The NY Times devotes a lot of space today to the emergence of a decent-sized charter school market in Harlem. The "outsider" label for some charter school operators can be a real issue at times, but quality can undoubtedly trump that pressure over time. The Chalkboard agrees with comments in the article by Deborah Kenny, of Village Academies, and by Eva Moskowitz, of Harlem Success Academy, that Harlem was in desperate need of new educational options.

What was allowed to happen to our public schools in Harlem (by our public school system) over the last generation was absolutely shameful. The emergence of some exciting new public programs is long-overdue and provides hope for the future.

Dumbest quote in the article: "If (charter schools are) so rich and golden, why aren't they everywhere." - Cordell Cleare. Maybe it is because people like Cleare (who organized a rally and press conference this week opposing a charter public school from sharing space in a vastly underutilized public school building) have been working behind the scenes to keep charters from coming into her neighborhood.

UPDATE: The Charter Blog also notes that one reason there aren't more charter schools for Cordell Cleare and her friends to mess with is there is a statutory cap limiting the creation of new charter school options for families across the state.

UPDATE II: Like Andy Smarick at The Charter Blog, Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters didn't really care for the Times story (but for completely different reasons,) and offers some thoughts of her own here. She poses an interesting question to kick around at the ballpark this weekend: If charter public schools are committed to providing small classes, as many of them do, why aren't the competitive effects of chartering prompting traditional public schools to do the same? Or are they? Talk amongst yourselves... Leonie raises very important questions about the impact on host schools (specifically class size) when they share space with charters, but there is still something strange about watching a group that lobbies for small classes use small class sizes as a criticism of charter schools.

UPDATE III: Leonie writes in to say that she was being careful to not criticize charter schools. merely the way they have been implemented in NYC and to challenge the theory that competition from charter schools will improve the larger school system.