Same Goals: School Districts And Charter Schools Can Get Along

Years ago during one of the first course meetings of my administrative credential program, the professor discussed the importance of relationships. She explained that if there was one single thing to take away from the entire program, it would be the impact of successful relationships. I can remember sitting there that evening and many afterwards thinking to myself “I enrolled in this program only to hear each week about something as basic as relationships?"

At the time of the program, I was moderately successful at work and hadn’t given the importance of relationships a whole lot of thought. There were some breakdowns at the organization I worked at during the program, but I hadn’t linked them to relationships. As I moved through my career and ended up starting my own schools, I have come to realize just how critical successful relationships are. I have learned that without constructive relationships, meeting common goals is impossible. Working towards positive relationships with all that I encounter from our students and their parents, to our Board and staff members, and the entire community.

We also work diligently to develop positive relationships with local school districts. As a charter school, we, along with many others, have become a significant component of today’s educational landscape as charter schools continue to serve thousands of students throughout the state of California. This has caused some tension at times between school districts and charter schools. Charter schools operate under the authorization of a school district and are under review each year by its authorizer. Our current authorizers are highly supportive of the work we do and want us to be successful just as we want them to be as well. It is a mutually supportive relationship that can benefit each side.

We believe that we share the same goals as school districts and that is to provide an effective educational option for all students. We work closely with many school districts in being sure students are receiving the best educational option for their needs. We believe that rather than work against each other we can work together and support each other in providing what students need to be successful in school and beyond.

We have found that in working towards the same goal of educating students, we have formed many positive and constructive relationships with school districts. Just as my early professor stated years ago, relationships are absolutely critical in achieving ultimate success and in this case, we feel that students are the ones who benefit the most from these positive relationships.