Exposing the charter school lie: Michelle Rhee, Louis C.K. and the year phony education reform revealed its true colors - Salon.com

Exposing the charter school lie: Michelle Rhee, Louis C.K. and the year phony education reform revealed its true colors - Salon.com:

Exposing the charter school lie: Michelle Rhee, Louis C.K. and the year phony education reform revealed its true colors

Charter schools promised new education innovations. Instead, they produced scam after new scam

JEFF BRYANT

Since it’s the time of the year when newspapers, websites and television talk shows scan their archives to pick the person, place or thing that sums up the year in entertainment, business, sports or every other venue, why not do that for education too?

In 2014 education news, lots of personalities came and went.

Michelle Rhee gave way to Campbell Brown as a torchbearer for “reform.” The comedian Louis C. K. had a turn at becoming an education wonk with his commentary on the Common Core standards. Numerous “Chiefs for Change” toppled from the ranks of chiefdom. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett went down in defeat due in part to his gutting of public schools, as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker remained resilient while spreading the cancerous voucher program from Milwaukee to the rest of the state.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio rose to turn back the failed education reforms of ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, only to have his populist agenda blocked by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo who insisted on imposing policies favored by Wall Street. Progressives formed Democrats for Public Education to counter the neoliberal, big money clout of Democrats for Education Reform. And Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush emerged as rival voices in the ongoing debate about the Common Core among potential Republican presidential candidates.

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But hogging the camera throughout the year was another notable character: charter school scandals.

In 2014, charter schools, which had always been marketed for a legendary ability to deliver promising new innovations for education, became known primarily for their ability to concoct innovative new scams.

From Local Stories to National Scandal

Troubling news stories about the financial workings of charter schools had been leaking slowly into the media stream for some years.

A story that appeared at Forbes in late 2013 foretold a lot of what would emerge in 2014. That post “Charter School Gravy Train Runs Express to Fat City” brought to light for the first time in a mainstream source the financial rewards that were being mined from charter schools. As author Addison Wiggin explained, a mixture of tax incentives, government programs and Wall Street investors eager to make money were coming together to deliver a charter school bonanza – especially if the charter operation could “escape scrutiny” behind the veil of being privately held or if the charter operation could mix its business in “with other ventures that have nothing to do with education.”

As 2014 began, more stories about charter schools scandals continued to drip out from local press outlets – a chain of charter schools teaching creationism, a charter school closing abruptly for mysterious reasons, a charter high school operating as a for-profit “basketball factory,” recruiting players from around the world while delivering a sub-par education.

Here and there, stories emerged: a charter school trying to open up inside the walls of a gated community while a closed one continued to get more than $2 million in taxpayer funds. Stories about charter operators being found guilty of embezzling thousands of taxpayer dollars turned into other stories about operators stealing even more thousands of dollars, which turned into even more stories about operators stealing over a million dollars.

While some charter schools schemed to steer huge percentages of their money away from instruction toward management salaries and property leases (to firms connected to the charter owners, of course), others worked the system to make sure fewer students with Exposing the charter school lie: Michelle Rhee, Louis C.K. and the year phony education reform revealed its true colors - Salon.com:

2014: The Greatest Year of Revolt Against High-Stakes Testing in US History | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

2014: The Greatest Year of Revolt Against High-Stakes Testing in US History | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community:

2014: The Greatest Year of Revolt Against High-Stakes Testing in US History

Top Ten Acts of Test Resistance This Year

by

Jesse Hagopian

For too long so-called education reformers, mostly billionaires, politicians, and others with little or no background in teaching, have gotten away with using standardized testing to punish our nation’s youth and educators. They have used these tests to deny students promotion or graduation, close schools, and fire teachers—all while deflecting attention away from the need to fund the services the would dramatically improve our schools.

The year 2014 marked the greatest year of revolt against high-stakes testing in U.S. history. Across the country, students are walking out, parents are opting their children out, and teachers are refusing to administer these detrimental exams—often taking great personal and professional risk to defy the corporate education reformers. The impact of this movement can be seen in the poll released in August 2014 by Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, which found that 54 percent of the general public said standardized tests are not helpful–the rate for public school parents was even higher, at 68 percent. To gain a full appreciation of the size and scope of this mass rebellion, check out the “Testing Reform Victories Report” from Fair Test. To gain insight into to the motivations and strategies of the leaders in this movement, order the newly released book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing.

