This Bridgeport parent activist has an old-fashioned idea. She believes that those who are paid to run public schools should support them. The current superintendent of schools in that Connecticut city is Paul Vallas. She reviews his record in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, where he closed many public schools and opened large numbers of privately managed charters.
The same might be said of many other superintendents today, who see their job as advancing private control of public assets.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Lots of coverage in CT this week. Check out the Pelto post…too big to certify: The
Paul Vallas and Stefan Pryor story…see excerpt and link. Check out comments too:
As a result of that news, tomorrow night, June 10th, the Bridgeport Board of Education is scheduled to vote to request that Malloy’s Commissioner of Education waive Vallas’ certification requirements, thereby allowing him to become the permanent superintendent of schools in Bridgeport.
Undoubtedly, Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, will do just that.
Stefan Pryor and the Bridgeport board of education are also violating the law as it relates to Vallas’ probationary period, but putting that aside, they are full steam ahead when it comes to allowing Vallas to serve as the uncertified superintendent of schools.
So when you send your children back to school tomorrow, know that every teacher and every administrator your child comes in contact with will be certified to hold their job, unless they run into Paul Vallas or Steven Adamowski…those two are simply too big to certify.
Too big to certify?
It was only a few months ago that Paul Vallas said that requiring him to be certified was like telling Michael Jordan that he needed to be certified to coach basketball.
Of course, if Michael Jordan did want to coach basketball at a high school in Connecticut he WOULD need to get certification from the State Department of Education. But hey, we’re talking about Paul Vallas here, so let’s not let not let the facts get in the way of his key point.
Meanwhile, check and see which of the following certifications your children’s teachers and administrators have.
http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/06/09/too-big-to-certify-the-paul-vallas-and-stefan-pryor-story/
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This is a huge issue. Superintendents of school across America are enriching themselves at the expense of the schools they administer.
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Also check out: Assumptions of education reformers falling apart in the CT Post, too.
It has been five years since Bill Gates wrote to the Washington Post concerning his beliefs regarding education reform in this country. At that time, he cited how high schools needed to be improved by the utilization of standardized test scores as his version of accountability and progress. He also claimed at the time that teachers’ unions were standing in the way of progress and that seniority or the number of degrees a certified public school teacher held were irrelevant. He likewise advocated the expansion of charter schools as his vision of educational progress. He advocated rewarding teachers (merit pay) who are able to generate higher test scores and the firing of teachers whose students produce the lowest test scores, regardless of whether these teachers teach in areas of lower socioeconomic areas where poverty is pervasive. As an outgrowth of this article published in the Washington Post, Bill Gates was able to form an alliance with President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who endorsed and supported all of Gates’ educational reform beliefs.
Read more:
http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/Assumptions-of-education-reformers-falling-apart-4599145.php
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Finally, an acknowledgement that public district officials have been complicit in this private investment takeover of public schools all along.
Why?
As long as the job, salary, benefits, and pensions are preserved, why not?
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Dannel Malloy’s support for Paul Vallas might be his political undoing. Another excellent Pelto post:
http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/06/04/will-education-commissioner-pryor-paul-vallas-and-steven-adamowski-cost-malloy-his-job/
Here’s an excerpt:
“According to the last Quinnipiac public opinion survey, voters were asked whether they felt that Dannel Malloy deserves to be reelected or whether they feel he doesn’t deserve to be reelected…Malloy’s “re-elect” number remains a dismal 42%, with 45% saying he did not deserve re-election and 14% undecided.
“Malloy’s numbers were among the worst, if not the worst, in the nation.
For Malloy, the most troubling news was that only 2 in 3 Democrats believe he deserves to be re-elected and only 1 in 3 unaffiliated voters support his re-election.”
Pelto includes some stats for those so inclined.
(An aside: Bobby Jindal cannot run for re-election in 2016, but his approval dipped into the 30s in spring of this year.)
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Sad for education as it has now fallen into the ranks of “Dog-eat-Dog Politics”
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I have to laugh at the NYC reformer who.is worried about “chaos” if a new mayor undoes some of Bloomberg’s privatization schemes and gimmicks.
Look at Chicago, or Philadelphia, or New Orleans.
Parents have been dealing with “chaos” in the public school systems there since reformers rolled into town.
Funny that reformers are only worried about the effect on children when reforms are unravelled. They aren’t worried about that when they bust up a public school system.
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Was watching a childrens program w/ my son last night and there was a very slick ad for an electronic textbook company. It looks like they’re marketing to schools through children, because the ad was set in a school.
Just bizarre, that they’re selling this stuff directly to kids and parents. I suppose we’re expected to DEMAND 21st century learning which we’ll.of course get if we plow public money into this gadget!
Tech companies must be salivating at this new market.
What’s funny about the whole thing is, parents have been told for 20 years to limit kids “screen time” (the time they spend in front of a screen). Now that this new edu-market has opened up,we’re directed to increase the screen time to include half the school day for “blended learning”.
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