Rahm Picks a New School Board Member

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1. Hannah says:

   June 27, 2013 at 10:13 pm

   SERIOUSLY?! RRRRG!

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2. DeeDee says:

   June 27, 2013 at 10:26 pm

   This is why school board members should be elected. She does not represent the people she represents her self-interests.

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3. Joe says:

   June 27, 2013 at 10:28 pm

   Rahms’s new pick, Deborah Quazzo: her company, GSW Advisors has this view of education:

   In the venture capital world, transactions in the K-12 education sector soared to a record $389 million last year, up from $13 million in 2005. That includes major investments from some of the most respected venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, according to GSV Advisors, an investment firm in Chicago that specializes in education.
   The goal: an education revolution in which public schools outsource to private vendors such critical tasks as teaching math, educating disabled students, even writing report cards, said Michael Moe, the founder of GSV.
   Good grief! I really hope the day soon comes when these billionaires get tired of their latest toy (education) and find something else to ruin.

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   • Dorothy says:

     June 27, 2013 at 10:43 pm

     That is truly scary.

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   • Jonathan says:

     June 28, 2013 at 10:58 am

     This is (italicized) truly scary… and, I hope you don’t mind if I use your middle paragraph in a comment I am posting for the 6/28 blog post: Faculty and Students at U. of Minnesota Oppose TFA.

     I will, of course, cite you as my source.

     Where do the facts you cite come from?

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     • gitapik says:

       June 28, 2013 at 2:34 pm

       You can see the quote on the link supplied by Diane, in the initial post.

       I clicked on a link, there, for GSW Advisors. Although the specific quote you see, above, is not there, you will find the same sentiments, here:

       http://gsvadvisors.com/company/

       Here’s a rather poignant phrase of theirs:

       “The concept of learning has been transformed. The traditional notion—classrooms and instructors, books and schedules, papers and tests, kids and grades—well, they’ve grown up.”

4. Ms. Dee says:

   June 27, 2013 at 10:35 pm

   Nope, the billionaires are not going to get tired of this “toy” any time soon. It has become too popular, and they are having too much fun to move on to something else.

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5. banderson114 says:

   June 27, 2013 at 10:47 pm

   They will not tire until they realize that they cannot make a profit off of kids. The damage will be done.
   I fell so bad for the young people who hope to become teachers. It will be like working at Wal Mart. I have 7 years to go. I hate to sound selfish, but I only hope I make it through to my pension.
   The average citizen in this country is going to have to make some serious changes to how we are governed. It is time to stand up and say “Enough”!

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   • Old Teacher says:

     June 27, 2013 at 11:14 pm

     I know just how you feel, I am trying to get to 20 years, I have 5 to go. I will then be old enough to collect my pension, and I can work while my youngest son graduated from high school. I have discouraged my older sons from being teachers.

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6. Jon Awbrey says:

   June 27, 2013 at 11:00 pm

   It is a maxim of capitalism that Capital Knows No Nationality.

   Which explains why capitalists care about the well-being of children in this country exactly as much as they care about the well-being of children in Bangladesh.

   And not just the children, of course …

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   • ronee groff says:

     June 28, 2013 at 5:59 am

     You are in the now and right on the money (forgive the pun). Thank you!! Global elite have seized the day, the dollar, and deceitfully set out over decades to bring us to their moment of yelling SURPRISE!!!

     It makes perfect sense to come out of the shadows and show the people who really own the company store and the employees.
     Measuring and sorting are absolutely essential to the plan on all levels. Who better then a finance guru to get the job done.

     The children are the workers of the future and now that the charter school plan is being moved into place without much to stop it, as they are the boxes for containing and holding the human capital for sorting and measuring, it is time to move on. An inventory has to be made of the land grab, the cost of reshaping for the purpose of the return of the gated community. Designating the area of residence for the servants to their existence,those they do not want to have to look at or deal with the little people (meaning all the rest of us). This is the ultimate revenge of the nerds. I grade it a B for brilliant and bad.

