Archives for the year of: 2013
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Protests Planned Against Nation’s Largest Charter Operator

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
39

This post was written by Sharon Higgins, a parent activist and indefatigable blogger in Oakland, California. Her blogs include “Charterschoolscandals,” wherein she tracks the amazing variety of graft, theft, corruption, scandals, and other predictable consequences of deregulation of public money with little or no oversight (I.e., privatization). She has written on many occasions about the proliferation of Gulen-inspired charters, which are now the largest chain in the nation.

Higgins writes:

This weekend, hundreds of people from all over the country, mostly Turkish Americans, are traveling to Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, to protest Fethullah Gulen at his remote compound in the Poconos. Among other activities, Gulen’s followers (a.k.a. the “Gulen Movement”) operate a global network of schools, including the largest charter school network.

Yesterday, an Associated Press report about the protest was picked up by news agencies across the US. A local paper published a more in-depth piece (“Protesters expected at Saylorsburg Islamic center: West End cleric criticized by opponents of Turkish regime.” Pocono Record, 7/10/2013). Both articles mention that a Facebook page was created two weeks ago to organize the event.

In conjunction with the major Pennsylvania protest on Saturday, July 13, a small protest will take place at a Gulen Movement-associated charter school in Oakland, California.

In addition, Mary Addi, the former Ohio Gulen charter school teacher who appeared on last year’s CBS 60 Minutes report about Fethullah Gulen, has started an online petition calling on the Obama administration to investigate the “Gulen-inspired” charter schools for “violating the civil rights of American teachers and administrators for the past eleven years by blatantly ignoring federal age, nationality, and gender equal opportunity laws.” It needs our signatures.

How the protest and the Turkish uprising are tied to Fethullah Gulen and his followers

The Pennsylvania protest is an extension of the Turkish protests that have been drawing international attention since late May. The Turkish uprising is against actions and policies of the country’s leadership and Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP), the ruling party which took power over a decade ago. These excerpts describe how Fethullah Gulen and his followers are directly connected to the current Turkish regime:

— “Gülen is considered one of [Turkish Prime Minister] Erdoğan’s most powerful allies but is reviled and feared by much of Turkey’s population.” — “Letter from Turkey: The Deep State.” The New Yorker, 3/12/2012

— “But the [Gulen movement’s] stealthy expansion of power — as well as its tactics and lack of transparency — is now drawing accusations that Mr. Gulen’s supporters are using their influence in Turkey’s courts and police and intelligence services to engage in witch hunts against opponents with the aim of creating a more conservative Islamic Turkey… We are troubled by the secretive nature of the Gulen movement, all the smoke and mirrors,” said a senior American official, who requested anonymity to avoid breaching diplomatic protocol. ‘It is clear they want influence and power. We are concerned there is a hidden agenda to challenge secular Turkey and guide the country in a more Islamic direction.’” — ““Turkey Feels Sway of Reclusive Cleric in the U.S.” The New York Times, 4/24/2012

— “When the moderate Islamist AKP took power in 2002, the Gulen movement provided indispensable support for [Prime Minister Erdogan] with its extensive influence in the media, police and judicial system.” — “Who is Fethullah Gulen, Turkey’s Powerful Cleric in Self-Exile?”, International Business Times, 6/6/2013

— “Followers of [Fethullah Gülen] have established a global network of schools, banks, insurance funds and media outlets. They present themselves outwardly as modern, but pursue an uncompromisingly Islamist agenda. And increasingly, they are calling the shots within the Turkish government…” — “Turkish Power Struggle: Brotherly Love Begins to Fray in Ankara.” Der Spiegel, 6/25/2013

Where’s that big, investigative piece, Mr. Hayes?

As an American Foreign Policy Council report of March 2013 astutely points out at its conclusion: “The charter school experiment has resulted in the United States being the only country in the world where the Gülen Movement has been able to establish schools fully funded by the host country’s taxpayers.”

Got that everyone?

In March 2012, Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC’s All In and Editor at Large at The Nation tweeted this question: “How come no one has done the big, investigative piece on Turkish Imam Fethullah Gulen and his movement’s global school network?”

Well that’s a really good question, Mr. Hayes. With most taxpayers still in the dark about this secretive and controversial group and its highly questionable and alarming activities — and with four new Gulen charter schools opening next month (bringing the total to 139 schools in 27 states) — maybe it’s time for you to press on that using your influence as an important member of the US media.

By Sharon Higgins
Oakland, California

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry

Moskowitz “Success Academy” Sues to Block State Audit

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
49

When New York State Comptroller Tom Di Napoli informed Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter chain of his intention to audit its financial records, the corporation sued to block the audit of public funds on grounds it was unconstitutional.

According to the story in a legal journal,

“Success Academy claims that a 2009 ruling by New York’s highest court found the Legislature overstepped its bounds by passing legislation in 2005 that authorized the comptroller to audit charter schools.
“Despite fine-tuning in 2010 that resurrected the audits, they’re still unconstitutional, Success Academy claims.”

In fact, Di Napoli has audited other charters based on the change in the law in 2010 that was written specifically to authorize the Comptroller to audit the use of public funds.

In one of Success Academy’s letters to the Comptroller, it asserts that the comptroller lacked the authority to conduct such audits under the state constitution, which authorizes reviews “of any political subdivision of the state” – which charter schools are not.”

Not being “a political subdivision of the state” is another way of saying that the charter corporation is a private contractor, NOT a public school. This has been the standard line of charters across the nation to evade state labor laws and other laws that apply to public schools but not to private contractors.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Harlem Success Academy, New York, New York City

Eva Moskowitz Charter Pushes Out Harlem Special Ed School

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
17

Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter schools (originally called Harlem Success Academy) have been ruthless in grabbing public school space from existing schools and crowding their “hosts” out.

Currently they are involved in taking space from a Harlem public school dedicated to children with special needs.

Moskowitz has several fabulously wealthy hedge fund managers on her board. It is a shame that they are unwilling to contribute the money to buy or lease space for their charter, instead of pushing out the city’s neediest students.

Categories Charter Schools, Harlem Success Academy, New York City

Connecticut’s Privatization Manager Moves On

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
16

Jonathan Pelto reports that Debra Kurshan, the state’s “Chief Turnaround Officer” is leaving for another position after eight months on the job.

What a close and cozy world these corporate reformers inhabit!

As Pelto writes:

“Commissioner Pryor has announced that Kurshan, who previously served as the head of School Portfolio Development for Mayor Bloomberg’s school privatization efforts and also worked as a consultant to the superintendent of the Louisiana Recovery School District in New Orleans, is leaving the state to join an unnamed education consulting firm.

“Before her short stints with the Bloomberg Administration and Paul Vallas’ old Louisiana Recovery School District, Kurshan was with the education reform group, Education Pioneers, where she worked at Village Academies Network, a charter school management organization operating two schools in Harlem, New York.”

“In New York City, Kurshan worked on closing public schools to make room for charter schools and co-locating charter schools in public school spaces.”

Have you noticed that “turnaround” is a synonym for privatizing?

These reformers feel no association with public education. They see their mission as helping kids move to privately managed schools.

Do they ever reflect on the end game?

Categories Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Privatization

Is Time Running Out for the Reformers?

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
16

The public is beginning to awaken to the realities of what is deceptively called “school reform.”

Read David Sirota’s terrific piece on how they are unraveling, here.

First, what is happening in state after state, in direct response to federal policy, is school destruction, not reform.

Second, the end game for the so-called “reformers” is privatization, not reform.

Everything the “reformers” advocate fails to produce better education.

Charters and vouchers are not only privatization, but they promote greater segregation and social stratification.

The endless testing regime has generated a backlash that reaches into every district in the nation.

The recent release of the NAEP Long-Term Trend data for 2008-2012 showed virtually no improvements in test scores for that period of time, just as NCLB and Race to the Top converged.

The “reformers” are the status quo.

It is a status quo that is bad for students, bad for teachers, and bad for the quality of education.

At some point, the public will demand change, and the reformers will be finished.

Categories Accountability, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Testing

Gary Rubinstein Gives Good Advice to Teach for America

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
40

Gary Rubinstein is a former member of Teach for America, and he is now one of its toughest critics. He is also its best friend, but TFA doesn’t know it. His criticism is always fair and insightful, never angry or mean spirited. If TFA would listen to him, it could reclaim its original mission and goals.

Because it does not listen, it does not learn. Instead, it cements its image as a narcissistic, elitist, arrogant organization that recruits bright young people and sends them ill-prepared into some very tough schools.

In this post, Gary explores how TFA cultivates condescending attitudes towards students, parents, and communities while indoctrinating its trainees to believe that failure in school or in society is the fault of bad, uncaring teachers. Implicit in this attitude is the belief that caring–a TFA specialty–will be enough to overcome all obstacles. Implicit too is the belief that the youngsters in TFA are infinitely smarter than those failed veteran teachers.

Twenty years of this posturing by the organization can create a bad reputation, especially among veteran teachers, whose help the TFA kids need.

TFA would be wise to listen to Gary. He gives them good advice.

Categories Teach for America TFA

What Happened in Dallas: A Year Later

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
22

A bit over a year ago, I wrote about the arrival of a new superintendent in Dallas. Mike Miles is a man with a military background who is a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy. What could go wrong?

He had a long list of goals, for example:

“By 2020, he says, the graduation rate will be up to 90% from the 2010 rate of 75%.

By 2020, SAT scores will jump by 30%, and 60% of students will achieve at least a 21 on the ACT.

80% of students will be workplace ready, as determined by assessments created by the business and nonprofit communities.

He will create a new leadership academy to train principals in one year, based on what sounds like NYC’s unsuccessful one.

Teachers will be observed up to ten times a year, and these observations will factor into a pay-for-performance plan.

All classroom doors must be open all the times. so that teachers may be observed at any time, without warning.

Principals will have one year “to demonstrate that they have the capacity and what it takes to lead change and to improve the quality of instruction.”

Miles did not say how he intends to measure whether principals have this capacity.

By August 2015:

“At least 75 percent of the staff and 70 percent of community members agree or strongly agree with the direction of the district.

At least 80 percent of all classroom teachers and 100 percent of principals are placed on a pay-for-performance evaluation system.At least 60 percent of teachers on the pay-for-performance evaluation system and 75 percent of principals agree that the system is “fair, accurate and rigorous.”

But things did go wrong.

A reader sent this commentary. If you live in Dallas and you have a different perspective, let me know.

The reader writes:

A year later, and what has Dallas seen?

1. Bloodletting has extended to principals. Board formally fired two principals, both popular with teachers and students.

2. Board no longer supports Miles. Budget meetings last week were nasty. Board was very unhappy with $4 million spent for a “principals academy.” Board members realize that their favorite principals are in Miles’s crosshairs, and they realize there is probably no good reason for that.

3. Miles’s staff has been wracked with dissent. His hand-picked “cabinet” of seven or eight top aides has fallen apart, with some positions turning over three times in a year, with experienced and respected pro administrators leaving abruptly, and with one indicted in the Atlanta cheating scandals. The TFA hire hasn’t worked out.

4. Texas has turned on teachers AND administrators.

5. Dallas ISD has what looks like zero swat in Austin, with the legislature refusing to restore death-dealing cuts to education from a year ago.

6. Test results and fair measures of student performance seem to have stalled.

7. Summer school had to scale back. Teachers refused to work for extra money because they fear arbitrary evaluations, which continue during summer school classes.

If there is a single, clear educational advance in Dallas, can someone point it out to us?

Alas, our wishes of good luck were all the teachers got.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Texas

How Charter Entrepreneurs Make Millions with Taxpayer Dollars

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
15

This is a stunning research job by Jersey Jazzman about the money tree that is turning canny businessmen into multimillionaires by investing in charter schools.

They package financing from the U.S. Treasury Department, the U.S. Department of Education, the Walton Family Foundation, and they spin it into gold–for themselves.

The family charter group he describes controls over $100 million in real estate. They have gotten very, very rich.

Here is his conclusion. Please read the whole post. It is jaw-dropping.

“…while we can debate the relative merits of charter schools, one thing is quite certain: any notion that the charter industry is “all about the kids” needs to be dismissed, because there are adults who are clearly making a lot of money off of charter expansion. And it’s not just people like the Zuluetas: Bruno himself, according to Building Hope’s 2011 tax return, earned $388,709 in compensation and another $56,865 in benefits for a year’s work. In contrast, the average Florida teacher salary is $45,723.”

These are the same people who claim that teachers don’t put children first. What do they put first? It is not the children.

– See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/07/make-big-money-building-charter-schools.html#sthash.9D3ptFh6.dpuf

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit

Minneapolis Public Schools: Will They Survive?

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2013 //
27

It is not news to readers of this blog that public education is under attack in cities across the nation by a politically powerful and heavily funded privatization movement. In some states, this movement has moved into the suburbs as well.

This video pulls away the mask of reform and explains in clear detail the nexus of connections behind the privatization movement in Minneapolis. This district was once the largest in the state. Due to the proliferation of privately managed charters, it is now the third largest in Minnesota.

The video has no production values. It is a simple narration of a complex graphic that displays the web of relationships among powerful foundations, one very powerful family, national organizations, and corporate interests.

All the big players have converged on Minneapolis: 50CAN, DFER, TFA, and many more, abetted by one powerful local family that owned the city’s biggest newspaper, sold it, and now owns the online newspaper Minnpost.

Charters in Minneapolis are more segregated than the public schools and get lower scores.

These inconvenient facts do not slow the advance of the privatization movement. They present themselves as idealists, and some are fooled by the rhetoric about “saving minority children from failing schools” and “closing the achievement gap.” They are flush with cash and federal tax credits, and fueled by ambition, a love of power, media adulation, and–for some–tidy profits.

Left to their own devices, they will restore a dual school system, both publicly funded, one free to kick out students, the other a dumping ground for the kids unwanted by the charters.

Left to their own devices, they will destroy public education in America.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Minnesota, Privatization

Vallas Will Fight Judge’s Order to Go

By dianeravitch
July 10, 2013 //
27

In response to a judge’s ruling that he lacks the proper credentials to be a superintendent in Connecticut, Paul Vallas will fight for the job. The attorney for the city will lodge an immediate appeal. The governor says it is a local issue, but says that if he ran Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, he must be qualified even if he doesn’t meet the demands of the law.

Categories Vallas, Paul
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