FrankenGuild...It's Alive!
It's Alive!
The Monster
Two years ago the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) created the Minnesota Guild of Public Charter Schools and were officially approved by the state to be a sponsor of charter schools. This effort was financed by two Innovation Grants from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The Innovation Grants were funded in part by the Gates Foundation and the Eli Broad Foundation.
This is yet another attempt to do what Pasi Sahlberg called, "trying to do the wrong thing, righter."
Creators
Like our AFT and NEA presidents (Weingarten and Van Roekel), many of our local leaders in Minneapolis believe it is possible to work with those who are trying to privatize our public schools, or in this case, to beat them at their own game. Both our current MFT President, Lynn Nordgren, and a former president, Louise Sundin, are behind this effort. In fact both of them are board members of the Guild, along with Sandra Peterson, a former President of the Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers, former President of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers and former Co-President of Education Minnesota.
They claim we can "show the reformers how to run a school." While teachers should be an integral part of shared school leadership, the charter school system is a tool of the neo-liberal reformers. Even if the Guild creates a "great" charter school, it will only empower the corporate reformer agenda. You can't defeat the master, using the master's tools.
The Guild's Director is Brad Blue, a long-time educational entrepreneur, and a classic salesperson. He sees no contradiction or irony in having the Guild sponsor a talk by Pasi Sahlberg, an opponent of the corporate reforms. Mr. Blue has simultaneously worked as the