I earlier reported the story on Huffington Post that said a number of top staffers had resigned, including Democrats. Hari Sevugan was a key figure in the article. He here explains his continued loyalty to Michelle Rhee’s mission.
I hope he will write again to explain why he thinks that Rhee’s support for for-profit charters, for vouchers, and for the agenda of rightwing governors helps our society’s most vulnerable children.
Diane – I’ve never posted a comment on your blog, but as one of the subjects mentioned in the article you have extrapolated from to make your point in this entry, I felt that I needed to on this occasion. I’m also writing this on my iphone, so please forgive me any wayward autocorrects.
You have often suggested, as you have here, that folks at StudentsFirst and more broadly the education reform community are working to privatize education and diminish teaching and teachers.
You afforded a story regarding my time at StudentsFirst enough validity to use it to criticize the organization. So, I hope you will afford my opinion based on that time the same credibility when I tell you this:
To suggest that folks working at StudentsFirst or in education reform are doing anything but working for the benefit of kids is plain wrong.
Everyone I worked with at StudentsFirst and in the education reform community was and is exclusively interested in improving the lives of children. They are not out to diminish teachers, but rather they recognize the importance of teachers in ensuring children have the best education possible. They are not out to destroy public education, but rather their fealty belongs to the public school students served by that system.
The thing is – I believe the same is true of teachers unions and many advocates, including you, who are opposed to education reform.
While I no longer work at StudentsFirst on a day-to-day basis, I will continue to work with them in other ways, as well as with other reformers, toward their goal of ensuring every child has access to high quality education.
In this post you ask, “What part of [Rhee’s] agenda is bipartisan?” There are many Democrats, including this one, who work toward reform because public schools are not currently serving every child – too often children of color and from poverty – as they should. These children are being denied a fundamental civil right. It is a core Democratic value to ensure that their civil rights are enforced. It is a core Democratic value to ensure poverty or socio-economic status is not a barrier to opportunity. It is a core Democratic value to ensure teachers are respected for the work they do.
There will be disagreements on how to enact those values at a policy level, on both sides and at times within the same side (see Newark teachers deal) but I hope we can abstain from characterizing motivations or values of those we disagree with. (Or in this case mischaracterizing them). I hope we can raise the level of the dialogue in this debate to reflect the importance of the subject matter both sides are trying to serve – our kids.
Hope this finds you otherwise well and doing better things on a Friday night that reading this.
– Hari
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And charter schools that are replacing public schools serve every child? Oh wait, they’re not public schools, so the civil rights issues don’t apply there…..
Poor little Hari and all the reformers. They just want to improve Education and help the poor. We as the Educators have to work with them to educate them that, even though they mean well , they just don’t realize that they are destroying education!
Do not pay attention to the man behind the curtain!
I must admit that when I first started looking into this “reform” stuff, this is the way I felt. I also believed in Santa Claus at one time in my life!
These are brilliant people we are dealing with! They know exactly what is happening and where their MONEY is coming from! This letter is just one of their many tactics that they use.
I notice, looking at some replies, that some of you have bought into this. We are completely outflanked by the “reformers”! They are not really worried by us getting in their way, we are just annoying. We have had some success in slowing them down, not by educating them, but by educating the public and fellow Teachers.
We must stay our course and full speed ahead if we wish to save Public Schools!
I, too, have a particularly hard time with Hari’s eighth paragraph-“It is a core Democratic value to ensure that their civil rights are enforced. It is a core Democratic value to ensure poverty or socio-economic status is not a barrier to opportunity. It is a core Democratic value to ensure teachers are respected for the work they do.”
Oh, really? Hari, please tell us how Students First is enforcing students’ civil rights?
Hari, please enumerate the ways in which Students First is ensuring that poverty/socio-economic status is not a barrier to opportunity. And–last but not least!–Hari, please tell us how Students First is ensuring that teachers are respected for the work they do? When you can list solid examples to answer these questions, perhaps then we can afford Students First some credibility.
