Jersey Jazzman: Update The Problems With Chris Cerf: A Summary

Jersey Jazzman: Cerf's Problems #3: Data Abuse:

Cerf's Problems #3: Data Abuse

by Duke

Here again are the three problems I have with ACTING NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf:

1. He plays fast and loose with standards of ethics and transparency.
2. He has accrued too much power to himself.
3. He misrepresents research, data, and facts to push his policies.

Time to take a look at #3.

Tomorrow, the day of Cerf's long-awaited confirmation hearing, it will have been 507 days since Cerf promised a report on charter schools "as quickly as is humanly possible."

Let's remember exactly why Cerf promised this report. Over and over again, Cerf has touted the successes of

The Problems With Chris Cerf: A Summary

by Duke

Tomorrow, ACTING NJ Education Commissioner Cerf will finally have his long-overdue confirmation hearing. In anticipation, I've put out a good deal of reporting this week about Cerf's career and his reign at the NJDOE.

For me, it all comes down to three things (click through each link for all the details):

1) Cerf plays fast and loose with standards of ethics and transparency. He made a sweetheart deal for himself while at Edison Learning using money from the Florida teachers pension fund, but ran into an ethics investigation while at the NYCDOE when he held stock even as the city had a contract with Edison. The report on his behavior is highly redacted; he has never told the full story of the deal.

He led a "truth squad" that leaked information to allies in the press to counter critics of his bosses. He was involved in a scandal early in his New Jersey tenure when he changed his story about a report his old firm wrote that sought to radically remake Newark's schools. He has used private money to hire NJDOE employees and