Education Department Nears Deal With Student Loan Giant Navient Over Cheating Troops:

Education Department Nears Deal With Student Loan Giant Navient Over Cheating Troops

The U.S. Department of Education is nearing a deal with Navient Corp., the student loan giant formerly known as Sallie Mae, over allegations the company cheated active-duty troops on federal student loans, a department official said Thursday.

The agreement likely would end the Education Department's much-delayed and heavily-criticized probe into whether the nation’s largest student loan specialist -- a major government contractor -- broke the law that caps interest rates and provides other special financial protections for active-duty members of the military.

Thomas Skelly, the department’s acting chief financial officer, told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday that the Education Department was “finalizing” an agreement with Navient that would be completed by May 1.

Denise Horn, an Education Department spokeswoman, declined further comment. Patricia Christel, a Navient spokeswoman, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

For a department that has been called a lapdog in holding its contractors accountable -- especially one that’s been called out by President Barack Obama over its customer service -- the settlement risks inflaming Democrats and student advocates who have badgered the Education Department to take a tougher line against corporate wrongdoing.

“I continue to be deeply concerned about the allegations that a student loan servicer knowingly overcharged service members while they were on active duty,” said Sen.Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who along with other Senate Democrats has made student debt central in their economic and political agenda. “This is an issue I’m going to continue to be focused on to make sure our men and women in uniform are treated fairly [and] can continue their education without the fear of predatory practices.”

The Education Department’s investigation followed a May deal with the government in which Navient settled federal accusations that it had intentionally overcharged about 60,000 active-duty troops on federal and private student loans over nearly a decade. The company, which neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, agreed to pay $60 million to troops as part of its settlement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Department of Justice.

Despite the Justice Department’s detailed complaint, which followed a referral by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Education Secretary Arne Duncan later announced a “thorough” review to determine whether the company indeed overcharged troops.

Duncan’s department was unaware of the alleged wrongdoing while it was occurring, federal officials have said. The Education Department was unaware that federal banking regulators planned to publicly accuse the company of violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act until after Navient warned its investors.

The results of the Education Department review were due in September 2014. But after an initial investigation by department employees cleared the company of wrongdoing, the department paid about $95,000 to hire Ernst & Young to further investigate Navient's compliance with the servicemembers law, federal records show.

Last month, the American Legion, the influential veterans organization, accused the Education Department of favoring its loan contractors over service members. “The department seems to be doing everything possible to undermine the Justice Department and the CFPB, and they’re doing a hell of a job,” Steve Gonzalez, an assistant director in the Legion’s veterans employment and education division, said at the time.

To mollify potential critics, Duncan said in May that “every option is on the table” including considering whether his department would terminate Navient’s lucrative contract to collect monthly payments on student loans.

A few weeks later, according to Navient, the department quietly extended the company’s contract for an additional five years.

Meanwhile, Navient’s revenues from its loan-servicing contract continue to soar. In the last half of 2014, its revenues increased nearly 10 percent, to $68 million, compared with the first six months of 2014, according to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Navient would lose about $130 million in annual revenues if the Education Department terminated the company’s loan-servicing contract. Prominent groups, including the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, have urged Duncan to dump Navient.

The Education Department has enjoyed a cozy relationship with Navient and its predecessor company, Sallie Mae. Some company executives formerly held prominent positions at the department.

In 2009, the department's inspector general recommended it recoup some $22 million in alleged overpayments to Navient. As of last month, some six years after the recommendation, that money had yet to be collected.

Horn, the Education Department spokeswoman, didn't respond to an inquiry about the funds.Education Department Nears Deal With Student Loan Giant Navient Over Cheating Troops:

Teachers union sees 'culture of conflict' at CPS - Blogs On Politics - Crain's Chicago Business

Teachers union sees 'culture of conflict' at CPS - Blogs On Politics - Crain's Chicago Business:

Teachers union sees 'culture of conflict' at CPS

 City and school officials today maintained a nearly total silence on the legal woes of Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and her job tenure, which came to light yesterday, but the vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union had some comments, and they bit hard.

In a press conference today, Jesse Sharkey said he doesn't know enough yet to say whether Byrd-Bennett should step down, but he made clear his view that CPS never should have approved a $20 million consulting contract with a private principal training agency where Byrd-Bennett worked until she went to work for CPS.

