OK, I Think I Got It

So now that I've had some time to digest the Menino move more carefully, this is how I understand it:

Menino was frustrated that many BPS schools were seriously underperforming, so a couple of years ago he brokered a deal to increase the number of pilot schools. The BTU balked and stonewalled and new pilots didn't emerge quickly enough as a result. Menino is trying to go around them. (Why now? Seems like politics.)

Menino's new plan would allow him and Carol Johnson to take over BPS schools, turn them into "in-district" charter schools and try to turn them around in that format. The benefit would be that the school would not be governed by union rules so that the Boston School Committee could have more flexibility around using longer days and years. Then, the teachers could choose to reunionize or not at some later date.

Menino does not seem interested in opening new charter schools, just reconsituting old schools as charter schools. However, instead of having other entities (read: CMO's) run these new schools (a la Green Dot's takeover of Locke High School in LA), Menino would like the BSC to run them. This seems like a direct slap at the BTU, implying that the union is the primary problem. Bold statement to attack the union during an election campaign...

Am I missing anything?