Herricks Superintendent Discusses Charter School Advantages

Herricks Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth recently posed an interesting notion that because of all of the fights that the district has had New York State over testing,  (APPR) and other issues, the idea of becoming more like a charter school could be attractive.

More than 20 schools near Los Angeles are petitioning the state of California to become charter schools “because they believe that under the restrictions that have been hoisted upon them, they can no longer serve the kinds of kids in the way that they have,” Dr. Bierwirth said during last Thursday night’s board of education meeting at the .

He added that districts such as Herricks are going to have to look harder into pushing the law to get more of the benefits that charter schools receive. The Herricks School District is holding itself to higher standards than what the state is, the superintendent added.

“They’re wasting our time being held to stupid standards and stupid assessments,” he said, referring to APPR and other state mandates.

Bierwirth noted however, that under the current laws, it would be illegal for a district to become part of the charter system.