That's the issue federal agents are probing, with the training outfit, Wilmette-based Supes Academy, conceding in a statement that federal agents have obtained "records and files" from it as part of an investigation into CPS.

Sharkey said the Board of Education should not have approved the 2013 pact, given Byrd-Bennett's relationship with the academy.

"It's suspect. It has the smell of not being ethical," Sharkey told reporters. "It undermines confidence in public schools."

Even worse, he added, the Supes contract was one in a series in which "public officials with private interests" have appeared to gain from their private position.

One alleged conflict that Sharkey mentioned struck me as pretty lame. That's Board of Education President David Vitale's former position in 2001-02 as head of the Chicago Board of Trade, which makes a trading market in some financial instruments—specifically, interest-rate swaps—that have cost CPS tens of millions of dollars.

Perhaps more on target was his reference to board member Deborah Quazzo, who reportedly has an ownership interest in companies that have received more than $5 million in contracts from CPS or CPS charter schools since she joined the board.

"We've seen a pattern," Sharkey said. "There's a culture of conflict of interest that is highly destructive of the public's trust."

If Byrd-Bennett does have to step down, he said, her successor will be the school system's fifth CEO in four years.

Meanwhile, CPS is scheduled to return to the bond market next week to seek $300 million in new borrowing. The district's finances already are under strain, with CPS facing a budget deficit of more than $1 billion for the next school year. Now it has a CEO under federal probe.

A CPS spokesman today said only that there is "nothing new" to report. Aides to Mayor Rahm Emanuel say the same thing—and insist that the mayor didn't know of the probe until earlier this week, even though the Chicago Tribune reports it has been underway for well over a year.Teachers union sees 'culture of conflict' at CPS - Blogs On Politics - Crain's Chicago Business:

National teachers union leader celebrates success at Pittsburgh Woolslair | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

National teachers union leader celebrates success at Pittsburgh Woolslair | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

National teachers union leader celebrates success at Pittsburgh Woolslair

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten hears of the success of Pittsburgh's Woolslair School during her visit to Pittsburgh Wednesday. At right is Pittsburgh School Director Sylvia Wilson from District 1.

To the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the story of Pittsburgh Woolslair PreK-5 going from the chopping block to a new partial magnet program is one of a number of stories across the country of new life being breathed into public schools once at risk of closing.

“If you really believe communities are the engine of urban growth and you believe schools are the heart of cities, then you need to help keep it open and you need it to thrive. Then it creates oxygen and life for a community,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten at a small gathering at the nonprofit Assemble in Garfield.

In town Wednesday for an AFT lawyers conference, Ms. Weingarten would have visited Woolslair except state standardized tests are underway at the school this week. Instead, teachers sent her a card that included photos of the school as well as its recent celebration when the district named it one of six STAR — Students and Teachers Achieving Results — schools for achieving academic growth in the top 25 percent of schools in the state.

Last week, the district announced it has received nearly $900,000 in grants from the Grable Foundation and the Fund for Excellence to start programs this fall in STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — at Woolslair, Lincoln and Schiller.

While there will be STEAM throughout Woolslair, a STEAM magnet program in the lower grades is aimed at attracting students from throughout the city. The idea of STEAM was suggested by Woolslair supporters after staff, parents and the community were polled.

“It wasn’t just one group. It wasn’t just one person. It was an enormous collaboration from the bottom up,” Ms. Weingarten said. “That’s what made it succeed.”

Ms. Weingarten was pleased it is STEAM, not just STEM. “Science and engineering and math are all really, really important, but there are lots and lots of kids for whom the arts is the road to engagement,” she said.

The district had considered closing Woolslair in fall 2015 because, at 110 students, it was the district’s smallest school. However, a new school board gave Woolslair a reprieve and later approved the STEAM plan.

Woolslair parent Valerie Allman, who was among those who worked to save the school, told Ms. Weingarten that parents were “devastated” when they heard the school might be closing.

“When you walk into that school, the teachers and the staff, from the janitors to the principal and beyond, everybody comes together in that school to make every kid count. They’re not just a test score,” Ms. Allman said.National teachers union leader celebrates success at Pittsburgh Woolslair | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Teachers' union calls evals "junk science"

Teachers' union calls evals "junk science":

Teachers' union calls evals "junk science"

The number of students opting out of standardized tests in New York has increased to about 166,000, a group contended, and the state's teachers' union is urging the state Education Department to dump using the tests to evaluate educators.

