Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, you read a story like this.
It is a letter from the publisher of the Los Angeles Times informing readers that a group of wealthy foundations are underwriting expanded coverage of education. Not surprising to see the Eli Broad Foundation in the mix. Former Mayor Richard Riordan is not listed but you can be sure he is involved.
These control freaks–er, philanthropists–worry that the LAT has not provided enough space to cover this vital topic.
Publisher Austin Beutner writes:
“We are calling our initiative Education Matters, and I encourage you to join us as we explore the issues that matter most to you and your child. If you want to understand the latest debate on curriculum or testing, find out about the role of student health in learning, study how charter schools are changing public education or experience a classroom from the perspective of a teacher, then Education Matters will be an essential destination.
“With an expanded team of reporters, we will take a fresh approach to our news and analysis starting with today’s stories about the unique challenges facing LAUSD and the last year-round school in Los Angeles. Our editorial pages feature a guest column by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on the need for more investment in math and science education. You will find our reports at latimes.com/schools in English and Spanish.
“In the coming months, we will convene public forums to address topics such as educational education policy, saving for college and talking to your child’s teacher. We intend these conversations to be both thoughtful and practical.”
A guest column by Arne Duncan! Now there’s a fresh perspective!
I wonder if I will ever be invited to write for the LA Times again?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think it’s time for a digital subscription to the LA Times!
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Virginia, why don’t you read “Education Post” or the many corporate reform blogs that would stoke your fire for quantifying teachers?
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For what is worth, LA Times does distinguish between news and analysis. You know if it is just news being reported or an analysis. An analysis is clearly stated as such and one can take it for what it is.
On the other hand there is no such distinction in this blog. Here every thing is presented as truth?
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I’d tell you to quit embarrassing yourself, Raj, but it’s too much fun watching you make a fool of yourself. If you can’t tell when Diane is posting other people’s words, and whether those words are “news” or analysis vs. when she’s posting her own thoughts (which she doesn’t present as factual news), then you’re reading comprehension is, to put it politely, questionable. Makes one wonder why you’re such a fan of standardized tests.
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Diane, those blogs are good. But nothing, and I do mean nobody, puts out as much content as you do Diane. Quite impressive.
Plus, don’t we want “discourse” in America today? How would I possibly know where teachers are confused without reading your blog? I hear all my local teachers mention this Ravitch lady. I figure I may communicate more effectively with my district through your comments section than my own local newspaper.
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Raj,
LA times already screwed themselves for double-talking between news and analysis that contradicts with each other–thanks to clueless, whimsical, hard-headed editorial corporatecrats–like NYT, and Washington Post.
They are leading American media to race to the bottom.
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virginiasgp says: “I hear all my local teachers mention this Ravitch lady.”
What? I am a public school parent and I have never heard a teacher “mention this Ravitch lady”. Somehow I doubt your statement is true.
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Diane…I do not want to engage in the sloppy and biased comments by some who only twist things to suit their purposes. Appreciate your, and others, who try to slow this impediment to informed interaction. Thanks.
However, as to the LA Times, which for many years published my twice a year letters to the editor ranging from the elections, the Mungers, Girl Scout cookies and the economy, Paris Hilton and our culture, etc., stopped publishing me altogether when I first started writing about Deasy and Broad.
Then Karin Klein took me on publicly last year with my City Watch articles exposing Deasy’s many misadventures, which some call frauds and felonies. She demanded a retraction from me for writing on the LA Times Love Affair with John Deasy, and she demanded an apology. I proffered neither, with the support of my publisher, since I did not misinform.
I have periodically written to Karin, Howard, and various of the paper’s administrators, regarding issues about Gulen, Magnolia charters, Rodriguez and illegalities, etc., and never have gotten a reply. And now that I repeatedly write, mainly on the Ravitch blog (and some others), about Austin Beutner and his close partnership with Eli Broad, I have given up thinking that I will ever have any public voice at the Times. It is an exercise in futility. Many of my LA educator and parent colleagues have come to the same conclusion. It is a sad and even dangerous situation when the only major print media in one of the largest cities in the nation presents only one point of view, but masquerades as a free press.
