You may recall the story about Irma Cobian, the elementary school principal who was forced out after Parent Revolution collected signatures from parents, employing the “parent trigger” law that it (Parent Revolution) had sponsored in 2010.
The headline in the LA Times read: “Popular Principal’s Dismissal Leaves a South L.A. School Divided.”
The story began thus:
“Third-grade teacher Kate Lewis said Irma Cobian is the best principal she’s had in nine years at Weigand Avenue Elementary School in Watts.
“Joseph Shamel called Cobian a “godsend” who has used her mastery of special education to show him how to craft effective learning plans for his students.
“Los Angeles Unified Supt. John Deasy praised a plan developed by Cobian and her team to turn around the struggling campus — where most students test below grade level in reading and math — calling it a “well-organized program for accelerated student achievement.” He thanked Cobian for her commitment and hard work.”
But Parent Revolution decided she had to go. They collected enough parent signatures to force her out.
In a show of solidarity with the principal Irma Cobian, 21 members of her staff of 22 people asked to transfer to another school.
As most educators understand, one important ingredient of a successful school is a strong sense of teamwork. Cobian had created that. But that was not good enough for Parent Revolution.
I wrote about these events here.
The more I thought about Parent Revolution targeting this principal, the angrier I got.
Somehow it felt like bullying.
Parent Revolution is funded with millions from the Walton Family Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Gates Foundation. Irma Cobian is a hardworking school principal who is doing her best to help children and to support her teachers. It really bothered me that this powerful and wealthy organization decided that she had to go because the school’s test scores were too low. It made me angry.
I know I should never show anger, but this sure looked like an injustice to me. It looked like a super-rich organization decided to pick off a woman who was doing her best and had no super-rich organization to defend her.
So I wrote a column titled “Wondering About Ben Austin,” (Austin is the leader of Parent Revolution), in which I wondered how he could live with himself knowing he had harmed the reputation and career of a good person.
I don’t know Irma Cobain, but from what I read about her, it didn’t seem she deserved to be subjected to public humiliation.
Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute did not share my sense that Cobian had been victimized. He did not see the injustice that I saw. Instead, he said my criticism of Ben Austin was “abhorrent.” Suddenly it was Austin who was the victim, though he did not lose his job or his reputation.
I believe in due process. If Irma Cobian was a bad principal, Superintendent Deasy should have brought her up on charges. He didn’t. The fact that Cobain built a supportive staff says something good about her leadership skills.
I am sorry if I hurt Ben Austin’s feelings. I wish he would say that he was sorry for the pain and suffering that he inflicted on Irma Cobain, on her staff, and on the school community.
Every school leader and staff must wonder if they will be next in line to be targeted by Parent Revolution. Instilling fear and anxiety in educators is not a good way to improve schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Were you unfair? NO!
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It must be hard on you to be our spokesperson and to continually stand up against these bullies. Thank you so much, the day when the the naked emperor gets seen can not come too soon.
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Why is it when a bully is called on the carpet for something he/she did, he/she always calls foul and claims he/she is the victim? I don’t know about anyone else but I am tried of this.
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Diane, my post on Steve Perry’s terrible dissertation has gone viral. As a result, I am receiving not only clueless comments abut also ugly attacks on me for my “awful” post (stronger words were used), and attacks on my motives, my own scholarship and writing abilities. I do not publish such comments.
As to Ben Austin, I think that you called him out. I also believe this gives him an opportunity to repent his actions and do right by Cobian. And based on what I know about you, if Austin turned from his foolishness, you would support him in such a change.
Hess is abhorrent for prostituting his intellect to a destructive privatization machine. he needs to forsake his own corporate street corner.
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Perry is desperate. His full time publicist is probably busy attacking you.
A fraud is a fraud is a fraud….his quote to his teachers: “We want it to snow in here.”
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His CNN well ran dry. He is desperate.
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He has been going downhill for a while. He was skewered by Edushyster after his appearance in Minnesota where he called union teachers roaches. Look in the mirror Perry and see the king of all roaches.
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He will only turn from his foolishness if the money dries up, M. Schneider — you’re not so naive that you assume sincerity, are you? Follow the $$$, as usual.
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The point is that if he did turn, Diane would not pursue with any grudge.
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Wow. You must have hit him where it hurt. Perry is an A1 charlatan. “Corporate street corner” I love the term. Very appropriate.
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M. Schneider: you don’t have to apologize to Steve Perry and Diane doesn’t have to apologize to Ben Austin. The very notion is absurd.
Both of you analyzed publicly available data, weighed it and made your opinions known on your websites. Let the two gentlemen and their supporters take those same facts and whatever other data they may have at hand and try to demonstrate—in a similarly transparently and ethical way—that different inferences are warranted.
Or are the latest kerfuffles simply two more in an already long string of attempts to demean, intimidate and silence incisive critics of the leading charterites/privatizers?
It struck me as particularly telling that Rick Hess talks so tenderly about his relationship with Ben Austin. Perhaps he was so inconsolable about the “vicious” and “Dante-esque” pummeling that Diane put on his good bud that he forgot to inform us how even-handed he supposedly is in these matters. For example, is it my imagination or was he the one who organized the candlelight vigil for Irma Cobian? Perhaps more telling still, I’m sure he organized that grand retirement banquet for Adell Cothorne, formerly of DCPS (for info about Cothorne, see John Merrow’s post, footnote #17, http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6232)
If I didn’t get all the details right about his impartiality in such matters, forgive me, but I’m getting on in years and my memory isn’t what it used to be…
In my first full-time job almost everyone besides me was a veteran. All the younger vets had been in Vietnam, some on bases in technical support and the rest out in the field with the possibility of death or dismemberment ever present. One very quiet polite fellow I worked with for a while, as it turned out, had been on a daily army patrol for 11 months, almost to the day he was discharged. He never mentioned a word about his experiences to me but a few who had known him while he was on active duty described how brave and resourceful he had been. He was the “point man,” i.e, the lead member who looked for land mines, sized up the terrain and obstacles, alerted those behind him to danger, often first to engage the enemy, etc. Which lead to one of those vets asking me, “How do you tell a smart lieutenant from a stupid one?” Of course, I didn’t know. He explained that the freshly-minted looeys with visions of John Wayne usually got themselves and others killed because they were reckless, heedless of danger, spoiling for fights instead of fighting smart. The smart ones? They would come into a patrol and one of the first things they would ask the enlisted men who had been there for months and months was, “Who should be the point man?” The successful—and more often, living—lieutenants relied on the very hard-won experience and judgment of the men under them to make a life-and-death decision on who was to literally lead them into, and out of, the face of danger.
