Charles P. Pierce is spot-on whenever he writes about the covert effort by billionaires, hedge funders, and rightwing ideologues to privatize the nation’ s public schools, starting in big cities, where they claim to be “saving poor children from bad public schools.”
Today he nails the secret, dirty deal that Mayor Marty Walsh has forged with the billionaires, turning over one-quarter of Boston’s public schools to privatization. Having campaigned against a for-charter candidate in the election in 2013, Walsh is now performing what Pierce aptly describes as a “Full Scott Walker,” that is, pulling a fast one once you’re elected that you never made a part of your campaign.
As Pierce writes, explaining the “Full Scott Walker”:
It’s not breaking a campaign promise. It’s breaking a campaign presumption, which is supposed to make a difference. Anyway, Walsh beat John Connolly at least partly by accusing Connolly, who is an open ally of the education “reform” grifters, of trying to destroy the public school system in the city where public schools were invented in this county. Now, it appears that Mayor Walsh has broken up with Candidate Walsh. He’s cut a deal with some of the most odious practitioners of the school “reform” grift, including the Walton Family of Wingnuts, and he did so under the radar. His goal, a “facilities plan,” is to close 36 public schools in order to make way for charters—and, it seems, for the city’s parochial schools.
People of Boston, wake up! The future of public education was the big issue in the campaign of 2013. You rejected John Connolly because he wanted more charters. And Marty Walsh is carrying out Connolly’s campaign pledge. Only you can stop him from privatizing public education in the place where it was born.
*Thanks to reader Chiara for referring to this great post.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why is this called a “Full Scott Walker” and not a “Full Barack Obama”? While Walker may not have mentioned privatization directly, he was much more honest about his anti-union/neoliberal goals than Obama was about his.
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BREAKING….
“It’s not true! It’s not true!”…
or so says Mayor Walsh in a press release from a half-hour agao:
Statement from Chief Communications Officer, Laura Oggeri
For Immediate Release
November 09, 2015
Released By:
Mayor’s Office
— For More Information Contact:
Mayor’s Press Office
617.635.4461
Below is a statement from Laura Oggeri, Chief Communications Officer for the City of Boston:
“The Mayor has never said, nor does he have a plan to close 36 schools. Mayor Walsh has proven his dedication to Boston Public Schools by, in the past year alone, providing unprecedented budgetary support, extending learning time for students, adding 200 pre-kindergarten seats to the district, and hiring a first-class Superintendent. The Mayor also launched a multi-year Educational and Facilities Master Plan this fall to guide smart investments in Boston’s schools with the goal of providing all students with a high-quality, 21st-century education.
The Esquire article is untrue and unsourced, and references meetings that the Mayor has never had. We are extremely disappointed at the spread of misinformation.”
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BREAKING….
“Oh, yes, it IS true! It IS true!”
… or so says the the author of the ESQUIRE article.
ESQIURE Blogger Charles P. Pierce released a statement where stands by his story, insisting that the Mayor, thru his spokesperson, is deceitfully using semantics in the statement denying his and Public School Mama’s story:
In the past, the Mayor has confirmed, and in the statement, does not deny that there will be schools “consolidated”. Well, according to Pierce, that means the student bodies of different schools will be combined, and the schools merged, leaving some of those buildings “empty”. In the process, this will bring to an end the existence of some traditional public schools in Boston…. i.e. “close” them.
The newly “empty” buildings will actually be leased—as in occupied, and in use by charter companies. So technically, the Mayor can then argue that they will remain “open” as schools… privately-managed charter schools, that is. These “open” schools that will be new occupants of the buildings will be privatized “charter schools,” not traditional Boston Public Schools.
Unlike the public schools, these charters
— WILL NOT BE transparent to the public;
— WILL NOT BE accountable to the public via a democratically-elected school board;
and
— WILL NOT educate all the public, as they will have possess the Eva-Moskowitz-ish ability to exclude the most expensive, and most difficult-to-educate students — special ed., English Language Learners, homeless, foster care, behavior problem kids…. either at the front end, or pushing them out later on down the line.