The New York State United Teachers union, which has advocated for the opt outs, said that about 32 percent of teachers move from one category year to year in their evaluation scoring, but with students not taking the exams, it creates "junk science" to use the tests to evaluate teachers.

"With more than 150,000 students opting out, a volatile and unstable state growth model will become more volatile and unstable," the union said in a statement. "The pool of students with 'similar characteristics' will be smaller, and that means the volatility and instability will be greater."

The group, United to Counter the Core, which opposes the standardized exams, saidthe number of students in New York opting out of the exams hit 166,000 this week, based on news reports and anecdotal evidence. The English tests started Tuesday.

The state Education Department has countered that despite the opt outs, there will be enough information from other exams and in-class evaluations to judge teachers.

"We are confident the department will be able to generate a representative sample of students who took the test, generate valid scores for anyone who took the test, and calculate valid state-provided growth scores to be used in teacher evaluations," state Education Department spokesman Jonathan Burman said in a written statement.

Currently, student test scores account for 20 percent of a teacher's evaluation. But the state Education Department is developing new standards based on a budget deal struck by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature on April 1.

The issue, however, is that each teacher has a "growth score" that is based on their students' year-to-year improvement on at least 16 tests. But with students opting out, some teachers won't have the 16 tests needed for their evaluations.

The state has a system in place for teachers, such as those that teach art or physical education, that can substitute some testing in classes where 16 tests aren't given. Those teachers are assigned "student learning objectives," known has SLOs, by each district to help calculate students' progress through the year.

But NYSUT said using the SLOs in lieu of the exams is problematic.

"The State Education Department is making it up as it goes along," NYSUT said in a statement. "The growth scores drawn from state standardized tests won't be returned to schools until August. It would be completely inappropriate -- and against SED's own regulations and guidance -- for districts to go back 11 months and somehow try to rig together anything that's meaningful or accurate."Teachers' union calls evals "junk science":

155,000 New York kids boycott standardized tests:

155,000 New York kids boycott standardized tests

MAHOPAC, N.Y. — Tens of thousands of parents expressed disapproval of New York's reliance on standardized tests by having their children refuse to take the tests earlier this week.

Several districts in the New York City suburbs reported that at least 25% of students had refused to take the tests. In at least two, that number rose to 50%.

Mahopac Central School District's interim superintendent, Brian Monahan, said 55% of his system's middle school students and 45% of the elementary school students had refused the tests. At North Rockland Central School District in Garnerville, N.Y, 63% of middle school students refused the tests with the overall district refusal rate at 49%.

Half of Hillburn, N.Y.-based Ramapo Central's middle school students skipped the tests.

USA TODAY

All but one in Atlanta cheating scandal to serve time

On Long Island, nearly 65,000 elementary and middle school students have refused to take the tests this week, almost 44% of those eligible, according to a Newsday survey.

The state Education Department said official numbers for how many pupils took the statewide assessments won't be released until this summer.

“These refusals are meant to protest a system that is currently failing our children and educators.”

Cindy Rubino, Lakeland, N.Y.

But a group called United to Counter the Core, which is critical of the tests, said Thursday that more than 155,000 children boycotted the English tests that were administered Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. More than 1.1 million students were supposed to take them.

Such a reaction to standardized testing not unprecedented, but the size of the boycott is.

This year about 20 families in Texas' largest school district, Houston Independent Schools, chose to have their children stay home instead of taking State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness tests, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Unlike New York, Texas parents cannot say no to state standardized tests. Also unlike New York, Texas has opted out of White House-backed Common Core education standards, but many in that state remain angry about what some consider a nationalization of education standards.

In New York parents opposed to the tests say schools are focusing on test prep to the detriment of a richer curriculum. Some also are critical of the Common Core learning standards that New York's tests have been based on since 2013.

Cindy Rubino, a Lakeland, N.Y., parent whose children refused the tests, said she was "thrilled" parents across New York had pulled their children from testing rooms.

USA TODAY

Growing number of educators boycott standardized tests

"I do believe this is a historic day in New York state, as we try to regain local control over the education of our kids," she said. "These refusals are meant to protest a system that is currently failing our children and educators.