     It lacks morality, ethics, humanity, and is divorced from a soul. It has no affect and no honesty. It is measured and cold, reminds me of the plan of Nazi Germany. All the Germans were not privy to the plan, but they were too scared and into themselves with denial and prejudice to stop their betrayal of others and themselves. Thinking at a economically challenged time that it was the efficient thing to do.
     Some did not get it until the rest of the world came for them. And some still don’t get it.

     Look to the Eli Broad school of finance and degree programs and look at the list of graduates. I wonder if they even had to pay for the privilege of taking the course. The mayors from our greatest cities
     no better then the TFA crowd, only with a different mission. This is so well planned and executed it should make your bones shake and shiver! Innocent, well meaninged and caring people have been sucked into this diabolical plan over the last thirty years and now
     the TRUTH is revealed and the blinders are beginning to come off.
     Scary isn’t it?!!! What to do is the question? Even if it is to fight for our own dignity and most important, the children.

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7. Chiara says:

   June 27, 2013 at 11:16 pm

   How exciting for the Kids Who Come First!
   They’ll get a temp for a math teacher.

   When do you think the reformers will tell the people in these communities the innovative plans they have for us?

   “Great teachers” What an absolute crock. The Kids Who Come First will be sitting in front of a screen plodding through test prep.

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8. Jack says:

   June 27, 2013 at 11:20 pm

   Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack, has been thought of as a possible challenger to Rahm Emmanuel. The following article describes him as “one of the handful whom the mayor can count on—to vote no.”

   When interviewed (link at the end of this post), he talks about his efforts have an elected school board, so we won’t have unqualified appointed board members like Mrs. Quazzo:

   —————————————
   WAGUESPACK: “A group of aldermen [last year] tried to get an [education-related referendum] on our ballot … and the mayor’s office basically told me,

   ” ‘We will never allow you to have a referendum; we will fight it and we will stop any attempt that you make to try to get an elected school board.’

   “I was pretty offended. I said it’s not up to you what my voters want on their ballot. It’s up to me and it’s up to the other nine aldermen who also wanted it on there, and they used a technical maneuver to basically keep us off.”
   —————————————-

   In short… democracy is DEAD in Chicago.

   You can read the whole thing at:

   http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/June-2013/Ald-Scott-Waguespack-Claims-No-Interest-In-Being-Mayor-Well-Maybe/

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9. Chiara says:

   June 27, 2013 at 11:26 pm

   Because the best way to improve public schools is to pull public money out of these communities and send it to investment bankers.
   I knew it was coming. The reform indusrty wrote brand new state law in Ohio that mandates independent contractors as teachers in STEM charters.
   How innovative is THAT? The teachers don’t even work for the privatized charter corp anymore. One more layer where they can skim off 15%.

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10. 21stcenturytheater says:

    June 27, 2013 at 11:33 pm

    Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater and commented:
    and the neo-liberal juggernaut rolls on…

    Reply
11. Robert Rendo says:

    June 27, 2013 at 11:45 pm

    Teaching Economist, what do you think of venture capitalists investing in education… public education?

    Reply
12. wgersen says:

    June 28, 2013 at 6:05 am

    When he was Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahn Emanuel famously quipped “never let a crisis go to waste” when the economy went in the tank. Many Obama voters— or at least THIS Obama voter— thought that meant a second coming of the New Deal when new schools were built and public spending left a positive mark on this country. Instead, in public education we have the second coming of Milton Friedman! The private sector has manufactured an education crisis and offered privatization as a silver bullet to save taxpayers money and save the day… and it looks like the politicians in both parties will not be letting the manufactured crisis go to waste…

    Reply
    • Robert D. Shepherd says:

      June 28, 2013 at 7:21 am

      Let’s be clear about this: The charter movement and the deform movement generally, is NOT “the second coming of Milton Friedman.” When public funds are diverted to cronies by politicians so that those cronies can operate alternative institutions for their own profit, one is not seeing anything like a “free market” at work. The LANGUAGE of classical liberalism is being used to promote charters, but they are not creatures of the free market by any stretch of the imagination.