Pierce claims that there are ten documents unearthed in the FOIA request confirming all of this, including one with “talking points” the Mayor and his people should use to verbally downplay, minimize, and conceal the actual amount of school privatization that the plan will truly put in to effect — in other, words… how to lie to citizens of Boston about what’s really going on.
Pierce ends he rebuttal with this bit of snark:
“Despite the claims of the Mayor’s office, (Pierce’s ESQUIRE) Blog post was neither untrue nor unsourced. However, the Blog is newly concerned by the reading comprehension levels of those entrusted with the education of Boston’s public school students.”
http://www.boston.com/news/education/2015/11/09/mayor-office-calls-esquire-article-his-charter-school-stance-untrue-and-unsourced/zK5t3yBZih31bvhPGstDIK/story.html?p1=story_hp
—————————–
CHARLES P. PIERECE:
“The Mayor ‘has never said, nor does he have a plan to close 36 schools.’ The Mayor HAS said that he plans to ‘consolidate’ schools.
“How can he consolidate schools if he does not close some?
“Oh, wait—if he leases some of the ‘consolidated’ school buildings to charter schools then the buildings will technically remain open. They just won’t be Boston Public Schools. Despite the expressed concerns of the Mayor’s office, the Blog post was sourced and linked to twelve relevant documents obtained in response to what Boston public school blogger Mary Lewis Pierce [no relation] described as a FOIA [Massachusetts Public Records Act] request.
“Among those records was an agenda for a meeting between the Boston Compact and Mayor Walsh and a Boston Compact talking points memo prepared for the Mayor in which the Mayor is scripted to announce and define Enroll Boston.
“Despite the claims of the Mayor’s office, the Blog post was neither untrue nor unsourced. However, the Blog is newly concerned by the reading comprehension levels of those entrusted with the education of Boston’s public school students.”
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Notice at the link, the photo shows VP Biden sitting just to the left of Walsh as he stands at the podium.
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You wonder why they insist on holding these fake hearings and wasting peoples’ time.
It’s not enough that they lie to hundreds of thousands of people to get elected. They then have to put on these elaborate shows where the public has “input”, although the plans are already in place and they all know it.
They must have absolute contempt for the people they serve. Utter and complete contempt. There’s no other explanation for this behavior.
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Yeah, my administration used to do this to a fare-thee-well. They’d ask for teacher input, then they’d go ahead with what they had already planned anyway. The unmitigated gall and arrogance of those with power and influence never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes even the Thesaurus doesn’t have enough words for words like gall and arrogance. I think we need to start using a lot of Aussie or Scots swear words for this time of @$$hat.
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The saddest part of ed reform to me is watching the people who work in my local schools desperately trying to put in all these reforms, hoping they’ll turn out the higher test scores and show “improvement” and it doesn’t matter a bit. Massachusetts has the best public schools in the country and it doesn’t matter- they’re planning on privatizing their schools anyway. I want to tell people who work in public schools in Ohio “don’t play- this game they’re playing is rigged against you- you cannot win”.
It’s such an absolute betrayal of their trust. They’re administering the tests and reciting the slogans and dealing with every ed reform gimmick and fad that comes down the pike, and all the while the people in charge are working as hard as they can to eradicate public schools completely. It’s sickening to watch.
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I’m curious about the religious schools that are in on the plan. Do Democrats back vouchers now? I wouldn’t be surprised if they lied about that too. I’m just wondering if that’s been exposed as a lie,yet, or if it will take another coupla months.
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We are being bull-dozed town by town and city by city as billionaires nullify democracy and buy crony politicians seeking payoffs and guaranteed re-election. This billionaire takeover of the public sector nullifies our democratic rights to control politicians and public policy. The teacher unions have been taken out of this war by their own leaders’ devotion to electing Hillary, instead of organizing their 4mil members to stop the privatization, standardized testing and VAM. Lily and Randi took k-12 off the table and rushed Hillary a blank check, leaving parents alone to fight the education war.
