With respect to charter schools, I'm interested in hearing about problems as
well as successes.

Having said that, let me clear up two important points:

1)  charter schools are *public* schools, not private, and not for-profit.

2)  nobody envisions museums running out en masse to charter schools; but
I expect that collaborations between museums and charter schools may be
relatively easy to establish, and to the extent that they showcase the
museum's educational assets, they may lead to broader relationships with
school districts and other community organizations.

Andy Finch
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AAM Government Affairs


On Thu, 21 Mar 1996, Edward Jay Pershey wrote:

> I was involved very briefly with an Edison Project school that was trying to
> obtain a charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Lots of upfront
> administrative costs and promotion, but little substance. Running a school
> is NOT like running a business...or at least, I can't see how it can be made
> to do so. Educated kids are not products or cost units.
>
> Private schools are expensive, and they don't always pay faculty well. I
> couldn't see how the proposed charter school was gonna keep and maintain a
> quality faculty and provide all the amenities that they claimed.
>
> Is there a suceessfull charter school in operation?
>
> And, finally, do museums really want to run full-time schools?
>