BTW–although you don’t address this–just WHAT is Students First doing with all that money in its coffers to help ensure American students the very best educational opportunities?
Finally, whenever I read about someone who is so involved in American ed. policy, I find I must read their biography. I found, from Wikipedia, that Hari actually taught for two years.
An excellent response, Retired. I read Hari’s response and wondered, where are the concrete examples to march the fluffy rhetoric? And the chutzpah to advise on educational “reform” having only two years in the classroom! The arrogance is palpable.
The respect teachers part bothered me too. Rhee has NEVER shown any respect for teachers. She blamed teachers, ridiculed them, and fired them. None of those actions show anything but Rhee-spect, which is the complete opposite of respect. With a leader like Rhee, is it any wonder that Students First(Last) is seen as an enemy of public education, kids, and teachers?
If you want to improve education for children, please support the people who are providing it: parents and teachers.
Strange post
Hari said: “….who work toward reform because public schools are not currently serving every child – too often children of color and from poverty – as they should. These children are being denied a fundamental civil right. ” He IS knocking and demeaning public schools, he is singling out public schools for criticism. Notice he’s not criticizing the charter schools which “are not currently serving every child.” I guess all or most charter schools are perfect and doing a fabulous excellent job ??!? Why doesn’t he work with the actual public school teachers, why doesn’t he serve as a consultant to actual public schools and to the teacher unions? Instead, he works with Rhee and a group that are very adversarial and that takes every opportunity to slime, swift boat and demonize the public schools, their teachers and especially their unions.
That is exactly why this lifelong Democrat will not be voting Democratic again. There are too many hucksters in my party now that ignore poverty and whose actions demonstrate that they support starving schools, trashing teachers, bashing unions, and giving schools away to profiteers and nonprofiteers. While they claim what they do upholds “core Democratic values,” they are laughing all the way to the bank with their corporate sponsors.
Not buying it. Never will.. .
Well, that would be a mistake.
It would make much more sense to do what lots of us are starting to do: Directly Confront The “Democrats” In Your State!
Let them know, as we’ve let the State Legislators know in our state, that we’re watching them closely and we won’t let them slip the wool over our eyes any longer.
We’re ready with primary challenges and we’ll expose these so-called “Democrats” and “Reformers” for the sellouts and conservative enablers that they are.
Don’t walk away from the Democratic Party: Involve yourself with it. Educate your fellow Democrats. Make the party a hostile place—as it should be—to those who demonize public schools, teachers and parents by calling us “status quo” supporters.
Let these “Democrats” know that they can no longer pretend to be “progressive” just by supporting gay rights and reproductive rights. Those days are over. Ask them, “Are you with The Privatizers or with parents and teachers?”
Don’t walk away and stop voting. That’s EXACTLY what Rhee and her cohorts want you to do.
Many countries in the world have Labor Parties to promote a program for the 99%. Granted many of them have sold out just like some of our union bureaucrats have, but that doesn’t mean we should accept our current powerlessness. Isn’t it way past time that we think out of the box we have been put in?
“Let them know, as we’ve let the State Legislators know in our state, that we’re watching them closely and we won’t let them slip the wool over our eyes any longer.”
What’s the “or else”? If they continue to “slip the wool over [your] eyes”, what are you going to do about it? Write stern letters? Vote Republican?
Until and unless we make it clear that the “or else” is that we’ll vote third-party en masse – whatever the cost – we have no pull with the Democrats. They have zero motivation to listen to people they know will vote for them anyway.
Never said I’d stop voting. I voted 3rd party, Green, for the first time in my life this past election and I’ll continue to vote 3rd party until the Democratic party either further implodes or seriously re-examines its alliances with and commitment to corporate sponsors over its base.
When you live in a city that has had Democratic mayors continuously for over 80 years and the last two have repeatedly bashed and undermined labor unions, you realize that the party’s values are NOT what they claim.
