An earlier post reported on the Lisa Fleisher story about the complete lack of any accountability for top school officials in New York City. At the same time that the Department of Education was creating elaborate metrics to evaluate teachers, principals, and schools, no one at headquarters was evaluated. As Fleisher showed, there had been regular evaluations until Bloomberg became mayor. Then, nothing.
Jersey Jazzman takes the issue of accountability further to inquire who was held accountable by Chancellor Joel Klein when things went wrong. The answer: no one.
After reviewing a few of many fiascoes (he overlooked the Alvarez & Marsal contract for $15.8 million to rearrange bus schedules that left thousands of children stranded on the coldest day of the year), he concludes:
“The truth is that Joel Klein’s tenure as the Chancellor was rife with incompetence and unaccountability. He was happy to point the finger at teachers whenever possible, play the blame game with the union, and throw junior staffers under the bus when needed.
“But Klein never held his senior staff – or himself – accountable for anything. In many ways, he is the personification of the corporate reform movement: a movement that refuses to take responsibility for its own many failings.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Accountability for thee — Accolades and sweetheart deals for me.”
And that once again proves that being reformy means never having to say you’re sorry.
I just updated the post with a link to one of your posts on A&M, Diane:
I forgot you wrote about this in your last book. A great example of Klein’s lack of accountability.
Thanks, Jersey Jazzman.
You don’t have to be competent when your mission is wreck something.
Ahhh! Now there is the Truth of the unraveling of our systems. Just do it without really knowing what you are doing and arrogant and brainwashed enough to believe yourself. This theme seems to be ringing true throughout the land. However…..
Ignorance is NO excuse under the law. The simple words of I apologize are getting old and frayed……excuses after the fact and the destruction are little consolation for the victim. But then you would have to have a conscious for the victim to matter. Doesn’t seem to be much of that to go around!
so all districts, impoverished as they were, who took RTTT funds, now are under digital surveillance by NYSED. Nice. And we call this democracy? Why did not the NYS senate vote against inBloom??? NYS senators, you think we will support you?? Never.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Aah, Joel Klein.
Klein was a recent co-author – with Condaleezza Rice – of a Council on Foreign Relations education “report” that consisted mostly of tripe. But what can one reasonably expect from the likes Klein and Rice?
Joel Klein perpetrates and perpetuates the myth that public education is in “crisis,” and without serious “reform” “the U.S. economy will continue to suffer.”
The “reform” pushed by Klein (and the Council report) is to impose the “business model” on public schools. This is the same “model” that led to big budget deficits, a ballooned national debt and a broken economy. Rather than take responsibility for what they did, the big bankers and hedge funders and politicians who brokered it all point the finger of blame at public schools and teachers.
Klein advocates more testing, merit pay through “value-added” evaluations, more charter schools and vouchers as “innovative” reforms. There is little or no research to support any of them.
Klein blames the current economic quagmire on public education. He writes that we used to “have a successful middle class,” but “that’s changed markedly since 1980.” Klein says “we’re rapidly moving toward two America’s –– a wealthy elite and an increasingly large underclass that lacks the skills to succeed.” His answer to the problem? The market, since “markets impose accountability.” A person would have to be moronic to make – or believe – such a claim.
Klein never makes any mention whatsoever, as he blames schools and teachers, of the supply-side economic policies pushed by conservative presidents, politicians and businessmen that are directly responsible for big budget deficits, millions of job losses, the most severe income stratification in the developed world, and our unsustainable national debt. He calls for “radical reform” of public education (more tests, merit pay, vouchers, etc), but says not one word about reforming the banking, derivatives trading and skewed tax system – coupled with regulatory enforcement –– that are sorely needed.
Condaleezza Rice was George W. Bush’s national security director before 9/11 occurred and during the launching of the war in Iraq, which she favored and supported. Rice helped to sell the American public the big lie of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, warning infamously that “ we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” Journalists who covered her reported that she “made public claims that she knew to be false.”
There’s little doubt but that Rice (and her colleagues) ignored repeated warnings about imminent terrorist threats. After 9/11, she said (repeatedly) that no one could have predicted that planes might be used as weapons, despite the fact that there were at least a dozen documented warnings of it.
Initially, until public pressure forced the Bush administration to relent, Rice refused to testify before the 9/11 Commission. When she did, it wasn’t pretty. She wiggles and squirms, and tries to obfuscate and evade answering questions about the Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) of August 6, 2001. That PDB was titled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US” and warned that Bin Ladin was “determined…to conduct terrorist attacks in the US,” that he “prepares years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks.” The memo noted “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks,” and it warned that a group of “Bin Ladin’s supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives.”
Now just imagine that the physical and human dimensions of the Twin Towers and Pentagon and planes were converted into schools and schoolchildren. Would anyone seriously think that there had not been ample warning of an impending disaster? Would anyone think that any of those involved in ignoring the threat should NOT be held accountable? What Rice said in private testimony to the 9/11 Commission has not been declassified (it should be…there are likely some real “whoppers” in there). What she said in public testimony can be seen below. It isn’t pretty.
The Aug. 6, 2001 PDB is here:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/index.htm
Question: Why hasn’t Condaleezza Rice been held accountable for her negligence and malfeasance in office, and for her repeated lies?
Question: Why does anyone believe a single word that comes out of Joel Klein’s mouth?
