This is one of those stories that reminds you how the polarized political world of charter schools can lead to two different whispering campaigns, depending on whether you dig 'em or you don't dig 'em.

The Buffalo News has a story about how Niagara Charter School CEO Gary Stillman has enrolled his 6-year-old son in his school. The school had a lottery, and Stillman didn't put his son's name in the pool. Instead, he put him at the end of the post-lottery waiting list and when a spot opened this fall, he pulled the child out of another charter school and enrolled him at Niagara.

There are two ways to spin this kind of story. How it gets covered in the press depends on who gets it out there first with it -- Stillman, or the people who want charter schools to fail.

1. By enrolling his own flesh and blood in the school, Stillman is expressing the ultimate faith in what the school offers to students.

2. Stillman's kid is taking up a slot in an elite new school that was meant for a more disadvantaged child, proof that this risky experiment isn't having the intendent effect, etc. And even if he did go through the process of putting his kid on the waiting list, the fact that he eventually made the cut only shows that the public really isn't interested in his school so we should stop allowing new public charter schools like Niagara to be created. Stillman should be ashamed of himself!

You see, Charter Chuck?