Troubling Sanctuary: Excavating the Moral and Educational Wreckage of the Charter School Movement

Gerald Wood

Authors

Gerald Wood Northern Arizona University

Keywords:

Neoliberalism, youth leadership, Agamben, charter gentrification, exclusion

Abstract

The Mountain English Spanish Academy (MESA), a dual language middle school was chartered and housed in one of the elementary schools in the local public school district. Serving predominantly Latino/a and Native American youth, the school was developed to meet the needs of bilingual and bicultural youth. However, with the advent of English-only laws and the erosion of dual language programs, the focus of the school shifted to meet the needs of a different group of students. In 2009, the school was evicted from the elementary school and ties between the school and the district were severed at the mutual request of both parties. What decisions and mechanisms precipitated this decision? What does it mean to be expelled from the larger public domain? What does the future of the charter school movement hold?

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Troubling Sanctuary: Excavating the Moral and Educational Wreckage of the Charter School Movement

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