“It’s great to be back. This is and will always be home for me,” Elliott says. “I came here to Storrs when I was 18 years old, wet behind the ears as a freshman coming from the inner city of Washington, D.C. I owe a lot to this place.”

“While critics charge that charter schools are siphoning money away from public schools, a more fundamental issue frequently flies under the radar: the questionable business practices that allow people who own and run charter schools to make large profits.”

“We’re trying to make it so people with disabilities have more opportunities for employment in society, right?” said Allison Lombardi, a professor who teaches in the Special Education Program at the University of Connecticut. “There’s not a separate society for just people with disabilities, so it really doesn’t make sense for us to create programs that are so separate.”

“We can’t afford to overlook talent,” says Del Siegle, a professor of gifted education at the University of Connecticut, where he also directs the National Center for Research on Gifted Education. “The only way our country is going to reach its potential is if all the children have an opportunity to reach theirs.”

Claire Smith, an African-American female, grew up in a time when both of her underrepresented identities first made their breakthroughs. She told of how both her parents grew up as big Jackie Robinson fans and how that had a trickle-down effect on her. In a time where blacks in America faced oppression in a multitude of areas in society, every breakthrough was of major significance.

“Right now you have a megaphone coming from the White House that is being challenged by the megaphone coming from the athletic world,” Joseph Cooper says.

“My project will be focused on human rights and social justice and kids can choose a topic they’re interested in and that impacts their lives,” says Jessica Stargardter. “They’ll document an issue they see in their own community and hopefully be inspired to take action.”

“This is a matter of priorities,” says Preston Green. “States should first provide sufficient funding to traditional public schools in urban areas. Once states have systems of traditional public schools that meet the educational needs of these students, then they can assess how much funding and resources to devote to charter schools.”

The small parent rebellion forming in one of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest school districts began at a Starbucks in suburban Chester County.

Preston Green III, Professor of Educational Leadership and Law at the University of Connecticut, told Capital & Main that charter school growth, especially in California, is at a crossroads.