A progressive website published a “leaked document” that allegedly shows bad blood between Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and Connecticut’s Parent Union.
Both are supposed to be working together to promote the parent trigger in Connecticut but it seems they got into a slugfest over money.
Read it for yourself.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ah, yes. Sandwichgate. They rounded up a bunch of college kids with offers of free subs and bussed them to the rally. When a few were interviewed by reporters, they couldn’t even explain why they were there. What a carnival of wedgies.
So apropo….”For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:10
As a public school teacher, I immediately thought $10,000? Wow! Imagine what a school could do with that money, never mind the free lunch
There was a fair amount of chicanery that took place regarding that money to avoid CT lobbying regulations.
May it will be like “Millions of Cats”: they’ll keep fighting until no one is left!
I often wonder why the reformers of public education seem to be able to continue siphoning off public school funds unabated. They set up schools with cherry picked students, while leaving out special needs students, students struggling with behavior issues, English language learners, etc. They are able to cast aside those students who inconveniently “interfere” with their agenda, while they count their profits, spin invalid test scores, and bamboozle the public. What is their legacy?
Certainly something or someone is protecting them.
Both the privateers and the protectors remind me of the greedy, self-serving character Scrooge, from the Charles Dickens’ classic, ” A Christmas Carol”.
The most striking part of this story occurs when the second spirit visits Scrooge and under the spirit’s robe are poverty stricken children, a boy and girl, who are dirty, hungry and cold, named “Ignorance” and “Want”. I think of those children when I hear of another public school being privatized. How many unfortunate students are cast aside while money is drained from their public school? I wonder how their future is impacted. How long will the impact of poverty on children continue to be left out of the discussion by educational decision-makers?
Imagine a remake of the book or movie where a charter school CEO is shown, by three spirits, “Public Schools PAST” (before they got their hands on it), “Public Schools PRESENT”‘ (the current state of education because of their deeds), and “Public Schools YET TO COME” (what the future holds for public school education if they aren’t stopped).
Hmmm … Who should play Scrooge?
See this statement on the CPTU website:
Donate Now
The Connecticut Parent’s Union does not negotiate the educational well being of children. As a result, your support is needed to protect the educational rights of children.
http://ctparentsunion.org/donate.html
Time to rewrite their mission? Call Rhee for help!
Typo..CTPU
Thanks Diane for this expose of CT Parent Union and Gwen. Keep an eye on Bridgeport as I know you follow Jon Pelto. Election of School Board is Tuesday 9/4 for however long if Mayoral take over happens by Nov 6 vote. Yesterday a private effort to raise $10 million in private donations for “school reform” Vallas-style was announcedbacked by potential list of anonymous donors..surely TFA & ConnCan hedge fund folks for the most part. More forces for privatizing public schools I suspect. gail
ps – loved quote from Louisiana blog piece you brought to light about silent tenured ed professors. And TFA “goon” squad. (A bit strong but a fun thought.) Silent professors and Ed Commissioner all true in CT right now too when smoke and mirrors here have removed elected school boards and brought Bridgeport $900 per day contract ed consultants.
Gail Janensch 203.856.4360 gailj2@optonline.net Bridgeport, CT 06604
I see Ms. Samuel’s comments on Huffpo, so I Googled her and she has some interesting “baggage” so to speak. She is out to make a name for herself. Unfortunately some other “parents” who once stood with teachers here in NYC are also starting to hitch their wagons to Rhee and the Parent Trigger Law in return for the “show me the money!!” agenda.
It’s hard to form an effective coalition with a group founded and dominated by a sociopath (Rhee); may their conflicts and dysfunction continue to increase.
Perhaps the reform movement will self-destruct all on its own. One can only hope. In the meantime, we need to be ever vigilant of legislation that robs the public schools. Everyone needs to get involved by taking action to contact legislators en masse. We can make a difference while holding the line for our country’s children.
In reference to CT and our miracle reformers read about how they game the system to falsify graduation rates and test scores. Excerpts here:
But the flier circulating at the Aug. 22 meeting suggests that these claims are not entirely credible. Regarding the graduation rate, the flier claims that Adamowski “imposed a minimum failing grade of 55 for all students, whether or not they attended classes.” This resulted in a “system in which many students attended for only one quarter of the year, yet they passed.” Regarding improved test scores, the flier claims that “Adamowski achieved an approximate 10-percent increase in CMT scores by identifying those students who couldn’t pass the test and moving 9.8 percent to the MAS Modified Connecticut Test in lieu of making real gains.”
“It is a simple matter for the state to look into student grades during the Adamowski reign in Hartford,” he continued, “checking to see how many students failed to complete any work over three marking periods, and yet received grades of 55 instead of zero for those periods. Then, these same students were able to earn a sufficiently high enough grade during the fourth marking period to ‘earn’ an overall course grade of 60. Then, balance those grades of 55 against the attendance for those marking periods. Invariably, the state would determine that such students attended only one marking period yet passed the entire course under Adamowski’s policies.”
Anne DeGraff, a retired counselor from Hartford’s Bulkeley High School upper school (grades 11-12), provided further evidence that students were leaving Hartford public schools ill-equipped under Adamowski. “During Mr. Adamowski’s tenure in the Hartford school system, we were working diligently at BHS upper school to make sure the transcripts reflected rigor and college-ready courses,” said DeGraff. “Much to our chagrin, the transcripts we received from the lower school (grades 9-10) were anything but. Despite complaints to administrators and the board, the lower school continued to produce transcripts reflecting students taking the same course over and over again, despite having passed it. I can’t help thinking that this did not help our students enter college.
http://www.remindernews.com/article/2012/08/26/parents-teachers-oppose-special-master-methods