Reaction to MPS Charter Schools

The Alabama Department of Education announced it has approved the conversion of four Montgomery public schools into charter schools over the next several years.

School Board member Lesa Keith says she is all for it.

“It’s time to move Montgomery forward. It’s not just about education. It’s about the city. People were leaving. Maxwell Air Force Base is upset. I can see why,” said school board member Lesa Keith.

Keith says something had to be done with education in Montgomery.
And she says she charter schools will have a positive impact.

“For me, like I say, I want to pinch myself and say is this really happening? Because to me it’s a dream come true, not for me, but the city,” said Keith.

Keith says it opens up opportunity for new teachers and new growth.
While teachers and students who want to stay at the school will have the opportunity to do so.

The Montgomery Education Foundation held a forum last Spring to find out what parents and others thought of the charter idea.
Not everyone was on board with it.

“Today the Ed Foundation, the business community , under the guise of improvement, they are assassinating public education in Montgomery,” said Willie Welch, a concerned grandparent.

But Keith sees it as opening up new growth and possibilities for the city.

“It’s one more opportunity for your kids. It’s one more choice for our kids. And the more choice that our children have in Montgomery, the more people it should bring to Montgomery and the better these parents and kids are going to feel because they are finally going to be getting the education they so deserve,” said Keith.

The four schools that will be converted are: Davis Elementary, E.D. Nixon Elementary, Bellingrath Middle,
and Lanier High School.
Davis and E.D. Nixon will be converted between 2019 and 2020.
Bellingrath will follow in 2020 or 2021.
Lanier will be converted in 2021 or 2022.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey says teachers will be involved in the conversion process.