Here then are my picks for the top ten most powerful acts of resistance to high-stakes, standardize testing in 2014, listed in chronological order. I hope to add your action to my list next year!

Top Ten Test-defiers 2014

1. Thousands of Students Protest Colorado Standardized Tests

In what was perhaps the largest student walkout against high-stakes testing in U.S. history, hundreds of high schools students in Colorado staged a mass walk out in November refusing to take their 12th grade social studies and science tests. Overall, more than 5,000 Colorado 12th graders refused to take the tests.

2. The Tulsa Test-defying Two

Karen Hendren and Nikki Jones teach first grade at Skelly Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma and sent a beautiful letter home in November with their students explaining to the parents why they would be refusing to administer any of the standardized tests. This brave act met with immediate scorn from the school district and these teachers will need all of our support as they struggle for their students and their own jobs.

3. Lee County School Board Secedes from the Testocracy

Amidst the cheers of anti-testing activists, Florida’s Lee County school board became the first district in the state to vote to opt out of all state-mandated testing—despite the fact that the state could implement sanctions for refusing to administer the tests. Ultimately those high-stakes frightened the school board into resuming the testing, however, the dramatic action changed the political landscape in Florida and prompted the State Education Commissioner to call for an “investigation” of standardized testing in Florida’s public schools to increase transparency for parents about the use of assessments and standardized tests.

4. Washington State Superintendents Flunk Duncan and NCLB

Most school districts across Washington state were forced by Secretary Arne Duncan’s selective enforcement of the No Child Left Behind Act to send letters to nearly all the parents in the state informing them that their child attended a failing school. On August 2014, 28 school superintendents from around the state authored a letter of their own, where they declared that their schools’ successes are not reflected in these ratings and criticized No Child Left Behind.

5. Toxic Testing

In July, the thousands of educator delegates to the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly voted to demand the resignation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and launched “Toxic Testing” campaign that is raising awareness around the nation about the harmful effects of high-stakes testing.

6. The Undead Scare Legislators Into a 3-year Moratorium on High-stakes Testing

The Providence Student Union has been one of the most organized and creative student groups in the nation in opposition to high-stakes testing. These students’ unrelenting 2014: The Greatest Year of Revolt Against High-Stakes Testing in US History | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community:

Creating Healthy Minds With First Book | Randi Weingarten

Creating Healthy Minds With First Book | Randi Weingarten:

Creating Healthy Minds With First Book

I can't imagine my life without books. My father was an electrical engineer, and my mother was a public school teacher. Books were an integral part of my childhood. Throughout my career as a lawyer, teacher and labor leader, books have remained my constant companion -- stuffed into a briefcase, overflowing on my bedside table, stacked on my desk at work. Books have carried me to distant worlds, opened new doors and made me feel empathy, compassion, anger, fear, joy, acceptance -- and everything in between.

Forty-five percent of our nation's children live in neighborhoods that lack public libraries and stores that sell books, or in homes where books are an unaffordable or unfamiliar luxury. At the same time, two-thirds of the schools and programs in our nation's lowest-income neighborhoods can't afford to buy books at retail prices. That means that today, 32.4 million American children go without books -- even as study after study has shown that literacy is crucial to success in school, future earning potential and the ability to contribute to the nation's economy.

Nearly four years ago, the American Federation of Teachers joined forces with First Book -- a nonprofit social enterprise that has provided more than 120 million brand-new books to low-income children since 1992. Through First Book's unique marketplace, educators serving students in need buy books and educational resources at deeply reduced prices or receive them at no cost.

As one of First Book's biggest partners, we've put 2 million books in the hands of children in need, and we've helped First Book expand its marketplace of registered users from 20,000 to 150,000. AFT members have organized First Book truck events in communities across the country -- in this month alone, a total of 200,000 books have been given away at five events in Massachusetts, New York and Oregon.

However, our partnership with First Book is about more than just giving books to students in need. Our aim is to build on the empowerment that comes from owning that first book to create lifelong readers and lifelong learners.

A landmark study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows a correlation between the ability to read by the end of the third grade, continued academic success and the end of the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Yet with 82 percent of fourth-graders from Creating Healthy Minds With First Book | Randi Weingarten:

The education “shock doctrine” | International Socialist Review

The education “shock doctrine” | International Socialist Review:

The education “shock doctrine”

Disaster schooling

By Adam Sanchez

Issue #71: Features

• Share

IN A January interview U.S. Secretary of education, Arne Duncan declared, “Let me be really honest. I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina. That education system was a disaster, and it took Hurricane Katrina to wake up the community to say that ‘We have to do better.’” Yet if there is one particularly frightening example for the future of public education it lies in the aftermath of Katrina. The case of using the disaster as a way to push through the largest and quickest privatization scheme of any public school system ever attempted, was made widely known in Naomi Klein’s best-selling book The Shock Doctrine.

