EDUCATION MALPRACTICE? – Dad Gone Wild

EDUCATION MALPRACTICE? – Dad Gone Wild

EDUCATION MALPRACTICE?

50, there is a new warmth and mellowing. Friends become more important than ever, but so does privacy. Since it is so often proclaimed by people past midlife, the motto of this stage might be “No more bullshit. Gail Sheehy,  Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life

“Status seekers, I never cared
Once I found out they never dared
To seize the world and shake it upside down
And every stinking bum should wear a crown”
― Iggy Pop

I must admit to having a fascination with the story of Tennessee’s Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn. Who wouldn’t be enthralled by the tale of the daughter raised by a single parent school teacher? She starts her journey in 2001 as an intern with Senator Feinstein and rises to the top as the handpicked Commissioner of Education of Tennessee under Bill Lee. Along the way she stacks the wins up at every stop, building a resume that ranks with the best in the country, all the while serving as a champion of the downtrodden and the marginalized. At least that’s what the book jacket says. 

But is it a resume that holds up under scrutiny? For this episode of as the Schwinn turns, we are going to take a deeper look at the events and circumstances around the founding and subsequent years of Capitol Collegiate Charter School in Sacramento. I think that we will find that not all that glitters is gold…well at least not for everybody. But I’m spoiling the plot. 

Capital Collegiate Academy was founded back in 2011 by one Penny Schwinn. In the past, I’ve talked about Schwinn’s tenure with the St. Hope Foundation, the charter network founded by Michelle Rhee’s husband and former Mayor of Sacramento Kevin Johnson. I think it’s a safe assumption that in opening her own school, Schwinn benefited from her relationship with Johnson. It worth noting that Penny’s husband Paul, also worked for the St. Hope Foundation. Stick around, CONTINUE READING: EDUCATION MALPRACTICE? – Dad Gone Wild