Jared Polis, the multi-millionaire (or billionaire) Colorado congressman, went after me again last night on Twitter with rude, insulting comments. I guess he doesn’t like me.
I was beginning to feel sorry for him. To see a public figure acting in such an embarrassing way on Twitter is, well, embarrassing. I wish I knew how to help him.
Not only did he, in his rage, post a comment on this blog, but he also posted one on the blog of Jason Stanford in Texas. Jason reprinted the exchange, as a follow-on to his original post, here.
Congressman Polis can post here as often as he wants. I will even allow him to post his insults towards me, which I usually don’t allow, just because I don’t think you should come into someone’s home and hurl insults at them.
But if he does come back, he should know he is welcome. I hope he will try to curb his tendency to abusive language. Maybe some of the blog’s early childhood experts can offer suggestions about the best way to respond to temper tantrums.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As a Colorado citizen I have noticed Polis is not voting on many important bills being heard in the legislature now.
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POLIS is RICH! He wants more. I truly think that working in the political sphere is for many, the road to even more arrogance.
Definition of ARROGANT:ar·ro·gant
ˈarəgənt/
adjective
1.
having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities.
“he’s arrogant and opinionated”
synonyms: haughty, conceited, self-important, egotistic, full of oneself, superior; overbearing, pompous, bumptious, presumptuous, imperious, overweening; proud, immodest; informalhigh and mighty, too big for one’s britches, too big for one’s boots, big-headed, puffed up; rarehubristic
“success has made him arrogant”
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Except for the die-hard members of the Church of High-Stakes Testolatry and related sects devoted to $tudent $ucce$$, is there anyone on Planet Reality who can possibly not understand why I call them edubullies?
I hope Congressman Polis learns something from Diane’s dignified and calm reaction. If not, he may find that it was not wise to ignore the advice of Will Rogers:
“People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.”
🙂
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Getting in a drawn-out Twitter fight is a pretty good sign of horrendous judgment in a politician.
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http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-continuing-problem-of-wealthy.html?spref=tw
I thought this was a great addition to the discussion.
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This says it all: h/t Jason Stanford: “But Rep. Polis believes that his success in reinventing greeting cards and flower delivery qualifies him to reinvent public education. His foundation funds the New America School, a privately owned charter school in Denver rated among the worst in the state that graduates students well below the state average.”
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Sweet to see that chivalry isn’t dead. Stanford is a gem and Polis deserves an ass-whippin’ for saying you are an “evil woman who is doing such harm to public education.”
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Polis said, “You cite the performance of these schools on standardized tests, but I don’t believe that standardized tests give the full picture. Your attitude that the test scores mean somehow that the school isn’t doing a good job is part of the problem. We monitor student achievement growth and that is more useful to us.”
Does he break from the ranks of all the other reformers who think standardized test scores are the only measure of a school?
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Jared Polis supported SB 191 in Colorado, a bill sponsored by State Senator Michael Johnston (ex-TFA). SB 191 makes 50% of teachers’ evaluations and tenure depend on standardized test scores of their students. This is one of the most extreme bills in the nation. Perhaps what Jared means is that test scores should not be taken into account when reviewing the performance of charter schools like his, but should count heavily when judging the quality of teachers. He is apparently not aware that most testing experts disagree with the theory behind SB 191.
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Yes SB 191 was a strong step forward for Colorado. Improvement in test scores, NOT the static one year picture, make sense to include as an objective component of evaluating educators. Whether it’s 25%, 50%, or 70% is up to each district or state. I would strongly suggest to districts or states that they do not make it much more than 50% as there are many other important factors.
As for alternative schools (that serve drop-outs, etc) it is a tricky policy area. On the one hand we want to encourage districts and charter schools to go the extra mile to recruit and serve at-risk kids but on the other hand we also want to include performance data and transparency for all schools.
I think where I come down is that subject to a reasonable state approval process, particular alternative schools (with a criteria for who qualifies) should be able to propose alternative objective measurements of success.
Jared Polis
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Polis is also proud to lay claim to having “introduced “legislation authorizing the highly successful Race to the Top competitive education reform grant initiative.”
http://polis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=236958
So Polis, who accused Diane of pitting schools against each other, actually played a pivotal role himself in the passing of RttT, which essentially establishes win-lose competitions between schools for resources and survival.
Polis is very far from being the advocate of win-win public education that Diane is.
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This man has no business being in charge of any schools.
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There is a wealth of dirt that a quick investigation of this man’s charter. How much is the superintendent paid? (my source tells me north of 250K, and his wife is the head of the ‘college’ that Polis started). Even though executive pay is very high for the size of the organization, teachers are paid about 10K less than their counterparts in the Denver Public Schools. A fighter for teachers, indeed.
What is the turnover of teachers at his New America charter? So many teachers leave during the year that the turnover is actually greater than 100%, even though some teachers have stayed past a year.
His characterization of his students is misleading. Colorado provides state funding based on an October count. Somehow New America has a full house at October count, but loses more than half of those students (but not their money) by the end of the year.
As with most reformers, they don’t believe in excuses, until it is their turn to be held accountable for what they have done. Polis supported teachers being evaluated by test scores, but he discounts them in his own situation. Shouldn’t someone with all of his expertise be able to pull great results regardless of who shows up at the door?
Nearly every corporatist running for Denver school board has been endorsed by Polis.
Every single person in his district that I’ve ever talked to thinks that he bought the election and doesn’t represent their interests in the slightest. He has been as rude to them as he is being to Ms. Ravitch.
This man pretty much epitomizes everything that is wrong with our political system.
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**man’s charter will reveal.** A comment editor is going to be the sliced bread of the 21st century.
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Wowww……… he really must know so much about education that all of the teachers leave within a year. He’s a genius. Can you imagine a wealthy suburban district having this problem? No! He’s saving the poor and Diane is evil. yeah right.
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Professor Ravitch
Please do not waste your limited energy doing verbal judo with people who are 99% involved with a personal agenda to game the system for their own financial and/or professional gain with no interest in changing the system for the betterment of those students who are in greatest need. The best approach would be to organize the best minds in our K-20 Educational System in all fields and ask them to have open group forums and lectures on how we need to change and why the current approach is not going to help solve the inequities in our system which are at the root of our problems. I believe their are many scholars willing to participate in such endeavors. Encourage them to write responses to editorials, op-ed articles, magazine articles, and more books exposing the people behind the current movement and who benefits while the students get less and less. With enough of the best minds lined up against these greedy and self-centered egomaniacs, the media would have to start to report on these opposing opinions and views which would start to turn the educational boat in the correct direction.
Thank you for all of your efforts.
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If you can’t refute the message you attack the messenger. Republicans seem to have a problem accepting evidence that doesn’t support their policies.
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