"A little known gem"

The Washington Post - Letter to Editor: When will Montgomery County learn to embrace charter schools?

By Jeanne Allen

Bethesda
Sunday, July 18, 2010

...The fact that such busy, accomplished, successful people would offer to start another public school is something we should encourage, not hinder. Instead, Superintendent Jerry Weast signed off on a rejection that said there was no facilities plan, when a multipage professional architect's plan and budget accompanied the application. The rejection questioned Crossways' ability to handle accounting matters, despite a 20-year track record of clean audits of multiple programs. The rejection pondered how the proposed charter would handle transportation and food service, even though Crossways' food service is highly regarded and the application made both issues clear. As it did in rejecting the Jaime Escalante Charter School proposed by a veteran Whitman High School teacher in 2003, the system again failed to demonstrate competency in reviewing charter applications...