Fred Klonsky has the inside scoop on who paid for the $1 million ad that has filled the airwaves in Chicago after the teachers’ strike.
He says the money came from Ravenel Boykin Curry IV and his wife Celerie. Fred’s brother Mike Klonsky says that other hedge fund managers joined to pay for the ads.
Curry is a board member of the Wall Street hedge fund manager organization called “Democrats for Education Reform.” DFER, as it is known, loves charter schools. It also believes that it is time to get tough with teachers.
It must make the hedge fund managers so angry to know that teachers in the Chicago public schools make an average of–what?–$70,000? $75,000? One of the Chicago equity investors is quoted by Mike Klonsky as saying that his goal is to separate the teachers from the union. Of course, that leaves teachers voiceless and powerless.
You just can’t get good help these days.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I wish my fellow teachers could scrape together one-hundredth of that amount to put out our opinions. It’s a damn good thing we have unions!
Amen.
in 2008 Wall Street went down, the hedge fund people got the bail-out money, they survived and
now we teachers are losing our pensions/colas to make up for the crash these millionaire profit makers
created…This is so wrong…..
I ordered the Celerie Curry at a vegan restaurant the other day…
LOL! I was thinking the same thing!
And when you ordered that dish, what did they bring you?
Chances are nithing came. Ask not what Celerie Curry can do for you, ask what you can do for Celerie Curry.
I was “counseled out” of the restaurant before my food came; I “wasn’t a good fit” for their cuisine.
They claim that 100% of their customers love the food, but neglect to mention 70% of customers who sit down to order don’t stay to taste their meals.
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/09/education-nation-charter-school-myths.html
From democraticunderground.com, 8-11-10:
Last week, Joel Klein disclosed he would invoke “emergency powers” to enable Girls Prep Charter School to expand within PS 94, even as it pushes out a program for autistic kids, contrary to the ruling of the NY State Education commissioner, David Steiner.
Steiner had held that Klein’s actions violated state law, as Klein had refused to recognize that the autistic program was a school, any change to which required a public process occur beforehand, including informing the parents of the children who would be affected. Klein’s actions in invoking emergency powers to displace a school for autistic children on behalf of a charter school has provoked much outrage from parents, elected officials, and special education advocates alike…
Why did Girls Prep want to expand in the first place? See the SUNY charter center fiscal dashboard, which shows that this school had recently moved into dangerous territory fiscally speaking, and most likely wanted an infusion of taxpayer funds generated by higher enrollment, without having to dip into the hefty pockets of their board members or Spencer’s generous father.
Ravenel Boykin Curry IV is on the board that operates Girls Prep Charter School.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×8922015
Living in Chicago, I have just seen one of these ads and was not impressed. Maybe it is because I am a former CPS teacher and do not depend on the mainstream media for my news.
One of the problems here is the average teacher’s salary in Chicago is not $70 to 75, 000–it is between $52,000 to $55,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics! I don’t think Klonsky would be willing to live and support a family. I’m waiting for the day when someone stands up for us in the trenches who work twelve hours a day and go to school during the summer to get better and better! Some charter schools are good and some are not. In fact some are disasters such as the guy in New York, who discriminates in his own black neighborhood to obtain good test scores and pays himself a quarter million dollars a year to be the head of schools totally 950 kids.
I teach them all, poor, rich, disabled, smart and average and have great test scores. Some students are harder than others, but I always give them my best. But if you are expecting miracles, we need to spend that million dollars helping solve poverty in this country. But no these bumbling idiots go after the teacher. Are there bad teachers yes, but there are bad hedge fund people (check out government bailout monies), clearly bad, uninvolved parents, bad administrators and you could proceed through every profession or laborer in this country. Even though I am good at what I do, the quality of the student I receive does affect what I can accomplish. The student can be a good student, but if he didn’t have breakfast that morning, or doesn’t know where he/she is going to sleep that night, etc., there are days I am beating my head against a brick wall. Does our system need reform, you bet, but not in Mr.”Clownsky’s” way. Put your money to good use you idiots, help solve the social issues of the children in our country and start by feeding them. (On any given day in Los Angeles County there are 167,000 homeless children.) I’m so tired of the rhetoric, but I cannot give up.
Klonsky–both Fred and Mike–are on your side.
“Good help” says it all. The help is never good for the Masters of the Universe unless it is free, compliant, and agrees to everything the MOTU want. They are better than the help because they have more money, and they intend to keep it that way.
Poor Celerie. I don’t care how much money she has. She still has to go through life named after a vegetable.
What’s the source for the $70-75k salary figure?