So, aside from requesting that my board of directors act to remove our school from the network, I am appealing to those who initiated the charter school movement to stand up for the way this movement began, and to fight against the trajectory it has taken. Not all charter schools are the same — many are small havens of high level teaching, laboratories of good practice that the teaching profession can learn from; classrooms where kids who may not thrive in traditional public schools can flourish. But most important, these small havens are places that, unencumbered by larger district mandates, can provide opportunities to learn and grow the profession; not fill the pockets and egos of those who would build an empire.