It now turns out that the lead applicant for the new Rochester, NewYork, charter school has no degrees, or none that can be verified. He did not graduate from Rochester’s School Without Walls. He did not obtain a bachelor’s degree from online Western Governors University. He did not obtain a master’s or a doctorate from Concordia University.
But the charter school will open anyway. The head of the Board of Regents disclaims any responsibility. The review is conducted by the State Education Department, she says. Who runs the SED? Dr. Tisch selected the State Education Commissioner, Dr. John King, her classmate at Teachers College. Maybe he is responsible? But who is accountable? Anyone?
Dr. King is fast to hold teachers and principals accountable. Will anyone be held accountable for granting a charter and a guaranteed stream of public money to a young man with no experience or education credentials.
The Greater Works Charter School will open in September. As Dr. Tisch says, board members come and go. So do charter schools. No problem. The demolition of public education continues.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Perfect Candidate
No Verifiable Educational Credentials
Questionable Work Eperience
Minimal Life Experience
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Soon they will be blaming the public school teachers for this one: ” If he had been more engaged in school, and not left behind by those lazy teachers, he would not have dropped out and concocted multiple degrees”.
I think that I might as well open a charter: I have a real bachelors, masters, multiple certs, and actual teaching exp: oh wait, that would not make me “qualified”.
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Junk Schools are doing to education what junk bonds did to the economy. They are the same sort of scam being run by the same sort of operators that we’ve seen before. It is time to call them what they are and stop letting them hide behind the name of reform.
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You are so right!
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Don’t hold your collective breath, folks, but wait until the spin doctors of self-styled “education reform” use this and similar situations to declaim that—
Traditional public schools need to be replaced with more and more $ucce$$ Academies and Rocketships to EduExcellence and virtual schools and such.*
What about facts, logic, consistency and decency?!?!?!? Their retort: you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggshells and you can’t “reform” public schools—and genuine teaching and learning—without “disruptive innovation.” And may I add: cognitive dissonance.
And without a hard data point in sight. Go figure…
😎
*Caveat: yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever, only to be applied to OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN. For THEIR OWN CHILDREN, the self-proclaimed leaders of the “new civil rights movement of our time” have Lakeside School [Bill Gates] and Sidwell Friends [Barack Obama] and Delbarton School [Chris Christie] and Harpeth Hall [Michelle Rhee-Johnson] and U of Chicago Lab Schools [Rahm Emanuel] and such.
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The trustees of the board for the charter school are just as culpable for not vetting Morris as the state of NY and all should be held accountable. That includes Morris, who signed the Statement of Assurance on 7-24-14 which states, “I am aware of the fact that, pursuant to Penal Law § 175.30, a person who knowingly offers a false instrument for filing to a public official or public servant is guilty of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the 2nd Degree, a Class A Misdemeanor.”
Morris also violated his own Code of Ethics for charter trustees, officers and employees, which includes “falsification of documents” as “unacceptable conduct,” as described in his 2014 charter application.
So now what? Morris just moves on to his next scam, and the trustees and Regents are off the hook and scott free as well?
There will be no justice until there is an end to the double standard of accountability that exists for traditional public schools and charter schools!
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Correct. Holding charter schools accountable to the standards for public schools would in fact be an end to them.
We are still on the defensive due to mis-applied laws allowing privately-run schools operating w/public monies to hide their financial details. But perhaps this Rochester case shows, one may make a frontal public attack against the proposed CEO of a new charter, & get somewhere….
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If one is looking for accountability…. one has to start w. Tisch, seems to me. Anyone who can, with a simple phone call, get the CEO of GE to personally fix the leak in her fridge, is someone to be reckoned with. ( She said it; I didn’t.)
The larger question then is how did she … and the rest of the Regents…. get themselves into a position to appoint John King, whose under whose direction the charter was issued by state ed dept to this …. ummm….. interesting applicant.
Well, the regents are appointed by the NYS legislature. No? ( I believe the Assembly, to be specific.) The NYS legislature is reputedly ( deservedly so, imo) to be THE most corrupt body of its kind in the United States.
So…. here’s where we are, accountability-wise: Who, exactly,… in the assembly…. voted to confirm Tisch? Who, exactly, voted to confirm the rest of the Board of Regents?
