E63: A Movement, Not a Sector

Chartering was never meant to become another system protecting its place. It was built as a movement—one driven by courage, possibility, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to students.

Recorded live at the Public Charter School Alliances Podcast Festival, this episode of Bold by Choice brings hosts Vashaunta Harris and Dr. Jim Goenner together with Patricia Brantley, CEO of Friendship Public Charter School and founding chair of the D.C. Charter School Alliance, for a candid conversation about what it takes to preserve—and keep advancing—the charter movement.

Patricia reflects on more than three decades with Friendship, beginning with the organization’s earliest days and the moment she realized this work had become more than a job—it was a calling. She shares the experience of watching families leave an early school lottery without a seat for their children and how that moment strengthened Friendship’s determination to create more high-quality opportunities. Today, Friendship serves thousands of students across Washington, D.C., with alumni returning as parents, teachers, and leaders.

The conversation also gets candid about the fights that come with the work. Patricia recounts battles over facilities, funding, compliance, expansion, and decisions that did not always put students first. Her message is clear: great results alone will not protect a school or a movement. Leaders have to tell their story, build community, advocate together, and be willing to challenge rules and assumptions that no longer serve students.

That leads to a larger question for the charter community: Have we become too comfortable? Jim and Patricia explore the danger of charter schools becoming the very status quo they were created to challenge. Courage means more than opening a school. Sometimes it means admitting when a model is not working, restructuring, changing course, demanding equitable treatment, or refusing to accept “that’s just how the system works.”

At its heart, this episode is an invitation to recover the original spirit of chartering. Kids do not need another sector defending itself. They need educators, leaders, boards, authorizers, advocates, and families willing to keep building what comes next.

In This Episode

• When education work becomes a calling

• Friendship Public Charter School’s 30+ year journey

• Why families and students must remain the North Star

• The courage required to open—and sustain—a charter school

• Why strong academic outcomes are not enough to protect the movement

• Fair funding, facilities, and regulatory burdens

• Building advocacy before a crisis arrives

• Why charter leaders need community and a “posse”

• Competition, choice, and staying responsive to families

• The danger of charters becoming the new status quo

• Challenging rules instead of simply accepting them

• Knowing when to restructure, merge, change, or let go

• Why storytelling matters

• Building schools where students and adults feel they get to be there

• Courage as acting even when you are afraid

At your next board or leadership meeting, ask:

Are we protecting an institution—or advancing a promise for students?

Then go one step further:

Where are we behaving like caretakers of what already exists, and where are we acting like builders of what students need next?

Courage is not protecting charter schools simply because they are charter schools. It is staying committed to the purpose that created the movement in the first place: delivering better possibilities for kids.

A sector protects its place. A movement protects its purpose.

Powered by the National Charter Schools Institute.