A letter from Mary G., a teacher in Connecticut, about the “Jumoke model” promoted by state officials–until it was engulfed by scandals:
Many concerned people–parents, bloggers, writers–have been asking questions about Michael Sharpe and FUSE–see the numerous posts on Jonathan Pelto’s blog, for a start.
When Stefan Pryor, the (thankfully) out-going CT State ed commissioner, was ramping up his reform initiatives, such as the state Turnaround Office and the Commissioner’s Network, he showcased Michael Sharpe and the “Jumoke” model. This emboldened Sharpe to create his FUSE corporation–along with the Northeast Charter School Network. Pryor had Michael Sharpe present his “Jumoke model” to all the schools forced into the Commissioner’s Network, such as Windham, CT and Bridgeport. Thus, at the roll-out workshop for participating districts, Michael Sharpe was the star, along with his employee, Andrea Comer–who was immediately nominated to be placed on the State Board of Education. Could there be any more blatant proof that not only Pryor, but the State Board of Education, the legislature, and the governor, threw their full support behind Michael Sharpe and Jumoke, a man they called doctor and a “model” they hailed as exemplary?
Stefan Pryor has a nerve pretending to scold Sharpe. No one enabled Michael Sharpe more than the Commissioner, the SBE, and Stephen Adamowski, the ex-Superintendent/CEO of Hartford schools who allotted Sharpe so much autonomy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks to Jon Pelto here’s some background on Stefan Pryor and his Rhode Island connections. Beware and be aware RI…to be charterized, privatized, and monetized even more so…that’s the commerce Stefan is bringing your way.
Gina Raimondo’s husband Andy Moffitt was Cory Booker’s roommate.
Moffitt is a member Stand for Children Board of Directors
Moffit is a Senior Practice Expert and member of core leadership team for McKinsey & Company’s Global Education Practice.
“Since co-founding the Global Education Practice in 2005, Andy has worked with multiple large urban districts, state education departments and charter management organizations to markedly improve system performance and close achievement gaps.
He co-authored a recent book, Deliverology 101: A Field Guide for School System Leaders (Corwin Press, 2010), which describes key success factors and steps in driving results in global school system reforms.
Before joining McKinsey, Andy was an elementary school teacher in an inner-city school in Houston, Texas as a corps member of Teach For America.”
From my recent article in the Progressive
The Corporate Education Reform Industry effort to buy control of Public Education
This year’s election season provided a series of textbook examples of how corporate education reformers used their personal fortunes to contaminate the democratic process.
Let’s begin with the little state of Rhode Island, where former hedge fund owner and charter school champion, Democrat Gina Raimondo was elected governor with 40 percent of the vote in a three-way race—one in which there was an unprecedented level of campaign spending.
Raimondo, who as Rhode Island’s state treasurer won national acclaim from conservatives for successfully dismantling the state employee pension fund, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors associated with funding the education reform movement and profiting from the charter school industry. Her running mate, Cumberland Mayor Daniel McKee, one of the state’s most vocal supporters of charter schools, was elected lieutenant governor with help from many of the same donors.
Over the course of her gubernatorial campaign, Raimondo collected checks from many of the major players in the charter school and “education reform” movement, including donations from billionaires Eli Broad and members of the Walton Family. (The Broad Foundation and Walton Foundation, along with Gates Foundation, are the primary funders behind the overall education reform movement.)
Another billionaire, former Enron executive John Arnold along with his wife, not only donated directly to Raimondo’s campaign and her political action committee, called Gina PAC, but the couple’s $100,000 check made them the largest donors to the American LeadHERship Council, a Super PAC affiliated with Raimondo. The second largest donor to the Super PAC was Eli Broad with $15,000.
A proponent of doing away with public employee pensions, Arnold also donated as much as $500,000 to an advocacy group called Engage Rhode Island, which spent approximately $740,000 lobbying for Raimondo’s successful assault on public employee pensions. Over the past three years, the John and Laura Arnold Foundation has donated more than $100 million in support of charter schools and entities involved in the corporate education reform industry, including being one of the largest contributors to Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence.
Raimondo’s success in raising funds from the charter school industry includes at least $50,000 from the members of the board of directors of Achievement First, Inc., the large charter chain that recently opened a school in Rhode Island, adding to their existing schools in Connecticut and New York.
Jonathan Sackler, an investment manager and heir to the Purdue Pharma fortune, is not only a founding member of Achievement First, Inc, but a founder of a national charter school advocacy group called 50CAN. One of 50CAN’s related entities, 50CAN Action Fund, dumped $90,000 to run TV commercials to help Raimondo’s running mate win his primary race.
As a result of the Citizens United case and IRS regulations, the 501(c) (4) Foundation 50CAN Action Fund can accept unlimited donations from contributors and can participate in political campaigns and elections, as long as…
Hah! Purdue Pharma money is in ed reform too?
Is it this Purdue Pharma?
“Purdue is accused in a civil suit filed by the state of Kentucky of actions that helped create addiction on a sweeping scale.
The lawsuit, once dismissed as a quixotic mission, has become Purdue’s legal nightmare — one that the company says could result in a catastrophic $1 billion judgment against it, based on the state’s allegations as well as the potential for punitive damages and pre- and post-judgment interest. With other lawsuits filed this year in Illinois and California against Purdue and other opioid makers, the Kentucky case could trigger more litigation along the lines of the suits that cost Big Tobacco billions in the 1990s.”
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2014/10/22/344370.htm
Every time I think I have heard it all and can’t feel more disgusted by this concerted assault on public schools and democracy in America, a new fact comes along which plunges me deeper in to despair…….
Alison Bianco
January 4, 2015 at 5:52 pm
It’s gotten quite a bit of attention in Ohio. Maybe it isn’t national news because the hardest-hit areas were both rural (fewer people) and poor:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/24/heroin-epidemic_n_4790898.html
The sad thing is that we know all this. But right now Arnold is trying to strong arm to create a “home rule district” in Dallas free of salary scales and rules and one of our local journalists professes that those who bring up his pension busting are “conspiracy theorists” with “whacked out ideas about privatization and space ships”. He considers himself a gonzo style journalist like Hunter SThompson and has quite a following here.
“J
uamoke”Jumoke was a model
For crime and corruption
A model for twaddle
And student disruption