Reader Christine Langhoff read a post about Philadelphia’s Superintendent William Hite, a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendent’s Academy, who filled top jobs with other Broadies. Broadies are trained to support charter schools and to close down public schools.
Langhoff reported similar trends in Boston, since the appointment of Tommy Chang as superintendent. In Los Angeles, Chang was in charge of the disastrous technology program. Now, he has surrounded himself with corporate reform types, all either from Broadie groups or Gates groups trained in the corporate reform ideology.
She writes:
Superintendent Tommy Chang, late of LAUSD and the iPad melodrama; his previous school experience was to run a Green Dot charter school with 580 students. He’s Broadie, class of 2015.
He has named Barbara Deane-Williams, also a Broadie 2015, as his Senior Deputy Superintendent of Operations.
His Chief of Staff comes to us from Families for Excellent Schools.
Doannie Tran, the newly-appointed Assistant Superintendent of Professional Learning in BPS comes from TFA and TeachPlus.
At least one new principal was a TFA’er whose classroom experience is quite limited.
And TNTP is hiring – (isn’t that the school system’s job?) :
“Leadership Coach – Boston Public Schools
Boston, MA
Seeking passionate school leaders!
TNTP seeks a full-time Leadership Coach to support school improvement efforts in Boston, MA. This position is available immediately and is based in Boston.” Wondering if they’re bringing their walkie-talkies and bugs for teachers’ ears.
More of the same at the state level – Heather Peske, current Associate Commissioner for Educator Quality in DESE comes through TeachPlus, Education Trust, and Teach for America.
And – oh glee!
“E4E Focus Groups: Educators for Excellence (E4E) is a teacher-founded non-profit that works with teams of teachers to help them make change at the school, district, state, or union level. They are considering coming to Boston and are interested in learning from current BPS teachers: what are the current issues facing Boston teachers? what channels do teachers have to take leadership on issues that matter to them? This is also a chance to learn firsthand about E4E’s model and how it might work here in Boston. Fill out this brief survey to tell me which dates work for you for a 2-hr meeting (dinner/lunch included): http://goo.gl/forms/EHHMRQgHIH”
Stealth takeovers of the public system.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A TFA’er in charge of educator quality? What??
Sorry that Boston hired Tommy know nothing Chang from LAUSD. This hiring signaled to real educators that Boston wants that public education money in private hands. Expect quick, unplanned,top down decisions on untested programs that will benefit private interests to the detriment of your public schools. That’s why they hired this deformer. It’s hard to accept that administrators with such poor records are promoted to another level to screw up. Seriously, this guy sucks.
Maybe this is why the Connecticut Governor Malloy does not want to sign this law. Lining up a job?
“Gov. Dannel P. Malloy renewed a fight with organized labor Wednesday by vetoing legislation sought by teachers’ unions that would have set a statutory requirement that state education commissioners have a strong classroom background, a standard not met by his first commissioner, Stefan Pryor.”
It’s so funny to watch because this was their complaint about public school systems when they came on the scene, right?
Group-think and entrenched circles of people who all see each other at the same conferences and round tables and all agree with one another.
They are well and truly the status quo. I don’t think one can get hired without membership in “the movement”.
What’s old is new again—
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Funny how self-styled “education reform” preaches 21st century cage busting innovation yet recycles the same tired failures of millennia past.
😎
Please explain what TNTP is.
The New Teachers Project, I believe. Look it up for more info.
TNTP is rebranded. It was The New Teacher Project, founded by Michelle Rhee to recruit and place newcomers into teaching, especially in urban districts.
Yes, a “stealth takeover” as Diane concludes. This is how the “stealth coup” I wrote about works to conquer the vast national network of 14,000 public school districts and some 100,000 public schools, an enormous task patiently making its was from coast to coast. It’s “legalistic” if not exactly “legal” insofar as it casually enables public tax funds to flow to religious schools and private sector units, for example, while also exempting privatized charter schools from the same regulations and accountability which public schools are subject to. Compliant, bought school boards, state DOE’s, and state legislatures are rewriting laws to codify the rights and powers of charters to loot the public system. Vast army of over throwers needed for this, so a mass training of agents and operatives via Broad Academy, TFA, TNTP, etc. as well as astroturf bogus “parent groups” and “education advocacy” units and other corporate-funded programs produce the agents and operatives needed to fill policy, political, and admin. positions at all levels. Corporate cash invades board elections, city council, and state elections to seat privatizing-friendly crony politicians who codify the laws and practices needed to capture the vast public sector and its funds. A national teacher strike by both unions is long overdue to stop this stealth coup, but Lily and Randi and their leadership cliques celebrate this direction and set up for Hillary’s white house run, rather than defending our troubled public schools. B/c teacher union leaders have betrayed their own constituents and their public responsibilities, the only force left to stop the attack is a mass growth in parent refusal–parents can stop the war on their kids if they Opt-Out their kids from all standardized testing and demand that public schools come first vis a vis budgets, tax levies, and funding.
