Bridgeport will be voting on whether the mayor should control the schools.
Mayoral control is high on the agenda of the privatization movement, because it allows one official to close public schools and hand them over to private corporations without paying attention to public opinion. Often there are hearings, but members of the public are limited to two minutes, and no one listens to them anyway. The mayor’s appointed board does whatever he wants them to do.
It is not as if mayoral control has a great record. Chicago has had mayoral control since 1995, and the district is among the lowest-performing in the nation on NAEP tests. Cleveland has had mayoral control for fifteen years, and its academic record is worse than Chicago’s. Washington, D.C., has had mayoral control since 2007, and it has the biggest achievement gaps in the nation. New York City has had mayoral control since 2002, and aside from doubling the budget and constant turmoil, and hundreds of school closings and openings, it is hard to see the benefit in terms of better education. The highest-performing districts in the nation on NAEP–Austin and Charlotte–do not have mayoral control.
Yesterday, the mayor of Sacramento, California, visited Bridgeport to urge voters to support mayoral control and relinquish their right to elect the Board of Education. This mayor is not just any old mayor. He is Michelle Rhee’s husband, Kevin Johnson.
The question is whether Bridgeport voters want to vote themselves out of the democratic process and allow their mayor to close public schools and privatize them. There seems to be a consensus among the privatizers that urban districts, whose residents are mostly poor and non-white, lack the wisdom to govern themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Rhee are in the forefront of that movement.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
great! Thanks!! Fabulous post!
Bridgeport Public Schools were taken over by the Governor and Paul Vallas, yes, that Paul Vallas, was hired as superintendent by the State. The suspended school board was resusitated by the courts in June – the newly reinstated school board and the mayor have been dueling over whether Vallas is moving the district in the right direction. Vallas has purchased tons of technology and testing regimens … and is working with the local NEA … the “Governor’s District” law requires collaboration. The mayor fears the school board might want to dump Vallas … it’s a mess
I hope the mayor fears correctly. Isn’t it about time for Vallas to slink away into a sewer somewhere?
It would be great to see a chart that side x side compares the promises of the reformers and the reality of the reform after it has been in place for a while. There’s plenty of examples and just think, it would give the reformers another chance at spin.
Sooner or later, someone will tally the score. Lots of bold promises. We used to call it pie in the sky. Now people line up to pay for the pie.
Just to add: the columns would read REFORM Public’s carrot) – ACCOUNTABILITY (would be mostly balnk) – RESULT (the broken lives of children that have to be repaired)
Sorry, off topic. I actually wrote two letters to the White House on October 17 because I thought of more to say after I submitted the first one. I don’t like to brag, and try not to be jealous, but I am now the proud recipient of not one, but two (2!) identical form letter responses from the White House (a full 5 days later, so it doesn’t seem like it’s just some kind of automated response).
I wrote another brief letter just now suggesting that when thousands of angry teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens take the time and effort to write to you about how bad “Race to the Top” is, perhaps you don’t want to send the standard form letter touting the wonders of RttT.
I’ll probably get a third form letter to add to my collection.
I received the same form letter twice today…the exact same letter I received a week ago.
And to learn more about Mr. Rhee….read here:
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/11/20/what-was-michelle-rhees-damage-control-for-kevin-johnson/
Funny. KJ had problems touching women and girls inappropriately in Phoenix too.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1997-05-08/news/the-summer-of-95/
Diane, while I may have “agree 2 disagree” moments with you regarding some of your perspectives related to Parent & Family engagement I THANK YOU for posting this blog and I especially agree w. this statement
“The question is whether Bridgeport voters want to vote themselves out of the democratic process and allow their mayor to close public schools and privatize them. There seems to be a consensus among the privatizers that urban districts, whose residents are mostly poor and non-white, lack the wisdom to govern themselves.”
Please note there are many disingenuous forces at the helm of the Bridgeport CT takeover that is trying very hard to disenfranchise thousands of Bridgeport residents from their civil right to VOTE, which will have a devastating impact on communities of color thus setting back history 50+ years!
As a parent of color, I have come to realize, through VERY hard advocacy experiences, that this so called status quo ed reform movement is about making working poor communities and people of color feel like they are such victims incapable of thinking for themselves and they need “saviors” and knights in shining armour to save the day AND that is the furthest from the truth!
The bottom line is ” those that are parents and guardians of children must take responsibility for our child’s academic and life success through active participation on many levels of our childs life, and parents MUST DEMAND the right to choose the best school that meets their child’s academic needs whether its a safe and high performing traditional, vocational/technical, charter, head start, school readiness…ALL children should have access to great and safe schools!
And schools districts must desire, with fidelity, to improve relationships with parents, students, family and community
And Michelle Rhee and her husband, Mr. Johnson are one of the many manipulators of people of color….being people of color themselves, that is quite perplexing. The mighty dollar, power and greed can cloud one’s judgement and make you think you are doing good when you are actually causing harm. Rhee WILL go down as the Bernie Madoff of the privatization movement….this is NOT reform. Don’t be fooled.
You are right! It is perplexing that ANYONE would embrace this Mayoral Control concept that circumvents DEMOCRACY… I never really learned about it until it hit Bridgeport CT doorsteps then I learned more about New Havens and Hartford CT, then Chicago then NYC!
WHY would THOUSANDS of taxpayer/voter give away their voting rights to ONE PERSON to control? Voting is such a sacred American right and this mayoral contol concept has NO checks and balance system, its a dictatorship system!
“Every citizen of this country should be guaranteed that their vote matters, that their vote is counted, and that in the voting booth, their vote has a much weight as that of any CEO, any member of Congress, or any President”.Barbara Boxer