Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed Rebecca Fishman Lipsey to the Florida State Board of Education. Lipsey describes herself as “a lifelong educator,” based on her long service to TFA.
Meanwhile, TFA leaders continue to pop up in service to the nation’s most reactionary governors, including Jindal in Louisiana, Haslam in Tennessee, and McCrory in North Carolina. All these governors are bent on privatizing public schools and funneling public dollars to entrepreneurs, private schools, for-profit corporations, and religious schools. Scott’s Florida is overrun with for-profit charters and scandalous real estate transactions involving charter entrepreneurs. Will Lipsey abet Scott’s goal of monetizing public education in Florida?
Here is the press release.
“Lipsey, 32, a former New York City public school teacher from Aventura, has held multiple leadership roles with Teach for America from 2006 to 2012 and served as the executive director of Teach for America in Miami-Dade from 2008 to 2012. From 2004 to 2006, Lipsey was a fourth and fifth grade public school teacher in New York City. Lipsey is currently serving as the chief executive officer of Radical Partners LLC. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and master’s degree from Bank Street College of Education.
“Governor Rick Scott said, “With an exceptional career in education, Rebecca is committed to student success and accountability, and it is clear she will be a tremendous advocate for all Florida students. Rebecca will help continue to ensure we are holding students to high standards in Florida and giving them the support they need to succeed in college and their career.”
“Rebecca Fishman Lipsey said, “As a life-long educator, I am deeply committed to what is best for children and could not be more humbled to bring my experience to the table. Having worked closely with principals, parents, educators and students from diverse backgrounds, I know that it is possible for all students to succeed.”
“Lipsey succeeds Kathleen Shanahan and is appointed for a term beginning January 1, 2014, and ending December 31, 2017. The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Life long educator with 3 whole years of teaching experience. Education is becoming like the NFL. A five year career, at the age of 27, makes you a veteran!
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More likely she was in the classroom for just 2 years, the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 school years.
Life-long educator! What, is she counting baby-sitting and college study groups?
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Unbelievable. This person couldn’t be a mentor or Dept. head in a real school. It claims she was in a leadership role around the age of 26. Really? Doing what? This is leadership? The corruption is staggering.
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It reminds me of when our daughters were six years old, and would amuse us by starting a story with, “When I was little…”
What’s not funny is that, instead of having their youthful arrogance slapped down by their professional elders, it is being validated in service of the institutionalized greed and will-to-power of so-called education reform.
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That’s the first thing that struck me when I read the post. I’m in my forties on my 17th year, and I wouldn’t think to use that as a descriptor of myself. All in good time.
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WHAT? THIS IS THE PROLEM. We have immature people running this country.
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Ah…but immature people can be controlled. It’s about control and power for $$$$$ pure and simple…very SIC!
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“With an exceptional career in education. . .”
Yep, exceptionally short in teaching experience. But she’s the “sexperv”, oops, I meant “sexpert”, oops I mean supposed expert, the “upposed” somehow got deleted. Exceptionally mis/unqualified.
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Autocorrects to oops related terms? 😀 It knows…It knows!
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I claim innocence and the 5th!
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Wow. I thought I was still young at 40. Lifelong at 32. That’s something.
I am thinking the generation ahead of me might be embarrassed at some of what is going on. I am embarrassed at it.
Age discrimination. Hmmm. Well, experience has its worth. The young can’t have everything, right?
What the heck is going on?
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I mention age discrimination only because when McCrory was called out on giving raises to young staff members when teachers got no raise he defended it by saying that not to give it would be age discrimination.
We do use age discrimination in when you can drive, when you can vote, when you can drink, when you can be president, when you can marry without a parent signature (yes that comes up in NC), etc. So I don’t get the age discrimination argument. At all. Nope. Holds no water for me. I would never want to be disrespected because of my age, no matter old or young. Experience takes time.
Experience takes time.
It takes time.
Got that?
It takes time.
So they don’t want experience, really.
It’s like music. It takes time.
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When you are old enough to really feel experienced, you are probably old enough to be discriminated against because of your age. 🙂
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What’s the saying “Youth is wasted on the young”.
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My favorite George Bernard Shaw quote!
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Thanks for the citation.
Yes, as the years go by (quicker every year) that quote gets “truer”.
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Chief Executive Officer
Radical Partners LLC
October 2012 – Present (1 year)
“Radical Partners is a “Great Idea Accelerator” that helps leaders grow their visions, strengthen their teams, scale their infrastructures, build powerful campaigns, and establish critical partnerships.
We invest in visionary ideas and gifted leaders, helping to launch good ideas into extraordinary businesses and successful organizations into transformational ones. In our first year, we helped scale powerful initiatives with incredible partners from Univision to Goldie Hawn.
