Financing and Governing (Observe and Reflect)

1. Would you support the establishment of the Escalante School? Why or why not?  I would support the establishment of the Escalante School because of its purpose.  In the video, the main purpose (the main advantage) of the school was to have smaller class sizes.  Smaller class sizes would promote better results for students.  Teachers would benefit because they would have more quality classroom time with their students.  They could explore topics more in-depth and they could dedicate more time to students that are struggling with certain topics.  I also liked what they said about support, that the Escalante School would be in a network of 30 charter schools and that those schools would support the Escalante school in any way necessary.
2. Why can school boards be resistant to change?  School boards are resistant to change because they need to see a need for the school.  In the video, one of the board members talks about an after school program that does what the Escalante School is setting out to do.  The after school program offers extra help for students that are struggling.  They also discussed resistance because of added teacher support, that teachers would have to dedicate more of their time to the charter school versus staying after school with the after school program.  I feel a third resistance would be the financial side of the school, that opening a charter school is a larger cost to the school district.