Three months after the hurricane hit, free-market fanatic Milton Friedman wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “Most New Orleans schools are in ruins, as are the homes of the children who have attended them. The children are now scattered all over the country. This is a tragedy. It is also an opportunity to radically reform the educational system.” As Klein points out:

Friedman’s radical idea was that instead of spending a portion of the billions of dollars in reconstruction money on rebuilding and improving New Orleans’ existing public school system, the government should provide families with vouchers, which they could spend at private institutions, many run at a profit, that would be subsidized by the state. It was crucial, Friedman wrote, that this fundamental change not be a stopgap but rather “a permanent reform.”

A network of right wing think tanks seized on Friedman’s proposal and descended on the city after the storm. The administration of George W. Bush backed up their plans with tens of millions of dollars to convert New Orleans schools into “charter schools,” publicly funded institutions run by private entities according to their own rules….

In sharp contrast to the glacial pace with which the levees were repaired and the electricity grid brought back online, the auctioning-off of New Orleans’ school system took place with military speed and precision. Within 19 months, with most of the city’s poor residents still in exile, New Orleans’ public school system had been almost completely replaced by privately run charter schools. Before Hurricane Katrina, the school board had run 123 public schools; now it ran just 4. Before the storm, there had been 7 charter schools in the city; now there were 31. New Orleans teachers used to be represented by a strong union; now the union’s contract had been shredded and its forty-seven hundred members had all been fired. Some of the younger teachers were rehired by the charters, at reduced salaries; most were not.¹

In fact one of the first state actions, taken only three weeks after the storm, was to fire all the unionized teachers, disband the school board and turn the schools over to a state receiver in Baton Rouge, removing community accountability and effectively breaking the United Teachers of New Orleans. Margaret Spelling, Bush’s secretary of education, poured $24 million into New Orleans, all of which The education “shock doctrine” | International Socialist Review:

Private Interests Coming to a Public School Near You - The Atlantic

Private Interests Coming to a Public School Near You - The Atlantic:

Private Interests Coming to a Public School Near You

Government agencies are falling short in their efforts to reform education, so corporations are stepping in. But will they do more harm than good?

Brad Higham/Flickr

Mass teacher evaluation systems, across-the-board learning benchmarks, and new standardized tests hardly lifted America’s public education system out of mediocrity this past year. In fact, in many cases, well-intentioned reform efforts became so entrenched in controversy, or were so poorly implemented, that they undermined rather than boosted student success. Big data helped paint a better picture of the types of kids in the country’s classrooms—but it painted that picture in broad strokes, often overgeneralizing students’ weaknesses and disregarding their strengths.

It’s hard to say what lasting lessons can come from the complexities that plague school reform. But as Nick Romeo recently wrote, “no single solution will be entirely effective.” Romeo was making an argument for what he described as “Slow School.” Mimicking the Slow Food movement, his Slow School strategy would take a holistic approach to solving the “matrix of connected problems” undercutting public education: “rampant standardized testing, excessive homework loads, the reflexive pursuit of prestige by students and parents, and declining performance on international tests,” to name a few.

Of course, policymakers tend to favor band-aid solutions and instant gratification; Slow School is a nice idea, but it doesn’t hit hard, and it sure doesn’t hit fast. Now, amid growing perception that the government is dragging its feet on its race to the top, one player is making its way further into the world of education reform: the private sector. And if the backlash against one-size-fits-all education in 2014 was any indication, corporations will increasingly do what they can to to undo blanket reforms and hyper-standardization, perhaps dramatically reshaping how and where kids learn. But at what cost?

Schools themselves often actively push for private-sector intervention, summoning the help of for-profit companies to boost student achievement. Google, for example, has developed a range ofeducation programs, and various classroom consulting firms have cropped up promising to help teachers fulfill Common Core.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, has called on the private sector to help it equip America’s students with the science, technology, engineering, and math—or STEM—skills that have been widely touted as the key to the country’s future workforce needs. “President Obama believes that our hardest challenges require an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, bringing together government, industry, non-profits, philanthropy and others working together,” the White House website says. Partners in that effort include leaders from Xerox, Intel, and Time Warner Cable. (Whether the U.S. actually faces a shortage of people who could fill future STEM jobs is another matter altogether.)Private Interests Coming to a Public School Near You - The Atlantic:

Testing under fire - Caitlin Emma - POLITICO

Testing under fire - Caitlin Emma - POLITICO:

Testing under fire

Republicans may consider slashing the number of federally required tests.

