Ed Rutkowski will take over this summer as executive director of the Patterson Park Public Charter School, one of 32 charter schools in Baltimore City.
Rutkowski, an East Baltimore native, was an integral part of improving Patterson Park. He founded the Patterson Park Community Development Corp. in 1996 and co-authored “The Urban Transition Zone — A Place Worth a Fight,” which explains strategies for preventing neighborhood collapse.
Charter schools are publicly funded but privately run, and supporters say they are the answer for underachieving urban school systems.
What promise do charter schools offer cities and their students when compared with non-charter schools?
The benefits are with more local control, first off. It?s overseen, it?s run by a board of directors who are community members, and so we have a very close watch on the school. It?s an individual school, not one that?s part of a larger system. We believe by doing that, and by having more local control over things like the curriculum and the programs we run, and because all of our direct involvement, we get the one thing the school system always wants but can?t get, and that?s parent involvement.
How successful do you think charters have been in Baltimore?
I think that generally they?ve been doing quite well. And the biggest measure of that is if the parents and the students are happy with the education the schools are providing.
Where will Baltimore?s schools be in five years?
I think the CEO, Andres Alonso, his goal is to push more responsibility and autonomy to the local level. So if you go to back to one of the things that makes charters successful, to the extent that he?s successful in that, that should make a big difference. To the extent that he?s not successful, and I hope he is, I think you?ll see more charter schools.