Facing up to the edubullies doesn’t entail the same risks, but there are dangers nonetheless, and too often it is a thankless task. So I take this opportunity to say thank you, M. Schneider, and the owner of this blog, Diane Ravitch, for “taking point” for the rest of us.
Not everyone is willing, or able, to do the job y’all are doing.
🙂
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“Sometimes the first duty of intelligent (people) is the restatement of the obvious.”
George Orwell
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You called it the way it is as Ben Austin and the Parent Revolution are illegally obtaining signatures according to the law, rules and regulations of the Parent Empowerment Act as it is known in California. Rule 4, page 2, item (g) is the rule they broke at every place they have been. Why do they have a place to see the rules and regulations and yet it is empty? Why is there nothing about their adventures in Florida with the video and 15 page law there. I have them and have sent them out to those who asked immediately and they cannot do this with their website if they wanted to? Go get the video of the last LAUSD Board Meeting and listen to the parents from Wiegand talk about the way the signatures were obtained and look at the San Bernadino paper and the testimony of the parents in Adalanto at Desert Trails talk about how they were also gathered there and read the rule and regulations and you will see that these were illegally approved as the signatures were not according to the law. Never apologize to law breakers especially of the future of our children and society. They should be shamed out. That is what is proper as they are not doing this by accident of for consideration for students and their futures.
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We live in a world where up is down and left is right. Bullies are defended and ordinary, hardworking citizens are maligned. I applaud that you spoke up. Public education is in a pitiful state because we all listened politely to people who have no credentials and nothing to say throw their money around and call it reform.
As for the Parent Trigger, what about we citizens and taxpayers who have no children in the schools? We should have just as much to say about our public schools as parents. After all, we pay a good percentage of the bills.
Why is this never mentioned?
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Wow. You’re critique is so true. I think we’ve all listened too politely. It’s time for the teachers to have their say now.
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“Why is this never mentioned?”
Because the eduprivateers want to steal what rightfully belongs to all.
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Let’s remember that this ridiculous law was a last hour, unsuccessful attempt to win a Race to the Top grant. It was not sufficiently vetted through the normal legislative process, and a lot of smart people knew that it would have many negative and unintended consequences but, in the rush to be politically correct, it ended on the books…Now that we’ve seen two years of nonsense in California, it’s time for a legislative fix.
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It is entirely appropriate to be angry about what happened to Cobain! To Rick Hess: Since when is it “abhorent” to be angry about injustices? Was it wrong to be angry about all those teachers in Rhode Island being fired? Was it wrong to be angry about African American kids being blocked from going to high schools in the 60’s? Robert Moses said, “A young man born this year has a one in twenty chance of living some part of his life in jail … unless he is Black, then his chances jump to one in four.” Is it wrong to be angry about that? Is it wrong to be angry about what happened in Sandy Hook?
I too was angry about what happened to Cobain. Regardless of how many teachers resign or leave the school, the point is that she was treated unfairly. Too many people in the reform movement want these quick fixes to education. McEducate! Pick up your higher test scores in the McDonalds driveup. Guess what: education doesn’t work that way.
I’m no fan of Rick Hess. Our Superintendent recently had him for his Book Talk here. But there are a number of things in Rick’s article that could be refuted. Near the end, he said something about nearly a half-decade. Three years is not nearly a half-decade! Again, wanting that quick fix.
Did Rick or Ben bother to do any research into reasons why the scores went down? Did anyone look at the demographics of the residents within the boundaries of that school? Has unemployment gone up in the last three years? Has the poverty rate gone up? Has crime increased? Has the availability of medical facilities gone down?
My opinion? Keep getting angry at injustices!
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Every time I read a story and comment on how education reform is failing, Gates/Walton and Race to the Top seem to lurk in the backdrop of the issue…victimizing principals and teachers in the rat race to improve horribly written test scores is destroying public education. Where are the powerful parent/voter advocates to stop this?
I try – I wrote to my state superintendent and she wrote back, my legislators and they wrote back, but for every parent I see that is outraged, I see many more that are so focused on sports, or whether our particular district is winning ‘excellence’ awards, or content to see their kid passed an end of grade test, despite the hours wasted and the bar being as low as 1/2 right…
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“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
I think we are entering the “then they fight you stage”. History will honor you Diane.
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I really liked Hess’ concluding paragraph:
“I’d have loved to see Ravitch challenge the notion that replacing school principals is much of a restorative. I’d be especially open to the notion that Cobian got a raw deal if Ravitch had offered evidence that she’s good at her job, and not just popular with the teachers at a persistently lousy school. But I can’t focus on the merits when the arguments are swaddled in vicious, Dante-esque hyperbole that is unworthy of the author.”
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So write to Hess and tell him.
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Actually, I posted it here so other readers could see his conclusion directly because I thought it was particularly well-stated regardless of whether you agree with it or not. I wasn’t trying to get a message to him indirectly.