By Caitlin Emma

12/30/14 5:34 AM EST

Republicans on the Hill are finding unusual common ground with teachers unions about an overthrow of the annual testing mandate embedded in No Child Left Behind.

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is making reauthorization of the law one of his biggest priorities — and testing is expected to take center stage. He plans to tackle the issue during a hearing early in the new year. Under serious consideration: slashing the number of federally required tests or even doing away with them all together.

Story Continued Below

This political alliance is part of a larger nationwide movement, buoyed by a grass-roots crusade led by parents and teachers who reject the testing regimes that they say have come to dominate public schools for the past decade.

“We are actively exploring the question of whether the federal mandate on annual tests is warranted,” one GOP aide said. The goal is to give states more flexibility in how they track student progress, report those results to the public and hold schools accountable for all kids.

A bipartisan bill gaining momentum among lawmakers would give states grants to audit their testing regimes — and weed out unnecessary exams.

“Annual statewide assessments are critical to ensuring that all students are held to the same high standards and parents, teachers and communities have the information they need about how their children are doing every year,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said when the bill was introduced. “However, in many places, the amount of testing that is redundant or simply not helpful for instruction has become a real problem.”

While Duncan supports that bill, he and President Barack Obama oppose ending the annual testing requirements in NCLB, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. They argue that the yearly tests are vital for assessing student progress and holding schools accountable for making sure every child advances.

The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have railed against what they see as too much testing, especially the kind with consequences. AFT President Randi Weingarten said the annual federal testing mandate must change. The union and GOP can both agree that NCLB’s provisions have “eclipsed what the law was supposed to do, which was improve teaching and learning,” she said.

Now, it’s all about sanctions for those who don’t make the grade, she said. The scores can affect which students advance to the next grade, which teachers keep their jobs and which schools are shut down.

State and school district leaders aren’t waiting on Congress to act. They can’t do

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/testing-under-fire-113807.html#ixzz3NPDS0z12

Charter schools, 'predatory' tactics and 'belief' gap

Charter schools, 'predatory' tactics and 'belief' gap:

Charter schools, 'predatory' tactics and 'belief' gap

Since the Achievement School District announced its decision earlier this month to take over Neely's Bend Middle School in East Nashville, the rhetoric on the pro and con sides has become heated.

The Tennessean has received and published op-eds by two school board members Jill Speering and Amy Frogge accusing ASD of a "hostile" takeover; ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic accusing critics of suffering from a "belief gap" as it concerns the progress of the lowest-performing public schools; and LEAD Schools CEO Chris Reynolds, defending his charter system's record. LEAD is the network that will be carrying out the takeover of Neely's Bend next school year, one grade at a time.

Each is pointing to data defending his or her position. Sorting out whose data is right or accurate is a task I hope to delve into further.

Below please find excerpts from all three articles, plus links to each one in whole. The Tennessean would like to hear your voice on this important issue of charter schools, charter conversion and the public schools. Post your comments to this article or send your letters to the editor to letters@tennessean.com. Make sure to include your full name, address and phone number for verification; we'll only publish your name, city and ZIP code.

ASD riles parents, community with school takeover

By Jill Speering and Amy Frogge

Buy Photo

MNPS School Board member Amy Frogge(Photo: Special to The Tennessean)

Buy Photo

MNPS School Board member Jill Speering(Photo: Special to The Tennessean)

"While the charter movement is allegedly predicated on parental "choice," that choice seems to vanish when appointed ASD officials decide to impose a charter school on a community. The ASD is pushing forward despite protests by parents, teachers, community members, a variety of elected officials from the community (including current and former school board members), and even the MNPS Director of Schools." Charter schools, 'predatory' tactics and 'belief' gap:

Boston teacher Nikki Bollerman wins $150k then donates it all to her school | Daily Mail Online

Boston teacher Nikki Bollerman wins $150k then donates it all to her school | Daily Mail Online:

Third-grade teacher, 26, won $150,000 in a Christmas wish contest - then donated it ALL to her school

• Nikki Bollerman won the sum as part of Capital One's #WishForOthers, in which people submitted what they wanted for other people
• Bollerman, a Boston teacher, said she wished that each of her students could take home a book over December break
• Capital One bought three books for every student on top of the money
• She said she's hopeful the school will use the money for a computer lab

By LYDIA WARREN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 17:21 EST, 26 December 2014 | UPDATED: 07:18 EST, 27 December 2014

 A third-grade teacher who won $150,000 in an online contest has given her entire winnings to her school.

