By LYNDSEY TURNER
Before I get into the opinion portion of this piece I would like to preface my background. My name is Lyndsey Turner and I have lived in Beloit, Wisconsin my entire life. From the moment I was born to my current education at Beloit College I have always called the dirty B my home. Growing up here at a certain point in time I came to the realization that myself and many of my peers were living in less than ideal conditions. The School District of Beloit has around a 90% poverty rate, meaning that the majority of students within the school district are considered under the poverty line. Due to this, myself and many other students were not only living in high-stress situations, but at school, there were limited resources to help students cope with what was going on at home, and a lack of resources to provide students with a quality education.
Here’s where I get opinionated: Diane Hendrick’s charter school, The Lincoln Academy, is the worst implementation in the City of Beloit due to the negative effects on the School District of Beloit.
Who is Diane Hendricks? Diane Hendricks is a billionaire with a current net worth of 19.3 billion dollars making her one of the richest women in the world. Her primary company is ABC Supply which is one of, if not the largest, roofing distributor in America. Along with ABC supply, she has a number of other investments, most of which exist in the City of Beloit. To name a few of her Beloit investments: Hendricks CareerTek, ABC Supply Stadium, and owning nearly every building in downtown Beloit. (Please note that there are businesses she owns and operates, but there are a number of businesses she does not own, but they still have to pay her for rent). What is a charter school you may ask? Charter schools are publicly funded schools of choice that often use a lottery system to pick the students that attend the school. In bigger cities, charter schools have more of a draw because it helps students have more choice in specialized programs that may be thriving at specific charter schools.
So why is this charter school problematic? Firstly, let us note that this is the only charter school in Beloit, meaning that the school is less about offering more choice in schooling, and rather about adding competition to the School District of Beloit. Keep in mind that the School District of Beloit already has extremely limited funding, and the Lincoln Academy takes public funding. This means that the already poverty-stricken school district is receiving even less funding, as the Lincoln Academy is taking a portion of that funding. Since opening the charter school in 2021 the school has done quite the damage to the School District of Beloit.
In the most recent election for Wisconsin on November 8th, 2022 I noticed a question in reference to taxes on the ballot. I cannot remember the exact amount, but it was quite a number that the city was asking for to help fund the School District of Beloit since the district lost a large portion of public funding to the Lincoln Academy. With people in the city already having a lack of money the tax proposal was not passed. Due to a lack of funding the school district had to make a tough call. The school district decided to close both intermediate schools (4th-8th grade) on the west side of the river in Beloit. Both schools, Cunningham Intermediate and my alma mater McNeel Intermediate officially closed their doors in June 2023. The closing of these schools led to a multitude of issues.
One of the main issues is overcrowding. Both of the schools on the east side of the river Franfruzen and Aldrich were already overpopulated before the other schools shut down. The district’s proposal to help with overcrowding was to shift back to the original school model of elementary K-5, and middle school sixth-eighth. I am currently doing observations at Merrill Elementary School, and there are no issues with overcrowding at the elementary level, but after talking with some of my peers observing at the middle school level those schools seem quite the contrary. On average the middle school classroom sizes range from 30-40 students per classroom. In schools where again there are limited resources due to lack of funding the students in these schools are not receiving the fulfilling education they deserve. Teachers in these schools are overworked trying to manage over 30 students in their classrooms, and being at the middle school level most of these kids are more concerned about the social aspects of school rather than their educational outcomes. I know some may think, “But they’re teachers, that’s their job,” which to a certain degree is true, but I do not believe teachers could anticipate the overcrowding of schools, I would also like to note most parents cannot manage their own kids, try keeping 30-40 kids focused on learning and then we can talk again.
Another aspect that made this transition incredibly difficult was the fact that the School District of Beloit does not have a busing system for middle schoolers and older. When I attended McNeel Intermediate School children were taking the city bus to school starting in fourth grade. Since Beloit is a poor city, for most kids, the city bus is their only solid transportation to and from school. With the public city bus there are dangerous situations that the students could end up in, whether that’s harassment from other students or adults, making it a less-than-ideal choice already. In context to the schools closing, students on the west side of the river now have to take the bus all the way to the east side of the river. If you are unfamiliar with the Beloit busing system there are multiple buses that take different routes throughout the city. This means that depending on where the students live they may have to take multiple transfers to get to school. Children who already have multiple stressors in their lives, now have the added stress of waking up earlier to ensure they make all of their transfers to school.
Since I’ve covered what hardships the school district has endured due to the opening of the Lincoln Academy let’s draw focus back on the charter school. To reiterate what I said earlier the Lincoln Academy admits students based on a randomized lottery system. Before I continue I would like to preface that I only had this conversation with one teacher in the School District of Beloit, meaning the following statements are hearsay. This teacher’s identity will also remain anonymous. In the Spring semester of 2022, I did observations at one of the four intermediate schools. While I was doing observations I often stayed for lunch and talked with the teacher I was paired with. We got on the topic of the Lincoln Academy, and how each of us saw the financial damage it was doing to the School District of Beloit. That is when the teacher “spilled the tea”. Apparently, there were a large number of students accepted and admitted into the Lincoln Academy based on the lottery system who had IEPs. If you are unfamiliar with an IEP it is an Individualized Education Program designed to provide accommodations and a learning plan for students with disabilities. According to the teacher I was with, the Lincoln Academy refused to follow any of these students’ IEPs leading to all of them being sent back to the School District of Beloit. When this was said I was in utter disbelief, not only because of the ableism present, but the fact that the Lincoln Academy takes public funding meaning they must accept and follow their students’ IEPs. Again this is hearsay, but I will say it would not hurt the City of Beloit to look further into these claims.
There is honestly a lot more I could say on this topic, but I’ve already written quite a lot. I will say Diane Hendricks’ choice in making The Lincoln Academy a publicly funded charter school is the primary reason the School District of Beloit is struggling today. Diane Hendricks, a billionaire could have very easily opened a private school funded by not even 2% of her net worth, but instead chose to further hurt a community already struggling. If you’re someone who thinks “Well it’s a charter school to make it more accessible to the community, so they don’t have to pay tuition.” Let me ask you: Why would they have to pay tuition if it was a private school? Again let me just state that Diane Hendricks could fully fund this school, students included, and it would not make a smidge of a dent in her net worth. If the IEP statement I said before is true, then it seems like the school already lacks accessibility.
Featured Image: Diane Hendricks
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