The Inside Story on Vallas’ Ouster

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1. Linda says:

   June 28, 2013 at 9:58 pm

   And the latest on the CT Mirror:

   In April, the state board approved an independent study created for Vallas by the University of Connecticut as a valid program. But the judge said Friday that the short, independent study he completed in May at UConn was merely a simultation.

   “There is no doubt that Vallas received preferential treatment,” the judge wrote in her 27-page decision.

   Vallas is in his 17th month of leading the 21,000-student school system.

   The judge also noted that Vallas lacked the required prerequisites to enroll in the regular UConn program in the first place, and that such an independent study hadn’t been approved for anyone else in the last decade. Additionally, the university’s governing board had never approved an independent study program.

   “Ultimately, the course standards were reduced,” the judge wrote. “The court accepts Vallas’ testimony that the work, although done over the course of 10 weeks while fulfilling his employment as acting superintendent, could have been completed in a week.”

   The judge also ruled that Pryor, the state’s education commissioner, improperly waived the certification requirements.

   “The evidence submitted at trial established that Pryor did not adequately vet Vallas when evaluating whether he was ‘exceptionally qualified’ because Pryor was unable to provide specific details of that process in his testimony,” the judge wrote.

   It is unclear what the ruling means for Vallas’ three-year contract with the Bridgeport school board. Vallas, who is being paid $234,000 a year, has led the Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans school systems.

   Carmen Lopez, a Bridgeport resident and former judge who filed the lawsuit, called the decision a “triumph.”

   “We are still a nation of laws, and not of men, which I am sure comes as a shock to Paul Vallas and Stefan Pryor. The message of this decision is simple — no one is above the law,” she said.

   “Fortunately, when the executive branch is arrogant and unresponsive, citizens can still have redress in the courts in order to check unrestrained abuses of power,” Lopez said.

   This is the second time in the last two school years that the state’s involvement in the governance of a school district has been overturned by a judge. After the state ousted the former, locally elected Bridgeport Board of Education, the state Supreme Court ruled that that takeover was illegal because the proper steps were not followed.

   https://www.ctmirror.org/story/judge-rules-bridgeport-superintendent-not-eligible-run-school-district

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2. Mom/speducator says:

   June 28, 2013 at 10:00 pm

   What has happened to integrity? How could the state ed dept. UConn and Bridgeport all allow and be involved in such disreputable if not illegal dealings? That judge and Lopez were right on. Fast Track??? “Hmmm I think I want to get certified in nursing, maybe they’ll fast track me?”, Won’t my patients love that!!!!

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     June 29, 2013 at 1:23 pm

     Why get certified in nursing when you can fast track into being a doc and get paid the bigger bucks (the biggest bucks being reserved for the health insurance ceo mobsters and the ceos of the health services themselves).

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3. Mom/speducator says:

   June 28, 2013 at 10:00 pm

   I guess he could not squeeze in the ethics unit in his fast track program.

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4. susannunes says:

   June 28, 2013 at 10:44 pm

   He’s King Midas in reverse.

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5. KrazyTA says:

   June 28, 2013 at 10:47 pm

   Note that the lack of qualifications on the part of Paul Vallas put him in debt to the education establishment that placed him in a position of great authority. They quite literally rewarded him in advance of actual positive results by promoting him far above his level of alleged qualifications and competence in exchange for doing their dirty work.

   Imagine a teacher or paraprofessional in the classroom trying to get away with the same thing! One standard for edufrauds, quite another for educators.

   This parallels the ongoing attempt by the leading charterites/privatizes to create a two-tiered education system: one for THEIR OWN CHILDREN [e.g., U of Chicago Lab Schools, Sidwell Friends, Lakeside School, Delbarton, Harpeth Hall] and one for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN [almost everything else]. The enriched learning environments of the former are a “funhouse” mirror opposite of the latter with their increasingly frequent hazing rituals [high stakes standardized tests] and mandated boredom [compliance training and the imparting of low-level skills like hewing wood and drawing water].

   There is a profound disconnect between the words and actions of the edufrauds but they feel no shame in trashing some rather ancient but sound advice: “do unto others as you would have others do unto you” = one standard for thee, another for me. [google for source of quote; not found in bubble-in sheets]

   Of all people, a French nobleman of the seventeenth century nailed the edubullies to the wall:

   “Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.” [Francois de la Rochefoucauld]

   🙂

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6. George Buzzetti says:

   June 29, 2013 at 12:06 am

   Krazy TA another word for the edudictionary “Edufrauds.” I love it and if someone else thought it up whoever did I really like it.

   Now to the game at hand this suit was brought by a retired judge. How often does that happen and to his brother judges also. This is not normal. You have someone way above your normal attorney who knows everyone and every trick in the book along with procedure and rules. Now you have something real powerful happening legally. Then if, and it really looks like it, the judge does real investigation on the past of Vallas he will find the same stuff I have in the past and Vallas has not very successful except on scamming the next high paying job to ruin more childrens’ futures as that is what he has done.

   I believe, especially, since it is a judge this case has “Legs.” If the judge has done the investigation of the facts on the ground in all of these previous districts and considering the breaking of the states requirements to be a school superintendent the case the judge filed should go through the courts and the original decision upheld. Unfortunately, the legal system can be like the political system. Only, in this case it is a former judge who filed the case. This is new territory. Now, does big money and power win or the law. That is the question now it would seem.

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   • KrazyTA says:

     June 29, 2013 at 1:45 am

     George Buzzetti: I wish I could take credit for “edufraud” but—alas!—I fell victim to a fatal weakness called honesty. When it came to this question on the “Michelle Rhee-I-am-a-public-school-parent” high stakes test I failed because I checked off the box that said “Linda” [a regular commenter on this blog].

     But I will take credit for “accountabully.” It neatly combines two traits in the numbers/stats persons who serve edubullies. To wit:

     “There are two ways of lying. One, not telling the truth, and the other, making up statistics.” [Josefina Vazquez Mota]

     But, inquiring minds might want to know, how to tell the difference between the numbers/stats persons who use their powers for good [e.g., KrazyMathLady aka Dr. Mercedes Schneider, GF Brandenburg, Gary Rubinstein, Bruce Baker et al.] and those who have been seduced by the power of the Dark Side?

     Two identifiers come to mind immediately. First, when watching old Star Trek episodes they always root for the Borg [“Resistance is futile!”]. Second, just like the old secret fraternal orders had a special handshake or something like that, the accountabullies have tattoos on, er, non-public areas of their bodies that read “Torture numbers, and they’ll confess to anything.” [Gregg Easterbrook]

     As always, KrazyTA is here to lend a hand.

     🙂

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     • Alan says:

       June 29, 2013 at 7:31 am

       My favorite portmanteau lately is “Hedgeucator.” I don’t know who coined it, but is has a certain Jon Awbrey feel to it so it may have been him.

       As for Vallas, I fear that he will remain in his position while his case is tied up in interminable appeals. Perhaps he will pack up his carpet bag and move on though – I wonder where he will go next?

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7. philalisa says:

   June 29, 2013 at 12:40 pm

   The man should be prohibited from ever stepping foot into any education facility. He came to Philadelphia with the press painting him as a savior and left us with a $73 million deficit. He is a self-promoting scam artist. He knows absolutely nothing about education.

   Congratulations to the people of Bridgeport for getting rid of this leech.

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