In a surging groundswell of support, about three dozen people rallied for ousted Bridgeport superintendent Paul Vallas.
The meeting was held in a church led by the president of the Board that appointed Vallas. The mayor of the city, Vallas’ strongest supporter, spoke on his behalf.
Mayor Finch is hoping that Vallas will do for Bridgeport what he did for Chicago, Philadelphia, and Néw Orleans.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Paul Vallas’ “success” in New Orleans included his gross failure to manage the billions in federal aid rolling in post-Katrina:
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And what he did in those stops is…. what exactly?
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I’ve read that the small number of students present were Achievement First charter students on out of school detention, who were required to be there.
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Slanting, chanting in straight lines fresh out of the reorientation room wearing their WHITE (you can’t talk to us) shirts.
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Linda: if true, a sad commentary on the utter lack of ethical behavior on the part of the leading charterites/privatizers.
And people still wonder—on this blog no less!—why it is difficult and often impossible to carry on a reasonable discussion with these folks. They’re asking the right question to the wrong people.
It would have been easier to convince King George III that the people in the thirteen colonies had the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” than it is to talk the edufrauds [viewer alert: Linda coined this one!] out of their lust for $tudent $ucce$$.
Linda, keep posting about the edufrauds. Why? Because
“There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud and tyranny.” [Frederick William Robertson]
🙂
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Actually I think Alan was being facetious. It was from a CT blog…mocking the absurdity of it all.
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“Mayor Finch is hoping that Vallas will do for Bridgeport what he did for Chicago, Philadelphia, and Néw Orleans.”
Let’s hope Paul Vallas does for Mayor Finch what Michelle Rhee did for Adrian Fenty.
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Love that quote JJ. I may borrow it with credit of course.
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LOL. Great opening, Professor Ravitch!
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I agree. 3 dozen people. That’s funny.
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Go to pix 17 of 20… I don’t think this man has children who attend BPS.
Rumor has it he is a hedgeucator who for some reason is interested in Vallas. I wonder why?
A commenter noticed his shoes. See here:
He’s wearing the Gucci “Roos” suede bit loafer, available from Nordstroms for $530.
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/gucci-roos-suede-bit-loafer/3407736?cm_cat=datafeed&cm_ite=gucci_%27roos%27_suede_bit_loafer:629380&cm_pla=shoes:men:slip_on&cm_ven=Google_Product_Ads&mr:referralID=46045711-e357-11e2-9dea-001b2166becc
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Supporter at Vallas rally…not a BPS parent…shocker…I know:
He’s Andrew Boas, funder of Achievement First.
http://www.westport-news.com/living/article/Westport-shines-spotlight-on-diversity-802663.php
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What, screw the schools up. Paul Vallas didn’t even move his family down to New Orleans. And he wanted the state to pay his way back up north every weekend. What dedication! NOT!
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This guy is just a shyster who scampers from one state-imposed disaster to the next, hoodwinking the townspeople into trusting him while he does favors for his cronies, bleeds the budget dry, and runs. He’s just a flashy brand, a business opportunity incarnate.
Seriously, his Twitter bio is:
“Providing affordable, comprehensive turnaround services to schools, districts and states through 5 key areas in Finance, Academics, and Operations.”
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Looks like Vallas’s ugly past is catching up to him and his billionaire boys club puppetmasters finally. With a former judge being the attorney presenting this case it will continue to win if on the merits and the judiciary not being bought and sold.
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I wonder how much these protestors were paid–or do they all work for the mayor???
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I wonder how much they had to pay those “three dozen” to get them to show up?
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Check out the shoe link…the hedgefund dude was passing out his old shoes to the people of Bridgeport…such a good guy!
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The latest on the carpet bagger, Vallas. He is just stuck between conflict and doesn’t acknowledge he CREATES the conflict…he sounds real committed to Bridgeport, huh? The working families party had nothing to do with the lawsuits.
Vallas L I E S ! ! !
“I’m not Rahm Emanuel badmouthing teachers, saying teachers get raises and kids get the shaft,” Vallas said. “I’m going to try to fix things without bloodying people.”
The court case, he said, was instigated by the Working Families Party, a union-funded group opposed to the state’s school takeover.
“This is just another attempt to block us from instituting reforms,” he said. “There’s a lot of intra-district conflict going on, and I’m caught in the middle.”
As for the course at the center of the case, Vallas said state law required a superintendent to be certified in Connecticut, but allow the state board of education to determine certification requirements. Vallas’s course was approved by the board, he said.
“Measuring effectiveness by seat time is a little silly,” Vallas said. “What am I supposed to do, run Bridgeport and sit in a class for 13 months?”
Vallas said he expects to run the district until sometime in the next school, which will require him to negotiate the next collective bargaining agreement. After that?
“I go in, fix the system, I move on to something else.”
Would that something else be the financially broke state of Illinois, where Vallas still has a home, and where he ran for governor in 2002?
“Let’s just say I’m still registered to vote (there),” he said.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Paul-Vallas–213999671.html#ixzz2Y03PIZ7v
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