The voters have to take it from there. Or the US Attorney if any undue influence was part of the process. ( This *IS* NYS we’re talking about.)
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“The larger question then is how did she … and the rest of the Regents…. get themselves into a position to appoint John King, whose under whose direction the charter was issued by state ed dept to this …. ummm….. interesting applicant.
Well, the regents are appointed by the NYS legislature. No? ( I believe the Assembly, to be specific.) The NYS legislature is reputedly ( deservedly so, imo) to be THE most corrupt body of its kind in the United States.”
Right here you’ve said it all. I wasn’t aware the NYS Leg had this reputation. Have voters a say, & they’ve simply squandered it on voting Republican? Have Dem state Congressmen tried to dump Tisch et al from Regents? Or is this one of these situations we voters are becoming accustomed to, wherebbig $ prevails & it doesn’t matter who you vote for– you’ll still get Merryl Tisch et al on the Board of Regents?
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It’s the second: bi-partisan corruption. It’s… as Gore Vidal would have said… a “one party state: The Money Party; with two right wings.”
Times did a good rundown a while back:
It’s bad here. REALLY bad.
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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/
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“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.
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Did Ted Morris write the charter for the school, or was he hired to be it’s instructional leader/ principal/ceo or whatever it is they call the person referred to as principal in the public schools?
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Jonathan,
This is a direct quote from the charter application:
Ted J. Morris, Jr. is the Lead Applicant for and Founder of Greater Works Charter School. In addition, he is the Founder of Greater Works Education Network (GWEN). Ted is the Assistant CEO at the Hickok Center for Brain Injury. He has 7+ years of experience in the fields of education, human services and administration. Ted will be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the school.
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“He has 7+ years of experience in the fields of education, human services and administration.”
Soooo…if he’s 22 now, he started working at 15? And/Or did he just add up all the years together? Oh wait, what am I thinking–he probably just made it up, just like his degrees.
I think this is the standard reformer’s response to charter applications:
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Unbelievable!
When will the NY Times do an investigative article on all this…and look deeply into not only this self appointed, lying, wonder child, but also at Tisch…both the academic, legal, and mental health aspects of her decisions?
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To Regent Tisch… (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/”
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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
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Gosh, if only I had high school-aged kids… I’d be signing them up for Greater Works so fast…
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Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity for Oprah to step in and film a documentary?
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Only if she can film it from the viewpoint that Morris is a new-day hero. She is all about reform and waiting on superman and all that jazz….not the truth. Her New Orleans charter school closed, and her South African Academy for girls has suffered scandals. Is that still open?
Apparently, Oprah doesn’t have the magic that young “doctor” Morris possesses. Oh wait; neither does “doctor” Morris.
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This only proves the reformers aren’t serious in their claims that more rigor will improve our schools. They really do not plan on applying any rigor to anyone but teachers. Can they be held “accountable?” I know, that is just for me, a teacher, not our mandarins in charge. We may relive the French Revolution here!
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“They really do not plan on applying any rigor to anyone but teachers.”
Of course not–accountability is only for the little guy.
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Let us be clear that the so-called reformers–at least in NYS, as evidenced by this nascent Rochester charter– aren’t really about rigor, or improving teacher quality, or any of their other blather. They’re about nothing other than whatever might increase the bottom line for their corporate paymasters.
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They are NOT about “Rigor”. They are about RIGA, as in RIGAMORTIS……as in the public schools as we know them will be dead.
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When, oh when, will some organization start organizing actual picketing outside the NYS Education Department and/or wherever the NYS Board of Regents members call their places of business….and even their homes? Calling NYSUT……..
And, no, I’m NOT talking about protesting on a Saturday afternoon in June or some evening in August when downtown Albany is like a ghost town.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Cuomo and Tisch and King are the so-called leaders of public education in our state yet they can’t at least apologize for the charade they have actively encouraged in the Rochester school system? Perhaps they don’t accept responsibility because somewhere lurking deep inside them is the barely conscious feeling that they are, in fact, DUPES……the tools of huge corporate interests. My God, perhaps they actually know that they are really not in control?
What an embarrassment. These are the “adults” in charge of our schools? What kind of role models are these people for the children of New York State? To use the words of Joseph Welch from the Army-McCarthy Hearings…..”At long last, have [they] left no sense of decency?”
