The 22-year-old who received a charter from the New York Board of Regents said he graduated Rochester’s School Without Walls when he was 16, received an online bachelor’s degree at 18, then earned a master’s and doctorate in four years.
The following email just arrived:
Hi Diane.
I was the principal of Rochester, New York’s School Without Walls from 1987 to 2010. Ted Morris, the young man awarded permission to open a charter school in Rochester, NY, and claiming to be a graduate of School Without Walls in 2008, attended SWW for less than a year and then voluntarily left to be home schooled. He never graduated nor received a diploma from School Without Walls.
Dan Drmacich
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m wondering when we the public will put a stop to the defunding of public education through charter schools. There may be some legitimate charter schools, but for the most part, the people involved sound like boiler room salesman selling penny stocks.
Why is it the responsibility of poor families to sacrifice the education of their children for the benefit of public education? Why aren’t you viciously tearing into the affluent families that choose to enroll their children in private schools? Or families that can afford to move next to a high preforming school? It is sick that continuously we target poor familes who try and offer their children a solution to a failing school. How many of YOUR children attend a failing urban school? Why don’t you start there. You want bright kids in failing schools then offer up your own and stop preying your comments on families who are just trying to keep their kids safe and don’t have the $ to move or enroll in private school.
Yes, Casey. My kids go to a neighborhood public school in Chicago. Can you tell me why my family’s regular neighborhood school should suffer year-after-year of budget cuts so you you can have “choice” and funds are diverted to the charter profiteers – so they can do their real-estate investment magic? Meanwhile the publics still outperform the charters, even with all their “free-market” advantages. Every year the public school budgets are slashed and the charters get bigger and bigger pieces. Why are the charters failing, yet still getting more money and preference? I suggest YOU start there.
Casey, go educate yourself.
Casey,
Does it bother you that he lied about his education?
Why should poor people be stuck with liars and “choice” when we have enough money to institute free preschool in this country for all chasten and a rich curriculum, taught via educated, well prepared teachers?
Why don’t you want that for poor families and why would you hope to enrich hedge fund managers and lying 22 year olds at the expense of children?
Actually, we do tear into those who send their kids to private schools. Because they’re the same people who insist that public ed is failing though they have never experienced it on any level. Because they refuse to educate their kids in front of computers and do education on the cheap at their private schools like they insist upon in so many charter schools.
Also, remember Casey, private schools have never been politicized. They have never been a tool for union-busting and enriching their “investors.” I live in Michigan where 80% of the charters are for-profit. As far as I recall, places like Country Day and Catholic Central aren’t for-profit.
I don’t have kids, but your idea of choice is a false narrative. Charter schools do no better than public schools on average. So I guess I don’t see where the choice is actually a choice.
“Failing schools” is a bogus term. We have long known that the problem is poverty and that it’s not just poor students in the US who fail. The achievement gap between lower income and higher income students exists in EVERY country: http://www.epi.org/blog/international-tests-achievement-gaps-gains-american-students/
The false “failing schools” narrative is an excuse to not deal with poverty and a phony rationale for privatizing public education. That benefits no one more than profiteers. And, clearly, these days, social entrepreneurs are aiming to start on the path to riches from tax payer dollars at younger and younger ages.
My kids go to “failing schools,” “focus school,” “persistently lowest achieving schools” or whatever the word of the day is, in New York State. Yes, there is a lot our schools need to do better so that our graduation rate reaches something higher than 60%. But the charter schools are definitely not helping. I go to Board meeting after Board meeting (by the way, our local charter schools do not advertise their board meetings, post their documents to the web, or allow the public to sit in, so I have no way to compare what happens there and what happens on our public Board of Ed). I see them spending lots of resources trying to figure out things like staffing, space and supplies because there is so much uncertainty with the charters. We had several open in five years when there hadn’t been a peep about them a few years before. We closed a middle school to save money now that there were fewer students. But then two closed and a number started accepting fewer students. More students started leaving charters, and now our district has experienced a 25% increase in students over the past 6 years. Tell me how all that is helping the students? And when the Board has to focus on something so practical, such as where they are going to put all these students, how can they focus on more lofty ideals?
Susan, You are engaged in the good fight and the involvement of parents like you is the only way we are going to win this war that politicians and corporate profiteers have waged on our schools, So keep on keeping on. And thank you ever so much!
soon I hope.
Thank you…and maybe they will stop the reformers when they KNOW ABOUT them. We read it here every day but who else does? Where is it in the press? Have you ever tried to talk about all this with any one? They often look at you like your a conspiracy nut…but they did they same thing to the people who said manufacturing was being sold off and dismantled…do we remember that? Well in hindsight we do but I definitely didn’t see it as it was happening…same thing. It’s the old ball under cup con game…distract everyone over here (like with news about a trumped up war) then steal their school board out from under their noses..and then their schools.
See the amazing resume of this charter whiz kid at Mercedes Schneider’s website.
