Not all charters created equal
It would be helpful if Ruth Conniff, in calling necessary attention to the challenges facing public education today, used more precise language in making her arguments (“A Tricky Balance,” 12/10/2015). When she criticizes charter schools that are “draining resources and energy from the majority of students,” I’m not sure what schools she’s talking about. Is it schools financed through the state’s school voucher system? Or schools set up to operate as charters in Milwaukee? Or the hundreds of charter schools in Wisconsin authorized by their local school districts?
I’m pretty sure she’s not talking about MG21 — a charter school for at-risk and independent-learning high school students in Monona. At MG21, we empower the very kinds of project-based learning highlighted in Beyond Measure. Our students and faculty embrace the 21st Century Skills framework that focuses on collaborative teaching and learning, not a curriculum focused on rote instruction and testing. Our students help monitor lake quality for the Wisconsin DNR, have their plays selected for performance at the Overture Center, and are jump-starting careers in nursing through partnerships with Madison College. They even take Advanced Placement classes.
And lest Conniff thinks our school operates at odds with local educators, we enjoy an unusually strong relationship with our chartering school district — Monona Grove. Our school regularly keeps the Monona Grove School Board informed of our progress and successes, and the board in turn provides MG21 with control over its curriculum and teaching. Those strong ties were endorsed earlier this year when the school district renewed our charter to operate MG21 for another five years.
Those like Conniff looking for solutions to the tricky balance facing public schools today might do well to start in their backyard. Our doors are always open to those who want to see what we’re about.
Phil McDade
president, MG21 governance board
Monona (via email)
Room with a view
Joe Tarr’s bang-up article on Airbnb (“Under the Radar,” 12/3/2015) came out as we were trying to get the inspection department engaged in our neighbor’s treehouse from Hades in a tree that is 50% on our property! It has a storm door and double-hung windows and looks like a treehouse in Fitchburg on the official Airbnb site. Of course our neighbor, who already has tenants, told my clueless alder that it was a “playhouse.”
Madison has no appetite to go after these folks, unfortunately. This is Uber all over again.
Sandra Saul (via email)
Defining moment?
In “Under Attack” (12/10/2015), Meg Robertson attempts to dismiss the videos showing Planned Parenthood’s luncheon negotiation about the value of various human parts and the procedures for harvesting them as “heavily and selectively edited.” How much does it take to create a defining moment in U.S. history? Consider the way Nixon’s beard photographed on TV; Dan Quayle’s inability to spell “potato”; Sarah Palin using her view of Russia from a kitchen window as the basis of her foreign policy expertise; or Mitt Romney’s characterization of the 47% who wouldn’t vote for him.
LuAnne Feik (via email)
Wheels on the Square
Many people assume that it’s illegal to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk (“Cruising the Capitol,” 12/10/2015). In Madison, mostly it isn’t; the presumption is that a biker can ride on the sidewalk, except where buildings immediately abut the sidewalk (cityofmadison.com/BikeMadison/getBiking/sidewalks.cfm). There are specific exceptions, with signage. On sidewalks around the Capitol Square, there are signs on sidewalks across the street from the Capitol directing bicyclists to walk their bikes on Carroll between State and West Washington, and on Mifflin between Carroll and Pinckney. A biker now has to ride around the Square counterclockwise from the foot of State Street to continue east on Mifflin. Reworking Mifflin to facilitate bike traffic heading east from State Street is a good example of how Madison has landed on the Platinum list of bike-friendly cities.
Norm Littlejohn (via email)
Corrections
In last week’s issue, an article on Planned Parenthood incorrectly stated the number of clinics that closed as a result of Gov. Scott Walker’s decision to limit Title V funding. Five clinics closed, not four. In “The Bucky Economy,” the name of the owner of Schmidt’s towing service was incorrect. It’s John Schmidt, not Jim Schmidt.