This new ersatz page in the Times on Education Matters (yes it is a takeoff on Welch and Broad’s Students Matter) will reflect the Broad/Beutner (Deasy and Austin) views to takeover of “at least 50% more of LAUSD schools” as Eli stipulated a few days ago, and they will be subtle in carefully parsing their articles, but continuing to denigrate the public schools, while continuing to pimp for the charters and the CCSA. Of course it all will be shrouded in innuendo and misdirection tempered by the lawyers and the PR firms.
And there will be loads of photos of cute little children of color looking so happy in their charter classrooms led by TFA kids.
This new tack of the oligarchs continues to stink…and the timing now with Eli’s statements last week, is not a coincidence.
So there is no surprise that so many real educators and supportive parents are black balled by the LA Times since we are the vocal, and fearless, opposition whom they want to shut up and shut down.
Please keep writing everywhere, all you fantastic education writer partners. People need to hear our voices, loud and clear.
BTW…I received an email today (at Joining Forces for Education) from a teacher who spills the beans on all the law suits filed against Holmquist for abuses going back years. I will be publishing this soon, and it clarifies the discussion here last week on the inept General Counsel Holmquist at LAUSD.
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Raj, are you on the LAT editorial board? Just wondering.
http://www.latimes.com/newsletters/la-newsletter-todays-headlines-signup-page-htmlstory.html
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Thanks for showing your true colors (not that you hadn’t previously). Nice to know that you’re okay with billionaires buying the media. So it’s not really that you support Common Core/testing/VAM/etc., it’s really just that you oppose democracy. Got it.
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I would think that you would support more journalist jobs, Diane. And it gives you more articles to blast!
Rather than oppose differing points of view, I support them. In fact, I wish everyone in America could read the comments on your blog from your readers. There would be no more sure-fire way to solidify support for CC and testing than to expose your readers’ resistance to any accountability/testing to the general public.
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First, a little reading comprehension – I’m Dienne, not Diane.
Second, that’s exactly the problem (and I think you know this, really) – when billionaires buy media, we no longer get differing points of view. You get whatever the billionaires are paying for. It’s already next to impossible to find non-rephorm spin articles in mainscream media. That’s why (or at least part of why) Diane’s blog and other blogs have become so popular – they are the few places that speak for the people rather than the billionaires.
But anyway, thanks for your honesty. At least we know where your allegiance lies.
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Well said, Dienne.
But teacher-bashing trolls should have no place here.
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Well, Virginiasgp, you don’t value differing points of view. You have your point of view and aggressively shout down opposition to it through sarcasm. I’ve read your work here and on the Answer Sheet.
Second, teachers aren’t opposed to accountability. In any job, I would expect accountability. I just don’t care for your data-driven, pure metric version of accountability.
If you think that the ONLY thing teachers do is improve math and reading (and I guess other less important non-tested subjects), then you’re little more than a fool. Today’s society is far different from the days when I was in high school (graduated in 1985). Families are rarely cohesive these days. Divorces, steps, halfs, single parent, late shift jobs that limit availability to kids. Hell, my high school is in lower-middle class neighborhood and we can’t get kids to leave the building until two hours after the final bell. The reason? They prefer school to home. It’s a safe place with caring adults. I voluntarily run after school chess clubs and gaming clubs each week. Kids build strong connections with me. Much of the value of what I do cannot be measured by some student growth score, once-a-year autopsy test (that high school kids don’t care about).
But if you want, go ahead and put a number on my effect on kids who stay for chess. On kids who have intractable problems at home and confide in me (or another teacher). I could go on and on.
That’s the soft skills part of the job. WHich I believe means little to you judging by your love of VAM and its “infallibility.” Your thinking is simplistic rather than nuanced. Just feed those scores into a computer and I’ll tell you who the best teachers are. That’s your thinking and that’s depressing to me. I say that because I’ve done far more for kids, as have many teachers, than simply improve their essay writing.
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Yes Steve – what we do can’t be measured by numbers because often it is years later that we get the positive feedback from the children we touched when they reach out to us, often in their adult years.
I’ll never forget when Basketball Star Bob Lanier, who attended the Buffalo Public Schools, publicly thanked his social studies teacher from Middle School, Sal Andelino, as the most influential person in his youth. Mr Andelino was one of the most incredible human beings I ever had the pleasure to work with and deserves any and all accolades, but since none of them are statistically significant, they are considered irrelevant by the bean counters. Parents and students, however, know the difference.