With a focus on social justice initiatives, we were proud to help local ideas grow nationally, and national ideas grow internationally, with a focus on impact, reach, and sustainability. Current projects include helping an educational innovation to grow nationally, scaling a meaningful digital service from a fabulous seed idea to a multi-million dollar international powerhouse, strengthening a massive national community engagement campaign, and coaching several new executives to restructure their organizations to increase results and get ready for growth.”
I think we’ve solved the mystery of how Goldie Hawn became an education expert.
What do you think this means, you know, in terms of “the children”?
“helping an educational innovation to grow nationally, scaling a meaningful digital service from a fabulous seed idea to a multi-million dollar international powerhouse”
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rebecca-fishman-lipsey/26/178/32a
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This is not an expression I coined, and it is not one I would typically use (I avoid the crass, when I can). But friends of mine regard groups that just think about stuff as mental masturbation. And that came to mind when reading this.
a great idea accelerator.
it’s never a good idea to rush something.
I practice educational innovation every day. In my classroom. 32 times a week. All day. 680 children.
And I’ve been doing so for 15 years. And have the energy for 15 more.
That’s innovation. That I can do this over and over and it still be fresh and exciting.
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Joanna,
I am crass so I’ve not had any trouble using that phrase at all, except when I put it in an email to my AP about nine years ago and the principal wanted her to file sexual harassment charges against me for using that term in the email (won’t bore everyone with the details as I have written about it before). Just used the term last week with my current AP and he didn’t take it in a “sexual harassment’ fashion.
But your definition is not what I would consider mental masturbation. There is nothing wrong with “groups that just think about stuff” or even individuals doing the thinking.
My definition is that when the “thinking” has been shown to be faulty, illogical and invalid yet the person insists it is true and valid, perhaps that everyone is doing it, it is mental masturbation. The people are seduced by their ideology (and I include a lot of what most consider conventional thinking/beliefs in my MM category) that their mental masturbation has caused a certain mental blindness (just as the nuns back in grade school told us that masturbation would-I never thought I’d agree with the nuns on that one, although I haven’t seen that many hairy palms over the years).
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Duane–
thank you for the explanation.
I just knew the phrase came to mind, so whatever the hunch, there was some semblance of it in reading the description of that group’s business (the artist in me gets hunches before I have the words). I did not explain it well, enough, so I’m glad you did.
I am sure my grandmother is rolling over in her grave that I typed those words, but we are at a critical point in pointing out when wisdom is not prevailing. She would think so too.
And widsom is not prevailing in schooling where “innovation acceleration” happens.
What’s the frickin’ hurry anyway? Why do we need to accelerate?
Didn’t the obesity epidemic confirm that bigger, faster, cheaper ain’t always better?
I will say, though, that having been a gifted teacher I know that acceleration and compacting are modifications provided to “quick studies.” I think the problem is that we are now seeing that applied in real life situations where it may not be appropriate.
I guess this is yet another situation where “we just have to let it play out.” I admit that when I became a mother I did not necessarily want advice from more experienced mothers. But what I also know is that I can recognize that there was a lot I did not know before I became a mother and so my level of respect for what the women who had been mothers before me went up. Right now we are not seeing that same type of respect from new workers (professionals?) in the public education realm. They don’t want advice, fine. But surely there can be some level of respect for those who have blazed this trail before them. That is the part that is missing.
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Well, surprise, surprise: another best, brightest and excellentest TFAer who had a cup of coffee in the classroom – notice how the tributes to her don’t say how long she actually spent teaching – and will now enrich herself making the world safe for charter schools and cyber scam academies.
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Life-long educator at 32 with three years of teaching experience? The hubris of youth.
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She will either be embarrassed that she said that one day (maybe in 10 years or so), or she will have to keep creating new illusions for herself.
It’s charming, sort of, like when a kid tells his mommy she’s the best mommy he’s ever had. Or when my sister and I made a scrapbook for our mother at ages 8 and 10 and proudly titled it “The Mother of us All.”
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It goes beyond the hubris of youth into downright mendacity. Even a 32 year old knows that there was life before age 28 or 29. What was she doing before that? Was it anything that could remotely be called being an “educator”? Is she counting the Sunday School class she taught or something?
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Speaking of cybercharters, the affidavit in the PA fed case was unsealed. It’s a good read. Trombetta boasts that he is moving into Florida. It appears to me that they intended to shut down the PA and OH operations and move to a state where there was less, ahem, HEAT.
You’ll come away wondering why it took a decade to conduct even a cursory review of the financial transactions, or why there was no action by the state of PA.
They wiretapped phones, so there’s a lot of dialogue.
My favorite part is where the digital learning pioneer tells one of his criminal associates he can no longer accept bags of cash in the Pizza Hut parking lot.
Click to access affidavit-unsealed-in-the-nick-trombetta-criminal-investigation.pdf
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Holy Cow!!!! “Bags of cash”
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We should all support Stephanie Rivera’s campaign ‘ Students Resisting Teach for America’ here:
http://www.gofundme.com/4ar298
How great is this idea? So great, I’ve posted it on all of my students’ facebook pages.