Our singular focus should be on Opt-Out, not the Presidential election season which is a distraction. Latest news from Boston makes Opt-Out only more important, the only strategy that can stop the billionaires and their cronies. The Presidential campaign will not offer relief from the constant attacks and losses of this ongoing war. Bernie is taking himself out of action by obeying Dem Party limits on exposing Hillary’s record, so she will face whichever GOP clown surfaces; whoever wins will continue the Wall St looting of schools, society, and the economy. The democratic crisis will not be solved by voting, unfortunately, sad to say, but by parents whose weapon of Opt-Out can stop the looting and send the billionaire class packing.
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Well stated. I keep hoping all the corruption and fraud associated with charters will turn voters against tossing tax dollars down the charter rabbit hole. I hope that day comes soon.
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As I posted elsewhere, I am sad to say that given how much Democrats are dependent on pro-charter money, it seems that charters will proliferate. However, we should force every politician – Democrat or Republican – to have to be up front about the fact that they SUPPORT charters only educating the kids who they believe “fit” (as decided by the charter school) and if your child isn’t one of them, off to the underfunded public school he goes. Let’s make that clear that THIS is what Mayor Walsh is supporting and get reporters to ask him what happens to all the “undeserving” children that the charter schools don’t want. Do they matter, or are the charters allowed to make them feel misery if they don’t get high enough test scores because the inexperienced teachers are certain that the low test scores merely reflect low effort and “non-striverness”. I want those Democrats to go on record as to why charter schools are claiming that even the most motivated low-income families have so many violent and special needs children, and if those Democrat politicians agree with some of the most successful charter chains that 50% of the poor children aren’t worthy of their charter schools.
Charter schools are finally being honest about ONLY wanting to be for the strivers and they believe charter schools should get to decide which 5 and 6 year olds are and are not worthy of being deemed a striver. Does the Mayor of Boston agree? And can he state his plan for all the kids the new charter schools “choose” to label as “non-strivers” and happily dump? I hope a reporter asks him some hard questions.
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Here are the key sentences in that Charlie Pierce column:
“Charterism is privatization on the public’s dime, the worst of all possible worlds. It doesn’t matter if the tap gets turned on slowly, or all at once. It’s about corporations being allowed by law to get their mitts in the till.”
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dPeople of Boston need to petition a recall if this guy pulled a full scale Walker or barack obama/arne duncan/rahm emmanuel move…that’s winning under false pretenses….
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I agree 100%. The voters have to show politicians the consequences of their unasked for actions.
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That sure didn’t work out with Walker, did it?
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Massachusetts state auditor Suzanne Bump, says charters, under the law, are suppose to be reflective
of the demographics of the districts – of the surrounding public schools. But, data collected by the
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is unreliable, as of a 2014 audit, and
doesn’t appear to be better in 2015. Wait list problems persist – double/triple counting, non-removal, etc,
all continue to be a problem.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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As I go door-to-door for Bernie Sanders, people say they agree with everything he says, but they often feel helpless and feel it’s useless to try and stop the billionaire and ideologues in their takeover of this country. I tell them that there are alternatives, but to do nothing while our schools and so much more are destroyed is not an alternative. We need to build a people’s revolution in the sense we all join together and say, “we’re not going to take it any more.” The media makes people feel isolated, keeps them uninformed, and we’re not getting the word out enough to let people know that there are alternatives, so many groups and individuals working to change this direction and there are places for each and every person to connect with. The domination of charter schools, the domination of Koch-style curriculum, the domination of Common Core/Pearson/Broad and others deciding what non-education should look like, and the domination of those hell-bent on bringing religion into our schools while advocating for parochial school vouchers–all of this is leading to an uninformed, uneducated, indoctrinated next generation of students who then leave high school and are put into endless cycle of debt by the same billionaires with absolutely no humane reaction to what they’ve done to an entire generation of Americans.
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