Kudos to you. You do make a difference.
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Awesome comment, flos56.
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As a librarian there are no actual numbers to represent the many lives I touched, but I have numerous stories. I once went to a spaghetti fundraiser by my school and I realized that I knew every one of those children attending and most of their parents. My daughter who came with me was overwhelmed by the response I got from the kids.
My mom (now 89) was a music teacher and she, too, influenced many of her students. Over 200 are her friends on Facebook and they are constantly bringing up events from their childhood regarding her wonderful music classes. She loves those kids and she is well loved in return. (And how do you measure that?)
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Thanks for your hard work, Ellen.
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virginiasgp,
American progress would be best served by financial sector accountability, for dragging down GDP.
Accountability and redress, for the theft of U.S. worker gains in productivity, by the 0.2%, would better position the nation for future growth.
The 130 plutocratic families running the country now, have made no sacrifices for the nation nor, do they contribute to its well-being. Lincoln warned that our citizens would have to fight, the ever-present threat of the divine right of kings, to eat the bread of those who toil to produce it.
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Ellen says…..
Diane et al, perhaps this can be a full post soon.
This is from a very scared LAUSD teacher with whom I have been corresponding. She spells out causes of action regarding the mess that is caused by, not ameliorated by, the General Counsel of the district, David Holmquist.
It is too bad that the LA Times will not do any investigation into this most inept lawyer who makes a big salary, paid for by the taxpayers, to protect the district and the Board of Ed, not the students, parents, teachers, and taxpayers.
Hopefully the FBI and the SEC investigations into the Deasy shenanigans indicating possible insider bidding help from Deasy to Apple (for whom he had worked) and Pearson (for whom his Asst. Supt. Jaime Aquino, had worked) will shine a light on Holmquist and his activities in all this as well. He is the prime jailer and innuendo initiator of accused teachers.
———————————————————————–
Teacher says……
“Just to let you know that dozens of teachers have filed a complaint against Holmquist with California Bar Association for the following. Perhaps you could spread the news. I am too scared to comment on any sites or email Howard Blume.”
“The people who have sent in this complaint in regard to David Holmquist chief counsel of LAUSD singly and as a group confirm that we have experienced civil rights violations from Holmquist and the staff that he employs. Below is a list of these complaints.”
“1. Denial of freedom of speech guaranteed under the 1st amendment of the Constitution of the United States
2. Denial of freedom of association by isolation
3. Deprivation of property rights including the right to continued employment and suspension without pay or benefits including health insurance
4. Hearsay used as fact using unverified statements
5. Lack of due process
6. Creating/Manipulating evidence to create/enhance charges
7. Using creative crisis management to dismiss teachers
8. Violation of procedural and substantive rights guaranteed under the Constitutions of United States and California
9. Litigation abuse (seven year plan to neutralize rights) and cause undo potential legal fees to starve out teachers until broke thus denying them of property and rights.
10. Civil Extortion- threat to continue litigation unless you sign their agreement.
11. Defamation of character with unfounded, unverified charges.
12. Excessive discovery/abuse of discovery. Finding/Creating hundreds of pages at last day of discovery to give little or no time for our attorneys to defend us adding more denial of property (money) to have our attorneys review it.
13. The refusal to pay back pay when suspensions under 44939 are not upheld by OAH judges. Statutory requirement is to pay within 5 days
14. Denial of Skelly rights”
Teacher adds….
“I am too scared to comment on any sites….. please advise any teachers to back up their personal computers and any computers in their classroom on daily basis. This would prevent anything being placed on their hard drive. This would counteract the administration potentially placing “inappropriate content” on school computers after the fact. Teachers could buy an external drive or 2 used by animators/graphic artists that can hold a lot of data and save the heartache of trying to prove that the files are not theirs. Also, I agree with your conjecture that the case against Esquith is put forth to bankrupt the district and have charters/Broad take over.”
Ellen adds…..
This is not the first time I have heard that the district thugs have no compunctions about putting phony info on teachers, and others, computers which they appropriate during the witch hunts. Rafe Esquith’s lawyer mentioned this possibility as well when these storm troopers appropriated everything in Room 56 for their own nefarious uses, claiming it all as “evidence.” Seems to me more like illegal search and seizure.
