The Alphabet Soup of ALPs, ,ALEs, and PPPs,...and how they relate to RRR and ABC

Can we talk?
I mean really talk?

This is about Alternative Learning Programs in public schools....ALP"S

ALP, ALE, PPP, whatever they are called, are all basically the same thing... public school,  just with different names.     After I recently found myself looking into what the local ALP ,(called MEPP, Mead Educational Parent Partnership, a subsidiary of Mead Schools here in Spokane,) has to say about itself... I need to talk about it to others who want to know what I have learned.

Read, please, if you will, what they advertise on their web page about themselves... being a public school, tax funded and all, and then, let's talk; or rather, I will write and you can think, about it.  Respond if you like.

They say:

"Throughout Washington State, educators, parents and community members persistently strive to create strong educational models to best meet the needs of students. Several years ago, the Mead Education Partnership Program (MEPP) was developed in response to the desire of community members for a program that could support, enrich and provide resources to the home school community. "

Note: These public school programs, (Alternative Learning Programs or ALPs,) are not newly created programs that sprung up into existence  just for "the homeschool community." They were already in place for students who were labeled by the schools as being "at risk." 

Is your child at risk of not getting a proper education if they are homeschooled by you without their help?  The public school and the NEA behind them, thinks so, so they have kindly opened their ALP doors to the homeschooling community, because they want "every child" to succeed,  in the meeting of public school philosophies and objectives.  On the flipside, homeschooling families have repeated demonstrated that homeschooling works quite well... this is why we have a Washington State Homeschool Law.

Remember that if you choose to homeschool here in WA state, you are at liberty to do so legally under the Home Based Education Law which do not make provision for state funding for your personal project of teaching your kids on your own or sending them to private school.  It also does not have the direct oversight of your local public school.  

Support, enrich  and provide resources?" 

Wait another minute.  Why don;t they do this in the regular classroom at school?  

 Aren't the schools we have supposed to be supporting and enriching everyones' children's education?  Instead, we have issues that make parents want to remove children from the schools.  Instead we see funding being applied to an elite few who have some personal preferences about their own child's personal education.  In Alt Ed programs funding is being doled out by the thousands to provide a special education to just a few simply because they have an interest in homeschooling, which, by law is not to be funded by the state?    

It should be noted that getting students into these programs is financially beneficial for the school district who gets the same money for a student who is doing the Alt Ed program at the school without having to be on campus full time.  This means that they get the money, but do not actually have to teach them or feed them or grade them or monitor their behavior all day long.  It also creates jobs for those same parents who teach classes on school campuses, often to their own students.  

Perhaps what these "community members..." : 

a.) ...want to recapture loss government funds due to lower enrollment nubers as more people choose to homeschool.  This means of course finding more money to give in an already hurting economy.

b.) .....want to make schools accessible to "homeschoolers."  Note though, that homeschoolers can and always has been able to access schools for classes without being enrolled as full time students. in the district.  

c.) ....want funding from the government to purchase their own choice of books materials and classes.  They want the money.

c.) ....to create themselves a job.  Teachers and parents get paid to teach classes.

d.) want to create a charter school where no law in our state for the creation of a charter school has been created.

e.) ... have reasons that are really unknown.

The school district already provides an educational resource that all parents, even parents who homeschool can access that if they need the resources of public education; it's called the local public school.  There are PTOs and PTAs.... there are places for parent volunteers in the classrooms, on the playground and helping to cross the busy streets.  The public education system is a tool that should be used to enrich students on an equal basis... not simply enrich a special group of people who think they deserve enrichment more than others at taxpayer's expense.

As benevolent as it sounds to be responsive to "the community," one would expect public servants to focus on improving the public schools we already have, ones that truly are open to all the public.  Instead, these community members are busy creating private schools for themselves with funds for students who really are in trouble and "at -risk."   

 Once enrolled in an ALE or PPP, a once legal "homeschooler" is no longer "homeschooling," (no longer under the RWC) even though the parent feels like they are and is directly involved in teaching and curriculum choices for their children.  I have been told that the school would hand out and "intent to provide home based education" form and have the parent file it, then have the same parent enroll the potential student in the ALE.  

"At MEPP, the students' education takes place in a variety of locations which may include home, other sites (colleges) as well as the Five Mile Prairie School. Five Mile Prairie School accommodates teaching/learning schedules at home by offering flexible class times.  District approved curriculum is chosen by parent instructors in collaboration with certified teachers."

Students are generally enrolled full time in the public school in order to participate, there is, as there has always been, a possibility of accessing using the ALP program ancillary as a homeschooler   As such, full time students are not homeschooling, though they very well may be doing school at home.  Even if parents are doing some teaching in the home... the parents and the students that they "teach" are not homeschoolers.  They have no longer any jurisdiction in using the Home Based Instruction Law for what they do.  They are in public funded school.

A few questions:
Do these parents now "work" for the state?  
Are they now controlled by the state? 

They now certainly must answer to the state for what is being taught by them to their own children in their home.  They must meet and report to teachers on staff at the school instead of staff reporting to the parents and they must use state approved materials for teaching too.
 
 Our WA law declares that once an intent to homeschool has been filed with the district,  all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine; selection of books, teaching materials and curriculum; and methods, timing, and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction shall be the responsibility of the parent.  Home School does not mean doing public school at home.  Also, homeschooling is not, nor has ever been a financial burden to tax payers, and homeschool parents have never been the paid employees or financial benefactors of public schools

"Students participate in classes one or more days a week at the Five Mile Prairie School.  Students can meet for Physical Science in their own science room, explore robotics in the media room, enjoy dance in the family room, or choose from a plethora of other classes, all of which infuse current technology."

Family room?   Does your local school welcome family... with such hospitality as this?  

Do all public schools offer  a plethora of other classes... like dance classes and robotics to all their wonderful students?  How about computers;  are they free for all public school kids?
And, do all public schools offer individual reimbursements to student's  parents for extracurricular learning experiences and classes parents hand select for their students?  No.  In fact is many schools lack of funding cuts important programs like art and they beg yearly for donations of tissue, crayons and pencils for use in the public school classroom... instead of buying it in bulk at cheaper prices than parents will pay individually for their own kids.  

In addition to the family room feature, children enrolled in these special programs have had piano, dance and sports like fencing... paid for.  Your hard earned money... taxes, are hard at work in the ALE PPP programs at the local school, providing a "free " and "public education."

"While the technological tools we use to teach at Five Mile Prairie School may have changed over time, the mission has remained the same:  to create the best education possible for students by listening to and collaborating with parents."

Really?  Does your local school work hard to collaborate with parents?  They should, but there are many educators at schools who think they know so much better than the parent...which is why so many parents leave the public school situations and opt for homeschool or private school instead.

 ((((Can we talk?))) 

 If you are enrolled full time in an ALE,ALP or PPP, you might need to reassessing what you are doing and why you are doing it.  ALEs ALPs and PPPs are public school, not homeschooling.  Homeschoolers they take no money for education from the government.  There are no contractual partnerships between public school personnel and parents in our Homeschool Law.  In fact, homeschoolers are educating their own children at home (and out about in the world,) and they do this without creating additional financial burdens for Washington State.

Posted by Lisa