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From what I know about Bank street, at least years ago , it had a superb child development viewpoint based on research about what is age appropriate for children. I am also from Phila and know that the University of Pennsylvania has a strong education school. I do hope that this fine educational training will bring some measure of reality to this young women’s vision of how education in her state needs to be managed. Although, I must laugh at the words lifelong educator. I don’t think she has yet earned the right to call herself that. Maybe great minds in both public and private institutions will come to the same conclusion that many of us have already known for some time. Children are complex individuals that need nurturing and age appropriate curricula, and all the other things that Diane Ravitch has proposed.
Let’s hope.
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Judy, I doubt that this TFA veteran attended classes within the U.P. Ed School.
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I worked with 19 TFA corps members like Ms. Lipsey for four years. 0f those 19 there were 2 who, after two years, I would have considered to be far above average…..for any aged teacher. Such natural talent is rare and must be coupled with a superior ability to learn from others the higher skills necessary to allow those talents to grow. Neither of these two superb young women however would be qualified to be named to such a position as Ms. Lipsey…..ESPECIALLY AFTER HAVING LEFT the classroom after only two years. I can’t believe she is… And neither would any of the corps members I worked with and knew.
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Self Esteem Junkies!
They are the Greatest…just ask them.
I am embarrassed for her, but my energy is wasted because the sociopathic personality will keep her from reflecting, learning and asking for input, among a ton of other important factors. She is a Michelle Rhee In-Waiting. Did she tape kids’ mouths shut or swallow bees? Could be a TFA induction ritual.
Generations ago, we meant well, but we did not know that the Self-Esteem Movement would produce such self-assured know-it-alls who will hang out with all the rich and the powerful…drinking the same narcacistic tea and become experts just by wearing the EXPERT name tag, like Apple employees. Most of them appear to be real Apple Experts.
32!? Since she knows everything about education, we should count on her to FIX EDUCATION shortly. Just wait a couple of months.
What a goldmine TFA has become: 2 years and loans are forgiven.You have joined the Golden Children and everyone adores you and loves everything you do and say. No knitted holiday sweaters for you. You look like a model and carry yourself like Heidi Kluhm. They world is your oyster. By 32, you are the equivalent to life-long scholars. why are we so upset? Hmm? Wow!
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Taping mouths shut and swallowing bees as an induction ritual?
Superb idea, but is it disruptively innovative enough, or Highly Effective at being innovatively disruptive?
I’ve got it: since directing a long string of flops, a la M. Night Shymalan, qualifies one as an expert on education, how about Academy Award-type prizes for the Reformiest?
The Rahmbo Memorial Best and Brightest Serial School Killer Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Annual Geoffrey Canada, Expel-a-Class-for-Low-Test-Scores Competition?
The Eva Moskowitz How-Many-Public-Schools-Can-You-Swallow? Pageant, (to be held every 4th of July at Nathan’s on Coney Island).
The Chris Cerf-Edison Zombie Vampire Schools Derby.
The TFA Superintendants-In-Diapers Pro-Am.
Please, please stop me before I kill again…
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Now THAT’s funny!
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On an Florida-related note: I heard on NPR this afternoon that Florida is bowing out of being the fiscal agent for PARCC. Also, it was reported that the Governor is following the Tea Party lead of questioning the CCSS.
Has anyone else heard this?
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I just heard the same. I heard they are retracting any support of common core.
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Yes, Scott is declaring himself opposed to CC and wants Florida out of PARCC, but the board of Ed has to approve it, apparently. The Tampa Bay Times ran it this afternoon.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/gov-rick-scott-calls-for-florida-to-drop-out-of-parcc/2143392
Alexander Russo posted the link about an hour ago.
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It seems Gov. Scott learned nothing from the Tony Bennett fiasco. It’s time for Floridians to elect members to the State Board of Education.
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I am a Pinellas County, FL parent of a student with a tbi. I’ve advocated for many years. It has been a continual uphill battle. The faculty from school to school board to FDOE are stubbornly indoctrinated to ignore, stall, pass the buck, post-pone, anything but work as a team. Despite this, I want public school teachers and students to be given more to teach and learn with. So tired of Rick Scott’s devious schemes that deviate from helping the people. Florida public school parents, get to the polls, and get involved in this issue for your kids and all kids!
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Lifelong? At age 32. Enough said.
In Delaware, however, you can become a principal with zero years of full time teaching experience.
Nothing surprises me anymore.
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When are they going to run out of they pseudo-uber-accomplished professionals!??
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just in case you thought TFA was only a young person’s game, I just received this email from Encore.org for people like me who are trying to figure out with the rest of their lives. I signed up to hear the pitch, maybe others can join me. I have lots of questions.
http://www.encore.org/teach-america-your
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I applied…. Love to hear the pitch… Then bat it out of the park…if they let me speak.
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