Many have developed schools and curricula that directly compete with what the charters have to offer. For instance, in Boston, the public school district opened nine reform-oriented pilot schools in 1995, the same year that charters were introduced. More than one-third of the students who had left for charters returned to Queen Creek when the district started emphasizing phonics, the study showed. In Flagstaff, AZ, district superintendent Larry Bramblett says he's not ashamed to admit that his district has borrowed ideas from neighboring charters. The district has also increased enrollment in Advanced Placement courses and opened magnet schools.
Districts can deny that or embrace it.
In our case, I'd like to bring some of the charters back into the district. Public relations and marketing also take on new importance in many districts, according to Rofes. For example, Grand Rapids, MI, began offering training in PR and marketing to its school administrators, and the district paid to produce and air television ads to promote itself. The Flagstaff district purchased ads in local newspapers comparing its expenditures and test scores with neighboring schools. The third stage of Rofes's model finds a shift in attitude toward charter schools by school district leaders, one that suggests that a period of mutual respect and perhaps even cooperation may be possible.