OK…. Theresa, Howard, Karin, Austin…how about looking into this with some real journalism? I have been making this kind of request for investigative reporting on LAUSD for almost two years.
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I’m with Ellen Lubic. I’m not going to let the trolls derail our conversation. They only joined this page after realizing Diane Ravitch is the most influential education scholar in the country. We have always enjoyed a high level of discourse on this page mixed with the camaraderie of shared experience.
Now, Eli Broad has declared war on public education in Los Angeles and will get the help of the LATimes more formally and more frequently than previously.
We will get through this together. I just hope our schools in Los Angeles will survive, too.
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Google Alert so you can write the first comment?
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They shoulda called it Education Mordors …
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These men have way too much power.
Even the Shadow couldn’t cloud people’s minds more than these jokers.
I’m surprised I didn’t find the words bi-partisan/non-partisan/non-profit/for the children sprinkled liberally throughout their announcement.
And yes Diane you will be invited to write – when sandwiched between 2 views that make yours in print seem biased, union bought, simplistic and anti-children/pro-adult – or an article so short that it carries little meat but let’s them claim the mantle of welcoming all voices.
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Speaking of moguls who control the media: I was curious to see how Bezos’ Washington Post would cover the brouhaha about the NYT’s Amazon article. Here it is: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/08/17/is-it-really-that-hard-to-work-at-amazon/
It’s “balanced”, but can’t you feel the nervousness with which Frankel writes? I don’t envy him that assignment –knowing Bezos himself is his ultimate boss.
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Ponderosa, I’m glad you brought that article to this page. I saw the coverage in the NYTimes, a rare “analysis” of the shift in how our society is coming to devalue labor. It’s an issue that fits right in with the propaganda that the corporate reformers have used to try make us feel like the competitive marketplace is the Almighty for public education, too. Those teachers who can’t keep up? They should just be put out to pasture; TFAers will put up with it for a couple of years.
Robert Reich has a great piece, too, on the new “family-friendly policies” offered at the tech firms. I hope the teachers unions are paying attention.
Reich writes: “But before we celebrate the dawn of a new era, keep two basic truths in mind…First, these new policies apply only to a tiny group considered “talent” – highly educated and in high demand…The second thing to know about the new family-friendly work policies is that relatively few talented millennials are taking advantage of them. They can’t take the time…These young men won’t take paternity leave and these young women won’t even get pregnant – because it looks bad.” Definitely worth the read. http://robertreich.org/post/126856424555
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Well, we’ll just see if anyone outside the education reform “movement” is given a platform.
I don’t think anything these incredibly wealthy individuals is give is “free”. I think they always extract a price whether it’s loss of agency and decision-making by elected officials or the public or just a straight-forward transaction, where they pay for only the “reforms” they support or buy politicians.
If people want to continue to believe they get something of value for nothing they may do so, but I don’t think that’s ever been true in the history of the world, myself 🙂
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Has anyone ever tried to appeal to Edythe Broad? I wonder Eli’s wife; a woman, a mother and a grandmother would be a better influence on him than his critics?
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You’ve got to be kidding. Read the New Yorker article of 2010 on the King of the Universe Eli Broad and his wife whom he married when she was 18. This little old lady is the prime doyenne of the universe and does not worry about the little people. Actually even if she was approachable, do you think she would stand up to the worst control freak on the planet?
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Meanwhile, within UTLA, where is our union? Where are Officers? Board of Directors? Why aren’t they telling the public why this isn’t necessarily good for communities? They’re too busy treating dues money as a slush fund — spending our dues on meals and travel — not telling members how they spend money — refusing to do so — refusing to fight for legal insurance for housed teachers — and instead they’re calling for a 30% increase of union dues. Crickets from UTLA. https://www.facebook.com/groups/utlaaccountability/
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It’s as if our union leadership is awol — too busy giving speeches to people who’ve already heard it all before — instead of reaching out to the community.
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A public forum with a hand picked audience and no teachers or parents, who OPT their children out, will be invited or allowed to attend.
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Bingo..that is exactly how things have been for along time in this district. Deasy set up meetings, calling them public, and we all had to be vetted to be allowed in the building. There are never questions from the floor. Ben Austin did the same thing with PRev meetings. The audiences were carefully selected to applaud on cue.
