Former Louisiana schools chief Paul Pastorek gets Puerto Rico contract: report
Louisiana’s former education superintendent has accepted a six-figure contract to revitalize the school system in Puerto Rico, Education Week reports. The website’s story comes from The Metro newspaper in Puerto Rico.
The report, which cites a report from Metro in Puerto Rico, says Paul Pastorek, a New Orleans native, agreed to a contract with Puerto Rico’s Department of Education to help with various tasks, including assisting the island’s school system in getting hurricane recovery funds to implement a plan under the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act. The contract reportedly runs until June 2019 and is worth up to $155,000, at $250 an hour, Education Week reports.
Puerto Rico was devastated in September 2017 when Hurricane Maria hit the island, leaving nearly 3,000 dead and severely damaging the island’s power grid.
Puerto Rico Secretary of Education Julia Keleher told Education Week that Pastorek is “particularly helpful” given his post-Hurricane Katrina experience.
Not everyone approves of the decision. The report says American Federation of Teachers' President Randi Weingarten said Pastorek only seeks to further the goals of U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which include “closing schools, privatization and disinvestment from public schools."
Pastorek was a partner at Adams and Reese in New Orleans for 27 years and served on the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education before he was named state superintendent of schools in 2007. He is known for leading the state’s education efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and credited with helping design Louisiana’s school accountability measures and stabilizing the Recovery School District. Many of the education reforms he supported allowed New Orleans to become the majority charter school district it is today.
Pastorek resigned as Louisiana schools chief in 2011 to serve as an executive for Airbus Group Inc., a defense contractor based in CONTINUE READING: Former Louisiana schools chief Paul Pastorek gets Puerto Rico contract: report | nola.com