By the way, for my info, do you have an official role on this blog? If you are the moderator or something like that I’ll read your comments (particularly the ones structured as commands) with that in mind.
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Yes, I have been given the role of scouting out edufrauds, dilettantes who dabble in education while while running some type of financial management company, say, like a hedge fund….long title but that’s what I do here. I didn’t attend Harvard but I walked though the main courtyard everyday for four years in the 80’s.
Diane will vouch for me. 🙂
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Got it. So you are basically in charge of ad hominem attacks. That’s what I thought. 🙂
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And I’ll keep skipping over your self promoting pompous posts.
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Promise? 🙂
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That’s funny. She skipped over you.
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“Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.” [English proverb]
🙂
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The tactic of claiming that the message is invalid because of the way it was presented is entirely intended to deceive and mislead. And since the ENTIRE tactic of trying to divert attention away from Parent Revolution’s current twin meltdowns onto Diane’s words is an insincere desperation tactic too, there are multiple levels of intent to mislead goingon.
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If you want to know if Diane was unfair to Ben Austin, just ask the parents who were subjected to Parent Revolution’s pressure tactics. Ask them what has happened to their school as a result of the parent trigger? Ask them what has happened to parents and children who have been forced into opposite corners and turned into bitter enemies.
Ask them if they would have supported the trigger if they had known that their school would be facing a whole new staff of unknown quality. Ask them how a school community can be expected to work as a cohesive group if the parents are in constant turmoil. Ask them how their children felt about going to school every day knowing that their parents were fighting against each other on and off campus.
Apparently, Parent Empowerment, according to Ben Austin, refers only to parents who go along with he thinks they need. He treats parents at these schools as if they are unable to make informed decisions, so, why bother to inform them.
Since he introduced the law and illegally lobbied against revisions, how can anyone be surprised that Parent Revolution is the one and only organization controlling the petition drives. He made sure that the law prevents anyone other than his organization from “impeding” the process.
And please ask Ben Austin what proof he has that parents will have continuing involvement in the new school. Well, that might not matter since it may turn out that the original student population may chose not to attend the new school as appears to be happening at Desert Trails. So much for meeting the needs of the kids………
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I am glad you get angry when you perceive injustice.
This speaks to your character (IMOH).
Makes me even more proud you are on “our side”. If we are the side that cares about people, justice, truth..we are on the right track.
Thank you.
PS: Yep, as others have pointed out..here comes the bully playbook. Rule #1: when called out, claim to be hurt, offended, wounded and pose as the actual victim. Sling as much mud as possible in the process so it becomes difficult to see what really happened.
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Well . . . .
I read Hess’s piece, and I really don’t see how it could be considered “mud-slinging.” The most aggressive it gets is Hess’s statement that “[o]ne can just picture Ravitch fastidiously consigning these folks to their proper stations in the various circles of hell.” That was written as a rejoinder to Diane’s statement that “[t]here is a special place in hell reserved for everyone who administers and funds this revolting organization.” Hess also distinguishes Diane personally from the post he says was “unworthy of the author.” And I didn’t see any sign in Hess’s article that Austin himself is claiming to be hurt or victimized.
To recap, Diane wrote that Ben Austin is an “idiot” and accused him of ruining a woman’s life for money. Maybe that sums it up perfectly (I’ve never met Ben Austin or Irma Cobain and I know close to nothing about the situation at this school). But obviously you can’t write stuff like that about people and be shocked if someone takes issue with it. Hess (whom I’ve also never met) may be disingenous and even a little prissy. But at least he didn’t demand a public apology from Diane, like the NEPC recently did after some what’shisface (the Milwaukee voucher study guy) wrote that Diane wasn’t a statistician.
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Why can’t Austin speak for himself? He’s a big boy.
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I don’t know. Perhaps he thought it wasn’t worth it, or it would look petty, or who knows why. Why did the NEPC, rather than Diane, demand that whatshisface apologize for insulting Diane? Perhaps because she thought it wasn’t worth it, or it would look petty, or who knows why.
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FLERP!,
I get insulted with monotonous regularity. I am too old to care.
But I am not so old as to be jaded.
When a big rich machine targets a working person, doing their best with limited resources, it bothers me.
I don’t like to see big people stepping on the faces of those who lack their power.
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Well….
I was really intending to speak generally about the value in becoming angry/emotional at times as well as the tactic of rebutting someone who has called you out by claiming to be hurt/offended/abused etc. more that I was commenting on this specific conversation. When I mentioned “slinging mud” I was suggesting the next move of the privatization movement in general more than commenting on anything Hess wrote. That is what I meant by “Here comes”.
Alas, I am not a brilliant writer.
However, I am delighted you choose my comment to attach your usual, charming, rhetorically brilliant, in-depth analysis to.
Fascinating as always.
Thank you.
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Sorry, I misunderstood.
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How sad that Mr. Austin had to ask Mr. Hess to defend him. He seems more than capable of destroying lives, but he is too weak to stick up for himself? Poor, poor, Mr. Hess.
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Neither Hess nor anyone at Parent Revolution is sincere in accusing Diane of being unfair. It’s a desperate damage-control strategy in a situation where they have no legitimate damage-control ammunition. And the motivation for scrambling so desperately to do damage control? As always, follow the money. The L.A. Times story and other backlash must be seriously alarming Parent Revolution’s funders.
Parent Rev just shifted to a new attempt at damage control on Twitter. Now the strategy is to belligerently demand of the L.A. Times whether the teachers who said they’re leaving Weigand Elementary have actually filed the paperwork to leave. But that doesn’t make sense (as a way to debunk the Times’ coverage), because if the teachers were truly intimidated by the principal and happy that she was leaving, they wouldn’t even make empty threats to leave too (even if those threats WERE empty).