Oh, God, please!! Morgan just won’t go away. Out as a Georgia state representative, not wanted to be Georgia state superintendent, so here she is.. a Broadie!
“Being both a mom and a lifelong champion for equity and community empowerment, former Georgia state representative Alisha Thomas Morgan understands the importance of parent voice in efforts to ensure all students can access a world-class education. Throughout her decade-plus in public service and advocacy, she has challenged traditional thinking on education, successfully working on both sides of the political aisle to increase parental choice within public school systems, expand the number of high-quality school options statewide, keep Georgia’s best and brightest teachers in the classroom and provide better measures of effectiveness and stronger professional supports for teachers and principals throughout the state.”
– See more at: http://www.broadcenter.org/news/full/the-broad-academy-announces-new-cohort-of-ten-transformative-leaders-in-k-1#sthash.To0Qmiqb.dpuf
The Charter takeover in Massachusetts has been making continual gains supplanting public school k-12 education. Take a look at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, with Mitchell Chester in command, Then check in with the Secretary of Education, James Peyser. Finally, we have the Republican governor, Charlie Baker. All these men are committed to expanding charter schools, via increasing opportunities to re receive public funds and lifting the state cap on charter schools. The DESE has already put the Lawrence and Holyoke Public Schools into receivership. Now we have the Tommy Chang, Superintendent of Schools in Boston. What stands in the way of a wholesale capitulation of public school education? In Boston, there is the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) and statewide the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), led by Barbara Mandeloni and the parent organized Citizens for Public Schools (CPS) . The Massachusetts legislature can not be depended on to hold the line on the charter cap and The Boston Mayor, Marty Walsh and the City Council may lift the city cap. We shall see how the BTU holds the line with the new Superintendent and likewise, whether Baker and his deform crew can be stalled in their move to destroy public school education.
Adding- Controversial free market economist, Steven Levitt, from the University of Chicago is on the Board of Blueprint Schools Network which operates in Boston and other cities. Of the 5 Board members, two are from the Harvard Kennedy School. One of them is an overseer of WGBH Public T.V. and radio and, he is also on the Executive Board of WBUR Public Radio.
It appears that Dr./Supt Hite of Philadelphia Public Schools, described above only as “a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendent’s Academy,” has done a number of things in addition, along with attending the Broad Institute. These include serving as a teacher, middle and high school principal, assistant superintendent,
http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/leadership/
According to this bio,
Dr. Hite’s professional experience includes serving at every level – teacher, principal, central office administrator and Superintendent. Prior to joining the District, Dr. Hite was Superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, the state’s second-largest school district and one of the 25 largest districts nationwide. He also served as the school system’s Deputy Superintendent and Interim Superintendent. Dr. Hite led major efforts resulting in increased student achievement and significant improvements in teaching, learning and school status. His central work focused on enhanced access, equity and rigor to ensure that all high school graduates were prepared for college and careers. The Prince George’s County school system received national recognition for expanding access to Advanced Placement courses during his tenure.
Dr. Hite previously served as an Assistant Superintendent in Georgia’s Cobb County School District where he provided support for the 103,000 students. He has also served as director of middle school instruction and middle and high school principal in Henrico County, Virginia. Under his leadership, Highland Springs High School was honored as a “Best Practices” center by the Virginia General Assembly.
In addition, Dr. Hite has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Richmond School of Continuous Learning and taught school leadership courses at Virginia State University, Bowie State University and the University of Maryland. A member of numerous national, state, and local boards, Dr. Hite has participated with national agencies and associations to reform K-12 education.
Dr. Hite received a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Virginia Tech and a master of education degree in educational leadership from the University of Virginia. He earned a doctorate in education specializing in educational leadership from Virginia Tech.
He fully supports the Broad charter/privatizing agenda. He also is getting quite wealthy from gutting public education. We need people interested in the common good not turning a profit and being “efficient” in the business sense.
thanks for your post 🙂
The school boards who hire these folk are clueless. They are either too busy, to lazy or lavishing in self imposed ignorance.
This sounds like Oakland CA. We have Broadies and their offspring everywhere and the leading charter advocacy group (Oakland public education fund) shares office with the central administration. We are now under our fourth Broadie, three of them were under state takeover. Oakland is also the home of Newschools venture fund. Needless to say, we have the highest rate of charters in CA (until LA passes us) and public education is under attack.