"To do nothing is to allow public education to be destroyed before our very eyes," Rubino said. "In the process we are teaching our children a valuable lesson — to stand up for what they believe in."

“Test refusal is a mistake because it eliminates important information about how our kids are doing.”

Jonathan Burman, New York Education Department.

Opting out is a disservice to students, said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for the New York Education Department.

"Test refusal is a mistake because it eliminates important information about how our kids are doing. Those who call for opting out really want New York to opt out of information that can help parents and teachers understand how well their students are doing," he said. "We can't go back to ignoring the needs of our children."

Lisa Rudley, a founding member of NYS Allies for Public Education that has organized rallies and sponsored advertisements throughout the state promoting the opt-out movement, cheered the numbers.

"The governor and legislature spoke on April 1 with their plan for our children's education," said Rudley, also a parent with children in Ossining Union Free School District in Ossining, N.Y. "Parents are responding in force, 'We do not consent!' If it's not good enough for the best private schools in the country, it's not good enough for our kids."

Yet collecting educational data is important for the future of education and can help define the the character of a town, said Nicole Brisbane, state director at Democrats for Education Reform.

"Schools are one of the biggest differentiators of value in the suburbs," she said. "How valuable will a house be in Scarsdale when it isn't clear that Scarsdale schools are doing any better than the rest of Westchester or even the state? Opting out of tests only robs parents of that crucial data.

USATODAY.COM

Common Core standards drive wedge in education circles

In Mahopac, parents kept their children home for the duration of the tests. Others students who showed up at school sat in the cafeteria or the gymnasium.

Monahan said it "took a lot of manpower" to oversee students not taking the tests. The middle school's two cafeterias and gymnasium were filled.

“They (state officials) have the authority to withhold funds, but we don't know if they will.”

Brian Monahan, Mahopac (N.Y.) Central School District

New York's Education Department repeatedly has said districts could face financial consequences if the participation on the tests is less than 95%.

"I think everyone is concerned about what all this means, and it's still not clear," Monahan said. "They have the authority to withhold funds, but we don't know if they will."

Burman said the state would take many factors into consideration when deciding sanctions.

"What sanctions to impose must be decided on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the degree and length of time the district has failed to meet participation rate requirements and the reasons for such failure," he said.

Superintendent J. Thomas Morton of the Clarkstown Central School District in New City, N.Y., said state education officials should have anticipated the large number of students opting out.

"You could feel this coming, and the folks that are working in the field realize that this is a real issue," he said. "I'm not so sure that the folks that are sitting in their offices in Albany understand that."

Superintendent Diana Bowers of Haldane Central School District in Cold Spring, N.Y., said the parents had spoken.

"Parents want to have a say in their child's education and this is one way they feel they can be heard," she said.

Contributing: Mareesa Nicosia, Claire Ferrara and Linda Lombroso, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News; The Associated Press155,000 New York kids boycott standardized tests:

Restraint and Seclusion, Gifted Education Among Amendments to ESEA Bill - On Special Education - Education Week

Restraint and Seclusion, Gifted Education Among Amendments to ESEA Bill - On Special Education - Education Week:

Restraint and Seclusion, Gifted Education Among Amendments to ESEA Bill

By Christina Samuels on April 16, 2015 6:19 PM

States would be required to adopt policies to prevent unnecessary use of restraint and seclusion in schools, and a federal gifted education grant program would be reauthorized for six years, under amendments that were added this week to the proposed rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. 

The Senate education committee unanimously approved the bill Thursday. Its next step is debate before the full Senate, but as my colleagues at Politics K-12 have pointed out, the bill may be difficult to schedule as the Senate has a full plate of other action ahead of it. 

The restraint and seclusion bill was brought forward by Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut. It would require state departments of education to develop plans to protect students from abuse, aversive interventions that compromise their safety, or any "physical restraint for seclusion imposed solely for purposes of discipline or convenience." 

The gifted education amendment came from retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, also a Democrat. Mikulski has been a longtime champion of gifted education. The amendment would continue authorization of the federal Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education program, which was just funded for $10 million in the fiscal 2015 budget. Javits grants go to researchers who study best practices in identifying and teaching underrepresented populations. 

