The following is a excerpt from the New York Times article published 5/18/2016 and points out William Lager’s words don’t match his actions.
In a self-published book in 2002, “The Kids That ECOT Taught,” Mr. Lager wrote that “the dropout rate is the most critical issue facing our public education system but it is only the first of many problems that can be solved by e-learning.”
Through the Electronic Classroom, he wrote, he planned to make public education more efficient and effective.
He added, “No business could suffer results that any school in Columbus Public delivers and not be driven out of business.”
Peggy Lehner, a Republican state senator who sponsored a charter school reform bill that passed the legislature last fall, said the problem was the school, not the students.
“When you take on a difficult student, you’re basically saying, ‘We feel that our model can help this child be successful,’ ” she said. “And if you can’t help them be successful, at some point you have to say your model isn’t working, and if your model is not working, perhaps public dollars shouldn’t be going to pay for it.”