Until Democrats actively address poverty, support labor and advocate for livable wages for the working poor, the talk about helping children in poverty is just that, all talk. It’s a lot of smoke and mirrors to conceal the fact that they no longer hold the humanitarian values that were once at the core of the party. .
And, yes, I have repeatedly contacted my Democratic representatives regarding such matters.
My speculation is that the “Democrat” staffers are leaving Students First exactly to find better cover, to try to shore up their control of the Democratic Party at the state level. This is from an email I just got, a politically active colleague in California:
“With the exit of Gloria Romero (she brought us our Parent Trigger law) from elected office, there has been some eclipsing of DfER in the state, but there is a concern that they may make an effort to effect the party platform in various ways (none of them good for public education). Delegates control the party platform in the state, so this is a critical point to stop any of that sort of madness. ”
Colleagues, this exodus is a good sign only in that it shows Students First is too compromised to provide political cover. Instead of abandoning the Democratic party, move, move, move, quickly and decisively to block the drive to corrupt your state platform.
Interesting that StudentsFirst Mission page does not mention poverty at all.
http://www.studentsfirst.org/pages/our-mission
That’s the most disgraceful aspect of the Democratic song and dance about helping poor children: They don’t address poverty. That left for teachers alone to eradicate.
Not apportioning significant amounts from the millions in their coffers toward jobs programs and advocating that their billionaire corporate sponsors pay the working poor parents of those kids a livable wage just shows how right-wing those Democrats have become.
Hari,
Please read Gary Rubinstein’s excellent open letter to reformers. Gary is an experienced teacher and TFA person (He’s had many roles with TFA.) He has written letters to Johnston, Kopp, Rhee, to name a few, and he seems to know some of the reformers to varying degrees personally.
http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/
He is very thoughtful, analytical, and he obviously has critically reflected about education, and education reform. I don’t think he can be considered a status quo die hard unionist who should be dismissed because all he cares about is a pension. (i have found that many reformers like to dismiss criticism with the argument that critics just care about themselves.). Gary seems to have thought a lot about public education, and he’s had experience with TFA.
I have considered myself to be in the “no excuses reform” camp, but I am terribly afraid of where the reforms are headed now. Gary’s posts have basically matched my experiences working in the reform community. PLEASE consider reading it. I’d suggest all 8 letters he has written to reformers as well as the comments. And then since you’re so connected to very powerful people, forward them his letters.
Thank you for a thoughtful post. Gary’s 8 letters should be required reading for all so-called “education reformers.” And that includes the many comments posted in response to his letters. He has helped me keep a more balanced perspective on the motivations and actions of many of those involved in such organizations as TFA.
I would add that Hari’s message to Diane was not so much a defense of TFA’s agenda as a plea to not personally malign him and others involved in TFA and similar groups. Good. I hope to hear very soon that he personally intervened to get TFA to issue a formal apology to Diane and others for the despicable attacks re Newtown.
Even granted that he sent it from his iPhone, his statement to Diane that “teachers unions and many advocates, including you” are “opposed to education reform” is very revealing. When you don’t want to malign people, you don’t use [to put it mildly] insulting language meant to provoke anger rather thoughtful response. Again, he would be well advised to read months of postings and responses on this blog, and Gary R’s, to understand that Diane and Gary [and the majority of posters on their blogs] are profoundly committed to “education reform.” His lack of awareness of the [I will take the high road] unintentional insult is of a piece with many [by far, not all] comments I have seen by TFAers and those associated with the organization.
One of the hallmarks of the many good—and sometimes outstanding—teachers I worked with was the ability to keep oneself and one’s actions in perspective. To learn from one’s successes and failures—and to know which is which.
I sincerely hope Hari learns something from his message and the responses to it and replies directly to this blog.
