The Los Angeles Times reports an amazing story.
A leader of a charter chain in Los Angeles was fired after teachers complained that they were ordered to cheat so test scores would rise.
The L.A. school board closed the chain of six schools.
The administrator sued and won a settlement of $245,000 of taxpayer dollars for wrongful dismissal.
Figure this out if you can.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is anyone surprised?
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Someone let Christie in NJ see this.
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Paging Campbell Brown.
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I wonder how the kids did on the test they were about to take, and their subsequent school work? Did they have to move to another school? How much did it disrupt their lives and learning?
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You gotta admit it beats working for a living.
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Mr. Goldstein just summed up charter administrators everywhere.
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I presume that readers have seen the NYTimes piece on Campbell Brown vs. due process. Very compelling, especially since the Times, itself, seems disturbed that arbitrators ruled that “Since July 2008, the city Education Department has brought 100 cases for “sexual misconduct” against teachers, social workers and guidance counselors. But arbitrators allowed just 26 to be fired.”
“Allowed” just 26% to be fired? Due process, apparently, is not just. Suspicion and accusation ought to warrant firing – if test scores are not enough.
If any doubt about whether this is a witch hunt existed, it can be dispelled. The piece is here:
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How many others were nudged to resign before the formal dismissal proceedings began? This is how most teachers leave who aren’t working out.
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Or even if they are perfectly good teachers. Teachers are railroaded out of careers all the time; yours truly is one out of many thousands upon thousands of teachers who have been treated like garbage by their school districts.
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Without reading the link, one can assume the rest of them either took resignations or were reinstated when the allegations proved false.
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In the future trials will be on TV, Facebook, and Twitter. Just like you vote on American Idol, you will be able to decide if a person is guilty or innocent and then decide the punishment. Maybe they can get Dawson to emcee it.
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There is a really good sic-fi novel in this idea. Unfortunately, it might be an accurate telling of the future.
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Charters are an arm of Corporate Ed reform, so they operate just like a business, golden parachute for the CEO regardless of performance.
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I would love to know which judge presided over the case, and their ties to the corporate reform agenda.
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Oops misread, they SETTLED, so let me rephrase, I would love to know who was at the settlement table and their ties to the corporate reform agenda
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There are far too few facts available in this posting to make sense of any of this. We will all have our suspicions, but confidentiality agreements prevent us from being able to point to facts that support our suspicions. So, they remain just that, suspicions.
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“Settlements” usually aren’t seen as “wins”; it’s just that insurance companies don’t want to pay lawyer fees if a “case” proceeds to trial and then appeals. It’s cheaper to buy people off than go to trial.
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The Privateers are CASHING IN…it was their goal; and they are succeeding…rolling in tax payer dough! But I will howl out loud the next time I hear anyone complain how difficult and expensive it is to fire a teacher because of unions. Just wait until they try to fire these ‘corporate’ criminals. They never get convictions or jail time, just lots of money. By corporate standards, i guess that means they are a business success. I wonder where he will be hired next?
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So, for the charter crowd, having to negotiate with unions over teacher salaries is bad, but golden parachutes are okay? Perhaps this is one of those aspects of business we just “don’t understand”.
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Satirical take on the weightiness of test results http://studentslast.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-course-offering-how-to-cheat-on.html
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Well if a California judge can rule against parents who wanted their signatures rescinded on the Parent Trigger Law petition, then this does not surprise me. How many NYC teachers are called on the carpet if they even blink an eye, yet if principals are caught doing horrendous things, the DoE issues a statement of support.
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