Nikki Bollerman, 26, won the sum as part of Capital One's #WishForOthers competition, which asked people to submit ideas of what they would like to do for others this holiday season.

Bollerman, who teaches at UP Academy Dorchester in Boston, said that she wished for every one of her students to be able to take home a book so that they could experience the joys of reading.

As well as giving her the money, Capital One also granted her wish, and every child was given three books: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, My Father's Dragon and Where the Wild Things Are.

Scroll down for video 

Bollerman told ABC News that it giving away the money seemed like the natural choice. 

'I really made the wish for my students and I was blessed, lucky and thankful that Capital One gave me the opportunity,' she said. 'Since I made the wish for my students I thought I would do something to make their lives better rather than spend it on myself.'

In her winning entry, she wrote: 'My #wishforothers is that my voracious, adorable, hardworking, loving scholars all leave for their December break with a book in their hand.' 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2887981/Third-grade-teacher-26-wins-150-000-Christmas-wish-contest-donates-school.html#ixzz3N7c0rQdm
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Russ on Reading: What Do We Want from Public Schools?

Russ on Reading: What Do We Want from Public Schools?:



What Do We Want from Public Schools?

Ok students, let’s start today with a quick multiple choice question.

Which of the following represents the best reason for having a highly functioning system of public schools?

a)    economic stability

b)    social stability

c)    political stability

d)    joy of the individual

Yes I know. I hated these “best reason” questions when I was taking standardized tests, too. It always seemed to me that these questions were asking you to guess what was in the test makers head. Nonetheless, your answer to this question will go a long way to determining what kind of schools you champion.

If your answer to the question is a) economic stability, you are part of a long tradition in American education that sees education for its utilitarian value. One early proponent of the economic stability argument was Booker T. Washington, who argued that the best way for newly freed African Americans to find their place in an American society that they had been brought to in chains was to learn a trade. Later on, public school districts throughout the country built vocational schools where high school students learned practical skills to ensure employment. In this day and age, when a high school diploma seems inadequate for earning a living wage, those who focus on economic stability are likely to champion educational standards that promise to get students “college and career ready.” If your concern is maintaining the economic status quo, you may choose economic stability as the goal of public schooling.

If your answer is b) social stability, you also have history on your side. As Michael Katz has shown in his book The Irony of Early Education Reform, a driving motive behind the reform movement in public education in the 19th century was to convert the children of factory workers and recent Russ on Reading: What Do We Want from Public Schools?:

Celebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited | deutsch29

Celebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited | deutsch29:

Celebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited

December 26, 2014

In modern America, when it comes to selling a product, the question of whether the product actually works as promised becomes irrelevant. The narrow concern for the profit-driven ends with effectively marketing the product.

Sales result from effective marketing– not the least of which is repeatedly telling the consumer that the product works.

Tell consumers that the product works. Tell them repeatedly.

They then mistake repetition for truth, and voila! the product moves off of the retailer’s shelf.

This is the story of the now-all-charter Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans: It is an inferior product that continues to be pushed as a nationwide model of charter school success, yet it is a failure. A flop. Nothing more than marketing hype.

And certainly no miracle.

RSD Backdrop

Contrary to what many believe, RSD did not originate following the August 2005 devastation of New Orleans via Hurricane Katrina. RSD was formed pre-Katrina, in 2003 via Act 9, and it was a statewide district.  Former Governor Kathleen Blanco supported Act 9. Based upon the legislated criteria set to determine a 2003 “failing” school as any that had a school performance score below 60, RSD only garnered five former Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) schools pre-Katrina. At the time that the hurricane hit, OPSB still operated 117 schools.

OPSB’s retaining so many schools was not supposed to happen.

The hidden agenda behind formation of RSD was for the state to assume control over all OPSB schools and convert OPSB into an all-charter district. To this end, Act 9 in 2003 was not enough.

The powers that be who wanted to “solve” the OPSB “problem” with under-regulated market forces would find their moment to strike within two years.