And his degree? And Masters? Can they also be checked?
And in any case, would any 22 year old be capable of running a school well?
Two excellent questions. Were his advanced degrees from accredited institutions? Thesis? Dissertation? Time for some accountability!
And how do these agencies/organizations (like the New York Board of Regents) VET the applicants, anyway!?!?
Roll of the dice? Voo doo? Poo poo?
This one is pretty bold, isn’t it?
Tea leaves maybe?
Nah, I’ve got it.
Entrails of some sacrificed beast.
Yup, that’s it!
Your move, Western Governors and Concordia!
This is why schools need walls.
hahaha!
Doors, too.
lol
In answer to your question Kate, I would say in about five to ten years when they have completely gotten rid of all actual public education.
By then the snake oil salesmen claiming to be :”reformers” will have made their money and absconded. The nation will be outraged by the uneducated masses and demand reform, which will look more like what we had prior to the current “reform” -which is primarily about “reforming” the bank accounts of a select few at the expense of taxpayer money.
It takes all kinds doesn’t it…not even Bill Gates graduated…and how many others either. Certainly, I’m not a charter school advocate, and he shouldn’t have lied, but that doesn’t make him any less intelligent. Those who would consider sending their children to his school would have to judge for themselves his worth, and his school’s worth too.
I’m 66 can I open three charters?
that is awesome Linda. I can open 2.4 apparently. Do we get an extra campus if we have attended actual, real brick and mortar schools for our graduate work lol?
What in his idea shows intelligence and ingenuity that merits taking from the poor and disenfranchised schools in the same area. Could you outline what specifically about his idea, you find worthy of such merit that nobody should be unwilling to give him the money to start this endeavor? I am just curious.
He’s a proven liar. Why should he be trusted with our children and our tax-funding so parents can “judge for themselves his worth.” Maybe we should let Bonnie and Clyde open a charter school and let parents “judge for themselves” their worth?
And what’s wrong with that?
You’re anti-American!
C’mon. This is education 2014.
Great approach. Can I be a physician along those lines? I am reasonable intelligent and could give it a try. Seems transparency of information is an important aspect of judging worth. What of those kids experimented on for a couple years before the reality hits?
MathVale,
If you have an M.D. I am sure you could be licensed to practice medicine.
“If you had a M.D., you could be licensed”.
Licensure is anathema to the Tea Party.
Linda,
I think the opposition to licensing revolves more around hair braiding licenses than physicians.
te,
Consistently, you’re wrong. Licensure is now porous, like the standards for economic research by academicians, receiving funding and employment from plutocrats. Anesthesiologists “oversee” multiple semi-professionals, administering surgical sedatives, simultaneously, in multiple hospitals, geographically spread out across a region. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacists perform functions, once limited to M.D.’s. …
Bill Gates has a high school diploma from an expensive private school, and did not graduate from HARVARD. “Dr.” Morris’ credentials are wee bit less impressive.
Why should he do it on my dime? Let him open a private school.
And why not the citizens whose taxes will pay for ‘his’ school, Elin48? You make it sound as if the school will exist in a vacuum and that the sole question is whether it will work or not. Large sums of money will be taken away from existing public schools that already provide all the services required of any child who shows up to attend.
I am not comfortable with my tax money going to fund experimental schools that have no evidence of working. Why am I not allowed to judge?
So many charter and reform advocates act as if teachers don’t pay taxes, don’t have children, don’t live in communities, and therefore, don’t have a voice in this ‘debate’. Wrong on all counts.
Okay that is it: I am opening a charter, and staffing it with y’all.
It will be called the “Not Really a Public School, But We Are Going To Try To Operate It Like One” Charter, and we can all work at it, teach as in the days when there was no canned curriculum, and no constant push to utilize tech every 3 minutes.
We can all create our own lessons, and our kids will come from all walks of life: we can maybe even go out of the way to get non-involved parents, to offset the involved ones that will apply to our charter.
After several years, we will be outperforming the other public schools still, due to our advantage ( culled from probably some of the parents who will be more involved). We can then MOVE IN to a distressed public school, to CO-LOCATE.
This is when it gets cool.
Then we will just quietly LEAVE! Just sneak out the back door and not mention to the kids that they are back in a public school. Hopefully nobody might notice for a few months.
Suddenly, there will be a chunk of kids that will have been given time (prior) to really learn, and some parents who are involved that came with them, and they will be secretly absorbed into the distressed school. The teachers will love us, and then they won’t close for bad test scores, because “our” kids will save them for another year.
We could be like the Robin Hood of charters.
Okay, I am just a little loopy from the exhausting dance of the lemons that just is revealed everyday in this blog, and I felt like just busting loose with my crazy 40 something year old ideas. But that is my idea.
Funny!
TOT,
Let’s set up a national chain. We have plenty of real degrees to spare. I am working myself out of a job so this opportunity couldn’t come at a better time.
NJ: what about international and expand to Chile?;)
We could streamline the process with a drive through window for diplomas and advanced degrees! “Would you like a summa cum laude with that?”
LOL Martin!
Careful, Dan. The edudeformers may come after you for disclosing “confidential” educational related information about a student. Maybe FLERP! will help defend you!
Could start a new charter chain: Charter Here – Gone Tomorrow Charters!
Located in old empty shopping strips with drive-thru windows for drop off & pick-up of little ones.
The new movie, Nightcrawler, comes to mind.
Sent from my iPhone
>
Nightcrawlers make great bait!
Can we still call him “Dr.” Morris?
I’m thinking of calling the Regent for Monroe County. I have just one question for her/him: “W. T. F.??”
Rochester City Schools have been struggling for years and cannot afford to lose one single dime to this sham of a charter.
I hope that Mr. Drmacich will publicize his letter to Diane in the Rochester newspapers. I also hope that it will motivate someone, anyone, in Rochester to do proper investigation into “Dr.” Morris’ credentials and the affiliation between this school and religious organizations.
BTW, as of this evening, the comments on the Democrat and Chronicle story are running about 2-1 against this school and charters in general.
The link has been taken down.
It should still come up if you search “Morris”. Or, try Googlizing.
After Mercedes’ post was published, Dr. Morris’s Linked-in profile was removed.
I think Christine means the link to the Democrat and Chronicle article.
But, yes, isn’t it simply amazing how fast the Linkedin profile disappeared?
Heh, heh, FLERP, good job! I *heart* the Interwebz, sometimes anyway.
The D&C article was back up this morning.
Thst a good question for all of them
This story just gets more and more amazing
Mercedes Schneider did additional research on the amazing Mr. Morris, who has accomplished so much in his 22 years: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/who-is-new-york-regents-charter-approved-ted-j-morris-jr/
Just as I figured. The kid is definitely going to get some jail time by the time all this smoke clears, if not some serious prison time. This is a FELONIOUS FRAUD of the highest order! I wish everybody will just shut up for a WHOLE MONTH and stop flapping around in all directions (like chickens with their heads cut off) so that the REAL problems in U.S. K-12 education can be identified and resolved. Everybody has spun their wheels since CCSS was introduced, scuttering into every ad hominem rabbit hole in sight without any real solutions to speak of, while a 22 year old high school dropout has managed to pull a hat trick of a lifetime on all of you! It’s time for everyone to STFU because WE created this 22 year old monster!
Please speak for yourself, corneliusoluseyiogunsalu, and try to place blame where it is due, instead of scapegoating us.
We did not create “this 22 year old monster” and many people here have been involved in busting the myth about him. Morris, and those who aided in fabricating his persona in order to open this charter, are NOT likely to be charged with the fraud they have perpetuated either. When was the last time you heard of charter scammers getting jail time, even when they have taken millions of tax payer dollars?
It’s neoliberal economic policies and the bipartisan politicians and corporate leaders that push the fallacy that free markets can do no wrong who are culpable, not the masses who are the victims of such “pay to play” and “greed is good” policies.
We may be missing THE POINT: this 22year old met the Obama/Duncan/Gates College & Career Ready criteria – just like TFA. Once mastered, according to the Reformers’ criteria…the World is their oyster, or to the charter of their taking.
Our children are up for grabs because school attendance is compulsory.
Brace yourselves, folks. Harlan is back, and elininating compulsory education is an aim of Tea Partiers, such as Utah Senator Aaron Osmond: http://aattp.org/surprise-utah-teapublican-wants-to-end-mandatory-education/
Where’s HU?
Gee, Mercedes
Why don’t you publish the kid’s genome sequence while you are at it?
I cannot wait until you perform some more exploratory surgery and find out more about this child’s education. This is sad and intriguing.
I meant this “man-child’s” education.
Next thing you know, the Regents will be granting charters to just about anyone with any credentials.
The Regents: “Do you have a pulse? Fine! You’ll do! Now step right up and grab a charter!”
Yes, I was asking myself the same thing about Harlan.
I thought – I hate to say this – that he had died.
The irony is that in his bio, it says he is a lover of the French language and culture.
Given his Tea Party antics, the French would eat him and bury him alive in one day.
Sorry, you’re right. I should have said the ghost of Harlan is back.
Robert Rendo,
I’m curious about the knowledge, grit and work experience, of the person who provided the home schooling for him.
Linda, I don’t think there was enough time for Morris to have been home schooled for any length of time, if he dropped out of high school after less than a year at age 16 and then earned a 4 year college degree 2 years later at Western Governors University (WGU).
WGU accepts students at age 16. http://www.wgu.edu/admissions/requirements
It sounds to me like he probably planned to go there with a mommy-made high school diploma. (There was likely enabling but no grit there.)
Brookings should publish research, that exposes the lack of economic benefit, from the “grit” of hedge funders (for anyone except themselves). The parallel example of managers, in privatized and corporatized schools, who provide no benefit, for their “grit”, should attract researchers to the costs of misguided “grifters”.
Cosmic Thinker,
“mommy-made high school diploma”-perfectly stated.
Thanks, Linda. Unfortunately, I think that practice is very easy to do, and it has become increasingly more common as a result of the campaign to trash public schools.
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” [Mark Twain]
So the 22-year-old “Dr.” joins the ranks of “Dr.” John Deasy and “Dr.” Steve Perry and “Dr.” Terence Carter? Get outta here! Next thing you know, someone will be telling me that Michelle Rhee didn’t really take “her” [forget that pesky co-teacher!] students from the 13th to the 90th percentile. And that John Deasy’s boasts of a 12% increase in graduation rates was really 2% when you leave out all those pesky rate suppressors he is so passionate about. And that talk of mid-year dumps by charter schools and huge admin salaries by charter operatives and attrition rates of charter cohorts that make a mockery of 100% graduation rates—that’s all smoke and mirrors?
What’s a person to believe nowadays if you can’t put faith in the leaders and enablers of the self-styled “new civil rights movement of our time”?
😎
“Whatever Works Charter”
Dr. Charter, I presume?
Yes, of course, you may assume
My motto is “Whatever Works”
For greater pay and greater perks
Good one! Could you write one for me when I leave Texas? I prefers sestinas.
Thanks again, poet, the beauty of brevity strikes again. I was suspicious of a doctorate by 22. It normally takes 2 to 5 years to complete a doctorate with a dissertation, my last thesis took a year to complete, then comprehensives to defend….you all get the picture.
Where can I buy my doctorate?
There are lots of places, and they have sales right now.
Grab your credit card (“credit” takes on a whole new meaning) and shop till you drop.
Donna,
Which lane would Ted Morris begin in under the union contract in, say, Chicago? Would the taxpayers have to pay more to him than a more experienced teacher without a doctorate?
WTF???
Dienne,
Ted Morris’ doctorate is worth an extra 10 to 12 thousand dollars a year in salary in CPS. Different school districts are likely to put different values on the degree.
TE, I live in NJ, not Chicago. I know that my daughter’s teaching credentials aren’t worth much here. She is making less this year than she did last. Startling.
This is a hoot … I bet the 22 year old kid can’t even write a REAL research paper not to talk of a doctoral thesis to be defended. I wonder who are the REAL deep pockets hiding behind this goofball. I am African American!!! So he did not graduate from the HS he claimed he graduated from at 16 and I can bet there will be vast discrepancies in his BS, MA and EdD degrees.
Again with the harping on corporate reformers just because they tell a few little lies to help them get into positions where they can help kids. To paraphrase Stephen Colbert, the truth has a known anti-reform bias.
Reality really doesn’t care much for the reformers either! Thanks for the reminder Werebat
The math just doesn’t compute. Plus think of what Morris has modeled for his charter high school students:
Drop out of high school after one year and claim you are going to be homeschooled. Then immediately go to online universities, where you can earn a 4 year bachelor’s degree in 2 years, a masters degree in 2 years and a doctorate in 2 years –all in different fields. This is neither credible nor sustainable. It really sounds like a scam.
It’s the new math! It compukes!
Didn’t Chicago’s dearly beloved Jean Claude Brizard hail from Rochester? As if he wasn’t bad enough, now Rochester has to deal with this shyster? Well, in any case, just please don’t send him to Chicago, thanks!
Yes, Brizard is the former SOS of the RCSD.
“Come on, folks! You don’t seem to understand this is a Union set up to make us, THE new 21st civil rights activists look bad. It’s a set up. We will find out who’s behind this and make them pay, right Arne*!?!”
Signed
John
Michelle
Kevin
Steve
Terrence
*Arne’s response: “Huh, what, where’s my script?”
Oh my! I am at a lost for words. This country is definitely drinking poison to quench thirst, as Yong Zhao said to me. The thirst is, of course, money and power at the cost of our young and the future of this country. Just so sad.
Relax. The fight’s just starting.
I keep waiting and waiting for religious bigots teachingeconomist and Joe Nathan to show up to defend this poor, beset young lad, telling us why te’s son didn’t get to take advanced calculus as a freshmen but at this school he could’ve learned all about it via online videos and JN telling us about a public school in some obscure, rural county that was run by a young principal so charters too!
I guess they are both busy doing other things . . . .
Chris,
I am still curios about why you think I am a religious bigot. What post concerns you?
My middle son did take 13 hours of calculus while a high school student at the local university. His friend, who could not afford the tuition as a special student, learned linear algebra using MIT’s open course ( http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-spring-2010/ )
It is likely, TE, that Chris left out the commas in the series. Because of this, Chris probably doesn’t see you as a religious bigot.
By the way, did you happen to see that shiny pebble over there? It was dazzling.
TE, I am done with you. You have no moral or ethical compass.
I cannot express how strongly I agree with this, Diane. You’ve been patient for far longer than I.
Oh, Diane.
Just make believe TE is a soccer ball, and you are going to kick him so hard that that from meters and meters away, he flies right into the goal net.
SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TE, you need therapy far more than you need to let other people know what is going on in that TE head of yours. . . . .
I don’t need to pull a cop-out Dear Abby on you, but you need to seek professional help.
FLERP, if you join TE, you may be able to get two for the price of one. See if Angie’s list has any promos on joint analysis . . . . You never know. This is America, and everything is for sale.
Robert, I have to agree, and I have said the same thing before as well: Get professional help, TE!
It’s what I used to scorn Abigail Van Buren for: It was a limited menu response of either “MYOB” or “Seek professional help”. . . . I always thought what anyone could say that and get $300,000 a year in syndication fees.
What a gig . . .
I really hope that means good riddance, because TE has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no moral compass on sooooo many matters!
That very well may be. However, in Chris’s above comment, there is no doubt that it is a series (noun, noun, noun). I suppose your point might be valid if you were Joe Nathan, too.
I suggest you stick to what was written here and not pour salt on old wounds.
TE,
Sounds like you are throwing a fit because you are still being bothered by an issue you don’t like? You never know why you are being called out–not once but many times. And every time you are stinking about the issues including school system, choice, accountability, etc., you just simply get caught deep in a mud. As many of us here point out, you clearly have a problem with moral compass because of your smoke-screening tactic. It quite resembles with the typical behavior of culture vultures, toadies, and apologists(edupologists) elsewhere across the nation and other continent (not limited to education, but virtually, in general).
TE,
I feel sorry for your son, and you, and your whole pathetic, the-blog-virtual-world-is-my-main-source-of-socialization existence.
Find the kiddies a foster home and ask for them back once you have proven you are more than a life-size cardboard cutout with a looping tape recorder behind it that never turns off . . . .
If you were blocked from this blog, it would be a worthy and even pragmatic violation of blog etiquette and fairness.
Sometimes, life should not be equitable and democratic . . . . . .
We have work to do here, and since your parents refuse to pick you up and keep you in the living room, we will have to throw you out of the kitchen because, understand, TE, we adults handling knives and hot items on the stove cannot afford to have you around whining and pulling on our aprons all the time.
We don’t want to get distracted because making diner every night is a serious task. . . . and we don’t want you or ourselves to get hurt.
Therefore, you and your no-parenting skills parents should be asked to leave the dinner party . . . . . . We will show you three the door . . . .
Robert, Yes, I think TE was blocked, due to an offensive post that has since been removed. It was a repeat of a prior incident in which he challenged Diane’s integrity through his typical insidious questioning. He was extraordinarily insensitive and it was personal, so for him to rehash it was crossing the line one too many times. I think he made it clear lately that he had it in for her. She put up with a lot and did not deserve to be treated that way.
In Mr. Dr. Morris’s defense, I haven’t seen any clear evidence that he lied about his diploma. The only place I saw a statement that he “graduated” from SWW was the news story about the grant of the charter. Conceivably, the reporter got that wrong and it was an innocent mistake to be soon clarified by a correction….
So the next time you need open heart by pass, please go visit a 22- year-old surgeon with shady credentials.
I’m sure your life, which I certainly value, will be in excellent hands.
I encourage you to sign up for a visit should you ever have clogged arteries. He’ll probably accept all major credit cards in case the ACA does not cover you enough.
In this poorly constructed analogy, does Flerp get to sue individual teachers for negligence and malpractice, too? Cool!
It’s weird, encouraging me to go to a 22-year-old surgeon with shady credentials for open heart surgery. I’ts almost as if he doesn’t like me. On the other hand, he says he values my life. I just don’t know what to think!
Too late. Diane had a writing from a school principal who had ‘Doctor’ Morris at the SWW. Case closed.
Right, that’s the point of the post to which all these comments are attached. My point was about whether Morris himself actually said he graduated from the school.
Actually, charter school advocates should be beside themselves over this application approval. It makes their choice options look incredibly bad. Even charter advocate “Tim” noted the prior rejections, board weaknesses and application flaws of this charter proposal.
Here’s what the regents’ approval of Morris’s charter school really seems to say: Anybody (ANYBODY!) can start and open a charter school.
If it turns out that the applicant substantially fudged his CV, I am pretty sure that the charter will be revoked, the decision will be supported by the charter community, and there will be pressure applied to the Board of Regents to look at whatever’s causing them to green-light a turkey every now and then.
I will say, though, that this sort of “risk” is part of the deal when it comes to “mom and pop”/community charters.
Fair enough. Of course, I would argue that the risk threshold should be pretty strict when it comes to education. When looking at the particulars, it appears to me that constructing an application would be relatively easy.
Find an example of an acceptable application. Use it as a template. (Probably even get assistance from that state’s version of Association of Public School Academies.) Get a few investors on board. Voila, anyone can start a mom/pop charter.
Also, if the CV is fudged or suspicious, then the Board of Regents should be taken to task for not doing the research that people like Mercedes Schneider did in about an hour.
Is Ted Morris really claiming to be co-CEO of a brain injury center at age 11?
That’s the best laugh line on this thread, Tim! What world do you live in? False credentials, scams, grifting, and general sleazy dealings are the hallmark of the charter industry and across the country Boards overlook all of this disgusting refuse because they were elected to do so.
Steve, Morris claims he was assistant CEO of the Hickok Center for Brain Injury from 2010 – 2013, which would have occurred when he was 18 – 21 years old, and that he was Chief Operating Officer of Christian Faith Centers from 2003 – 2010, when he would have been ages 11-18. Take a look here: http://i.imgur.com/xGohi4g.jpg
In case anyone is interested, here is the link to the actual School Without Walls (which has, in fact, an actual address and walls!).
http://www.rcsdk12.org/swwcommencement
This young man’s web presence reads like an entirely manufactured reality. Might it be satirical? While reading it, I thought about the Yes! Men, that hysterical comedy troupe wrecking havoc on corporate America. Morris’ bio also brought to mind the hilarious website “Last Stand for Children First”, maintained by one Myron Miner and featuring the fictional congressman, Jack Kimble.
http://laststand4children.blogspot.com
Maybe our Dr. Morris runs with the same crowd and is pulling a fast one on a remarkably tone deaf bureaucracy.
Just another example of the great background check that the N.Y.S. Board Of Regents has done in hiring our wonderful fearless leaders.
THE LATEST NEWS as of Turkey Day:
As many here predicted, New York State Regent Meryl Tisch has just told reporter Justin Murphy that Morris’ fraud is no big deal, and that Greater Works Charter School will still be opening, albeit without Morris.
As for anyone being held accountable for Morris’ fraud going undetected, that’s no big deal, either. Tisch hedged on implicating anyone on any level. In short, nothing really serious went wrong here, and whatever did go wrong was nobody’s fault anyway… so let’s all just move on, now, shall we?
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/11/26/merryl-tisch-regents-ted-morris-charter-school/19549033/
——————————-
“A day after 22-year-old charter school founder Ted Morris Jr. resigned precipitously after lies were discovered on his résumé, state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch deflected blame for the charter’s approval and said the school, without its founder, should still open next fall.
” … ”
“Tisch said the board only sees applications after they’ve been recommended by the state Education Department, suggesting it wasn’t the members’ normal responsibility to vet them for errors.
” ‘When it comes to the board, it comes with an endorsement from (NYSED) and the local regents,’ she said. ‘What we hear is whether … they’ve put together a sound application. There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, and I think people in (NYSED) need to address that with you.’
“Bill Clarke, the director of the NYSED charter school office, was not available for comment. A NYSED spokesman said no one else would be available either because of the snow descending on Albany.
“Two of the state Regents are based in Rochester, Andrew Brown and Wade Norwood. In a statement released Tuesday before Morris’ resignation, Brown said:
” ‘We rely on a considerable amount of data and information provided by applicants, along with conducting many in-person interviews before reaching a decision. If it were to turn out that we were deliberately provided misleading information by an applicant, that would of course call for further review of the issuance of the charter.’
“Neither he nor Norwood responded to a request for further comment Wednesday. Tisch hedged in implicating them:
” ‘I believe Regent Brown and Regent Norwood were kept in the loop with this charter school coming forward, and the issue of (Morris’ biographical information) did not surface.
“Greater Works’ new board chairman, Keuka College education professor Peter Kozik, said the school still intends to open in the fall, and Tisch said she believes that is proper.
” ‘We weren’t granting the charter to a person; we were granting it to a board entity,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen other circumstances where board members come and go, but if the focus on instruction and curriculum is sound, you have real potential to have a good school.’ ”
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My prediction: once a comfortable amount of time has passed and the spotlight’s off, Morris will be re-hired, and back in the Greater Works fold, with a fancy title and a six-figure salary…. and there’s nothing anyone can do to prevent this.
To Regent Tish… (or any NY Regent reading this)
Ted Morris, Jr. gave an interview to Leslie Brown at “Unhyphenated America.” Unlike in the slick presentation he gave or in the charter application he presented, Morris let his hair down and gave the true details of how the Greater Works Charter School would be operating
What Morris shared sounds like the recipe for an unmitigated disaster.
Look what Greater Works has in store for their future students and the Rochester community!
With or without Morris, this is what’s ahead.
When Greater Works CC does open, most of the teachers that you’d see as a traditional high school won’t be there (SEE BELOW).
No, they will be replaced by computers, while those few teachers remaining won’t have to “waste hours of time” creating those antiquated “lesson plans.”
It’s genius!!! Pure genius!!!
With his “freshly-minted Ph.D”, Ted will be—er… was formerly going to be until he resigned—putting all his skills to use, skills so lacking in older members of “academia”… such as… “logic.”
From this Greater Works Charter school promotion puff piece on “Unhyphenated Americ”: (what follows is real, NOT a parody)
“http://unhyphenatedamerica.org/2014/11/25/greater-works-than-libs-by-age-22/”
———————————–
LESLIE BROWN:
“The (Greater Works) school will be largely computer-based, which will free the teachers up for one-on-one tutorials where needed. Hmm, no time wasted literally writing HOURS worth of lesson plans, like 34, or so a week…. I’m just sayin’.
“For some reason, libs are not too ‘keen’ on charter schools. One can ‘choose’ whether to grant life to a kid that would potentially attend the school, but not allow said kid, or parent a choice in selecting the school.
“Got it?
“Ted Morris is a freshly-minted Ph.D., and he has that oh-so-rare attribute largely lacking in academia; ummmm, LOGIC! He will be opening this charter school in Rochester, New York, in 2015.
“ ‘I remember being in school and feeling I was a bit more advanced and (not having enough options),’ Morris said. ‘I wanted to grow up and open a school that’s predicated on each student’s needs and interests. … I did it sooner than I expected.’
“Instead of funneling all of the students towards college, the school will also encourage the military or other career choices. F.Y.I. our ‘trade’ industries are really lacking trained workers which is why former Texas gubernatorial candidate Tom Pauken brought attention to that matter.
“It will be called Greater Works Charter School, accepting about 100 ninth-graders in its first year and eventually expanding to about 400 students in grades 9-12.”
Read more at http://unhyphenatedamerica.org/2014/11/25/greater-works-than-libs-by-age-22/#hbz1V3RMIcDJbQjC.99
———————–
Gosh, if only I had high school-aged kids… I’d be signing them up for Greater Works so fast…
Well, we seem to have a pure incarnation of so-called education reform: fraudulent and deceptive, utterly inexperienced in the claimed field of expertise, a fount of insipid talking points and cliches, and granted public funds on a seeming whim.
Congratulations, NYS Regents, you’ve set a standard that, though it might be hard to sink beneath, will no doubt provide perverse inspiration for others to surpass, and yet more evidence that satire can never hope to catch up with reality.
This should be interesting. Young kid. Difficulty with the facts and perhaps comprehension. Isn’t there a stamen box or tic. Submitted under penalty of perjury? The facts and statements above are true and factual?If not – there needs to be one.
This: Isn’t there a stamen box or tic. should be: Isn’t there a statement box or tic that reads: submitted under penalty of perjury? The facts and statements above are true and factual?
“Dr.” Morris has been doing some online fundraising also.
http://www.gofundme.com/greaterworks
The thought has crossed my mind that “Dr.” Morris might in fact an online creation, a virtual web persona assembled by the charter backers.
Do I understand correctly, that school administrators, who take tax money, under a false pretense, by providing false credentials and experience, face no criminal charges for their harm to students or taxpayers… , while a law was passed that made it, illegal for a public school teacher, to change student test scores? Similarly, no law was passed that made it illegal for a state administrator to upgrade the scores of charter schools (Indiana) to mislead the public?
If Americans expect fairness, in the courts or legislature, that ship sailed. And if they live in Christie’s N.J., they can’t even use the highways and bridges they paid for.
This absurd story brings me back to the moment I read a related story about Doctor Guest, who fabricated his academic credentials at the university academic conference:
For the story, go to http://www.debito.org/?p=7850:
And here are the sound bites that embellish the context with a theatrical amusement.
[audio src="http://www.debito.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/mikeguestUBC112010.mp3" /]
[audio src="http://www.debito.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/doctorguest112010.mp3" /]
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
“The Charter”
A CV thrice his age
With “Wow’s” on every page
With naught to do
At twenty two
A Charter for the Age
This young man is indeed a prodigy: http://www.offspringscharities.org/Pages/Facilitators.aspx
Note this: ” Breaking through the chains of poverty, I graduated from Penn Foster High School . . . .”
Penn Foster is an online school. I applied to teach there and was surprised to discover that the positions for teachers were as “graders,” so I didn’t pursue it.
I don’t know. Too many hinky signs for me, like how come that job is not listed on his LinkedIn page?
Also, I’ve been poor a long time and I’ve worked with a lot of others “in the chains of poverty” and none of us have families that own restaurants.
Well, read it here: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/11/25/questions-raised-year-old-charter-founder/70096942/
This kid is a LIAR. Period. He must be charming tho, because the lies don’t matter.
Well, that’s that, then.
Flerp! How did you access that picture of the LinkedIn page for Morris? I saw other things on there yesterday that are not on the one you provided. Is it possible to find the earlier version?
It’s a screenshot from yesterday. I suspect that page has seen a lot of revisions over the last 24 hours.
Possibly an earlier version might show the Internet Archive’s “wayback machine.”
might “show up in,” that is.
Thanks, Flerp!
OK, The problem is that you did not click the arrows that show more of his Groups, so I just did that and I have proof of another lie:
“in the resume he submitted to get that position, obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle, he claimed he had bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Almeda University, an unaccredited online school in Idaho.
That apparently isn’t true. He said Tuesday he’d never heard of that school and didn’t know why it was on his resume.”
Look at the following screenshot of his LinkedIn page and, under the Groups that he belongs to, you will see Almeda University: http://imgur.com/WJJay9l
Could someone please point out this lie to the Democrat & Chronicle? Their Comments section requires Facebook and I don’t do Facebook
@Reteach, if you can’t comment on the article because of FB, you can email editors or reporters.
Morris is truly a Wunderkind, not.
Good idea, Sharon in NYS! I had thought I couldn’t do that either because I haven’t been able to access my email for a long time, but I did just finally remember my password so I sent the reporter a note. Thanks!
I’m thinking fraud. I wonder how that looks on a resume? Oh that gap? Well I was a guest of the state and the Feds. See I caught this charge and ….. But, then he can be a prison and re-entry coach and even a motivational speaker.
I especially liked these two sentences, Donna: “That apparently isn’t true. He said Tuesday he’d never heard of that school and didn’t know why it was on his resume.”
How did that get on my resume? It’s those damn resume fairies again! Ugh!!!
Someone who has never heard of Almeda is not likely to include it on their LinkedIn page as one of the Groups they belong to, as Morris did: http://imgur.com/WJJay9l
I think this is the most telling statement of all in tonight’s D&C article:
“But Kristin Rapp, the founder of Sparq Rochester, said Morris was an ineffective leader in that organization who alienated many of his early supporters.
“He definitely has talent and abilities, but he’s really interested in that CEO lifestyle, and he’s not ready for what he wants,” she said.”
Note the other Groups Morris belongs to on his LinkedIn page, including the “Think and Grow Rich” book group, which was inspired by Andrew Carnegie. Nothing like planning to get rich quick off tax dollars by emulating a robber baron!
But I don’t think Morris could have pulled this off alone. Look at all the supporters on his LinkedIn page who rated his “Top Skills” and those who provided recommendations. They, the charter’s board and the Regents are just as suspicious as Morris and should all be investigated for the roles they played in perpetuating this fraud.
This one’s reminiscent of The Office. “Assistant to the regional manager.”
Ok – So, does anyone ever vet these applications? I’m not sure who should be more embarrassed the kid who got caught or the NY State Board of Regents who approved this? What gives folks? Are we sure EduShyster didn’t pen this?
About the 22-year-old charter founder: All day the English language has failed me here. Or, maybe I’m just very tired. Is there a word that combines “disgusting” with “hilarious”…? Or, do I need to utilize the dialect of another planet……such as Jupiter? You can’t make this stuff up. I’m thinking of sending this link to my NYS elected representatives, for what its worth.
As of this evening (November 25) “Dr.” Morris has now resigned: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/11/25/questions-raised-year-old-charter-founder/70096942/
Maybe this will highlight the sad, spectacular collapse of the once-great New York State Board of Regents. This article quotes Regent Andrew Brown:
“… a member of the Board of Regents, said in an email that the board and the State Education Department “undertake a very rigorous process” before granting a charter.
” ‘That was done in this case,” Brown said. “We rely on a considerable amount of data and information provided by applicants, along with conducting many in-person interviews before reaching a decision.
” ‘If it were to turn out that we were deliberately provided misleading information by an applicant, that would of course call for further review of the issuance of the charter.’ ”
Um, “D-. See me after class. With your parents.”
The story has changed now, for the 3rd time over 2 days. The young doctor Morris has resigned, however, the charter is going to open without him. At this point, I’m convinced that any fool can open a charter, EXCEPT FOR COMPETENT EDUCATORS. <– Those applications will be denied, denied, denied.
Wherever this young man is found on the internet, there is a litany of lies. Snake oil salesman; perhaps the next time he is heard from, he will be fronting a roadshow style come to Jesus show, collection alms in passed around baskets. Maybe he can get his own tv show.
I give up. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/11/25/questions-raised-year-old-charter-founder/70096942/
Though Ted Morris should take responsibility if he misrepresented his credentials, it would be a real shame if he shouldered all the responsibility for what has transpired.
It’s pretty clear that he was used (starting when he was just 18 or perhaps even earlier) by folks intent on setting up the charter. That any adult would take advantage of an 18 year old that way is pretty disgusting, but that they would take advantage of him specifically because of his background (as appears to be the case) is particularly egregious
And it would certainly appear that the members of the board of Regents failed miserably to do their job.
It is fairly clear that this is absolutely zero special about doctor Morris. He is a fabrication on paper. There are videos of him, so yes, he is a real person, but he is full of shit. Full steam ahead on the charter school, without him.
Did he and/or they really think people wouldn’t question the veracity of his online persona? I’m not a child basher, but this kid makes my head spin. If this doesn’t reflect on the Regents, what does?
Its all about dat public money, dat public money, dat public money, not private…….. I’m disgusted.