“Gary’s 8 letters should be required reading for all so-called “education reformers.” And that includes the many comments posted in response to his letters. ”
Yes! My first thought was to send Gary’s letter and their responses to my state legislators. They say that politics is a necessary evil. Necessary, yes, but one can still engage in the people’s work without being a villain. Maybe we should take up a collection to get all of these “reformers” t-shirts like the bad guys used to wear in the old Batman series–you know, the ones that read “Henchman” just in case you didn’t know who they worked for. 😀
Hari,
When did you teach? What subjects and ages? In what setting? How long and why did you leave? How did you become associated with Michelle Rhee? Would you consider teaching in the classroom with K-12 students sometime soon? If not, why?
You could make a bigger difference in the trenches as opposed to repeating failed slogans.
Please consider coming back IF you were a great teacher, the kind every student deserves.
He taught middle school in NY for two years. Read more about this in The Washington Post article (Google Hari Sevugan teaching).
He liked teaching middle school students because they were “gullible.” More interesting revelations in this article!
Hari,
One more thing…your statement here:
“I hope we can raise the level of the dialogue in this debate to reflect the importance of the subject matter both sides are trying to serve – our kids.”
Ummm….can you talk to Michelle about this…..raise the level?…..really you have got to be kidding.
She couldn’t even mention the six MURDERED teachers here in CT. Her lame statement once again was self serving.
You have your work cut out for you Hari and before you preach to all of us, you may want to start with your boss.
I agree with the sentiments. I believe their may be reformers linked to Rhee who believe in what they do, and want a better education for students whose outcomes don’t meet our hopes and aspirations for them. Unfortunately, to truly put students first you have to honestly address the preparations-not just the results.
“No excuses” as a response to the burdens of poverty, consumerism, moral and societal decay OUTSIDE of school can only be interpreted as willful ignorance or willing defense of those profiting from those conditions.
Continually placing more and more responsibility on one of the few steadfast and loyal institution in less fortunate students’ lives; defining the value of these children and their educators using questionable data miners and their questionable tools:that’s buying into the same system that is part of the problem-not part of any reasonable solution.
Your second paragraph is on point. One other point: reformers like Rhee and their enablers like the mainstream media seem to think that parents of children raised in poverty have their baseline needs met and have time to research options for their child’s education, time to drive their child to their spiffy charter school, and have time to seek out high quality child care. Parents of children raised in poverty spend most of their time cobbling together low-wage part-time jobs to make ends meet.
These people just want to slum in our schools. Right Linda?
This guy is trying to make a buck so he joins the reformers. So sad
for our kids. How many people actually have kids in poor schools?
Can we hear their thoughts. They don’t bite, promise.
This sounds to me like more political propaganda. How much more insulting can someone be?
Who the hell is this Heri cat anyway? What makes him someone we should listen to (other than supposedly being a self professed education expert)? Why should I care what he does (other than the fact that he is part of the destroy public education folks)?
Hari Sevugan is one such careerist. After making a name for himself in “rapid response” for the Democratic National Committee during the triumph of the 2010 midterm elections he is now moving on to bust unions with Michele Rhee in exchange for Corporate Cash. His previous expierience with education was teaching for a tremendous 2 years in the rough district of Upper Manhattan (cue Coolio) so he really “gets it.”
Democratic National Committee national spokesman Hari Sevugan will move to a top post at the former Washington, D.C., school chief Michelle Rhee’s new advocacy group, Students First, a move aimed at strengthening its hand in the complex and high-stakes politics of education policy.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/06/982571/-Hari-Sevugan-Sells-Out-Fmr-DNC-Spokesman-goes-Union-Busting#
Also Duane and others read here:
Neither revelation was, in and of itself, groundbreaking. But they do cast additional doubts on Rhee’s efforts to accentuate the similarities between her politics and those of the unions she’s often fought. Several months ago, Rhee’s organization, StudentsFirst, announced that it was hiring former Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Hari Sevugan to serve in a communications role — implicitly as an ambassador to the progressive community.
“I don’t feel [the story of StudentsFirst] has been captured, not wholly,” Sevugan told The Huffington Post at the time. “If we’re able to tell the story of how we’ve been working with people on both sides of the aisle, how it’s a national movement made up of Democrats, Republicans and Independents, that are fighting to give students a voice, then I will have done my job.”
