Here We Go….AFT, Indiana Teacher Union Makes Public Records Request For All Contacts Between Bennett, ALEC and Bush Foundations
From Orlando Sentinel reporter Leslie Postal: The American Federation of Teachers — and its Indiana affiliate — announced today it has made a possibly sweeping public records request of the Indiana Department of Education, seeking “all communications between former Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, ALEC and others since
Indiana Finds “Manipulations” of School Grades Occurred Under Bennett’s Watch
The reporter who broke the Tony Bennett grade change story is continuing to follow up. As per numerous requests, current Indians superintendent Glenda Ritz announced yesterday that last year’s grade categories had been “manipulated” on Bennett’s watch. From AP reporter Tom LoBianco:
Indiana’s top education official on Wednesday acknowledged “manipulation” in the way the state’s schools are graded, the latest fallout from an Associated Press report that found her predecessor worked behind the scenes to improve the score of a charter school founded by an influential Republican donor.Superintendent Glenda Ritz told state school board members that this year’s school ratings would be held up, at least temporarily, as a result of the independent review into the A-F grading system and left open the possibility some of last year’s grades could be changed.The system was established by Tony Bennett, a rising star in the education reform movement, who last week resigned from his new job as Florida’s schools chief amid the scandal in Indiana.“Upon our preliminary examination, the department has verified that there was manipulation of calculation categories and the department has also