I think Parent Revolution is in full meltdown. When they stop getting friendly press coverage and their wrongdoing is exposed by the mainstream media, they are really screwed.
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So let’s keep turning the screws.
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I have first-hand knowledge of this situation.
It is very similar to what happens in
a school environment when one kid
has a grudge against another kid, and then
sets out to destroy the reputation of the other
kid. To accomplish this, the one kid then
engages in a whispering campaign of slander…
… i.e. “She’s a slut… ” or “He’s a (SLANDEROUS EPITHET)”
and turns the mass of children in the school,
or grade, or class against the targeted child.
It’s vicious and evil.
Add to this situation, the heavily-funded creeps
from Parent Revolution, who rent a house across
the street from the school, and will tell whatever
lie they want to tell, whenever they want to tell it
in order to trick parents into signing something.
While many who signed did so because of the slanderous
lies, there are many others who signed are that are
only now finding out that this was “dump-the-principal”
petition.
There ARE lemon principals in LAUSD. Ms. Cobian
is definitely NOT one of them.
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They’ve been duped into signing a pact with the devil. The tactics used by these people are pure evil.
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No! No pity for Ben Austin. Why? The following video explains exactly why people like Austin should have their names dragged through the mud. They are ruining education in America.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130524/SCHOOLS/305240328n
This video could be repeated in school district after school district in the US. When will it all end! Thank you USDOE and Bill Gates. You’ve done so much for the education world.
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Diane,
Not only were you not unfair to Austin, but you presented the facts as they are in LA. The LA Times ran a three page article last week with photos on this egregious school closing. And people are furious as they learn the facts.
George, above, and I, are LA public school activists and we see this the same way, he from his perspective of a community, highly informed participant (fast becoming my favorite activist gadfly), and I as a university educator on public policy. I have posted on your blogs various times what is happening with Deasy and his billionaire supporters, plus the outgoing mayor, in shutting down schools “as fast as possible” which he says repeatedly in public venues. He has no qualms about lying and saying he never saw the existing great bottom up programs in the high schools, and always ‘cops out’ by saying maybe one of his underlings did site visits. There is not a way to pin him down informally, but if any of the Adelanto or Cobain parents would be willing to testify as to the intimidation and bribery potential, and Deasy, and others, could be in court under oath, it might be a different story.
California has the worst ballot situation in the Nation whereby any malcontent can put an intiative up for a vote if they have enough cash to do so. We end up with the longest ballot in the country with contrived and convoluted ballot measures that are incomprehensible (mostly intiatives, and some referendum). These issues mainly should be decided in the State House and not by popular, and too often uninformed voters. This was the case in 2010 when the Parent Trigger was voted in. Getting rid of it will be a Herculian chore. Jerry Brown did this with Prop. 30 and now we find he will “use this new tax money, $1 billion, in the inner cities to implement Common Core”.
I implore teachers nationwide who really understand the failures of Common Core to writer/inundate Governor Jerry Brown in Sacramento with your information.
I am getting too old for all this this bait and switch, but decided to go on leave next year to rattle as many cages in California as I can before I shake, rattle, and roll in the Elysian Fields.
Ellen
PS… on the positive side, the Times ran a fabulous today article on Monica Ratliff. Her election opened many eyes to how the ‘money mob’ who would rule the world, is trying to take over public schools in the name of free market profit.
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Ellen,
Thanks for all you do. How can I help?
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Linda…where are you??? In LA???
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No I am in Connecticut.
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Sorry, just got it…a bit slow..meant for Linda J. Oops!
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I live in Long Beach, CA and I am ready and willing to help you. Can you email me through Diane? She has my permission to give you my email address. If not, please let me know. Thanks.
Linda Johnson
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Linda J. in Long Beach. Please feel free to email me at
UCLApolicywonk@aol.com
Others too…I am working to build a consortium of educators who have been injured by the Deasy method…there are many…and we are now banning together in the LA area.
Ellen
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Parent trigger was passed by the California legislature.
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Susan…check George Buzzetti above. He has endless data that he is willing to share with the community. I am really impressed with is dedication as a non-educator, but a community organizer. He and I both spoke about the misplaced election that got this law passed.
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If you need my support, you have it, but I think all sensible people can tell who’s in the right here. It’s an age old tactic of oppression – do it with a smile and then when the oppressed (or an ally of the oppressed) gets angry enough to react forcefully, put on your victim suit and act hurt. It didn’t, however, work in “The Mighty Ducks”, and most people are more sophisticated than a Disney movie (I think?), so I don’t think it will work for poor Ben Austin.
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In the interview linked to BELOW, Parent Revolution leader
Ben Austin characterizes the opposition to the Parent
Trigger in Compton(December 2010) thusly:
“The teachers’ union struck back”,
He then proceeds to describe McKinley Elementary
in Compton (the target school) overall as a
child-abusing hell-hole.
(Oh really? Then why did 90% of the parents
choose to remain at McKinley… the child-abusing hell-hole…
instead of at the charter school that Parent Revolution helped
open just a block away?)
Seriously, Dr. Ravitch. You’re not going to believe this—but Austin claims
THAT the the unionized teachers at McKinley retaliated against the the
pro-Parent Trigger parents by physically torturing the children of
those parents (???!!!) while the children of anti-Parent-Trigger,
pro-evil-union parents were spared this Abu Ghraib-like physical
and mental torment.
Austin said this an interview for the far-right-wing, anti-union Choice Matters,
where he is being interviewed by Bob Bowden, who had previously made
an anti-union, pro-charter documentary, “THE CARTEL”.