Despite the skepticism that accompanied Sevugan’s hiring, there were some early, encouraging results. Rhee formally came out in support of the DREAM Act, which provides a path to citizenship — either through military service or scholastic achievements — for the children of undocumented immigrants. Rhee also offered stronger indications that she did in fact support collective bargaining rights. And StudentsFirst, often accused of working solely with Republicans, recently hired a Democrat, Michigan State Rep. Tim Melton, to work on legislative issues.
Several months into the experiment, however, union officials and progressive advocates have been unconvinced, noting that for all of the rhetorical support for teachers and collective bargaining, Rhee often associates herself with efforts that run counter to those groups and interests.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/07/michelle-rhees-hari-sevugan-unions-labor-progressives_n_952659.html
So he’s just another PR person trying to do damage control on his way out the door to bigger and better earnings,
It sickens me every time I hear Rhee and her ilk claim to be allied with “progressives.”
I had thought that if there was one group within the party in which one could place some hope, it’ would be the Democratic Progressive Caucus –of which my rep is a VP and a former teacher. So, I sent a letter of appeal about Democratic policies around poverty, education and corporate sponsored “reform”. Unlike all the other responses I’ve gotten regarding various matters over the years, I received no response about these issues. Very discouraging.
Linda,
I guess my snarkiness didn’t quite come through in what I wrote.
My take on these types of rheeformers is that they’re in it all for themselves as a nice little money making career while deluding themselves that they are helping the “poor and downtrodden” simultaneously blasting the ones who actually do the “in the trenches” work, the public school teachers.
Poverty IS the barrier to opportunity. Declaring a war on
poverty is the only way to break the barrier.
I’m curious if one of the possible reasons for so many departures from StudentsFirst as reported in the Huff Po article is whether its budget is possibly contracting; there are likely some in the #corpreform camp & its wealthy funders who are uncomfortable w/Rhee because she blows their supposedly “progressive” cover.
Also, her statement after Newtown and her self-serving closing made it clear to many that she is concerned about herself and her reputation only. She couldn’t even muster the strength to mention the murdered teachers: Dawn, Mary, Ann Marie, Rachel, Victoria and Lauren. She is a vile, hollow human.
Perhaps we are giving them too much credit for caring about their reputations as “progressives.” If any one of them had a backbone, they would admit that SF’s positions do not align with the progressive agenda.
It appears that Sevugan cares not for the reputation of any ideology and instead cares for his own reputation since he has decided to expand his political motivations for the ol’ résumé.
While it’s heartening to see some people – apparently the more prescient, opportunistic ones – abandoning the increasingly radioactive Rhee, let’s not forget that the hostile takeover of public education continues to be a bi-partisan consensus.
Until elected officials realize that there will be painful consequences for supporting these destructive policies, they will continue.
For someone who is supposedly an expert Hari’s response is awfully vague with no specifics about how and why his organization is making things better. The habitual drone about how education for poor kids is a right confuses poor outcomes with education. They don’t have a right to equal outcomes, which is why we can allow them to languish in poverty and unsafe neighborhoods while closing neighborhood schools like the kids in other countries get to attend. I personally have nothing against paying educators top dollar, but this kind of poorly composed letter makes you wonder how he can pretend to be a leader.
Yes, pretend, role play, act, repeat slogans ad nauseum, position one’s self….somehow they convince themselves they actually know what they are talking about or maybe they don’t care that they come off as bullshitters. Poor, Hari.
I hope Hari reads this. Dianne is not opposed to education reform. She opposes the schools being run by those who are not educators and public schools being run for profit. She also opposes teachers and teacher unions being considered the cause of the problems the public schools have.
