It’s reasonable to think there might be some controversy about any new school. Maybe where it is located, what it is named, who the principal may be, what courses will be taught? But seldom do you expect the wholesale turmoil that hit rural Washington County, AL when...

Winston County is a small, rural county in northwest Alabama.  Double Springs, with just over 1,000 residents, is the county seat.  Its "claim to fame" is the fact that citizens here were very opposed to Alabama withdrawing from the Union during the Civil War.  When...

Unity School Services is the education management organization, created by Soner Tarim, signed on to run the new Woodland Prep charter school in Washington County and LEAD Academy in Montgomery.  Documentary film maker Mark Hall of Austin, TX has spent years following...

Lord only knows how many hours I have spent in the last three months or so digging  deeper and deeper into the charter mess in Washington County.  And have written more blog posts about it than most readers probably have cared to read.. But those who know me either...

Alabama is one of the new kids on the block when it comes to charter schools, having only passed a law allowing these schools in 2015.  Which says to many that we would be wise to take some lessons from states who have played the charter game much longer than we have....

Our Montgomery lawmakers often labor long and hard at drafting a bill--and then ignoring what they wrote later on.  There is no better example of this than the charter school law sponsored by Senator Del Marsh and passed in 2015. This law sets up a 10-member charter...

As the debacle with Woodland Prep in Washington County continues and as the state charter commission resembles a lap dog more than a watch dog, questions keep piling up in my mind. Soner Tarim, the self-proclaimed education guru from Texas, who owns Unity School...

When the senate sent its education budget to the house during the past legislative session, the line item for the charter school commission was increased from $200,000 to $900.000 and there was an additional $500,000 for New Schools for Alabama. I could not find...

Pat Hardy of Fort Worth has served on the Texas State Board of Education since 2002.  She has been re-elected five times.  A Republican, she has more than 30 years’ experience in education. She has received a bushel basket full of honors and awards along the way....

Editor's note: Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group, more commonly known as AL.com.  He has never shied from calling out things that make no sense to him.  He does just that in this recent article about the state charter school...

Since Soner Tarim of Sugarland, TX has management contracts for both Woodland Prep and LEAD Academy charter schools, I watched with great interest when he appeared before the Texas Board of Education, on June 14, trying to get approval to open eight new charter...

The charter school law passed by the legislature in 2015 established the Alabama Public Charter School Commission, an entity that has stumped its toe repeatedly during the controversy involving Woodland Prep in Washington County. Let's take a closer look at this...

Anyone reading this blog for the last three months is very aware of the chaos unfolding in Washington County about the location of Woodland Prep charter school there.  The over-riding concern among educators in this small, southwest Alabama county is the impact on the...

Voters in Alabama will have a chance next March to approve, or turn down, a constitutional amendment that would replace our elected state school board with one appointed by the governor.  Governor Ivey calls this the "Take the Lead, Alabama" initiative. But right now...

If wisdom comes with age--and I'm not sure it always does--at age 76 I should have learned something.  Maybe I have, maybe I haven't.  But I do believe after so many years in so many different situations, I have figured out how to spot someone who can not be trusted. ...

By a vote of 8-5, the Texas Board of Education on June 14 turned down an application by Soner Tarim to build four new charter schools.  Tarim is the consultant who has management contracts for Woodland Prep in Washington County and LEAD Academy in Montgomery.. Today's...

If someone from the Midwest showed up at your door and asked to see "rural Alabama,"  an excellent choice would be to get out a map and show them how to get to Washington County.  You see, this sprawling county of 1,000 square miles and less than 17,000 people fits...

At some point we've all played the parlor game when someone tells the person next to them something, then they tell the next and so on until the last person relates what they heard.  Often we are amazed at what gets lost in the telling. I could not help but think of...

I listened today for 120 minutes as the state charter school commission discussed the request by Woodland Prep in Washington County to open in the fall of 2020, instead of 2019.  While I was hopeful common sense might prevail, in my heart of hearts I knew it would...

For months, state superintendent Eric Mackey has said that he has no jurisdiction over the state charter school commission.  (However, as we have pointed out numerous times, the charter law of 2015 clearly says that "The department shall oversee the performance and...

Because terms of five current members of the state charter school commission expired May 31 and because the final selection of who serves on this board belong to the state board of education, people across Alabama will be closely watching who they pick for these seats...

Here is another example of the incompetence of the state charter school commission.  The following notice is from state department of education web site. "The Alabama Public Charter School Commission will have a meeting on June 7, 2019, at 10 A.M. at the Gordon...

WALA television in Mobile did a story about the Washington County charter school chaos May 29.  They did a fine job in giving both sides of the story.  (Though the achievement numbers presented by Woodland Prep supporters were out of date.)  You can see it here. What...

Last week, Soner Traim, spoke to the Texas version of the Alabama  charter school commission, seeking approval of eight new charter schools in Texas.  (As anyone reading this blog on a regular basis knows, Tarim has the management  contract for both the Woodland Prep...

