Yesterday, it was revealed by the media that the CEO of one of Connecticut’s charter chains, Michael Sharpe, has a criminal background. Today the story emerged that he does not have a doctorate, although the chain’s website refers to him as “Dr. Sharpe.” Perhaps of greater significance is that his charter school in Hartford did not enroll a single bilingual student in six years. Sharpe says he never claimed to have a doctorate but somehow he was often described as “Dr. Sharpe.”
Says the Hartford Courant:
“HARTFORD — In a New Year’s message last December, the CEO of the Jumoke Academy charter school shared his enthusiastic vision for 2014, signing the letter, “Yours Truly, Dr. Michael Sharpe.”
“Some version of that prestigious academic credential has been attached to Sharpe for the last decade in school materials and biographies, which variously credit him as having a doctorate in education or a Ph.D.
“But on Friday, after the Courant questioned his academic background, Sharpe acknowledged that he never earned a doctoral degree and has erroneously been described as a “doctor.”
“Sharpe, 62, said he began coursework at New York University, but “I did not complete the work. People started calling me doctor while I was in school, and I have always told people, ‘Don’t do it,’ but it catches on and people just keep doing it.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“I am not a doctor … but I play one in CT.”
Someone on a previous blog was sincerely trying to defend Michael Sharpe–saying that the criminal record is moot because he “paid his debt” to society (actually, I think he passed that debt back to society, but, anyway..) and that the rates of incarceration are way too high (agreed)–but you have to admit, I don’t see a lot of remorse here.
I like how Sharpe stated that, when he returned to CT and got the job with Jumoke, his past was known to his employers–yeah, his mother! I guess that’s like a background check. But maybe the families and the paymasters from the state had an interest in knowing Sharpe’s past.
There was also discussion about the high rate of incarceration of minorities but his offenses were forgery and embezzlement not crimes of a youthful offender with a lack of options for employment . It just seems like a stretch to use that argument. He shouldn’t be in charge of children’s lives or public funds. This “Dr” has a pattern of dishonesty.
Much like Deasy at LAUSD who ostensibly got his PhD in a few months and for 9 units of course work for U. of Louisville…and then hired the man who awarded it to consult in California for a payout of about $368,000. Quid pro quo.
That academic was subsequently put in the federal pen for stealing millions from the university.
Do birds of a feather flock together?
How many of these a-holes got Quicky-Lube degrees and certifications from each other? TFA has its own masters degree program, and I think its phone-in style. Broad Super academy? What a frigging joke. THEN, they get one into the pipeline, and that thing hires another thing, and so on, etc. Chris Christie appointed Cami Anderson in Newark, and she makes more than the cap he imposed on other Superintendents in NJ — because she is his henchwoman. Ugh. Its insulting to principals and superintendents, and teachers, who went the proper route to certification and credentialling.
🙂
So, the people who called him “doc” made him sign his name with Dr.”?
Those are some really persuasive people….
Beware looks like his scam is coming to Louisiana:
Since Jumoke Academy’s founding in 1997, the charter group has received $53 million in state grants, said Donnelly, the state education department spokeswoman. “Jumoke has been subject to annual independent audits,” she said, with no problems uncovered.
FUSE also is expanding to Louisiana; a new charter school in East Baton Rouge is expected to open this summer. FUSE’s application to Louisiana officials described its CEO as “Dr. Sharpe.”
Other published documents that refer to Sharpe with the erroneous credential include the memorandum of understanding between the Hartford school system and the charter group for Milner School; the state-approved turnaround plan for Milner; and FUSE’s winter newsletter from a few months ago.
And he was referred to as “Dr. Sharpe” in a statement Wednesday from Donnelly, who said that Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor had been unaware of Sharpe’s criminal record until The Courant began asking questions early this week.
There are no indications that state or city officials ever verified Sharpe’s credentials or ran a criminal background check.
Sharpe said Friday that he does not always correct people who call him “Dr. Sharpe.”
“I’m probably not as aggressive with individuals who keep saying it,” he said.
Nevermind all this fuss about college costs and student debt–just give yourself a title! It’s a lot cheaper.
We just had a school board candidate use the title after getting an honorary award. She used Dr. for so many years, but was only questioned some weeks ago by another younger candidate.
I am supporting George McKenna, a valid PhD educator, in the final runoff election and hope all the LA voters do too.
Interesting story about the board member Ellen. When a college faculty position is posted and requires a doctorate, it is sometimes listed as “an earned doctorate” to distinguish the degree from an honorary one.
Someone called me “sir” the other day. I see a new royal honorific in my future.
CT. is the ‘new New Jersey. It won’t make a damn bit of difference.
Love it john a!
I don’t have a doctorate, but for some reason that I just don’t understand, people keep calling me Dr. Sharpe.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Sharpe
Well, you can have a charter school, anyway. NO, make that three or more charter schools. Take the whole district of Hartford.
Of course, the bigger fraud is that these people are not educators. As Michael Sharpe wrote to staff regarding his latest endeavor–taking over an entire public school–students included, no fixed lotteries to weed out the “problems”–“In a May 26 email obtained by The Courant, Sharpe also was critical of his own leadership, writing to several of his senior administrators: “There is no over arching strategy in play — we are winging it.””
