KIPP Charter School Closures
More Than 120 Workers Lose Their Jobs
Two Atlanta, Georgia charter schools that are part of the notorious KIPP Charter Schools Network (KIPP Soul Primary School and KIPP Soul Academy) will be closing at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. At least 122 staff will lose their jobs and hundreds of stunned parents and students will be forced to fend for themselves as they scramble frantically to find another school.
As is usually the case with charter school failures, “Parents say they were caught off guard by the timing” of the closures. Mary Harris, a parent, said, “It is a struggle to see where my child is going to go.” A student, Milani Bell, said, “They [KIPP] need to support and not close down our school because it’s affecting our education and our lifestyles.” Unfortunately, more deregulated charter schools are now closing with greater speed, frequency, and consequences. Instability and anarchy appear to be increasing with each passing year.
KIPP school officials nonchalantly repeated standard hackneyed statements such as “closing the schools was a difficult decision” and “we will help everyone through the transition phase.” This is little consolation for the hundreds affected by such poorly-managed charter schools.
In related news, two months ago KIPP announced that it will be closing seven charter schools in its Texas network of privately-operated schools, leaving thousands of teachers, students, parents, education support staff, and principals out in the cold.
Schools should not be opening and closing, let alone with great regularity. Such a thing is scandalous and violent to say the least. “Free market” education is socially irresponsible and destructive. Treating education as a commodity in a dog-eat-dog world where everyone fends-for-themselves is anachronistic and completely avoidable. Schools are not businesses, they are a social responsibility. The aims and values of a modern public education system are incompatible with the aims and values of business. It is no accident that the words public and private are antonyms. A survival-of-the-fittest ethos for schools, families, and individuals does nothing but consolidate inequality and reinforce a system of winners and losers. Far from uplifting everyone, “school choice” schemes leave many children and families behind every single week. Who thinks this is the best humanity can do two centuries after the industrial revolution? Is this the finest the accumulated knowledge of humanity can give rise to?
Founded in 1994 by business-centric forces, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Charter Schools Network enrolls more than 200,000 students and consists of 279 charter schools across the country. The network has long been known for its punitive boot camp “no excuses” approach to education.
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