Here’s the Rice testimony to the 9/11 Commission:
The truth is, Klein was successful. His mission was never to run our public school system. His mission was to destroy it. From his first day in office, he and Murdoch were already tied to an organization for charter schools. Klein gave a $1 million donation to Murdoch’s cause. Conflict of interest? No one cared!!! In 2005 our union allowed Klein to destroy the jobs of hard-working teachers by turning them into subs who were treated like they had leprosy each and every time they entered a new school building. They were not even allowed to go to the same job fairs as newly graduated teachers!! He made it easy for principals to send teachers to the Rubber Room and held there for years –and many of the teachers weren’t even told what the charges were!! One chapter leader was sent for using the fax machine!!! The only media to shed light on the RR was the series finale of “Law and Order”. And let’s not forget “The Wire” for their wonderful season on Baltimore’s public schools and how testing made it impossible to teach.
Maybe, one day, people like Klein will be charged with crimes against the public schools followed by the mayors and governors who appointed such people. But teachers too are to blame if we don’t stand up to these bullies.
I hear and agree with everything you say here, schoolgal. I would love to see the day when the people who’ve organized and perpetuated these crimes (they are crimes) are held accountable for their actions.
I have one question, though…and it’s a serious one: how exactly are we going to “stand up to these bullies”? We’ve organized and staged huge rallies here in NYC that receive NO media coverage (guess why). The Taylor Law makes a strike illegal. Even without that law, the economy is so bad that nobody wants to lose two paychecks in a row, for fear of defaulting on their mortgages, college loans, etc. And, of course: nobody wants to be fired from a job they’ve worked so hard to attain and maintain.
I speak all the time to my colleagues and friends about what’s going on. Many of my colleagues at school began to avoid me because they thought I was being paranoid. Now they see…which is a start. But so many people outside of the educational system are completely clueless. They believe what they hear and see in the news. When I show them evidence to the contrary they’re either completely astonished (my good friends who know and trust me) or don’t seem to want to process the information (my “associates”). There’s an element of disbelief in the latter which is a major hurdle. These people, like my colleagues in earlier days, are dismissive of my point of view…calling it reactionary.
I know this sounds like the kind of negative thinking that hinders change, but I’m pretty sure that these are some of the main reasons that this destruction continues (besides bought out politicians). Our leaders know we’re handcuffed.
So what do we do? I’m so happy to see that Vallas was ousted in Connecticut. We need a LOT more of that. Love to see it in some high profile areas like NYC and Chicago.
“Many of my colleagues at school began to avoid me because they thought I was being paranoid. Now they see…which is a start.”
This is my experience as well, this year in particular. Try to see it for what it is — people ARE waking up. Of course it is career educators who will see the light first, followed by parents and then the general public. Seeing some progress is exactly why we should not despair. I can remember feeling frustrated that even my colleagues were blind to what was going on — I’m seeing less and less of that now.
Things will get worse before they get better — but they will get better. They have to.
The thing that frustrates me now is the nagging thought that when all is said and done, the villains who have perpetrated this abomination will still be “winners”. Our public schools may avoid destruction and claw their way out of the pit, but in the end the moneyed interest will still have come out ahead; their only regrets might be that they didn’t bamboozle EVEN MORE money from the public coffers.
And then, with a shrug and a chuckle of contempt for the “dumb” masses who let themselves be fleeced, they’ll move on to the next destructive scam.
I know…I’ve been thinking the same thing. It’s very frustrating. Nobody will be held truly accountable.
My point was exactly what you said. Teachers are clueless. NYC teachers especially. I wish MORE ran a better campaign, but I also wish teachers took the time to vote and learn what’s going on. Now there only hope is to not blindly follow the UFT and vote for Thompson. Teachers need to be informed. It’s best to make copies of articles you see here or on Support Public Schools on FB and distribute them.
Thompson. I just shook my head. At least it wasn’t Quinn or Weiner. I’m pushing for DiBlasio. He’s got a good heart, is tough and very sharp. He’s also not bought and sold like the rest of them.
Yeah…I know. I’ll continue to spread the word. Hopefully it’ll catch on, as Ron said, previously.
I have to admit that I Love Joel Klein and Condi Rice in a hateful sort of way.
They are the villains you love to hate, straight out of a slanted camera angle villain from Batman with Adam West.
They have become caricatures of themselves.
One is a sniveling rat-faced balding hunchback, probably a relative of Templeton from “Charlotte’s Web”; Klein is Igor with a law degree.
The other is a diastema-ridden ice-skating and classically trained three quarter sleeved evening gowned pianist who can pull off a Chopin ballade and a trillion dollar falsely premised invasion of war . . . . all in a few hours. Condi is Dorothy Hamill, Lang-Lang, and Doctor Strangelove, all rolled into one delicious enemy.
But they both stand for things they know nothing about.
Now their latest duet is pushing the whole “failed education is a national security issue” thing when in fact, their failed policies are a national democracy issue.
They are perfect for today’s plutocratic takeover that is pushing bad things onto good people.
I would not want to absorb any of their karma . . .
Parents and Teachers joining together and becoming competent on the issues and budgets is what will win in the long run especially when they join with the community at large. They can be and have been stopped in some circumstances lately such as in Louisiana with InBloom and the new law to trigger charter schools when they fail. In L.A. we stopped $90 billion with $25,000 and hard work. Zimmer not Anderson got elected. Ratliff not Sanchez got elected. Zimmer put up the resolution on Parent Triggers. CTU is standing strong. Now there is Badass Teachers with 20,000 in only one week. Wow!!!! Opportunity is here. We must keep up the pressure and have the law, budgets and policy in our hands. Use their own stuff against them. You do not have to create or stretch anything as our arguments and facts are already good enough. Then no one can come back on you with any argument that will hold water. Remember Jack Webb “Just the Facts Mam, Just the Facts.”
totally agree, saw you at adelphi, on new York one. love your blog Dr. Mel
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