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It’s so sad that this is a bogus organization. If only ……
The Buffalo News is also spouting the Ed Deform rhetoric. You should see Sunday’s editorial on opting out – all the same old, same old, plus blaming the parents for coddling their kids and teaching them to be quitters when faced with a challenging test. I submitted a rebuttal and am waiting to see if it is published.
I’m not holding my breath.
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Diane, they put your op-ed in their paper in the middle of summer when families and teachers travel. They put Arne Duncan’s op-ed and Beutner’s editorial in the presses on the first day of school when everyone is thinking about education. Please, take it from a teacher in LA, never, ever, never, no not ever believe in or trust a word from the LA Times. I’m really sorry they did that, on behalf of the left behind coast.
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I agree. For example, heir coverage of the Rafe Esquith affair has been biased.
Most of the news I found about the case, and then posted here on Dr. Ravitch’s blog, was coming 3,000 miles away from Jay Mathews, the education writer for the Washington post. Jay was reported all the info that was favorable to Rafe that had been uncovered—such as the ridiculous questions… “Provide us with the names of all the women you dated in college 40 years ago.” and the ridiculous demands… 15 years of tax returns, monthly bank statements, and all loan documentation.”
However, when David Holmquist wanted bad news leaked, such as statements from an alleged victim from over 40 years ago was coming forward to accuse Rafe… whose contact info did LAUSD’S to in-house lawyer Holmquist give out to the accuser—actually the accuser’s 80-something-old mother, who then relayed it to the accuser?
The contact info of Zahira Torres, the education writer of the L.A. Times. The Times is sort of like The Larry King Show used to be. If you wanted something leaked, you made sure he got it, then he’d deliver it to the public… and then folks on both sides would be his guests.
And Holmquist instructed the accuser to do made this call the day before Rafe’s lawyer was filing the initial lawsuit papers—so all the attention would be on this accusers allegations. and not on the lawsuit.
Couldn’t the Times at leasy have commented on this suspicious timing, and how ill-used The Times was?
People criticize L.A. SCHOOL REPORT for its funding and bias, but at least those people posted the actual lawsuit in pdf form, including all the correspondence between Rafe’s lawyers and the LAUSD staff / LAUSD lawyers… for all to see.
The Times had this, but refused to post it.
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Drew….Glad folks are waking up to how mendacious and malicious the LA Times can be. This once great paper under Otis Chandler, now does meager journalism, and their articles are couched in phrases to sway public opinion, similar to Rupert Murdoch’s yellow journalism in print and at Fox faux News.
Some of us who comment here have been writing about this for years. If you google me and read some of my longer articles on City Watch, they tell more of this tale. Karen Wolfe, and Robert Skeels (at Schools Matter and at Soledad), and Cynthia Liu at K12 News Network, also have many blogged fact-filled articles available to educate everyone.
Please let your contacts know to read these for the real info about LAUSD. Hemlock on the Rocks and Perdaily.com archives also have many outpourings and insider stories by teachers in California and in the district as do the archives of this site. Since California is the precursor of the education wars, it behooves educators nationwide to have a deep understanding of how the assault on the West Coast is moving to influence the entire country. Read everything you can on Eli Broad and the Broad Academy. See who gives big bucks to what foundation, and which directors and Board members associate with whom. You will be shocked to find things like mob ties, and also Right Wing associations, even with the KKK. It is reality and far from consipiracy theory.
I do want to call out to all who comment here that to engage with virginia, raj, and the Know the Facts character, and their ilk, is to play into their scheme. They are on this and other sites to deflect the conversation away from the facts and suggestions on how to combat our mutual enemy, those attempting to destroy free public schools, in order to make vast profits in the marketplace. Reread this stream and you see how much time and effort people gave to these corporate shills….far better to ignore them than engage with them.
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Just learned that Jay Mathews lives in Pasadena even though he writes for the Washington Post. That is how he knows Rafe Esquith so well, and has observed often in Room 56.
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The Gates Foundation provided $700,000 for the Seattle Times Education Lab.
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I knew something was afoot when I made a long reply to hapless Duncan’s suggestion of what LAUSD should do with their money. I said something like who are you who knows nothing about education and how he and Rahm had royally screwed up Chicago, no thanks. My comment disappeared for a long time and I was considering writing it again and it showed up. Yes, they do censure commenters that are too truthful about what is happening in LAUSD so I am upset and discouraged that some commenters here can’t get their say in the Times. Los Angeles’ only paper has been totally compromised as to content and dissent. You, however, give us a clear picture of what educators think about what’s going on. We support you and appreciate the forum you provide. Keep on keeping on.
