The school board in Burbank, California, is close to hiring Matthew Hill as its next superintendent. Hill currently works for the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he oversaw two disastrous technology programs: the $1 billion iPad fiasco, which was canceled after disclosure of emails showing possible collusion with Apple and Pearson; and the botched MISIS student tracking system, which left thousands of students without schedules.
Hill has never been a teacher or a principal. He is a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Academy, founded by billionaire Eli Broad. Its graduates are known for an autocratic management style and are taught to bring business methods to schools. Many have been ousted by angry parents.
There will be an informational public session this afternoon with Hill, where the public may ask questions.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Broad probably already bought off the power brokers in Burbank.
If Broad even paid off Malloy in Conn. with a donation, as told to me by last year, he certainly can put the thumb screws on the Burbank BoE in his own county.
Funny because the short list for PBC Florida has Broadies too. And the short list seemed to be people who believe in high-stakes testing.
Are you going to post the link to last night’s show? I missed it and having a hard time loading it on my IPad. But I heard Tisch went all over the place and made some unbelievable arguments.
This is one of the most depressing things about “reform”. We just keep passing along bad supers from district to district. You’d think people would learn from the Catholic priest scandal – when you find a bad one, get rid of him (or her), don’t just pass off to another unsuspecting district. Is there anything these people could do that would wind them up in jail (or at least unemployed) rather than getting the next plum assignment?
Nice analogy.
Let’s all pass around and share more stupid!
Nothing succeeds like failure in the corporate raider world. The more damage they do to public education they more they are promoted by their puppetmasters.
Diane,
Is there any way you can get this information out to the parents and teachers of Burbank prior to tonight’s meeting?
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé.
The 0.1% are about the strike again.
I do not understand why the iPad purchase program isn’t an absolute deal-breaker. Under any analysis it should really give people pause.
It was flat-out reckless with public funds. If you’re someone who feels the need to take huge risks, you should probably either stay in the private sector or go there. It’s irresponsible to conduct these ill-advised experiments in a huge public system.
It’s like we get the absolute worst of the private sector and the absolute worst of the public sector in this horrible incoherent blend.
I’m hoping other public school leaders can do a better job ignoring the hype and the sales pitches by contractors and politicians and use some sound judgment.
It’s a lie that it’s “urgent”. There is absolutely no good reason for a public entity to take on all that risk in some ridiculous ego-driven rush to be “first”.
One of the mantras is that “education need to have accountability like in the private sector”… well, when someone in the private botches a $1 billion (billion with a “b”) purchase, that person suffers a severe damage career-wise… they most certainly don’t get hired at a higher position in another company.
Where’s the accountability for all the Broad-ies?
Today the LAUSD attorney Holmquist issued a statement saying they would not pay Apple for broken iPads nor those with Pearson softward installed. We’ll see what that is all about…do not trust any of them to tell the truth about much of anything. It is all smoke and mirrors.
Burbank don’t do it. We had a Broadie in Seattle with bad outcomes (a financial scandal that forced her out).
Burbank is part of Los Angeles County. They are only some 10 miles from the LAUSD BoE building. And they read the LA Times and hear our local news…so….they should be well apprised of the damage Broad trained Supts. can do after watching John Deasy. But this attests to the vast power that Eli Broad wields nationwide. It stinks.
I would love to see a list of all graduates of the unaccredited Broad Academy, founded by billionaire Eli Broad, where they have been hired, for how long, and with what outcomes, and where they landed next and next and so on. Same for Wlatons, Gates and the rest.
Where are the policy wonks in higher education and grad students that need projects?The opportunities have never been greater, and the projects so few. We need a next generation “hothouse” for passionate researchers, methodical record-keepers, and whistle-blowers so the tools are there for organized and well-informed advocacy. The FairTest organization is exemplary. Imagine report card for the Broad Academy with the outcomes produced by every cohort of graduates.
now this would be an excellent way to collect some data!
The government tries to back teachers, students and school districts in to a corner with all the testing. They are thrilled by all the data. What due diligence did they do before they released all the tests? Did they study, research or vet anything that they require?
Laura…the list of all grads is published on the Broad Academy website.
Ellen,
I think Broad took the list down because so many were ousted
Reformers are fond of saying that schools need business practices. They claim that a school is essentially the same operation as a business.
