School gets rich by fining students

Do my eyes deceive me? Is somebody finally taking notice of greedy schools extorting money from students by levying bogus fines? I've only been exposing it for the past 20 years, so I guess it's time. (Another Snuffleupagus moment!)

My high school stole hundreds of dollars from me - usually by fining me for textbooks that were stolen out of my locker when the school refused to replace the lock. Now the Noble Street Charter School Network seems to have borrowed a page from my school's soggy playbook.

Noble runs a string of charter high schools in Chicago that have elicited adoration by the right-wing media and politicians such as Occupy foe Rahm Emanuel. But students and parents have held a news conference calling Noble's disciplinary practices "totalitarian" and "draconian." It turns out that over the past 2 years, Noble has made almost $400,000 by fining students for minor violations of school rules, such as bringing snacks to school or not tying their shoes properly. Each offense carries a $5 fine, and pupils with repeated infractions are required to take a $140 summer school class. One parent said students who don't have the money to pay are forced to repeat an entire grade.

I didn't know Brossart relocated to Chicago!

Noble's greed and cultish discipline prompted a protest consisting of hundreds of people marching to City Hall. Meanwhile, Noble schools are bleeding enrollment.

Parents are also planning on suing Noble - as they should. Unfortunately, our schools have a web of people embedded in our corrupt legal system, so anybody who sues a school faces an uphill battle just by default. Just ask this blogger.

(Source: http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/charter-operator-fines-students-for-infractions;
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-charter-fines-20120214,0,3840231.story)