology letters, and clean classrooms, not once during the year did I suspect Mr. Tshang or others of any “abuse” as the report describes.
The thing many outsiders don’t realize is that the investigative report largely interviewed families who had already left KIPP, either by being asked to leave or because they were dissatisfied with the school. Naturally, this will lead to a biased report. Think about it this way–imagine if an outside organization surveys customer satisfaction at a major US airline. However, instead of interviewing a random sampling of customers, they random the ten percent of customers who are least satisfied with that airline. Obviously, this subset will not be representative of the airline’s true performance.
For me the biggest pity is that so few of the district officials we dealt with during the school’s closure came to our school on a typical school day. To my knowledge, not one Fresno Unified official observed Mr. Hawke’s phenemonal math instruction, or any of our boys’ basketball games, or any of the band performances, and any of the other of the daily routines that made our school a great place for a kid to learn. Very little attention was paid to the parents and students who spoke out in support of Chi Tschang and the school in general, 97% of whom were happy with (according to a mid-year parent survey).
This is ultimately what I don’t understand–what I don’t think I will ever understand–the disconnect between this report and the reality of a generally happy, successful middle school in Southwest Fresno. I don’t understand how a school with great test scores and supportive, happy families was forced to close.
Anyone who has experience with a KIPP school will tell you that it’s not the perfect school for every student. It’s true that many drop out due to the stress of the heavy homework load, challenging courses, and high behavioral expectations. Still, for students and families who are dedicated to the idea that success requires lots of hard work and dedication, it’s amazing opportunity to get an excellent education, especially when excellent public schools are not an option.

http://www.examiner.com/x-356-SF-Education-Examiner~y2009m3d29-Tracking-down-updates-on-the-Fresno-KIPP-brouhaha-and-other-items

Here’s info on attrition at the San Francisco Bay area KIPP schools:

http://www.sfschools.org/2008/09/study-local-kipp-schools-lose-60-of.html

[Please note that AMPS generally requires full real names with comments, but exceptions are made for school personnel and others who have good reasons not to use real names. This is one of those exceptions. TJM]