Check out this link for the video:
http://choicemedia.tv/2012/01/19/ben-austin-on-the-ca-parent-trigger-story/
(NOTE: the scary, unnerving tinkling piano music underscoring the urination / defecation torture story)
Next, try watching it while reading along to my transcript:
(ALSO NOTE: Dr. Ravitch, I was very precise in my transcription of this part of the interview—including all the pauses, ellipses ( … ), “uhh” ‘s, “uhhmm” ‘s, etc.. .
I did this to illustrate that Ben Austin is clearly lying his head off. Show this video
to any police detective, or anyone else trained in lie detection, and see
what they say. Compare Austin’s delivery and demeanor to that of
the interviewer Bowden, who is not under pressure to knowingly lie.
Austin is bumbling, while Bowden remains smooth.
Lying is hard work. It places intense cognitive demands and pressures
on the person who is lying, and as a result, when you get someone who
is not very effective and/or experienced in lying, you get a ridiculous, stumbling,
bumbling performance like that of Austin’s in the video.
Also, the bolding during the torture story is mine, Jack)
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
TRANSCRIPT: (00:41 – 02:06)
AUSTIN: “Instead of being embraced and applauded for getting involve
in the education of their own children, (THE PRO-PARENT-TRIGGER PARENTS) were intimidated uhhh… and abused and harassed… uhhmm… and… uhmmm… we quiclkly found out that there were few… moral boundaries that the other side was unwilling to cross.
“One story in particular that was… uhmmm… jaw-dropping.. was that… uhmm… we found out pretty quickly that parents… whose… who—uhh… children whose parents signed the petitions… uhhm… were not allowed to go to the bathroom, and… when the children peed in their pants, they were sent to the… Nurse’s Office… uhh… and… that is where the parents… uhmm… parents got called in to bring in clean underwear… uhh… and that’s where the parents got hit up to give their … uhhh… to rescind their… signatures.”
BOWDEN: “Let me get this straight? In the same classroom where the parents who didn’t support the Parent Trigger petition… those students were allowed to go to the bathroom, and if your mom or dad supported the Parent Trigger, you were told, ‘Too bad. Stay there.’ ” (and thus, be forced to urinate/defecate on yourself, Jack)
AUSTIN: “That’s right. I mean it’s.. it’s… i-i-i-i-i… the-the… Things got so bad that the parents… uhhmmm… uhh… had to
—-(AUSTIN STARES DOWN AT SOMETHING… another “tell” of lying)
” … uhhmmm… sue the school district… and uhhmm… they … ”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Austin doesn’t even seem to believe the
bullshit that he’s spewing. His mind is jumping
around awkwardly… rambling about kids peeing in
their pants, then about parents forced to
bring clean underwear…
It’s like he’s trying to remember whatever phony story
that he, Gabe Rose, Pat DeTemple, and/or other Parent Rev. folks
vomited up during a secret strategy session.
In this instance at least, Austin’s a pretty unconvincing liar.
the same video is also here:
I have never seen a video where it was
more completely obvious that someone (Austin) is
lying his head off. The “uhh..”‘s,
“uhhmmm”s… pauses etc…. repeatedly’
the staring down, and looking to the side.
Again, note the contrast with cadence
and manner of the interviewer,
who is not lying.
CONCLUSION:
THIS__STORY__IS___TOTAL___AND___UTTER___BULLSHIT.
NOTE: Austin was an uncredited consultant to the
screenwriters of ‘WON’T BACK DOWN’. The urination
scene is in the movie, with the added wrinkle
that the evil unionized teacher first locked the
pro-Parent-Trigger parent’s kid in a dark closet.
When the hero mom shows up, the evil teacher
says that’s what your kid gets for you being
a trouble-maker—i.e. signing the petition,
and gathering signatures.
Sheesh!
If that ever happened in real life, the teacher
would be taken out of the school in handcuffs.
These Parent Rev. people are sociopaths, or
psychopaths who are so steeped in pathological dishonesty—
telling whatever lie they want to tell
whenever they want to tell it, so long as
it advances their agenda—that, in this
instance at least, they’ve lost
touch with reality.
In my next two posts,, I’ll tell you about
1) the bogus “McKINLEY PARENTS FOR CHANGE” flyer
that Robert Skeels wrote about:
2) Parent Revolution’s despicable “Plan B” they tried to put into effect in Compton, and which ultimately failed.
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Thanks Jack…excellent info. It is mind blowing.
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Disgusting, low life POS! May the liar rot.
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Wow Jack – great job! As Mark Twain said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
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Also, check out this near the end of the BEN AUSTIN / BOBBY BOWDEN INTERVIEW video:
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
( 02:51 – 03:13 )
BOWDEN: “What happened to the teachers who did that?”
AUSTIN: “Nothing”
—-LONG PAUSE where Ben doesn’t clarify this in the least
BOWDEN: “They’re still working?”
AUSTIN: “Uhhmmm… yeah… and… and… I mean our-our goal is not to teacher-bash… or even union-bash… for some people see this simply as a struggle for power… not an issue of social justice… not an issue of …. ”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Right… Ben says that he and Parent Revolution are “not about teacher-bashing”… Oh, no… not at all… he just tells some horrific (and totally bogus) story about teachers at a school torturing children as a means of winning a “struggle for power.”
As anyone on either side of the issue would, Bowden is genuinely interested in whether or not the perpetrators of this were ever held accountable for this alleged conspiracy of abuse.
But Ben doesn’t want to go there… other than to say “Nothing.” when asked if the anything happened to these teachers.
Somewhat embarrassed and staring down (another “tell” of lying), Ben just quickly moves on from this line of questioning to blather about “struggle for power” and “issue of social justice.”
—I’m going into Sam Kinison voice as I type this (I know that dates me with some folks reading)
Hey Ben!!!!!
Didn’t someone ever think of alerting Compton Unified?!!!
Didn’t you think of calling the police?!!
Have those kids gotten psychological treatment?!
Have the child victims’ parents done anything in response?
