Monday, June 9, 2008 | Emily Alpert forgot to mention a really wonderful charter that, like its mascot the phoenix, had to rise out of the ashes to become a “real” school. The San Diego Cooperative Charter School was a downtown school on 6th avenue, but could never get assistance from the San Diego Unified School District for space (the first six years were spent in a medical facility that performed abortions and therefore had protestors outside every Wednesday). Finally, after considerable effort, the school was able to work with the school district to get a hopefully permanent location at the Linda Vista annex. It is thriving—with small class sizes and a curriculum that includes art, music, ballroom dance and foreign languages. In my opinion, charters make all the public schools better because they show that you can offer a balanced curriculum for the same amount of dollars per student that every public school receives. Thanks for the article.