See: http://articles.courant.com/2014-06-16/news/hc-hartford-jumoke-milner–20140616_1_family-urban-schools-hartford-superintendent-christina-kishimoto-school-jobs
Note: many of us public school parents (in distressed districts that have suffered “state takeovers”) have repeatedly demanded that the state take a closer look at these charter schools and their management firms–only to be fobbed off and even insulted. We have also contacted the press on numerous occasions…
Oh, but it’s teacher tenure that’s to blame…
@Mazel. That is very, very funny.
Those of us who began and finished all of our doctoral coursework, but for a variety of different reasons, were unable to finish our dissertations by the deadline, get the title of “All But Dissertation” or ABD. (After our deadlines have passed, this usually means we are ABD for life, unless we start all over, including taking all that coursework again.) While others often refer to us as “Dr.,” we know better than to ever sign our names using that moniker. It doesn’t sound like this guy is even ABD.
ABD is not a title. But if one insists on using it as such, then it really means “Ass-klown By Definition”.
classic: “People started calling me doctor while I was in school, and I have always told people, ‘Don’t do it,’ but it catches on and people just keep doing it.” Darn it– it’s those other people’s fault . . .
cry me a river
I have never heard of that one! When I was still in school, no one made the mistake of thinking I had finished. It took a long time to finish–and then, the only one who ever seems to call me “Dr.” is my mother.
Over at Broad Academy, perhaps they call him Mr. President. Hey, why not?
I can excuse “Mr. President,” based on the precedent of the great Ike Ibeabuchi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ike_Ibeabuchi
In NC, Thom Tillis had to correct himself. He claimed to have graduated from the University of Maryland, but actually graduated from an online institution with a similar name. He, like Mr. Sharpe, said it was an honest mix up, but they both knew exactly what they were doing.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/20/4780499/house-speaker-thom-tillis-forced.html#.U6TeKJRdWSo
It can be difficult to remember where one attended college. I often misspeak and say “Yale” instead of “Wayne State U.” They both have long ‘a’ sounds and I get confused…
It is easy to misspeak. Once at dinner I said to my ex-husband “you ruined my life” when I meant to say “please, pass the salt.” Kidding. I’m a kidder.
The only thing worse than someone with a doctorate who wants to be called “Doctor” is someone without a doctorate who wants to be called “Doctor.”
“The only thing worse than someone with a doctorate who wants to be called ‘Doctor’… ”
A common complaint from lawyers, including those in my family. I think it’s sour grapes, because a JD is virtually the only doctorate in this country that doesn’t call for one who earns it to be automatically called “Doctor.”
The M.D. is the only automatic “Doctor” in America. I’ll abide by that one when I’m referring to them in the third person while making appointments. Otherwise they’re on thin ice, especially if there’s any sign that they want to be called “Doctor.” That goes double for royal honorifics.
That’s just your bias. Universities award “doctorates” in a variety of fields and nearly all who earn them in this country can be automatically called “doctor.” This is especially the case in academic settings, since the word doctor comes from the Latin “docere,” which means to teach.
Doctoral degrees such as the Ph.D. and Ed.D. are terminal degrees. However, the J.D. is not a terminal degree in law; the J.S.D. is the terminal degree in law. That may have something to do with the title being used or not.
Bob makes some good points below. The most I do is place a comma after my name and then the degree, but only on official documents that I use in my profession (i.e. syllabi and articles). The key point is this charter CEO was claiming to have a credential that he didn’t have.
I don’t think it has much to do with what the terminal degree is. Most lawyers don’t even know what a JSD is. In law, the only people who get called by an honorific title are judges.
I was taught, when I was a boy, to have great respect for people with learning. So, when I got to college, I would whip out the honorific when speaking to my professors: “Excuse me, Dr. ______.”
So, one day in my freshman year I had lunch with one of my younger professors and I referred to him as Dr. Agnew, and he laughed at me for doing this. That’s when I learned that one was supposed to downplay this kind of thing–to pretend that one was above placing weight on a mere title. Professor Agnew meant to teach me a lesson, there, but it’s one I refused to learn.
I then noticed that it was mostly only the people in the medical and education schools at my university who routinely referred to themselves as “Doctor.” And it was interesting that the education peopled did this as much as they did. A literature or philosophy professor would almost never refer to himself or herself as “Doctor,” as in, “Hello, I’m Dr. White,” but people in the ed school would do this A LOT.
I soon figured out, however, that use by education people of that honorific wasn’t SIMPLY a matter of vanity, for in education, there are many doors that are simply not open to one who does not have the title. In education, possession of the Ph.D. or Ed.D. is often an explicit or de facto job requirement, so in this field, one cannot signal too early or too often where one stands in the pecking order.
I think that there are also some people who belong to ethnic groups that have in the past been prevented by economic circumstances and by prejudice from pursuing higher education who use the title, once attained, more often than others do for the quite understandable reason of just pride in exemplifying, by their attainment, that those barriers were artificial.