Are they suing?
The answer to all these question is,,,
—more Sam Kinison Voice
HELL- NO!!!!
Why?
BECAUSE NONE OF THIS EVER FREAKIN’ HAPPENED!!!!!
OH!! OH!! OHHHHHHH!!!!!!
OH!!! OH!!! OHHHHHH!!!!!
BEN AUSTIN… YOU FREAKIN’ LIAR!!!!
OH!! OH!! OHHHHHHH!!!!!!
OH!!! OH!!! OHHHHHH!!!!!
—back to normal voice
I’m an elementary school teacher who has to take the Child Abuse Awareness Training video and test annually.
Here’s how it works.
If I—or ANY teacher / administrator—became aware that another teacher or an administrator had been torturing a child—forcing the child to urinate / defecate on himself / herself…
Like all teachers, administrators and other “mandated reporters”, I am required BY LAW to report this immediately… if not, I will be immediately removed from the classroom, will be prosecuted, and will be open to be sued for a six-figure sum (at least), and I will lose my job and my credential… and eventually get banned from teaching for life.
Look at how blase Austin is when Bowden asks him if anything happened to these teachers. There’s not the slightest bit of anger or outrage on Austin’s part… he’s a bit annoyed at the question, and instead moves on..
Oh well, la-di-dah… kids got tortured… let’s change the subject…
Austin then abruptly changes the topic to “we’re not here to teacher bash or union bash”…
Ridiculous!
If this HAD actually happened, the Parent Revolution douchebags would have gone to the police, held press conferences, had the “pro-bono legal team” sue everyone and every organization in sight—Compton Unified, the teachers, the union, the administrators… etc.
And then publicize the hell outta ALL OF THE ABOVE from now till Doomsday. They’d milk this for all its worth, AS PROOF OF HOW EVIL TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND and HOW EVIL TEACHER UNIONS ARE.
Why haven’t they?
—going back into a Sam Kinison Voice
BECAUSE_IT_NEVER_FREAKIN’_HAPPENED!!!!!!
—more Sam Kinison Voice
OH!! OH!! OHHHHHHH!!!!!!
OH!!! OH!!! OHHHHHH!!!!!
BEN AUSTIN… YOU FREAKIN’ LIAR!!!!
OH!! OH!! OHHHHHHH!!!!!!
OH!!! OH!!! OHHHHHH!!!!!
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Actually, I’m going to combine the two subjects — the phony flier & Plan B — into one post. Here goes.
Here’s a blast from the past—2 1/2 years ago to be precise—of the infamous events in Compton, California during December 2010:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45455171/astroturf-parent-revolution-compton-caper-flyer
This is the flyer—claiming to be from the parents running “McKinley Parents for Change”.
This was supposedly group of parents of Compton’s McKinley Elementary who were ostensibly out gathering signatures to turn over McKinley Elementary’s multi-million dollar campus/annual school budgets in perpetuity over to the private Charter company Celerity—i.e. from the public sector where it is controlled by an elected school board accountable to the public…. to the private sector, where the Board meets in secret, and the public is cut out of all decision-making.
At this point, a community activist—with an admittedly anti-charter school point-of-view—named Robert Skeels then called the number at the bottom of the flyer, and here’s what he found out:
http://rdsathene.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-veracity-of-mckinley-parents.html
– – – – – – –
ROBERT SKEELS (December 2010): “Considering the certainty and conviction of the bullet points on the flyer by this newly formed, pro-Celerity ‘parent’ group, supposedly wholly unrelated to the well-paid professional staffers at the billionaire-financed Parent Revolution, I figured my questions and concerns would be promptly addressed.
“I left a message with my name and number for McKinley Parents for Change last night, and lo and behold Parent Revolution returned my call this morning. Yuri (not sure if I’m spelling that right, my apologies if I’m not) must not be aware of my years of investigative journalism exposing the insatiable greed of the lucrative charter-voucher industry. The poor woman couldn’t answer any of my questions about Celerity’s lack of compliance with the Modified Consent Decree or the State Board of Education’s proposed regulations on their Corporate Charter Trigger Law, so she said she’d have Gabe Rose (an official of Parent Revolution) call me back to clarify.
“She also was very helpful and explained to me that Gabe Rose played a major role in the creation of the flyer (who would have guessed?), so he was the best person to explain it. So much for McKinley Parents for Change’s claim that they are parents at McKinley Elementary School. I somehow doubt I’ll receive that second phone call.”
– – – – – – – – – – – –
Over a hundred McKinley parents demanded that they be allowed to rescind their signatures that Parent Revolution collected, claiming that the signature gatherers were not McKinley parents, and that those paid signature-gatherers lied to them about the full implications of what all the parents were signing (“This is for new computers… sign here…. this is to beautify the campus… sign here… ” and on and on)
Parent Revolution officials disputed this, claiming that 70% of the parents at the school signed with fully knowledge of the petition’s implications, and that all those parents were indeed demanding Celerity take over the school.. and that it was the McKinley parents, not Parent Revolution doing all the signature gathering.
(See BELOW where Parent Revolution eventually comes clean about this lie)
This went to court, and also prompted hearings at the State Board of Ed.
Hmmm… who was telling the truth?
Well, we eventually found out, as there eventually was a metric to
show which side was telling the truth.
Parent Revolution then assisted Celerity in opening a charter school a block away from McKinley in an abandoned Catholic school building (NOTE, this was a charter authorization separate from the contentious Parent Trigger process.)
The new “Plan B” was to depopulate McKinley—with the students leaving to the new Celerity school—and then use Prop. 39 to have Celerity co-locate and invade the school anyway because of all the empty classrooms—Prop 39 allows this. They were even promising free laptops to all the students who defected from McKinley to the Celerity Charter. Given how impoverished the typical family was/is in this community, free laptops must have been tempting.