"Serving students who are low-achieving is important, but so is nurturing students who have high ability and enormous potential. I believe we need to know more about these kids, and our teachers need to know how to help these children achieve and succeed," Mikulski said in a statement introducing her amendment. 

Dyslexia Amendment Fails

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican Senator from Louisiana, attempted to introduce an amendment that would allow schools to use federal funds to train teachers in best practices in identifying and educating students with specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. About 40 percent of the students covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have a specific learning disability. 

The bill failed, amid concerns that it singled out a particular group of students for special treatment. 

"I think it gives the impression, whether it's intended or not, that students with certain types of learning disabilities have more pressing needs than other students with disabilities," said Barbara R. Trader, the executive director of TASH, a Washington-based support and advocacy group for people with intellectual disabilities.Restraint and Seclusion, Gifted Education Among Amendments to ESEA Bill - On Special Education - Education Week:

Former DC Whistleblower Principal Adell Cothorne on the Atlanta Verdict | deutsch29

Former DC Whistleblower Principal Adell Cothorne on the Atlanta Verdict | deutsch29:

Former DC Whistleblower Principal Adell Cothorne on the Atlanta Verdict

-Adell Cothorne

Former principal, DC Public Schools

 On April 3, 2015, I posted former DC principal Adell Cothorne’s reaction to the conviction of 11 educators in what has come to be commonly known as the Atlanta cheating scandal.

Cothorne was the whistleblower principal employed under former DC chancellor Michelle Rhee. Cothorne walked in on teachers altering student test scores.

In this post, Cothorne responds to the news of the sentencing.

On April 14, 2015, Judge Jerry Baxter sentenced eight Atlanta educators to a range of one to seven years in jail. Two educators also implicated in the case, agreed to a plea deal and received more merciful sentences. The details of this case have been discussed ad nauseam on social media and both local and national news outlets. Many have weighed in, expressing their disgust that school teachers could be sent to jail simply for “erasing answers”; while murderers are allowed to roam free.

There are three salient points I would like to address regarding the Atlanta sentencings.

Point #1

The act of erasing students’ answers on test sheets has far reaching negative effects that the general public does not consider.

As a former administrator who had to deal with staff members erasing student answers in order to create the illusion of continuous student achievement, I know first-hand the far reaching effect this practice has on but the community as a whole. You see, I witnessed a lack of teaching during my tenure as a District of Columbia principal. Yes, some of my teaching staff were ill-equipped to teach students. They simply lacked the pedagogical approaches to implement effective instruction. I supervised another, much smaller, group of teachers who taught stellar lessons and genuinely cared for their students’ success. Then, there were those teachers who were able to teach adequately. Yet, they chose to literally not teach because they knew that the end result would be a picture of improved student achievement due to practices that were going on behind closed doors after school hours (erasing answers from wrong to right).

So, when people make the argument these educators in Atlanta should not face jail time, I cringe. When others make the argument that killers are allowed to walk free, while these educators face time in prison, I cringe even more. First of all, comparing what a killer does and what these educators perpetrated  is like comparing elephants to apples. Yes, elephants and apples are both living things. That is about where the similarities begin and end. Just as murder and erasing student answers from wrong to right are both crimes; that too is where the similarities begin and end.

Please do not think I am downplaying someone who murders another human being. That is a dastardly act which I believe requires punishment. However, these Atlanta educators  robbed thousands of children of opportunity– the very same opportunity that these same educators were afforded – a sound education which allowed them to attend college and beyond. A sound education that allowed them to create a comfortable life for their families. A sound education that allowed them to have choices.

Let me ask you, what choices does a 15-year-old growing up in the inner city with a functional first-grade reading level have?

Numerous people have focused on the injustice in Atlanta. However, I have yet to hear the groundswell of outrage over the students who were affected by the erasures. Where is the outcry of injustice for them?

Someone recently asked me what I thought would be a just consequence for the Atlanta educators. I said I would like to see them suffer the same fate 

Former DC Whistleblower Principal Adell Cothorne on the Atlanta Verdict | deutsch29:

It's A Movment: PARCC opt out numbers for APS announced | New Mexico News - KOAT Home

PARCC opt out numbers for APS announced | New Mexico News - KOAT Home:

PARCC opt out numbers for APS announced

Nearly 40 percent of APS schools could face downgrade for opt outs

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —The PARCC test opt out numbers are starting to come in, and nearly 40 percent of Albuquerque Public Schools could receive a lower grade because students refused to participate.

