According to the latest reports from Indiana, the Associated Press obtained emails showing that State Superintendent Tony Bennett (then of Indiana, now Florida) changed the grading system to make sure a particular charter school got an A.
The school belongs to a major GOP donor, who has contributed more than $2.8 million to Republicans since 1998, including a contribution of $130,000 to Tony Bennett’s campaign.
Bennett denies it.
“Emails obtained by The Associated Press show Bennett and his staff scrambled last fall to ensure influential donor Christel DeHaan’s school received an “A,” despite poor test scores in algebra that initially earned it a “C.”
“They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work,” Bennett wrote in a Sept. 12 email to then-chief of staff Heather Neal, who is now Gov. Mike Pence’s chief lobbyist.
The emails, which also show Bennett discussed with staff the legality of changing just DeHaan’s grade, raise unsettling questions about the validity of a grading system that has broad implications. Indiana uses the A-F grades to determine which schools get taken over by the state and whether students seeking state-funded vouchers to attend private school need to first spend a year in public school. They also help determine how much state funding schools receive.
A low grade also can detract from a neighborhood and drive homebuyers elsewhere.”
Now we need to see what the GOP in Indiana, namely Mike Pence will do about this. Schools were closed, careers ruined along with neighborhoods and communities decimated all due to Tony Bennett and Mitch Daniel’s fraud. Taxpayers in Indiana have had their money wasted on fraudulent schemes. Will these people be held accountable?
Is there any chance they could be brought up on legal charges? I really hope so. I’m sick of corrupt politicians.
Not in this lifetime
As a former Indiana PS teacher I was delighted that Hoosier voters kicked out Bennett as state schools chief last fall. But a month later Florida made him their school chief. Go figure. — Edd Doerr
Probably not because our local paper reported Monday by Maureen Hayden CNHI Statehouse bureau, that the Indiana State school board has decided to hire their own staff and disregard Glenda Reitz and the DOE. Somehow the legislature gave the appointed state board 6 million dollars to spend over the next two years, The state board will be working through the governor’s office. The governor has hired Claire Fiddan-Green as his special assistant for education innovation and reform. Is this ethical? The voters in Indiana spoke loud and clear that they did not like Tony Bennett’s educational policies,
So tell me….when are these lying, conniving, unethical, immoral, sleazy, opportunistic, incompetent, carpet bagging edufrauds going to be held accountable?
Can someone in Florida start a dump Bennett petition soon so we can all sign?
Coleman will probably pick him up at the College Board.
“I am more than a little miffed about this,” Bennett wrote. “I hope we come to the meeting today with solutions and not excuses and/or explanations for me to wiggle myself out of the repeated lies I have told over the past six months.”
BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!!!
Bennett’s actions are not at all surprising. I think many more of these “arrangements” will be hitting the media nationwide as emails of other reformers are made public via the Freedom of Information Act.
I hope so. I am tired of uninformed people still singing yesterday’s buzz lines that they overheard some leader they admire (like Jeb Bush) saying and then challenging all of public school based on it. It drives me crazy. I hear that stuff all the time at the gym.
I really hope so. It’s time for all of this to end.
He needs to resign.
Soooooo…. all the kids, teachers, & principals can be held accountable (read “PUNISHED”), but not Tony Bennett and not Michelle Rhee, and not Mitch Daniels. Oh no, THEY are ABOVE the law! (Sarcasm meter off the charts)
I hope this action can be deemed illegal. But then again, it’s Florida. This must be the Stand Your Charter law.
Since the position is appointed by the governor I can see a few possibilities.
Rick Scott wants to be re-elected very badly. He has been distancing himself from Jeb Bush regarding educational policy more and more publicly like with the teacher bonuses and the school grading scheme.
He may ask Bennett to fall on his sword as a show of independence from Bush, whose popularity is only a little better than his own.
On the other hand, his last appointee left last January under shady circumstances and having another one leave so soon makes him look unable to appoint qualified people to important positions. He may let Bennett stay and let this play out over time and then he can blame the whole school grade mess on him when he asks for him to resign later.
Either way I don’t see Bennett weathering this well. Parents and the general public are very unhappy with the Florida Department of Education and all the messes they’ve made in the last few years. They defeated the parent trigger twice and the Senate president and House majority leader are both against PARCC, where Bennett sits on the board.
Interesting times here in the Sunshine State!
Scott deserves the ire of parents being a puppet for Bush. Go Nan Rich!,,,,
Mickey Mouse–the actual cartoon–would probably be better for Florida than Gov. Skeletor.
If Scott fires him, hopefully Florida can find a commissioner who actually believes in public education. We deserve that.
Accountability is fine so long as it happens to someone else – ehh Tony?