Check out L.A Weekly’s Simone Wilson’s article about Parent Revolution’s ‘Plan B’ :
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/05/parent_trigger_plan_b_charter_school_to_open_2_blocks_from_mckinley_elementary.php
(the pro-Parent Revolution / pro-charter writer, Simone Wilson, is positively salivating at this prospect of Celerity “U-Hauling its top-notch operations” into McKinley):
– – – – – – – – – –
SIMONE WILSON: “Indeed, Plan B is looking pretty promising. If Celerity opens a first-rate campus — laptops for all ! — two blocks from McKinley, chances are at least 200 of roughly 400 students will leap at the chance for a better education. This would leave the McKinley campus ‘underutilized,’ at which point another controversial California law, Prop. 39, could force the district to let a charter school take over its facilities.
” ‘I’m excited because I know my daughter is going to get the education she needs and deserves,’ parent Shemika Murphy told the Los Angeles Times.
“With this kind of support, Celerity would be ready, willing and perfectly poised to U-Haul its top-notch operations from the church over to the elementary school — virtually the same outcome as a successful Trigger would have allowed.
“… In the end, we’ve got to give props to Revolution for finding the sneaky back-door alternative to a Trigger. Whatever it takes to rescue Compton kids from the poor-get-poorer dis-educational system to which district officials have condemned them.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
How nice. Simone praising the “sneaky back-door” antics of Ben Austin & Co. That speaks volumes for the character of all who were participating in, and backing “Plan B”.
Alas, Simone was salivating over this “sneaky back-door” tactic in vain as it turned out.
In the coming fall, the public finally got definitive proof that the Parent Revolution was not on-the-level. Only 10% (or less, depending on reports) of the parents opted to go to the new Celerity school—far short of the 70% Parent Revolution organizers—and writers like Simone Wilson—had been telling everyone were clamoring for the Celerity takeover.
Also, U-Haul must not have been pleased as Celerity had to cancel any trucks they had booked for invasion and exfiltration of McKinley.
At about the same time, Parent Revolution’s Ben Austin was removed from the State Board of Ed. by California’s newly elected Governor Jerry Brown.
In the face of this public relations fiasco—where it became obvious to all that only a mere 10% (or less) of McKinley parents actually wanted Celerity taking over their school, after all—Ben Austin and Parent Revolution put out this new version:
http://parentrevolution.org/content/mckinley-elementary
– – – – – – – –
PARENT REVOLUTION: “We have also been very public about the fact that the McKinley campaign was not a perfect campaign… the vast majority of the signatures gathered were ultimately gathered by our organizers, not by the parents themselves.”
– – – – – – –
Oh really, Ben?
That’s most certainly NOT what you and your cohorts were saying back December 2010. No, you said it was the parents doing everything, with only minimal Parent Revolution assistance… or again, that’s what Parent Revolution claimed.
Their new story was that Parent Revolution had recently “became very public about” all this… yeah… but this was ONLY AFTER people like Robert Skeels exposed them, and the shenanigans in which they were engaged.
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Thanks so much for all the info. Wow. This thing has a long, seedy history.
I’m a little shocked so many influential people are supporting taking this nation-wide, quite frankly. It seems obvious it ain’t gonna end well.
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I am one of the very few people who actually thought the parents at Weigand School organized themselves and asked for a change. When I found out that they wanted to keep their teachers, I naively thought the parents and teachers could work together to run the school. I even thought the teachers, if they were that trusted by the parents, could talk them into hiring back the excellent principal.
Then I found out from Diane and others that Parent Revolution was behind this take-over and many parents, like the ones in Compton and Adelante, were likely deceived. I also found out that now that the petitions are complete, teachers and parents have very little input. Apparently the district gets to choose the principal, who will then select the teachers. I know that John Deasy encouraged the “trigger” but was he involved in the deception? If so, he needs to go. There is one positive aspect to this situation and it is this: By now, it should be obvious to most people that fraud and deception are associated with almost all aspects of education “reform” – from Deasy’s doctorate to Rhee’s miracle test scores to Parent Revolution. Shame, shame, shame. Thankfully, most of us don’t have to cheat to make a living.
Well, now I am very angry as well. As a California citizen, there must be something I can do about this “Trigger Law” and Parent Revolution. I’m writing to my representative tonight.
Does anyone have any other suggestions for fighting this ill-conceived law and Parent Revolution? Thank you.
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A Parent Reverse Trigger law must be created. Perhaps a better name could be created. -Like “The Parent Educational Freedom Act” or something like that. I’m sure it could be done. When parents figure out that all of the tax money gets funneled into a corporation they will be angry.
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These are bad people doing bad things, who in a just world would be desperately looking for high-end criminal defense lawyers to defend them against RICO indictments.
Diane’s comments are far more civilized than the actions of these vandals-for-hire, and if anything, too kind.
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This is slightly off topic but you all got me wondering about Parent Revolution. So I went to their website. Wow! Just wondering how do they pay for all those people on their staff? Who is funding them? Thanks.. that was eye-opening.
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Let’s see..maybe Gates, Broad, Bloomberg, Walton foundation..any other guesses?
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Honestly, Dianne the story itself is a disaster for them. I knew it when I read it. It’s the kind of story that affects people exactly how it affected you.
Your response is the least of their worries. Very few people affected will read your RESPONSE to the damaging news article, obviously.
That’s what they’re upset about. It looks bad.
Isn’t any more complicated than that.
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dianerav: you endure insults “with monotonous regularity” but what gets your dander up is when you see “big people stepping on the faces of those who lack their power.”
I make no apologies for asserting that this is one of the definitions of “good role model.”
And just why would a towering giant of soft-spoken moderation [???] like Rick Hess call you out for having a passion for ‘afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted’?
