Crazy Crawfish (aka Jason France, who was a data analyst at the Louisiana Department of Education) offers a fascinating insight into the political machinations behind Governor Bobby Jindal’s effort to ditch the Common Core.
Jindal was an enthusiastic supporter of CC until last June, when he suddenly became an opponent. The state commissioner of education, John White, a steadfast ally of Jindal, announced that he would fight the governor. The state board of education joined White, including two of Jindal’s appointees.
In Louisiana, Jindal is known as a governor who does not tolerate disloyalty. He swiftly punishes dissidents in his ranks. Yet no one of Jindal’s former allies faced retribution for opposing him. Something smelled fishy.
Then came the trial of Jindal vs. White on the Common Core, and Jindal’s lawyer didn’t call any witnesses. Jason France thinks he threw the fight. He thinks the fix is in. Jindal doesn’t want to get rid of the Common Core, he wants to appear to be trying because Common Core is a liability among the conservative voters that Jindal needs for his presidential aspirations.
France concludes:
“The chaos we are experiencing was intentionally fomented by John White, Chas Roemer and Bobby Jindal to distract people and wear them out. This betrayal was planned.
“Sadly, this is just another ruse perpetrated by those in power to avoid listening to parents’ real problems, and another reason parents are right to fear and fight Common Core. I expect this distraction to last until Jindal leaves office. John White and Chas Roemer were correct when they stated Jindal’s opposition to Common Core was politically motivated. The irony is that they were quite likely complicit in the deception from the get-go; to increase all of their profiles. That ploy has worked. Now we get to decide if their profiles are ultimately positively or negatively impacted by this fiasco.”
Wow. That is some convoluted stuff. I wonder if a FOIA search through anyone’s e-mails would prove fruitful.
This reminds me of the fake wrestling matches my brothers used to watch as kids on Saturday morning TV. I could tell it was fake and rehearsed, but they were convinced it was real.
They played the old good-cop bad-cop propaganda game. Shameless.
I think so too. Jindal appeases his base by “opposing” Common Core and his hand-picked appointee keeps it in.
Win/win for Bobby Jindal. It’s political theater.
Republicans are doing the same thing in Ohio. They’re holding fake-hearings and ranting a lot. Meanwhile, we’re past the point where anyone in power would ever stop this or admit error, because they’ve invested such an amazing amount of public money into it. Sunk costs.
Republicans lie to their base as often as Democrats do.
Lying is bipartisan 🙂
Jindal is suing the Obama administration now over CC.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/08/27/apnewsbreak-jindal-suing-feds-over-common-core/CGmOWg6m1GR3dUkkFQqh1L/story.html
Now that he has just announced he is suing the Obama administration (instead of sacking and reappointing two members he appointed that could reverse the decision) you know it’s just political grandstanding. His only objective is trying to raise his stature and get noticed. He only has like 15 months left and about 12 till next governor is elected. Lead contender has just come out rabidly pro-Common Core but all contenders are for it.
FOIA’s don’t work. They censor results. The PR folks actually choose what to send or not send and they mostly send unsearchable gibberish these days. I sent emails with specific questions and subjects to specific folks I asked for emails from containing those subjects to test what I was being told by insiders. Sure enough, none of the emails with incriminating info I’d been sent were sent to me, nor were any of my own emails so that I could prove they had received my inquiries and question them about what they did about them. There are no repercussions. Lawsuits over every request take money and years to resolve.
So it’s political theater.
White is usually on the highest horse imaginable publicly, yet his actions are often very sleazy. Still, difficult to see him in the sort of theatrics you describe, intentionally botching the CC implementation. Not really so surprising though.
I think he botched it intentionally but that is another post and reason. They are conspiring on this one so White can perch on his White horse atop the highest CC mountain he can find. Jindal is atop his own pony. Chas will use this as fundraising fodder for the upcoming election.
According to this post, Jindal is a manipulative liar. It sounds like he is presidential material to me.
Check out: bait-and-switch: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Bait+and+switch
Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are “baited” by merchants’ advertising products or …
Function – Legality – Non-retail use – Politics
Isn’t that what politics is all about? If he has constituents opposed to Common Core and he wants to be president, so be it. I am sure that he has all of the talking points. Were you expecting Joan of Arc?
He was for it before he was against it. That is, till next time. Nice explanation of the latest harrumphing from Jindal and White.
Is he ready to waste millions developing an identical yet rebranded set of CCSS like Pence did in Indiana?
Diane, help! Our district needs you. In a historical act of civil disobedience, in a 3-2 vote last Wednesday, Lee County Florida’s school board voted to opt out of state mandated standardized testing. The room was crowded with parents and teachers and in Fort Myers, many spoke about how much time is lost in testing and computer testing glitches, others about how the tests made their child feel. Many blamed Common Core. Our Superintendent is very standards driven. She was horrified. The board gave her the task of planning a new way for our children. All eyes are on us right now, but instead of taking the high road, she has told the press that we will lose funding, our students will not graduate, we will lose accreditation, and now one of the three board members who voted to opt out is calling for a meeting on Wednesday morning to rescind the vote. Can you give us some guidance? We need to know how we can help with this new plan. Can’t we appeal to our state for time to design our own stratgies, exit exams, and have the state board of accreditation look at it with us? Can’t our students take the ACT and get into college. Will this affect our ability to get grant money?
Gayle,
Lee County has inspired parents and teachers across the. Nation by the courage of its decision. Opt out. Take arrest from high stakes testing. Don’t believe the threats. You will have the same teachers, teaching with passion. Direct the superintendent to develop a plan for evaluating student performance that does not rely on standardized tests. If she won’t, replace her. Let teachers evaluate student progress as they did for over 100 years. No punishments, no rewards. Learning and love of learning should be the goals.