Bennett pressured state employees to falsify state records and distribute fake results for the financial benefit of a powerful GOP donor and owner of charter schools located in Indiana and on several continents – Christel DeHaan
What’s the penalty for deceiving taxpayers, altering education records, and misusing a public office for financial gain in Indiana?
http://www.christelhouse.org/about-us/founder.html
http://www.christeldehaanfamilyfoundation.org
http://homesoftherich.net/2012/02/christel-dehaans-indianapolis-mega-estate/
http://www.christelhouse.org/locations/
(Indiana, India, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela, Serbia)
Conspiracy to commit fraud??
Didn’t the Fordham Institue pick Tony as the ” Reformiest” of all the reformer superintendents a while back? Thank goodness he’s out of Indiana. The sad thing is Crystal DeHaan wields a lot of money & power in this state. This shows money talks & BS walks with the Reformiest superintendent . Shameful liars & cheats.
Here it is: Tony Bennett as Fordham’s hero:
http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/2012/indiana-and-the-common-core-tony-bennett-got-it-right.html
They have absolutely no integrity.
Aren’t the Jebbie Chiefs supposed to be about Change?
In NYC years ago another CHEIF lowered the passing cut scores to show reformy growth!
CH, ch, CHEIFS for ch, ch, CHANGE!
Too old to see or spell 😦
We got the gist…don’t worry!
And Diane was the first to blow that whistle 🙂
Linda — no, we got the “Gist” here in RI (another Chief for Change)!
Tony Bennett’s email caper is nothing unusual for the “chiefs.” They often make email arrangements:
Remember: this is one of the luminaries of the “new civil rights movement.”
In the immortal words of his “brother by another mother,” Paul Vallas: “I go in, fix the system, I move on to something else.”
Link: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Paul-Vallas–213999671.html
He’s right, although not quite in the way he meant: the fix is in.
He just didn’t think he would get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
It couldn’t happen to a nicer fella.
🙂
Another Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco, where did this Tony Bennett leave his ethics?
And this is why we can’t trust people like Vallas and all the rest of these fly-by-night education policy makers.
In DeHaans wallet.
I hope that the Governor of every state in our country is made aware of this. Maybe this will encourage them to be a little more careful in regards to picking their staff, especially when it comes to education. Also, perhaps the success of every charter school in the country needs to be more closely examined.
I doubt it. They will just work in secret. No emails or phone calls that can be traced. This is why Cuomo only takes meetings and refuses to use emails or phone calls.
However, this does expose the lying, cheating ways of the reform movement.
Yes, just like Mob boss Paulie in “Goodfellas,” who also refused to take phone calls, and only spoke one-on-one with his brother or other trusted advisors.
I heard this morning that the Governor’s downtown office in Asheville, NC (a very liberal/progressive town) packed up and moved into a mobile unit
Maybe they heard about Florida.
??
Joanna, did you know that Asheville held a Moral Sunday protest? The truth is spreading to all part of our beloved North Carolina
parts*
This is Florida folks, I doubt anyone cares that they lie,cheat and steal to get the outcomes they want. After allowing a murderer to walk and allowing people to walk around with concealed weapons, what do you expect.
Garbage in, garbage out.
The charter school that received special treatment is located in Indiana – Tony’s previous gig.
Go read the actual emails. They also manipulated the numbers to exclude 4 charter schools so the “we can say” 50% of charters got a C or better. It’s in the last linked email after the AP story.
Also, it looks to me like all the schools that benefitted from the grade changes are charter schools, at least those that are listed.
I have no doubt. I really hope people start digging in every state. The state of Mich has one of the most corrupt systems in the country. I hope someone starts digging deep.
What would an honest Chief have done?
Wow, goes to show you how committed these guys are to improving kids’ lives, right? Oh wait…
The Walton family is of course connected to this: Alice Walton was a big, big donor to Tony Bennett’s campaign and the Walton Family Foundation is a longtime supporter of Christel House.
Florida keeps bringing in these fools to act as puppets to the legislature. No reputable Floridian who cares about out schools and state would ever be appointed to this position.
Get ready to gag:
On Tony Bennett’s “grading-gate,” avoid the rush to judgment
Michael J. Petrilli / July 30, 2013
http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/2013/on-tony-bennetts-grading-gate-avoid-the-rush-to-judgment.html
The head of the Florida Superintendents who is also a state senator is also doing the same thing. The Reformer wagon is circling and he, like Rhee and others, will get away with this. Where the hell are the editorials calling for his resignation??
Linda,
Don’t forget the reformer mantra: NO EXCUSES!
(Except for Tony Bennett)
YES, how could I forget. I need to remind Mike P. now…I encourage all readers to read and leave a comment, too.
Here’s a funny one about Petrilli. Back in 2011, the Fordham Institute held “Most Reformiest State” contest which was like American Idol. Guess which flack won it? You guessed it…Tony Bennett, who went into the contest trash-talking and bloviating about all the great things he was doing for education in Indiana.
Check it out here. CAUTION: Not to be viewed by readers with a low gag reflex.
http://www.edexcellence.net/events/ed-reform-idol.html
Melissa Harris perry is reporting on the Bennett scandal now on MSNBC…during the Rachel Maddow hour. I will post when the link is up.