Could it be—oh, let me make a wild stab here—that in the first month of the second year of your blog you registered almost two thirds of a million new views? That if we use the Holy Metrics of Blog Popularity you and your extensive staff [supported by heavy doses of $tudent $ucce$$, the highest elected officials in the land, and a fawning mass media that hangs on your every word] are outpacing poor little Rick Hess and the severely underfunded and [dare I say?] underappreciated AEI? Could it be jealousy compounded by the rage that accompanies being the unfairly handicapped underdog in the ed debates?
Or am I reading Rick’s tea leaves wrong?
😦
For those of you who are as nauseous as I am by this latest kerfuffle, just remember that the edubullies only bother us for moments at a time—they have to live with themselves 24/7. Imagine the horror of it: “The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.” [William Penn]
Let Rick Hess deal with his own demons. We’ve got more important matters—“a better education for all”—to discuss.
And the best part of it all is that we carry it on in public, with many many thousands to view the back and forth between all sorts of folks. Kinda like democracy in action. Kinda like making people responsible for what they say. Kinda like what the edufrauds [thanks, Linda!] find so frightening.
Citizen empowerment. Nothing at all like their Parent Disembowelment.
Just sayin’…
🙂
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No, you were not.
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Is there no recourse for this principal? Not her union or any kind of appeal within the district? Or do these Parent Revolution people override that?
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Ben Austin seems to have no issues getting a speaker’s card at LAUSD board meetings or private meetings with the Supt. Dumping due process for teachers and administrators has been an ongoing goal for Mr. Deasy and the Garcia led school board. We can only hope that the momentum from the school board election will continue and that voters will let the Waltons, Broads, Bloombergs, Gates, know that LA schools are not for sale. The battle is exhausting. Thank you all for your comments and insight.
I had the displeasure of meeting with Ben Austin to discuss his trigger ambitions for our school. He told us we were “failing” but couldn’t give details. He was however, indignant when we asked why Parent Revolution was only talking to the affluent parents whose children did not attend our school.
It’s for the kids, other people’s kids. Unfair, no.
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A little tid-bit about Parent Revolution’s biggest “success” to date…
the takeover in Adelanto.
A hastily-organized and penniless group of parents
in Adelanto tried to have their signatures rescinded,
claiming that they had been lied to and misled into
signing the petition.
They even testified to that in court.
This testimony from Ben Austin responding to their claims says it all:
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
BEN AUSTIN: “There are certainly voters who are going to vote
on ballot initiatives this November that do not understand
everything they’re voting on… That doesn’t illegitimize
an election.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Wow!
That is some Classic Ben Austin! You can find it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/03/wont-back-down-inspiratio_n_1935876.html
Ben is tacitly admitting that—in the course of Parent Revolution’s
signature gathering—there were and are indeed petition signers
who were misled and confused when signing on
(and presumably would not have signed otherwise)…
with Austin conceding that it was AT LEAST SOME OF
HIS OWN SIGNATURE GATHERERS WERE DELIBERATELY
MISLEADING AND CONFUSING PEOPLE.
There were almost 100 parents who wanted to rescind
their signatures after finding out they had been “duped”.
ANATOMY OF THE “DUPING”:
the Parent Revolution organizers rented a house
across the street from the school, and elicited what
the parents by saying, “This is to make the school better… ”
Well, duh! Who’s not going to sign that?
In an argument that inexplicably prevailed with
an appeals court judge, Ben tries to draw an equivalency…
between petitions and elections…
in that both usually have signers / voters
who may be misled or confused when they
vote for / sign something… and so what if they do?
Once again…
– – – – – – – – – – – –
BEN AUSTIN: “There are certainly voters who are going to vote
on ballot initiatives this November that do not understand
everything they’re voting on… That doesn’t illegitimize
an election.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
WTF???!!!
This idiotic argument—attempting to equate elections
and signature-gathering for a petition—essentially legitimizes
wholesale fraud in signature-gathering.
It essentially gives license to any and
every kind of dishonest tactic:
— lying,
—phony promises
—threats
and on and on…
Because later, you can just claim… “well, they do this in elections,
and you’re not allowed to take your vote back… so you shouldn’t
be allowed to take your signature back.”
Unlike an election, petition-gatherer engages in a one-on-one communication
and relationships with the prospective signer… one in which the prospective signer
is at the mercy of the signature-gatherer as to what he or she is
saying—promises, representations, threats, etc.—are actually
truthful.
If the signer of the petition—once he discovers that has “been had”—
is not then allowed to rescind the signature… then the whole fraud
will then run rampant.
An election is nothing of the kind.
The only reason this was not appealed to the Supreme Court was that the School Board in Adelanto had been financially drained by Parent Revolution’s high-powered lawyers. This cash-poor school district was broke, so they had to basically surrender at this point.
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No, you weren’t.
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-incoherent-world-of-rick-hess.html
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The Jazzman get ir right again. You wre not unfair.
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Diane,
You weren’t too rough on Ben Austin.
He is depraved.
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Don’t feel badly about Austin. Here in West Los Angeles we have seen Parent Revolution organizers circling like vultures around schools, trying to insinuate themselves into parent groups.
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They use this whiny tactic to distract and confuse readers all the time.
It’s the verbal equivalent of throwing sand in the face of someone who is making an argument that is coherent, logical, and sincere. Pathetic.
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Says more about Rick Hess than anything about you.
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Parent Trigger legislation failed twice in Florida. Parent Revolution efforts are unwelcome here. If Austin cannot take the heat, then he should get out of the kitchen. Hess applies an obvious and worn out tactic to make Austin a victim, and marginalize any fact-based views. Hess’ assessment of Austin’s character is irrelevant. Hess’ assessment of your blog style is also irrelevant.
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