Jonathan Pelto reports that the judge who recently ruled that Paul Vallas was not qualified to serve as superintendent of schools in Bridgeport because he did not meet the requirements of state law decided today that he must vacate his position immediately.
Here is the story in the Connecticut Post.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What? You mean a person can’t run a school system simply because he has no qualifications whatsoever?
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Really, I thought that was a characteristic of the people at the broad academy and gates also.
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How Kool! One down, many more to go. The billionaires lost another one. They need to lose a lot more. Let’s all thank the former judge in the case who came out of retirement to do this amazingly important legal representation. When you have a judge doing this it is in another world where they come from legally as no one knows better how to innoculate the case legally than a judge from loss at the appeal level all the way to the Supreme Court. They had to do it every day with every decision as judges do not like to be overturned. I wish I could have been in the courtroom to listen to the arguments. It would surely be a lesson in the law and how to set it up.
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Cheaters never prosper.
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YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS….sorry not the most articulate comment…but…WOW law and justice win out!
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Best news of the day! Now the children of Bridgeport have a chance to get someone who may be actually qualified.
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A wonderful and impressive victory for children first of all, for families, and for the many teachers and dedicated staff–who are so often maligned by the School Reformers.
Now, if only the state of Connecticut would take seriously the education as a civic institution and public good, and truly invest in it.
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This CT teacher will gladly give up some precious vacation time to help Paul pack up his office. I know: my kindness is immeasurable!
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You will have a couple hundred behind you. Tomorrow?
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Sure! I’ll bring the coffee and doughnuts, you bring the party streamers, noisemakers, and confetti!
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Don’t get too excited. They will simply change the job title to CEO. That’s how they did it in Chicago and Vallas was the first CEO.
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Ms. Lewis,
I can assure you that if they try to keep Vallas in place by changing his title or if, as it is being reported Vallas refuses to leave his office it will be the end of Governor Malloy’s political career. We aren’t called the Constitution State for nothing. The rule of law is respected. We’ve sent a governor to prison for violating the law and if the incumbent governor fails to follow a law (the he wrote and signed) he will ensure his own defeat. Vallas is no longer the superintendent in Bridgeport and he must vacate his office immediately.
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They are trying to delay and buy Paul more time at $900 a day while the city pays for his lawyers even though they were not named in the suit, just Vallas.
Here is the bottom line, very simple:
They wrote a law just for Vallas
It was part of Malloy’s bill
It passed and Malloy signed it
It took effect July 1, 2012
He needed simply to take a 13 month school leadership program
He didn’t even try until February of 2013
He took an independent study
He didn’t even register as a student
He broke the law
Pryor broke the law
He lost
The judge ruled he cannot continue
We are the constitution state
No one is above the law
Including all friends of Stefan, Dannel and Arne
The “elite” are not free to break the law
And we are drawing the line
No more
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Linda,
I love the bottom line and, if you abide by the law, it is indeed simple. I think that we will need to draw the line very clearly and maybe we will have to trace over it a few times.
Too many are confusing the trial issue, which, as you clearly show has always been about whether Vallas fulfilled the law that Malloy wrote just for him to become a permanent superintendent. Reporting for The Hartford Courant in “Bridgeport Superintendent Ordered to Leave Office; He’ll Stay on During Appeal,” Kathleen Megan quotes Governor Malloy insisting earlier today before the ruling was upheld, “”Do I think that someone who was superintendent of Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans is qualified to be a superintendent in the state of Connecticut? The answer is yes.” Yet, his own law required certification, as it does for all administrators and teachers.
See below for various local and state responses:
http://touch.courant.com/#section/2225/article/p2p-76628210/
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Maybe one strategy is to push this up high enough where someone owes Malloy a favor?
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New mantra.. “Bye bye Vallas… BYE BYE Arne Duncan”… you are next… America desperately needs a Secretary of Education who has REAL credentials… this is not a radical or mean-spirited notion… it is in the best interest of our nation’s children and if you think about it really and truly.. it is in the best interest of our nation-at-large. DUMP DUNCAN BYE BYE…. DUNCAN.
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