Why did Wendy Kopp hail Philadelphia’s “progress” on the same day that the state-run School Reform Commission slashed the city’s public school budget to the bone, eliminating librarians, arts programs, athletics, and counselors, stripping bare an impoverished district? Maybe she was confused. Or misinformed. Or maybe she meant it.
Kopp quickly apologized but Philadelphia journalist Daniel Denvir thinks it was no accident. He sees the same kind of thinking displayed daily in the acts of PennCAN, the spinoff of the privatization group called ConnCAN, then 50CAN. These groups are “flush with cash,” although the students and families of Philadelphia are not.
He says, “The doomsday budget is morally unacceptable. It must become politically impossible.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What else do you expect from her? She is a destroyer so a destroyer will say destruction is wonderful. Then she has a bigger chance to make more inroads with the assistance of Obama and Duncan. This is how things roll today. Everyone should emulate CTU and Chicago on how they are taking no prisoners in their fight with Emmanuel and Obama and Duncan when you get down to it as they are the ones now driving this insanity for the wealthiest for the money and total domination or the “New World Order.” We in L.A. are now driving the corporatists back with our latest wins against them. Today we got another big one in child abuse. We are going to put administrators in jail for breaking the child abuse laws concerning “Mandated Reporters of Child Abuse” and interfering with an investigation. These are misdemeanor criminal violations which have up to 6 months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. Let some administrators sit in jail and lose their jobs and then see what will happen. It will clean up real fast. This concerns a special ed child allowed to sexually abuse another special ed child. The abuser is being arrested right now. We do not want the child arrested and put into jail for 60 days. This child was basically told that this was OK. We want the child to have specialized psychological care before this goes any furthur and the abused to also have the help. We are not into destroying the lives of our youth because adults are the guilty parties all the way to the superintendent Deasy and general counsel Holmquist who regularly break the law. Children are the ones we are obliged to protect first. Jail is not the answer in this particular case. Just found out that the mother works at the school where the law breaking took place. Protection anyone? Illegal. Let us put the adult law breakers of the child abuse laws in jail. That will fix most of the problem as notice will be made “UNACCEPTABLE.”
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Shouldn’t she be doing something more productive, like signing a TFA proliferation treaty.
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There can be little doubt that Wendy Koop is happy about the destruction being wrought in Philadelphia public schools. This has been the method of corporate raiders like the Boston Consulting Group for the last thirty years when they engage in a hostile takeover of a company. The corporate education reformers are bringing these methods to the public sphere.
Eli Broad calls this “investing in disruptive force”. He is Wendy Koop’s business guru, as well as Michelle Rhee’s. Both have been on the Board of the Broad Foundation since at least 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/89sfrzv 2008 Board
http://tinyurl.com/9wqv9um Page 40 2011-2012 Board
They must be ecstatic today. Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite (Broad Superintendent’s Class of 2005) today announced layoff notices are being sent out to 3,783 public school employees: 676 teachers, 307 secretaries, 283 counselors, 127 assistant principals, 1202 noontime aides, and 769 supportive services assistants.
http://tinyurl.com/lazwztw
Read the comments.
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I don’t think it was an accident either
All the Corporate Ed reformers have a well layed out plan to privatize education and to destroy public education and teachers.
for more info on
The connection between Chicago and Philadelphia school closings/ same script.
Superintendent Hite and Byrd Bennett are both Broad Superintendents Academy graduates.
http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=3854§ion=Article
————————
PA Gov. Corbett nominated Mr. William E. Harner for the New PA Department of Education Secretary.
He is a Broad Superintendents academy graduate and will quickly push and support Governor Cobetts’ ALEC agenda to privatize public schools and use vouchers.
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Be sure to read the comments on that web page. What a hoot!
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There are many lies at the core of TFA. One of them is that, despite the social justice/civil rights cliches and buzzwords it markets itself with, the organization never says a word in opposition to budget cuts that hurt students and the communities they live in. To do so might offend its corporate patrons, who are a notoriously thin-skinned bunch.
Those who follow the organization also know that it’s accumulation of assets (over $300 million, according to Reuters) and influence has expanded as the public schools have suffered from the austerity of the past five years. It’s fattening off the political and fiscal attacks on the public school system, with its most prominent alumni leading those attacks, and using misdirection, lies and an insufferably self-satisfied attitude to do so.
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Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
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Draw New Teachers or Replace Existing Ones?
Recently the New York Times printed an article, “With an Old Factory, Philadelphia Is Hoping to Draw New Teachers,” about the creation of a living complex for TFA teachers in the Kensington area of Philadelphia. With our school district threatening to drastically cut teachers’ salaries and benefits, lay off up to 3,783 people (Among the 3,783 employees receiving notices are 127 assistant principals, 676 teachers, 283 counselors, 307 secretaries and 1,202 noontime aides), and close 27 schools, isn’t it odd that money is being poured into a new multimillion dollar project to house Teach For America teachers? TFA teachers enter the program right out of college and start teaching in the classroom after only five weeks of training. Teachers who enter the profession the traditional route have undergraduate degrees and have completed a one and a half to two year teaching program (52% of our nation’s teachers also have masters degrees or higher). TFA teachers only have to make a two year commitment to teach in high needs schools. Some stay longer, but it has been reported that half of those who enter TFA leave after two years, and after five years, only 14. 8% continue to teach in inner city schools. One of the criticisms of the program is that many TFA candidates use it as an interim experience between their undergraduate and graduate degrees, never intending to stay in the profession. They are not committed to helping the children for the long haul, which is unfortunate, especially in inner city schools, where many of the students come from unstable and often violent living conditions and need consistency in their lives.
