To the Editor:
We are appalled by your depiction of Imagine Schools in ”For Charter School Company, Issues of Spending and Control” (front page, April 24). The true tests of successful schools, whether charter or traditional, are parent satisfaction and student achievement.
Why not spotlight the 37,000 Imagine Schools students who are learning character and leadership along with reading, history and math? Most students enter Imagine’s schools below grade level and make larger academic strides compared with peers in traditional schools.
Why not highlight the great deal for taxpayers? Imagine delivers a high-quality education for 70 percent of the money that schools run by the government spend. Why not feature satisfied parents? The fact that some at four schools were unhappy does not a trend make when most parents at 70 campuses are highly satisfied, most schools are full and over 90 percent of students re-enroll. This is the true measure of Imagine Schools’ effectiveness and success.
Dennis Bakke
Eileen Bakke
Arlington, Va., April 26, 2010
The writers are the founders of Imagine Schools.