Soner Tarim of Sugarland, TX owns Unity School Services.  This company has management contracts with both Woodland Prep charter in Washington County, AL and LEAD Academy in Montgomery, AL.  The applications seeking approval as a charter school were reviewed for both...

Soner Tarim is the Muslim from Sugarland, TX whose company, Unity School Services, has management contracts with Woodland Prep charter in Washington County and LEAD Academy charter in Montgomery. No doubt he sings the praises of all things Alabama when he shows up...

Alabama is not the only place where people are questioning the antics of their state charter school commission.  So is Illinois.  And they have much more experience with charters that Alabama has. Here is an article that gives the entire picture.  Here are highlights:...

We've told you before how Woodland Prep charter supporters (as well as people at the state department of education in Montgomery) have tried to support their case by using numbers that are dead wrong.  Read about this here. This time it is their high-priced management...

If you are an old-timer like me, or maybe just someone who listened while your daddy told you about the "good old days," you know that Dick Tracy was the square-jawed detective in the comic books and Sergeant Friday was the star of Dragnet back in the days of black...

You knew something was up when the big charter bus pulled up to the Gordon Persons building, the home of the state department of education in Montgomery, the morning of May 9.  The same day as a state board of education meeting.  The bus brought nearly 60 people  from...

A few days ago we wrote about Woodland Prep charter supporters and people at the state department of elucidation constantly saying that 900 children leave Washington County each day to go to private schools out-of-county. Turns out this number came from the...

Considering the present state of public education in Alabama, what is happening in Washington County about the proposed charter school is much, much more significant than it appears to the causal observer. For one thing, one very important one thing, it is about...

For the past year supporters of a new charter school, Woodland Prep, in Washington County have repeatedly said that 900 students leave the county every day to attend private schools.  In fact, five of the letters of support attached to the charter application referred...

Yesterday, May 3, The Washington Post published an in-depth article about the ruckus in Washington County, AL about a proposed charter school planned for there. Among the things mentioned was that the charter, known as Woodland Prep, identified their new principal on...

When a newspaper with the national impact of The Washington Post covers a story out of tiny Washington County, AL, you immediately know there is something serious afoot.  In this case, it is the Washington County charter fiasco that got the attention of veteran...

People in Washington County have been battling against a planned charter school for more than a year.  Seems that at every turn they have faced roadblock after roadblock.  The state charter school commission has denied their opposition exists and information that...

The gentleman who made this statement was one of 200 people who came to the Washington County high school in Chatom on Monday night, April 29.  He was probably in his 60's.  His face was weathered and he wore a baseball cap and work shirt. Like everyone else in the...

Part of the process of getting any charter school application approved is for those seeking the school so show support from the local community by attaching letters of support to the application. And though these letters are public record, they only surfaced in...

Information about the workings of the state charter school commission have not been easy to find.  But slowly and surely, thanks in large part to the persistence of people impacted by what is going on, we are learning more and more. For example, even though this is a...

At least that may be the case Monday night, April 29, when documentary film maker Mark Hall of Austin, TX, comes to Washington County high school in Chatom to screen his movie, KILLING ED.  This will be in the school auditorium at 6:15 p.m.  Those I talk to expect an...

The best guessimation I can find is that there are just over 7,000 charter schools in the U.S.  Of these, only about 10 percent are in rural locations.  Why so few? Peter Greene is a former public school teacher of many years in rural Pennsylvania.  He has written an...

Common sense.  Something we hear about all the time, but sometimes appears to be beyond the reach of some folks to actually put in practice. One definition says: Sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts. Then you look at the...

From the moment I first heard about the charter school ruckus in Washington County, I wondered why Eric Mackey, state superintendent, was not looking into the situation. I was told that neither the state school board, nor Mackey, has jurisdiction over the charter...

Mark Hall lives in Austin, TX and practiced law for 25 years.  But even as a child he was fascinated by film making and recalls trying his hand with an 8mm camera back then.  So when he hung out his law shingle in Austin 20 years ago, he also joined the Austin Film...

If you think Millry, AL is small, (population 546 in 2010) then go a few miles west of town to the Aquilla community.  Its the kind of place that are sprinkled across the state.  You know, you see one of those little green signs with a name, but nothing more. This was...

All charter school applications must be evaluated by a qualified entity before action by the state charter school commission.  From the outset, this was done by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers based in Chicago.  Today it is being done by the...

As we all know, news travels fast in this high-tech world we all live in.  Even if it is news coming out of rural Washington County, AL. Dr. Diane Ravitch is in New York City.  A  former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, she is founder of the Network for Public...

Just as I did, John Moon with the Alabama Political Reporter, got a whiff of the stench coming from Washington County and started asking questions and digging.  Josh is a veteran investigative reporter with a track record of exposing wrong doing.  You can see his...

If you are looking for peace and quiet and not many neighbors, my advice is to head for Washington County, AL.  The first county north of Mobile County and bordered on one side by Mississippi and the Tombigbee River on the other, the last census showed only17,629...