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If we lied on our resume we’d be fired in a second.
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Sounds like in some districts around this nation, this kid might have qualifications to be superintendent… until “proven otherwise” years later!
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Ouch…Artseagal…hope Eli Broad is not negotiating a deal for LAUSD to hire him. Though he has the main qualification, being a liar with no conscience.
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What’s refreshing about this is the role the internet now plays in exposing charlatans like Dr. Morris.
Prior to the internet, there have been cases of university professors remaining in their positions for decades before it was discovered that one or more of their degrees was fake. The same goes for those impersonating and practicing as doctors, pilots, lawyers, etc. (i.e. Leo DiCaprio in the film CATCH ME IF YOU CAN).
The internet now facilitates anyone with the power to ferret out frauds with lightning speed—as was done the likes of Dr. Ravitch, Mercedes Schneider, Peter “Curmudgucation” Greene, and others in this situation. (And also the journalist Justin Murphy. Let’s not forget him!)
Prior to the internet or email—and thanks to idiotic, lazy, and/or corrupt people in charge who don’t or refuse (i.e. out of corrupt motives) to research and verify the items on applicant’s resumes—charlatans were able to put one over on their employers and everyone else, for that matter.
Thankfully, that’s all changed, and for the better.
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Unbelievable… the lengths that privatization and charter proponents will go to protect and basically absolve one of their own… and from the second most powerful person in New York state (???!!!)
Check out this from Perdido Street Schools:
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2014/11/lt-governor-duffy-makes-excuses-for.html
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PERDIDO:
“We’ve already seen how nobody at the Board of Regents or the New York State Education Department wants to take responsibility for giving a charter school to a con man who lied about having a BA, an MA, a Ph.D, a MSW (yeah, that’s a new one) and maybe even his high school diploma.
“Now we get this doozy from Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy:
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PERDIDO:
“Lying about credentials and work experience on a state application for a charter school is a ‘mistake’?
“What exactly, under this definition of ‘mistake,’ entails ‘fraud’?
“Is cheating okay?
“How about stealing?
“It is amazing how much these pro-charter people are willing to forgive when it comes to charter schools and charter school folks.
“It seems accountability is only for public schools and public school staff.
“Like so much around the charter school/public school divide, there are two sets of rules here and the one for the charters is awfully forgiving.”
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***VIDEO OF TED MORRIS, JR,***
Here’s a news story with a handsome, telegenic male reporter who forget to check if Morris had actual credentials… and Morris arguing that his lack of experience actually gives him an advantage over seasoned education professionals.
http://13wham.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/local-man-launching-new-charter-school-17949.shtml
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Rochester Charter Mess: No One is Accountable is small stuff compared to no K-12 accountability for the entire state of California
Having an applicant without credentials heading up a charter school, so that no one is accountable is small stuff compared to no accountability for the entire state of California for the next two years. The California State Superintendent of Schools with the support of both Democratic legislatures and the Governor ( who all claim to be CRITICAL THINKERS) terminated the State of California’s K-12 evaluation system for all students, schools and districts for the next TWO YEARS. This is in clear violation of the federal NCLB law and three 1998 state laws( AB 1626; AB 1639, and SB 1370). In other words, if there is no state evaluation of students, schools and districts, there is not only no transparency, but no accountability in the entire state K-12 school system. To give you an idea how CONFUSED and MISGUIDED the general public, media, educators, and politicians are in California related to this ILLEGAL suspension last year, is that no educational publication, teacher’s union, universities, departments, or media( to my limited knowledge) disagreed with this political and ILLEGAL decision. Part of the proof of the PUBLIC’S confusion and lack of understanding of the NO ACCOUNTABILITY IMPORTANCE is that in this past November election, the state superintendent, governor, and most of the state politicians were RE-ELECTED to office. Would it be insightful to understand and question the CRITICALTHINKING involved in these elected official’s decision on how the terminating of the state K-12 evaluation system improves student performance and school accountability?
ekangas@juno.com
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Well, we shouldn’t be surprised that the New York State education Department approved Morris’ proposal. After all, the head of the NYSED, John King, simultaneously earned a law degree from Yale and a Ed.D from Teachers College while working as Managing Director of the Skinner Box, boot camp charter chain Uncommon Schools.
Frauds of a feather loot together…
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