Letter

Amanda sent a letter to the editor of the Gloucester Daily Times on Tuesday, March 2. The letter was not printed in Wednesday's paper. On Wednesday the GCA board signed a lease. Amanda sent an updated letter to the Times, but the original letter was printed instead.

Here is the updated letter:

I am writing to express my continued opposition to the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School . In the beginning, I was concerned about the effects the school would have on the majority of Gloucester ’s students. As time passed I was infuriated by the lack of democratic process and how many rules were broken in granting the charter. Now, as the school is working toward opening, my opposition is strongest.

I do not believe this school can open and run successfully. To date the GCAC has no head of school. The Board of Trustees has canceled five scheduled meetings and has met only once since January 13. They have signed a lease for a building in an industrial park-- a far cry from the downtown location which is the basis of much of their curriculum.

I have attended the six information sessions the GCAC has offered thus far and have found a total of fifteen families interested in the school.

The mismanagement and inefficacy of the Board gives me cause to believe this school may fail. In the information session, a good amount of time is spent on an example project from the Lowell Community Charter School . As strong as the example is, it is important to note that the school it comes from has failed. At its five-year review the state wished to revoke the charter, only to find that after adjusting to the loss of students, the public schools of Lowell were not able to accommodate all of the students returning in one year.

Our children get only one chance at their education. If the GCAC fails, we can not give back those years of learning. The rest of Gloucester ’s students will be hurt first by the cuts made to accommodate the loss of students and, if need be, by the sudden influx of students from a failed school.

This is not a victimless experiment. The GCAC will be spending $2.7 million tax-payer dollars a year. In five years we get to see what they have done with it. We deserve to know what they are doing with the money. To date there has been little to no oversight from the state.

Since the charter was granted in February of 2009 the Board has nothing to show. The risks are too great to let them have the next five years to figure it out.

Amanda Cook
Gloucester, MA