The controversial standardized test was given to New Mexico students, grades three to 11, for the first time this year. It measures reading, writing and math skills using federally mandated Common Core standards.

Overall, about 5 percent of APS students opted out of the exam.

Some schools with high opt out numbers include Chamisa Elementary (36 percent opt out), Jefferson Middle (22 percent opt out), Freedom High (11 percent opt out) and Eldorado High (9 percent opt out).

Documents obtained by Action 7 News show 52 APS schools could see their state grade drop one full letter. The Public Education Department requires the drop for schools that have fewer than 95 percent of students take the exam.

At Washington Middle School, more than 5 percent of its students opted out. If the school got a C this time around, that grade would drop to a D.

The state grades show a school's performance using factors like test scores and graduation rates. Low performing schools can get more money from the state to pay for programs to boost those grades. 

APS did not comment on the numbers.PARCC opt out numbers for APS announced | New Mexico News - KOAT Home:

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater: Test boycotters are the new revolutionaries - Opinion - The Buffalo News

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater: Test boycotters are the new revolutionaries - Opinion - The Buffalo News:

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater: Test boycotters are the new revolutionaries

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for My View 

As a writing teacher and children’s author working in schools for the past 15 years, I have had the opportunity to talk with many teachers and administrators about the Common Core, testing in New York State and related issues. Several of these professionals share the concerns of parents who have chosen to opt their children out of state testing in grades 3-8, yet it is a risk for them to publicly say so.

One special education teacher tells of watching a 9-year-old English language learner with special needs take last year’s ELA test. He colored in the circles, “A-B-C-D-C-B-A” until he reached the end.

A fifth-grade teacher tells how her school has instituted “play therapy” for stressed-out kindergarteners. So now, instead of playing, they take tests. Then, they go to therapy. A local middle school has seen a great increase in students who need therapy, students who are worried, afraid about their numbers. Some primary children make “goodie bags” for upper-grade testers.

One Western New York district has decided that first-graders no longer have time to put on class plays. There is too much testing to be done. Goodbye, tradition. Goodbye, arts.

I never know what to say. But I listen. For these teachers and administrators cannot tell everyone their stories. To speak honestly on this issue places a public educator’s job on the line. Free speech has been muzzled.

Therefore, it is parents’ voices we hear: parents who do not wish for their children to spend countless hours preparing for untested tests and untested standards, parents who believe in kindergarten play, in recess, in addressing childhood poverty before focusing on purchasing one-to-one computers (The Gates Foundation has invested millions in the CCSS) for testing.

Some parents may not see or may not mind the educational shift toward data and away from children, may not wish to read about it in the paper or know that this spring, children whose families opt out of tests may be allowed to read books (except in districts with a “sit and stare” policy). Yet this is what makes a democracy powerful – the willingness of some individuals to speak with their actions, to make decisions others will notice, to attract attention to a concern.

It is the riskers who make change: the revolutionaries, the abolitionists, the suffragists, the school integrators, the marchers in parades, the ones who opt out. The riskers make changes for all of us; in order for change to happen, someone must be willing to go first.

And so, while it may be uncomfortable to know that one’s child may see other children not taking tests, a parent can take this as an educational opportunity, a chance to teach about our great country where people have the right to oppose and to act.

A simple, “Your friend’s family has made a decision that is best for them” is enough for a third-grader to understand. People have different religious beliefs, different beliefs about money, different beliefs about education. We like that here.

We each choose a plot of land on which to stand and fight. Or we don’t. If we choose not to, let us respect and honor the words, choices and actions of those who do.Amy Ludwig VanDerwater: Test boycotters are the new revolutionaries - Opinion - The Buffalo News:

BROAD CLONES ABOUND: Union says SUPES deal just part of 'cloud of unethical behavior' at CPS | Chicago

BROAD CLONES ABOUND: Union says SUPES deal just part of 'cloud of unethical behavior' at CPS | Chicago:

BROAD CLONES ABOUND: Union says SUPES deal just part of 'cloud of unethical behavior' at CPS

Posted: 04/16/2015, 01:19pm | Lauren FitzPatrick

The Chicago Teachers Union on Thursday called a no-bid contract awarded by Chicago Public Schools, now under investigation by the FBI, just the latest in a string of insider dealings at the district in recent years.

