BESE District 1 - Needs an Honest Representative
The Times-Picayune editorial board, unsurprisingly, did not even interview BESE candidates this year before making their recommendations. Their endorsement for my opponent and their incorrect description of BESE District 1 show that they not only can't get it right, they have no intention to. They just listen to the big money.
TP posted this incorrect description of BESE District 1 which only includes St.Tammany, Jefferson and parts of Orleans Parishes - "The 1st District covers most of East Jefferson; small parts of West Jefferson, New Orleans and St. Charles Parish; and all of St. Tammany, Washington and Tangipahoa parishes."In ’06, the year prior to his election to BESE, Mr. Garvey signed-off on an agreement with the Jefferson Parish School Board on behalf of JCS. This agreement simply continued the business model under which the Charter School had worked since its inception in 1996: JCS was not paid “per pupil” in attendance; rather, it was paid “per slot allotted” which means that, no matter how many students were actually in attendance, JCS was guaranteed payment for 125 slots.
I wonder if the TP will have any interest in talking (or listening) to me when I get elected and end the corrupt term of my opponent. Sure he supports charters. He ran one himself and entered into an illegal contract with a previous Jefferson Parish Schools Superintendent to fund it:
In addition to having enjoyed the unfettered support of SEIU (which has much to gain from the Ed. Reform Package), Mr. Garvey was a founding member and chairman of Jefferson Community School --LA’s first Charter School which had been established as an alternative school for students having been expelled from other schools in the system. (Garvey falsely claims in his recent campaign mail out that I am controlled by the "Washington DC UNION BOSSES" ) http://bit.ly/1RMqheW
When the parish school board finally decided that spending $87,500 per pupil was a tad extravagant, Mr. Garvey (who, even though serving on BESE, was reported to also be serving in an advisory capacity to JCS) believed that the school should continue as usual, because “There are plenty enough (at-risk) students in the system that it should work out."http://bit.ly/1GKbMlk
In 2011, while still under the agreement entered into by Mr. Garvey, JCS brought in nearly $700,000 while serving only 10 students and employing 7 teachers. By Nov. of that same year, enrollment had dropped to only 8 students, but the payments continued to roll in.
Thankfully, common sense ruled the day. A new agreement was reached in 2012 which changed the Charter School’s funding to the same “per pupil” basis as the rest of the public schools in the state. Additionally, JCS was “reinvented as a school for all types of at-risk students,” rather than serving only those students that had been expelled. To take the sting out of implementing these changes, the Jefferson Parish School Board gave JCS “a one-time grant of $220,000 to help in the transition process.”http://bit.ly/1G9pNhA
However, even these changes could not help JCS. It closed its doors after the 2012-2013 school year; and, last month, officially filed for dissolution and liquidation in the 24th Judicial District Court. http://bit.ly/1LovULO
Geaux Teacher!: BESE District 1 - Needs an Honest Representative:
