Why we serve all students...

A common criticism of charter schools is that they kick out, push out, or counsel out students who are struggling academically or behaviorally. It is sadly accurate that some schools do this and a student with special needs, behavior problems, or extreme academic needs never makes it into the school or doesn’t last long.

We don't do that and we do our very best at KPEA to make sure we are serving all students and that our students are staying with us. And so far, we’re doing this pretty well with well over 80% of our students qualifying for free/reduced lunch and 20% of our students receiving special education services. Included in that 20% are students with autism, Down’s syndrome, and severe emotional needs, among many other diagnoses.  Even though we’re working with students who need us most and we’ve moved locations three times in two years, we’ve lost just a handful of students. And every student who left our school did so because of transportation and location issues, not because they were unhappy with the school or we weren’t able to meet their needs.   

We take the responsibility to serve all kids really seriously for a few reasons. First, from the earliest days of KIPP, this organization has always believed in the simple idea that all students not only can learn, but will learn if taught in a high-quality way. Second, if charter schools are really going to prove what is possible for district schools, we need to be making an apples to apples comparison. If we have great results but do it with only “easy” kids, we’re not proving anything useful. Third, it’s the law and is what we promised to do in our charter.  

But the reality is that serving all students, even students who other schools might look for a way to get rid of is hard work. Being patient with a student who has had her third severe tantrum of the week and knocked over every book in your classroom library is not easy. Planning individualized work for students who can recognize just three letters at the beginning of kindergarten is not easy. Helping a student learn social skills so he doesn’t call other students names every time he gets frustrated is not easy. Picking up a student each morning and bringing him to school because his family’s car is broken and he wouldn’t have a way to school any other way is not easy.

It’s not easy but I know this is the right thing every time I talk to our students’ families who are just as, if not more committed to doing whatever they need to do for their child to be successful as we are. If they are working so hard and doing so much, there is no reason we can’t do the same. Just off the top of my head, we have families who:

• Commute almost two hours each way on three different buses to get their child to school each day
• Have taken in other family member’s children who are struggling so they can go to KPEA even if that means making major adjustments at home and making their own life much more difficult. 
• Say that their outlook for what kind of academic work their child is capable of doing is completely changed after being at KPEA    
• Call every day to check on their child’s enrollment status and scream when they hear their daughter was picked in the lottery
• Hold their son back in kindergarten so they he could go to KIPP when we didn’t have a first grade
• Go to literally dozens of doctor visits to get the counseling, medication, or other services that their child needs to be successful
• Rearrange their work schedule so they can get their child to school and home each day
• Call us during our enrollment season and use a fake name when asking about our SPED program because they’re afraid of us not taking her son who has special needs. And then crying in excitement when she hears about our SPED approach
• Tell us they will quit their jobs and come to school every day if that’s what it takes for their child to be successful. And mean it

So I guess there might be a day that I think our school is not the right place for a certain student, but that hasn't happened yet and it would be the hardest decision I would have to make as a school leader. If the families of our students are doing all of this and much more, we have to make the same kind of unconditional commitment to their children. No matter what. Even if it is hard sometimes. Because it is hard.