But Vice President Jesse Sharkey stopped short of calling for the resignation of schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett, whose role in the SUPES Academy deal also is being examined, saying he didn’t fully understand what federal investigators were considering.

RELATED: Analysis: Fate of Barbara Byrd-Bennett could sting Rahm Emanuel

“Our initial reaction to this is that we’re concerned about the effect this has on the integrity of the district,” Sharkey said at CTU headquarters. “. . . “It’s disappointing that there’s this cloud of unethical behavior that follows our district around. If it was just this one allegation and this one story of federal investigation, that would be one thing. But we’ve been complaining about a pattern of questionable ethical practices for a while.”

Sharkey pointed to Board of Education president David Vitale, who heads a bank while negotiating financial deals for the district. Vitale did not respond to a request for comment. Board member Deborah Quazzo has invested in companies that do business with CPS and with charter schools she has voted to authorize, as the Chicago Sun-Times has reported, and Chief Academic Officer Tim Cawley now deals with the Academy for Urban School Leadership, which used to employ him, Sharkey said. Quazzo did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Cawley could not be reached.

“There’s a culture of conflict of interest that’s extremely destabilizing and hurts the public trust,” Sharkey said before heading to a contract negotiating session with the board.

Chicago Public Schools spokesman Bill McCaffrey declined to comment on the union’s accusations. He confirmed that Byrd-Bennett remains as CEO of CPS, though a source told the Sun-Times she was not seen in her office at district headquarters Thursday.

Two City Hall sources have told the Sun-Times that Byrd-Bennett’s $250,000-a-year contract, set to expire in June, has not yet been renewed, nor will it be unless the investigation is cleared up.

Federal officials are looking into the contract, awarded to Wilmette-based SUPES weeks after nearly 50 schools were permanently closed, and what role Byrd-Bennett played in it, according to a source familiar with the matter. Before Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed her as CEO of the financially troubled district, Byrd-Bennett previously worked for SUPES, which trains school principals. The contract immediately drew sharp criticism for its expense, and principals complained about the quality of the training they received.

Though the union has frequently called for the resignation of board members and other district leaders, Sharkey would not ask for Byrd-Bennett’s resignation. But if she stops leading the district, CPS would have its fifth leader in four years, he said, a lack of stability that he called “damaging.” The next CEO also should come from inside CPS and from a career in public education, he said.

Complaints about SUPES are nothing new, Sharkey said, adding that the appointed school board never should have approved that three-year contract, which “has a smell of not being ethical.”

BROAD CLONES ABOUND: Union says SUPES deal just part of 'cloud of unethical behavior' at CPS | Chicago:

What corporate education reform looks like in Chicago

Corporate education reform in Chicago looks like Barbara Byrd Bennett.

In addition to her role shepherding one of the largest public school systems in the country, Barbara Byrd Bennett is something called an Executive Coach in the Broad Foundation's Superintendent’s Academy. The Academy is the brainchild of Eli Broad, insurance magnate and billionaire philanthropist. It offers crash courses to prepare corporate leaders to take administrative positions--like superintendent of schools--in school districts all across the country. Broad's goal is simple: implement corporate education reform throughout the nation.

Barbara Byrd Bennett carried it out in Cleveland. The wreckage is pretty well known. She was chief academic officer under Robert Bobb when it was done in Detroit. In both cases the city's public schools have hemmorhaged money and lost thousands of children as a direct result of school closings.

And then Mayor Emanuel hired her to do it here. Up to now she's been following to the letter the playbook given by the Broad Foundation: Declare an underutilization crisis; Hold community hearings and make people feel heard; Close schools; Replace with charters.

Now, Barbara Byrd Bennett took a slight misstep with that last one. She didn't follow the rulebook. She promised under no circumstances would closing schools be turned into charters--perhaps throwing a bone to the CTU. Problem is, now she'll have 54 empty institutional buildings that aren't exactly well-suited for much besides being elementary schools. Oops. And she has the Tribune haranguing her about that.

Why doesn't Barbara Byrd Bennett see her involvement with the Broad Foundation as a conflict of interest?

Corporate education reform in Chicago looks like the Chicago Tribune.

http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-public-fools/2013/04/what-corporate-education-reform-looks-like-in-chicago/