I am a high school teacher in inner city Philadelphia, and have taught for several years in failing schools. Children in high needs schools, located in the poorest neighborhoods in the city, need specialists in their field, professionals who are devoted to their craft, can commit to the children and teaching as a profession, not transient teachers who are only doing it for “an experience,” or using it as a stepping stone to a higher paying field. After years of working in the district under very challenging conditions with very little support, Philadelphia teachers are now in fear of having our salaries cut by up to 13%, our benefits cut, and possibly even losing our jobs. The fact that TFA would come into Philadelphia to establish their organization, without taking into consideration what our district is experiencing is insensitive to the teachers who work here.
In the last few years in Philadelphia, I have worked with TFA teachers who were not certified, nor had an undergraduate degree in the content area that they taught. On several occasions, I walked by classrooms in my content area that had incorrect information written by the teacher on the blackboard. It was upsetting to know that the teacher was teaching the children wrong information. How can we possibly expect to improve our educational system by employing teachers who are not specialists? As a parent, I would want my children to be taught by a teacher who was educated to do so. A TFA teacher could have an undergraduate degree in English Literature, and be one of the “best and the brightest,” but with only five weeks of training in how to be a teacher, and no training in the content area, how prepared are they to teach Algebra II or Biology? This undermines the goal of strengthening our schools by employing the best teachers. In fact, the cry of the corporate reformers today, as well as President Obama and Arne Duncan is that the only way to improve our education system is to have “Master Teachers” in every classroom. In a 2005 speech at the Center for American Progress, Obama emphasized the need to improve our school system and stated, “some of our neediest children end up with less-experienced, poorly-paid teachers who are far more likely to be teaching subjects in which they have no training. Minority students are twice as likely to have these teachers.” Yet, today Obama is one of the strongest supporters of Teach For America, a program that puts inexperienced teachers in the poorest, most violent schools. By promoting Teach For America, Obama is doing exactly what he declared was detrimental to our students.
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Draw New Teachers or Replace Existing Ones?
Recently the New York Times printed an article, “With an Old Factory, Philadelphia Is Hoping to Draw New Teachers” about the creation of a living complex for TFA teachers in the Kensington area of Philadelphia. With our school district threatening to drastically cut teachers’ salaries and benefits, lay off up to 3,783 people (Among the 3,783 employees receiving notices are 127 assistant principals, 676 teachers, 283 counselors, 307 secretaries and 1,202 noontime aides), and close 27 schools, isn’t it odd that money is being poured into a new multimillion dollar project to house Teach For America teachers? TFA teachers enter the program right out of college and start teaching in the classroom after only five weeks of training. Teachers who enter the profession the traditional route have undergraduate degrees and have completed a one and a half to two year teaching program (52% of our nation’s teachers also have masters degrees or higher). TFA teachers only have to make a two year commitment to teach in high needs schools. Some stay longer, but it has been reported that half of those who enter TFA leave after two years, and after five years, only 14. 8% continue to teach in inner city schools. One of the criticisms of the program is that many TFA candidates use it as an interim experience between their undergraduate and graduate degrees, never intending to stay in the profession. They are not committed to helping the children for the long haul, which is unfortunate, especially in inner city schools, where many of the students come from unstable and often violent living conditions and need consistency in their lives.
I am a high school teacher in inner city Philadelphia, and have taught for several years in failing schools. Children in high needs schools, located in the poorest neighborhoods in the city, need specialists in their field, professionals who are devoted to their craft, can commit to the children and teaching as a profession, not transient teachers who are only doing it for “an experience,” or using it as a stepping stone to a higher paying field. After years of working in the district under very challenging conditions with very little support, Philadelphia teachers are now in fear of having our salaries cut by up to 13%, our benefits cut, and possibly even losing our jobs. The fact that TFA would come into Philadelphia to establish their organization, without taking into consideration what our district is experiencing is insensitive to the teachers who work here.
In the last few years in Philadelphia, I have worked with TFA teachers who were not certified, nor had an undergraduate degree in the content area that they taught. On several occasions, I walked by classrooms in my content area that had incorrect information written by the teacher on the blackboard. It was upsetting to know that the teacher was teaching the children wrong information. How can we possibly expect to improve our educational system by employing teachers who are not specialists? As a parent, I would want my children to be taught by a teacher who was educated to do so. A TFA teacher could have an undergraduate degree in English Literature, and be one of the “best and the brightest,” but with only five weeks of training in how to be a teacher, and no training in the content area, how prepared are they to teach Algebra II or Biology? This undermines the goal of strengthening our schools by employing the best teachers. In fact, the cry of the corporate reformers today, as well as President Obama and Arne Duncan is that the only way to improve our education system is to have “Master Teachers” in every classroom. In a 2005 speech at the Center for American Progress, Obama emphasized the need to improve our school system and stated, “some of our neediest children end up with less-experienced, poorly-paid teachers who are far more likely to be teaching subjects in which they have no training. Minority students are twice as likely to have these teachers.” Yet, today Obama is one of the strongest supporters of Teach For America, a program that puts inexperienced teachers in the poorest, most violent schools. By promoting Teach For America, Obama is doing exactly what he declared was detrimental to our students.
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Notice the convergence of TFA, charter school proliferation, real estate development and gentrification. It’s a hallmark of so-called education reform, much of which is entwined with real estate plays, for both accumulation and social engineering purposes.
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