When Katrina destroyed New Orleans in August 2005, those eyeballing the New Orleans schools for complete charter conversion–not the least of whom was the late State Superintendent Cecil Picard– urged former Governor Kathleen Blanco to push the Louisiana legislature for Act 35. Former BESE member Leslie Jacobs isCelebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited | deutsch29:

How Charter Operators Get Rich | Help Change The World. The Future Of The County Is Now.

How Charter Operators Get Rich | Help Change The World. The Future Of The County Is Now.:

How Charter Operators Get Rich

Charter Schools USA is a very successful for-profit business. It is very profitable. Its CEO Jonathan Hage is an entrepreneur, not an educator. The company’s headquarters are in Florida but it operates 70 charter schools in seven states. It hopes to take over the entire York, Pennsylvania, school district. The money to operate the charter schools come out of money that would otherwise go to district public schools.

How does Hage and the corporation make big money? It is not the management fee of 5%. It’s the rent.

As Channel 10 learned in its investigation, charters profit handsomely by paying outsize rent to themselves.

“When the company helps open a new school, its development arm, Red Apple Development, acquires land and constructs a school. Then, CUSA charges the school high rent.

“For example, Winthrop Charter in Riverview may struggle to balance its budget this year thanks to a $2 million rent payment to CUSA/Red Apple Development. The payment will equate to approximately 23% of its budget, even though CUSA CEO Jon Hage has been quoted as saying charter school rent should not exceed 20%.”

The corporation says that as long as test scores are high and parents are happy, the profits are no problem.

“But among CUSA’s critics is the League of Women Voters, which recently released a study suggesting a troubling lack of separation between a charter school’s advisory board and for-profit How Charter Operators Get Rich | Help Change The World. The Future Of The County Is Now.:

The “Evil” MORE Must Fight « Movement of Rank and File Educators

The “Evil” MORE Must Fight « Movement of Rank and File Educators:

The “Evil” MORE Must Fight

December 26, 2014 — Leave a comment

By Mindy Rosier

There are many forces set to destroy public education that we must fight, but fighting this “evil” is near and dear to my heart. I received information last week that there will be a Public Hearing on Success Academy in District 1 on January 8th. I also kept seeing Eva Moskowitz in the media.

As usual, the more I read, the more angry I got. First came a link claiming the city is dawdling in their charter school plans here. So she planned a City Hall press conference which she canceled after Farina said she anticipates on accommodating up to 8 out 14 of Moskowitz’s schools, though no locations were mentioned. Farina further stated that if any of her schools could not be co-located within existing public schools, the city could seek funding for her to receive private space in the article found here. Thank you Governor Cuomo! Then a little birdie on Twitter shared this gem with me. It is of Success Academy’s 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax for the period of 07/01/2012-06/30/2013. During this time period, Success Academy’s annual revenue more than doubled. Yet Moskowitz can’t afford to pay rent??? We all remember that statement don’t we?

The next day, NY Daily News Reporter Ben Chapman, who must have heard from this birdie too, put out this article. Not only does he state what I just did, he also reported that Moskowitz’s salary jumped, too.  Campbell Brown put in her two cents by saying, “she is worth every penny.” What’s that saying…. “birds of a feather flock together,” it is all so true.

By last Friday, a report on Mayor de Blasio written by Juan Gonzalez from the NY Daily News came out, and it is my opinion that de Blasio made some bold statements that he needs to uphold. He should not cave in to Moskowitz or Cuomo. This article can be found here. On charter schools, “We would never take our kids out of (public) school for a political purpose, and that’s what it was,” de Blasio said. “I think anyone who helped organize those protests [against Success Academy’s not being given free space] took advantage of those kids and used them as political pawns.” The city’s cooperation “comes with some rules,” he said. “We expect (charter schools) to represent the same population as in the district they are housed, meaning just as many English-language learners, just as many special ed kids, (and) not move out kids who don’t test as well.” Finally on this issue, “there was an election,” de Blasio added. “I said what I believed in. We’re (implementing) these policies. They can protest like anyone else, but we’re following through on a vision that I put forward to the people of this city.” I know many have a problem with our mayor for so many things. I personally do not agree with everything he says or does. However, in general, I have found that it is impossible to please everyone, but we either have to make do or fight back. I choose to fight back.

So now we get to why this issue is near and dear to me, I will start by saying that I know what it is like to be in co-location with Moskowitz. Her chain of Success Academy schools began in my building eight years ago. She has gutted my District 75 school over and over. During these eight The “Evil” MORE Must Fight « Movement of Rank and File Educators: