Ravi Gupta is an ambitious young man who has boldly entered the booming world of charter entrepreneurship.
He may even be planning his own charter chain.
He opened one in Nashville, one of those “no excuses” charters designed especially for kids of color, with long school days and tough discipline.
And now he plans to open another in Jackson, Mississippi. In this interview, he compares the education reform debate to the “Game of Thrones.”
Apparently some folks from Mississippi think it is funny that he talks about defining “who WE are as a state and where WE want to go.”
Ravi is from Staten Island, New York.
In Nashville, Gupta has gotten into heated exchanges with two elected school board members. He blasted one on Facebook, where he claimed the school board member was in a “drunk rage” when he wrote a sharp exchange with Gupta.
In another instance, he rudely criticized board member Amy Frogge for raising the issue of attrition at charter schools; Gupta said she was out of bounds criticizing his school because she had not visited it. Gupta accused her of acting like a “birther,” making completely unsubstantiated charges.
Gupta’s angry blasts at the school board members occurred shortly after the board unanimously granted him permission to open a second charter school in Nashville.
Gupta is only 29, and has known great success in his adult life. He seems to have a short fuse.
His school should offer courses in anger management.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes, indeed. He clearly needs re-education, complete with calming gestures. His thermometer is in the red danger zone, and someone should send a note home to his mommy forthwith. Stand in the corner, Robbie. There are no excuses for your behavior.
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Gupta is a Brahman name. he was a black sheep for not doing medicine like the rest of his family. Socioeconomic status is paramount with that sliver of the Hindu community.
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This ignorant comment is why I usually choose not to respond in blogs like this one. I did a google search on this Ravi guy. The first thing that popped up was that they were the highest performing charter school in the state. Why no mention to that? Also please leave “he was a black sheep” out next time.
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“Right now, our number one priority is starting the new year off on a great foot in our new space, thanks to our partnership with MNPS,” Cato said. “It’s time to move past these adult-focuses distractions, learn from our mistakes, and get back to what we do best: supporting students and preparing them for college and a life full of opportunities.”
So, so sick of this dodge. You know, this boilerplate response they all use isn’t addressing an issue. Do they pull this dodge with parents? Where they claim we are “adults” so therefore “distractions” from “students”? It’s also divisive and manipulative, because behind this is an accusation that there is only ONE group of adults who care about students, and that group is ed reformers.
Her question was on attrition in charter schools. That’s the issue. Insisting that has nothing to do with “students” is ridiculous. Obviously, his actions affect BOTH charter school students AND public school students, because public schools have to take every kid. Charter operators are in a system, whether they like it or not. What they do affects public school students, and public school students are ALLOWED to have an advocate. This idea that we can have passionate advocates for charter schools and no thought or attention given to existing public schools, where we have charter advocates versus “agnostics” and “relinquishers” is nonsense. That puts public schools at a disadvantage, and we have seen that play out over and over again. This frame they have set up isn’t working for me. I reject it.
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I read the emails and may I say thank God some elected official is looking at the “fiscal impact” to the district AS A WHOLE?
We need more of those. We could use some at the Dept of Ed and the US House. Maybe she could give them lessons on how SYSTEMS are affected by each entry into the system.
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Yes, we are VERY thankful for Amy Frogge here in Nashville!!
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Also, it becomes more and more clear to me why the Obama Administration is anti-public schools. Could they be more hooked into this narrow group of ed reformers?
Might be time to break open this exclusive club a little. They have a duty to consider the impact of their “reforms” on public schools. Whatever their personal preferences are, they have that duty.
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Gupta sounds a lot like Steve Perry.
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Another egotistical kook on the charter crazy train. No educational skills needed, just the desire to bully and con people. Who would let this fool run anything?
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What’s interesting about the Facebook fight is it’s between two reformers.
“This summer, the Metro Nashville Public School board unanimously approved Gupta’s request to create a Nashville Academy of Computer Science, a Nashville Prep middle school. Pinkston was a founding board member of Nashville Prep.