I have long thought that the reverence for learning exemplified by the use of honorifics to distinguish learned persons–Rav, Rebbe, Admor, Maskil–was a great strength of traditional Jewish culture, and I believe that our culture could certainly use a more general honorific, like maskil, meaning “learned person” but not necessarily “person with a degree,” for there are people with degrees who are not learned and there are persons without degrees with vast learning. George Lyman Kittredge never earned a Ph.D., but he was always the brightest guy in the room.
the brightest and most learned guy in the room
At any rate, my point is that we could do with some honorifics that signal respect for learning
As an educator who has taught for many years in both lower ed and higher ed, I have been called by almost every title in the book, as well as no title at all, just my first name. In my experience, the use of some kind of formal title helps students distinguish educators from family and peers, and it aids in garnering respect, even if the title is just Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. I have had significantly fewer issues around students inappropriately crossing boundaries when the policy was that they address teachers by a title, whether they were children or adult students.
Similarly, I think this is one of the reasons why parents have traditionally preferred that their children call them by their role instead of by their first names. It’s one of the ways that children are taught to respect elders.
“. . . like maskil, meaning “learned person” but not necessarily “person with a degree,”
I prefer the honorific initials FT.
FRAUD
Wow… I earned my EdD and my principal never once called me doctor…. Odd…
People should also look at the PhD “dissertation” of “Dr” Steve Perry. It’s an utter travesty and looks like it was written by a diploma mill. The “dissertation” doesn’t even get the names of Perry’s hometown or university– appears to use terms like “Anytown” and “Lexmark University”. Only one faculty signature. No actual research. Awfully suspicious.
Yes, a total fraud. Why are schools allowed to do this? Perry’s Ph.D. was awarded–I’m not sure if that is the correct term in this case, but–by the University of Hartford. I think that some of these institutions, including the online ones, should be investigated.
I agree. The “McPh.D.” seems to be rampant these days.
Reblogged this on ohyesjulesdid and commented:
As usual, the comments are equally rewarding on this piece.
Uh, oh, here’s another place where Michael Sharpe seems to have forgotten to tell those awarding him a “Man of the Year” award that he *never* graduated from NYU and was not a doctor… what an oversight (I am wondering about his other degrees). Maybe he should be stripped of this award? I note that he enjoys “cruising in warm climates”–sounds a lot better than doing time in the pen. Or actually working for a living.
Click to access Sharpe.pdf
This ct.gov entry states his schools has the highest math and writing scores of any school district in the state. What? He beat Greenwich, Darien, Simsbury, Farmington. I don’t think so. We better screen capture that now. It will be gone tomorrow.
Lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
The PDF (which, being a PDF, can simply be saved without doing a screen capture), says, “Jumoke Academy’s middle and elementary
schools were cited for three consecutive years as
one of the top ten performing urban schools in the State of Connecticut.” So, the claim is not that it has the highest math and writing scores of any district in the state. There is, however, an agreement error in that sentence from the PDF, which should have read, “schools . . . are among the top ten.” Still, the stat is a bit vague. However, if these schools are getting those kinds of results, that’s interesting. Does anyone know whether this claim is true?
I was equally suspicious about his other degrees also. I wonder if The Courant checked them out. I did a cursory search and learned that he has a Masters in psychology (1997) from Norwich University. Another site said he had it in family therapy from NU. In checking NU website, they don’t seem to have those majors for a masters degree. And they are all online. Makes one wonder about the Columbia degree. He’s established a pattern of dishonesty, to put it mildly.
Do you think the other prisoners called him doctor?
Oh, snap!
Only when they wanted their prostates checked.
But were people calling him “Doctor” sarcastically…….???
Bill Cosby is a “Doctor” and he affiliates himself with Students First Students First. He knows not what he does.
The testing claims are somewhat true for the past three or four years. Not the best every year, but certainly competitive.
http://solutions1.emetric.net/cmtpublic/CMTCode/Report.aspx
Credit goes to the teachers at Jumoke. Make no mistake, their students’ accomplishments are made despite leadership, not because of it. I would also check into admissions procedures at this school. Lottery? Hardly.
Dr. Who?
If anyone is interested, here is a table that includes a breakdown of he number of doctoral degrees broken down by discipline.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_290.asp
The charter group has received $53 million in state grants since its founding, according to the state.
And in April, with Pryor’s recommendation, the State Board of Education approved a new, start-up charter school in New Haven that FUSE will run in partnership with a local pastor. Booker T. Washington Academy is scheduled to open soon.
FUSE also has plans to run an elementary school in East Baton Rouge, La., starting this coming school year.
Despite the expansion, Sharpe wrote to several of his senior administrators in a May 26 email obtained by The Courant: “There is no overarching strategy in play — we are winging it.”
Sharpe told The Courant recently that his FUSE salary was about $180,000. He has been living in one of FUSE’s buildings on Asylum Avenue, paying about $1,000 in monthly rent, he said.
Link next, he resigned…..living in the building, paying rent? Sure.
Sharpe resigns: http://touch.courant.com/#section/2224/article/p2p-80582252/
Look out Louisiana, he’s coming.