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Is the LA Times still owned by the same people who own the Chicago Tribune? The paper which just wished a Hurricane Katrina on Chicago?
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Karsh is now in charge of the Trib. Beutner, who tried to buy the LA Times in league with Eli Broad some years ago, is not the publisher and CEO of the Times. All three of these tycoons are Wall Street free market billionaires…and all want public schools shut down in favor of charters.
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again I made an important typo…sorry.
Austin Beutner is NOW the publisher of the Times…which is still part of the Chicago Trib organization I believe. And Eli still is able to call many shots at the Times, as is billionaire former LA Mayor Richard Riordan who is a long time charterizer, but who used to want charter/voucher money for mainly Catholic schools. He evidently does not believe in separation of church and state.
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Thanks Ellen. I thought there was a connection. Their commenting formats are identical. Not to mention the editorial content.
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The billionaires are descending on California. Now they’re prepping parents for the release of SBAC test scores:
Teachers share Common Core experiences at conferences statewide | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com
[…]
“The scores also will reveal which districts have prepared their teachers well for Common Core — including the online test that required massive technology upgrades in some schools, said Kitty Dixon of the nonprofit New Teacher Center*, a national advocacy organization based in Santa Cruz…”
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/01/common-core-conference-scores-teachers/
*Our Funders | New Teacher Center
We appreciate the generous financial support provided over the past by the following funders:
$10,000,000 +
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
http://www.newteachercenter.org/about-ntc/our-funders
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“an ongoing, wide-ranging report card on K-12 education in Los Angeles, California and the nation.”
I hope they do that Jeb Bush A-F thing. That really took off. I like the graphic where they circle the “F” in red, in case you missed it.
Also, more photos of children in cubicles staring at screens, wearing headphones. That’s very 21st Century College and Career. Can’t have enough of those.
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Don’t forget–they’re all villainthropists, & NOT “philanthropists.”
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Ellen – it’s hard to believe they can get away with all that, but they’re sure that even if convicted, they’ll just get a finger wag and a naughty naughty.
Luckily you have a strong voice so keep up the good fight.
The other Ellen
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Thanks other Ellen…a little pep talk never hurts. Did you ever get your Buffalo blog up and running? Seems like many years ago that we corresponded about that. Time flies when your having fun.
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Reblogged this on Network Schools – Wayne Gersen and commented:
If you want to see where this is going to end, read today’s editorial in the NYPost about the superiority of Success Academy as compared to Scardsale… We are getting all the news the oligarchs want us to read, which is why HRC and Trump’s hair gets more coverage than Bernie Sander’s economic plans.
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Media needs advertisers but, they also need “reach”, a quantifiable market, receptive to the message.
Progressive media reach, is growing e.g. Huffpo. Mother Jones readership has grown ten-fold in 5 years.
Fox faux news viewers are disappearing, as are the number of readers of right-wing newspapers.
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Luckily the parents’ experiences with their own children doesn’t match the rhetoric, so the opt out movement can only increase.
Word of mouth is our best weapon against the printed word, so keep blogging.
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Diane…the person who first urged me to visit your site to keep up with all issues was my nephew’s wife….Sarah Reckhow. I would like to return the favor…..I urge you and your readers to visit the site of the
Author of “Follow the Money: How Foundation Dollars Change Public School Politics”
http://sreckhow.tumblr.com/
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Thanks for the link.
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Two thoughts: one, I suspect you will be invited again Diane cuz LAT is subtle in its sell out – not Fox, ie. They work with the appearance of unbiased reporting. Their commitments are pretty clear nonetheless – but LAT is just another corp, isn’t it? And its heads and owners play golf at the same country clubs as the other rich folks involved in this whole hostile takeover.
I wonder if we could negotiate w/the gang of bored billionaires for them to take over a state – it could be their fiefdom and playground and they do whatever the hell they wanted w/it. Citizens could escape as needed. I have a few states in the south I think we could give them so the rest of America could continue w/this perilous and complex experiment w/semi-democracy.
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