I have put it this way several times: If your child had a broken leg, would you take him to a carpenter for medical care? I think you would take him to a good pediatrician and if necessary, have him seen by an orthopedic surgeon. Then why would you have your child educated by a person who last week was working as a clerk at Walmart supervised by an MBA instead of an education professional? The minds of our children are at least as important as the development of their bodies.
I can not believe that Hari ended his article asking that Diane not question his motivation.
After all, he and his deformer friends have been questioning the motives of rank and file teachers for years! Remember Hari, “Turn about is fair play.”
I wonder if some of the folks fleeing Rhee might be exiting in an effort to distance themselves from the persistent quesrtion of score tampering in DC under her watch: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/documentary-examines-michelle-rhees-legacy-in-dc/2013/01/04/ae86e8a6-55f7-11e2-8b9e-dd8773594efc_story.html
In that WaPo article on the Frontline story, even Rhee suggests that she’d like to leave StudentsFirst:
“I lost the job that I loved,” she said. “The work that we’re doing right now with Students First is important. Would I rather be in D.C. as the chancellor? Absolutely.”
By the way, she didn’t lose her job in DCPS, she quit after Mayor Fenty who hired her lost the Democratic primary election. She also said from the outset that she only intended to be a Chancellor once. She was offered other jobs at the state level in education, but chose to start her own organization. Lots more money for her.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months. Will more rats leave a sinking ship? Will Rhee be one of them?
So there’s an “Education Reform Community”????!!!! If you want to make a real difference for students, get in the classroom and TEACH while you’re “reforming.”
After years of Rheeform, DC schools still had one of largest gaps, so not every child was served by #1 reformer. She quit and now is assaulted with cheating scandal that was whitewashed by her successor. Rhee has demonized public school teachers and unions every chance she gets; don’t assert that she or any other reformer respects public school teachers.
Please don’t insult us with your claims of caring about public school children more than career public school teachers who work their tails off and spend their own money on behalf of children day-in and day-out! If you would take the time to inform yourself about the real demon in public education (poverty) and the documented failure of the main reforms again being implemented, maybe you could begin to join in and support public education instead of trying to drag as many students out of it as you can (can you deny the many stories about charter operators paying themselves exorbitant amounts of money?)
All the reformers have behind them is rhetoric. They do not have experience or evidence to demonstrate that what they are doing will work. A lot of people hear about charters and think that they make sense. Firing bad teachers makes sense. The public is missing a few pieces to this puzzle. I think the primary missing piece is teacher training and recruitment. Lets repeat this enough so that everyone hears it: What kind of teacher would you want for your own children? What kind of training and compensation would this require? Post it on billboards, sky write it.
I completely respect your brilliantly orwellian framing “The thing is – I believe the same is true of teachers unions and many advocates, including you, who are opposed to education reform.”
Unless I agree to talk like YOU, and unless I agree with YOUR fixes, I’m opposed to education reform!!
Are you moving onto some other big 6 figure a year job blaming teachers, while hiding behind kids? Will you be rewarded for being such a great leading basher of teachers? Or, are you getting rewarded for being such a great supporter of the leading bashers ?
I’ve voted for YOUR kind of sell out “Democrats” for decades, and I completely regret it. While it is nice that you’re not bigoted, racist, sexist, 13th century droolers, you are also butt kissers of the wealthy and powerful who’ve set the systems up to fail, and who’ve blamed the grunts on the front lines for the failures! If it were WWI, you’d be the aristocrats and senior officiers sending the hordes of know-no-bodies out into the no man’s land!
In the Repug party, run by honest to goodness lying thieves, people are tossed out if they don’t toe the party line on bigotry, on dog whistle racism, on sexism, on rallying around insuring that the rich pigs at the top stay rich and stay on top. In the Democratic Party, there is a branch in the Arne-Rahm-Clinton-Obama neo-lib world — as long as you profess to not being a racist, sexist drooler, and you’re super effective at lying about all your rich pig butt kissing, you’ll be in charge!
I’m sure you’ll take care of yourself, and I’m sure it will be “for the children.”
rmm.