      Reply
      • Jon Awbrey says:

        June 28, 2013 at 9:22 am

        Let’s be clear, indeed, that bubble-brained moneytheists from Adam Smith to Miltown Friedman have never been more rationalizing rhetorical screens behind which the real Man hides.

      • Jon Awbrey says:

        June 28, 2013 at 2:12 pm

        … never been more than …

      • Randal Hendee says:

        June 28, 2013 at 4:49 pm

        Here’s a great commentary on Milton Friedman’s influential take on the purpose of a business enterprise: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/06/26/the-origin-of-the-worlds-dumbest-idea-milton-friedman/

        I believe @wgersen is correct in implying that the real motivation of the so-called education reformers conforms with Friedman’s notion that the ONLY purpose of a business (read “private sector”) is profit. The article thoroughly debunks Friedman’s argument and laments the devastating impact that “maximixing shareholder value” has had on the American economy.

        Whether Friedman’s notion of free markets has been perverted by crony capitalism or not, the crass “maximization of shareholder value” is at work, not only at Pearson and other education companies, but also in the foundations that practice “venture philanthropy.” (Just read the musings of Tom Vander Ark). Note that in formulating the concept, Friedman wasn’t doing economics, he was doing corporate governance advocacy, and he was doing politics.

      • Randal Hendee says:

        June 28, 2013 at 4:56 pm

        “Maximizing shareholder value.” But hey, “maxamixing” is a nice typo. Feel free to spread the word.

    • Harlan Underhill says:

      June 28, 2013 at 4:55 pm

      Why is the crisis “manufactured.” Money for schools IS down, and not just from charters. State revenues won’t begin to increase until the general economy expands and more people go back to work.

      Reply
      • Jon Awbrey says:

        June 28, 2013 at 11:56 pm

        Good grief, do you get all your news straight from Snyder’s twit-feed?

        Just about every newspaper in Michigan, whatever their political leanings, managed to get the basic facts straight about the surplus in the school aid fund and how Snyder raided it to give tax breaks to corporations.

        Just a random story from a search on Snyder School Aid Surplus —

        http://www.annarbor.com/news/opinion/whats-wrong-with-this-picture/

13. Dienne says:

    June 28, 2013 at 6:05 am

    Deborah Quazzo, odious as she is, is not the issue (after all, she’s no worse than Penny Pritzker). The issues are Rahm Emanuel and mayoral control. So long as we have those two, we’ll get Deborah Quazzo clones. Both need to go.

    Reply
14. gitapik says:

    June 28, 2013 at 11:01 am

    I see one positive in this.

    It is so “in your face” that it might just get the public’s attention. If the quote from GSW’s educational mission statement actually gets some serious press, I think we’ll see a strong public backlash.

    That’s the big hurdle. Public awareness. The destruction will continue as long as the power structure is able to keep the truth out of the news.

    It truly is a terrible state of affairs.

    Reply
15. jean sanders says:

    June 28, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    this came through on my email this morning from the Pioneer Institute in Massachusetts.
    quote: “Two of the three primary authors of Massachusetts’ landmark 1993 Education Reform Act questioned Massachusetts’ decision to abandon its academic standards in favor of national standards known as Common Core, and called on state leaders to lift the cap on charter public schools in the commonwealth’s lowest performing school districts at a June 20th forum to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the law’s signing.

    Today, Pioneer is pleased to release videos of the forum, at which former Senate President Tom Birmingham and former Governor Bill Weld delivered keynote addresses.

    I’m not offering any conclusions to be drawn just seems like more “chaos” to me….
    I have always supported public schools (not privatized charters) and I have worked on BOTH sides of the teacher union issue (10 years as teacher and then as curriculum administrator)…

    Reply