In Michigan, the state government decided it was tired of all the fiscal woes of certain districts, so it handed them to emergency managers, who gave them to for-profit operators.
Michigan Public Radio has been watching events in Muskegon Heights. The word that is most commonly heard is: Chaos.
The charter operator fired all the teachers and hired new ones who cost less.
Within the first month, 20 of the 80 teachers quit.
Chaos.
Well, give them time.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Because children have so much time …
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Chaos is exactly what they want as that give them opportunity. This is a standard not just with schools. Their opportunity is total control and a piece of the pie they did not have before. Actually a piece for their puppet masters they just get a guaranteed job if they do their puppet masters bidding is how it works.
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Did you read this:
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/many-muskegon-heights-students-dig-charter-company-s-curriculum-it-s-fun
I think it is important to note the money, minimum of $8.7 million in management and curriculum fees for their 5 year contract.!
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When will Michiganders decide that enough is enough, and start dragging these
charter parasites out of the people’s schools, and running them out of their cities with a clear warning not to return, or else!
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Well before the terms “Neoliberalism” or “Shock Doctrine” were coined, the great historian and philosopher of urbanism, Lewis Mumford – an alumnus of the NYC public schools and City College – used the term “planned chaos” to describe the actions and outcomes of the giant edifice he called The Megamachine.
The Megamachine was his attempt to name and describe social structures appearing throughout history that have combined impressive technical achievements (Egyptian pyramid-building, Roman road and aqueduct-building, US moon landings, etc.) with ultra hierarchical, authoritarian, social/economic/political machines remote-controlled by a tiny priesthood, of which the mass of humanity are subject components. The preferred term for those human components today would probably be “human capital.” Think Michellle Rhee’s reflexive description of children as our “most valuable assets” in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings.
As Mumford also pointed out, the remarkable technical achievements of the Megamachine are often directed toward socially empty or destructive “production:” the pyramids were tombs, the Roman roads conduits for a rapacious and increasingly debauched empire, and the moon landings representative of the profligate waste of resources engendered by the Cold War.
Today, the incredible powers of digitalization are being used for high frequency stock trading, mining the personal data of consumers (which by definition includes students), micromanaging production and the workplace. That aggressive micromanaging of production and labor now includes the schools.
However, for that new order to fully assert and entrench itself, older structures must be subverted and destroyed, or in the preferred euphemisms of so-called ed reformers, “transformed” with “disruptive innovation.” Thus, the inevitable but useful chaos of Muskegon and what’s to follow elsewhere.
The deep inroads of so-called education reform represent a truly shameful episode in this country’s history, for not only is it doing harm to multitudes, but it is also indicative of the moral bankruptcy of an uncontrolled elite that has chosen to further enrich itself at the expense of the nation’s most vital institutions.
Fear for a society that permits that.
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Thank you for your post. Food for thought. Such comments are why I follow this blog.
Keep on keepin’ on.
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You want chaos, read just how successful (not really) the charter company was. One out of 4 teachers are quitting, students were not placed in their correct classes, and buildings were not up to code.
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/muskegon-heights-students-hope-less-chaos-they-return-class-today
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Well, I hope they had a happy Friday afternoon, and the Michigan Department of Education, as well. For yesterday, I filed a written complaint against the Muskegon Public School Academy and Mosaica Education pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 and Michigan Mandatory Special Education Act. I caught wind that the district has not been providing related services (speech, OT, PT, Social Work) to students with IEPs as dictated by their plans. So I filed a systemic complaint alleging a failure to deliver “all” related services, teacher consultant services, consider each student for Extended School Year; and meet “initial” and 3-year reevaluation timelines. What a lovely way to end the week of MDE and for-profit charter administrators who care nothing about the kids. Here’s hoping the allegations are found valid and the students receive compensatory. Although no one can give any of the children in this for-profit-saken, emergency-dictator-manager-run charter that has now stolen an entire semester from children in desperate need of a public education.
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Well done, Marcie Lipsitt. Charter schools are notoriously bad at teaching special needs students. I hope they get nailed.
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Chaos is exactly what they hope for– Then they can say “see it doesn’t work and public schools are failing and let’s open more charters and onliners and offer more choice and options.” And people are supposed to say “Sure . . . Sounds good because the status quo “system” clearly isn’t working . . .” It’s Chaos Theory writ large– it is eventually going to backfire and we will get our schools back. I hope eventually comes soon.
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No surprise that chaos exists. One of the least heralded positions in a high school is the school counselor who is involved in scheduling students. When you don’t have qualified staff you get this exact chaos. Charters are always chaotic due to massive turnover problems. Year after year, changes in administration and staff lead to disorganization and incompetence. The same mistakes are repeated year after year because the person who did the job last year was either fired or left for a better job. This district will not stabilize unless teachers have better pay and benefits. What will Gov. Snyder and his legislature do now???? I hope the people at public radio take a close look at all of the charters in the state. Isn’t it sad that the teachers live in fear? This is typical of charters too. Once the economy in Michigan starts to heat up, look-out because they won’ t be able to keep anyone in that district.
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Marcie Lipsitt…Thank You on behalf of the students you are standing up for! As a fellow advocate for special needs students please post here if there is anything we can do to support your cause!
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[…] Finding and Retaining Great Staff? In Michigan, the state government decided it was tired of all the fiscal woes of certain districts, so it handed them to emergency managers, who gave them to for-profit operators. Chaos. The charter operator fired all the teachers and hired new ones who cost less. Within the first month, 20 of the 80 teachers quit. Source […]
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