However, tensions have remained between the MNPS school board and the charter school community since last year’s high profile denial of a charter school proposed in West Nashville.
What developed in the online debate was a series of sharp responses to each other beginning with perspectives on who should advocate on the charter movement to personal digs and questioning their dedication to education.
“I get it. Vote for our school and you get to say and advocate for whatever you want,” read a comment from Gupta following the post.
“Wrong,” responded Pinkson. “Get elected by Davidson County voters and you get to express your opinion. Fancy that. Who elected you?”
The conversation soon escalated from a policy debate to one more personal.
“You report to your board and Bransford. I’ve been grinding it out in the reform trenches in TN for more than a decade. I don’t need or want your support,” read one of Pinkston’s comments. “The only thing I regret is that I accidentally created an environment for arrogant people like you to swoop in and lecture everyone else about the path forward. I think we’ve got it figured out. Welcome to Nashville.”
Gupta is fighting with a founding member of Nashville Prep. This is an intra-reform battle.
Also, if they’re acting as advocates for the “charter movement” public school parents should be asking who is acting as an advocate for the public schools. That’s a fair question.
http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/nashville-prep-leader-accuses-school-board-member-drunk-rage-facebook-fight
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FUNDER-KIND is more like it.
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😉
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Does anyone have a better source for looking at charter payroll than guidestar.org. This says he works 80 hours a week for less than 40k, that’s obviously false. http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2012/273/342/2012-273342540-090bfaec-9.pdf
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In all my years of voting, Amy Frogge is the first person I’ve voted for who actually represents my interests in the way that I would want them to be represented. Although I’ve never met her, I’m very pleased with the way she has dealt with things such as Gupta’s childishness.
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Valid criticisms of Ravi’s style aside, it’s interesting that this post didn’t once mention Nashville Prep’s performance. NP was recognized by the state as one of Davidson County’s “Reward Schools” for its level of student growth (link below). But then again, their students’ achievements and the achievements of the students at the 3 other charter schools on the Reward Schools list (out of 12 schools total, a few of which are selective magnets with entrance exams) should be entirely discounted due to [insert excuse here – more motivated parents, creaming, etc.]
2013 Reward Schools List – http://tn.gov/education/accountability/reward_2013.shtml.
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Dan, when a charter school has a high level of attrition, it raises legitimate questions about who is being eliminated, especially in the case of charters that don’t replace the kids they lose.
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I agree. I think kids need some degree of stability in order to thrive. Nashville Prep has actually been very responsive to those criticisms: http://nashvilleprep.org/blog/2013/3/11/how-do-we-keep-the-students-who-need-us-the-most
It’s a tough balance. You want to keep all of your kids, but you can’t compel folks (in any type of school) to stay. I think transparency around arrivals and departures across the system will help identify the potential bad actors who DO cream kids
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Valid criticisms of Ravi’s style aside, it’s interesting that this post didn’t once mention Nashville Prep’s performance. The school was recognized by the state as one of Davidson’s County’s “Reward Schools” based on measures of student growth (see below). But then again, the achievements of Nashville Prep’s students and those of the students at the 3 other charter middles schools on that list (out of 12 schools total, a few of which are selective magnets with entrance exams) should be entirely discounted due to the governance structure of the school/school model because….[insert excuse or unrelated personal attack here].
2013 Reward Schools List: http://tn.gov/education/accountability/reward_2013.shtml
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I am confused as to the tone of this blog post and some of the commentary. I have been a vendor to Nashville Prep School for over 2 years now, and I see first hand how hard the teachers and administration work. They have a dedication to the lives of these children and take a personal interest in their growth and development. I get emails from them at all hours of the night because they are working around the clock to do things like grade papers and prepare assignments. I really think that before you judge Ravi, or any of the members of this school, you should tour the school and see what they do and the results that they get. What they are doing is a huge benefit to the future of our city and the local communities they are affecting.
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