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Number of Baton Rouge charter schools doubles in 3 years; four new ones open this week

by Charles Lussier
The Advocate
August 5, 2015

Four new charter schools are opening their doors this week in Baton Rouge, joining an increasingly crowded local education marketplace.

They bring the total number of charter schools in East Baton Rouge Parish to 25, double the total just three years ago. Charter schools are public schools run by private organizations via charters, or contracts.

All four of the new schools bill themselves as places that will prepare children for success in college. The vast bulk of their students, though, won’t be old enough to enroll in college for another decade.

Each offers a different formula for how to get them there.

At Democracy Prep Baton Rouge, for instance, the focus is on creating active, informed citizens from the youngest age.

“If a kid hasn’t done a phone bank or raised money for a cause, they can’t graduate from Democracy Prep,” explained Alice Maggin, a spokeswoman for the New York City-based charter management organization, which operates 17 schools in three states, as well as the District of Columbia.

Start-of-the-day classroom meetings are called “town halls.” The need to “change the world” is reinforced repeatedly throughout the school. Come Election Day, students will canvass the community wearing T-shirts and handing out fliers saying, “I Can’t Vote, But You Can!”

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