If this is true, then a certain logic follows. While reformers are quick to point to school failures and business successes, even they admit that not all schools are failing and not all businesses are succeeding. So if the institutions are equivalent, successful schools should be able to help failing businesses with school principles.
So let’s bring school principles to business!
If reformers truly believe that schools are businesses, then they must also believe that businesses are schools. If a dollar equals one hundred cents, then one hundred cents equals a dollar.
Let’s bring school principles to business!
And come to think of it, American business has a lot of the failings so often ascribed to education. They say that we are not competitive with many Asian systems of education. Well, the economies of these countries are gobbling up market share in the US at horrendous speed. Wall Street: Singapore is eating your lunch! Silicone Valley: all of “your” stuff is made in China! Detroit: Japan has been leaving tread marks on your back for 40 years! OMG, we have a Nation At Risk! American businesses need school principles!
Great analogy! At the very least they should be forced to implement programs that a research based. While they are at it, it wouldn’t hurt them to hire educators to produce the materials for education.
The logic doesn’t quite work however much I wish it did. This example will point out the problem: Chickens are birds; therefore, all birds are chickens. Or closer to home: Pharmacies are businesses; therefore, all businesses are pharmacies. Someone I’m sure knows the name for this type of logical fallacy.
Maybe his next move could be a brain surgeon or a dentist. No experience there either.
Just saying.
@ DellaRios
Same here. Just saying.
You forget that Broadie ONLY AIMS to LOOT public fund regardless people’s loss. So, a brain surgeon or a dentist WILL GO IN JAIL for what they do wrongly, NOT Broadie and his unaccredited school will be liable for their BAD intent and design in training and giving away a Phd degree.
People or graduate students in all UN-accredited educational institutes must have either ignorance or conscience-absence to pursue or to succumb to a hope and a dream to be modern slaves to corrupted corporations. Back2basic
As a Burbank teacher, let me tell you we don’t want this for our district. Many of us attended the meeting last night – there is no meeting tonight. (4/15/15). The next one is tomorrow night for the school board meeting where they will officially vote him in. We had the chance to ask him questions last night, and the people I spoke to today do not want someone here who has NEVER been a teacher, principal or administrator in a school! It’s crazy to think that someone can be a superintendent of schools without having taught in a school ever!
While Mr. Hill seemed very friendly and open, I just don’t believe that someone with his background should be leading a school district.
Ah, yes, so-called education reform, where incompetence and corruption are so richly rewarded.
Why? Because markets.
My LAUSD school will begin Common Core Testing on Wednesday April 22nd for 8 full days straight until May 1st. The district has decided not to use this years test as a baseline due to the many testing problems currently existing with SBAC. We are essentially guinea pigs. English and Math Teachers will be proctoring the test all day and will lose extremely valuable class instruction right before AP Testing begins the following Monday on May 4th. The main factors in making this decision are because 1)There are not enough IPADS for all of the 11th graders, so they must be split into 3 groups. 2) Each student will have 2 full days of training on how to operate the device. 3) Administration wants to ensure they have enough time to test the minimum 95% in order to qualify for federal money. They actually have a testing window for SBAC from March 10 – June 4th. This is where it really gets interesting. Yesterday April 15th, the Superintendent has cancelled any remaining business with both Pearson and Apple on the account of delivering an unacceptable product. In fact, he is now asking for a refund. So, that means the entire school will be disrupted for 8 crucial days with non-testing 9th, 10th and 12th grade English and math students being sent to random classes interrupting other teachers trying to give their own instruction. All so the school can test the 11th grade students on a test that doesn’t count, and on a machine the district plans not to use anymore. The irony of all this is, the supposed reason for Common Core Testing is to get students college prepared and career ready. Instead, it is robbing them of critical time needed to prepare for AP Testing that does count for college and training them on a machine that is unnecessary. Informing parents of their choice to OPT OUT their child is the only hope. Truth In American Education has a website with a very easy form for parents to OPT OUT. The school says they are not required to notify parents about any options to Common Core Testing. How convenient.
I have posted the link to the original story on 4/15/15 about LAUSD’s decision to rule out IPADS and Pearson Software for Common Core Testing. If you happen to read this comment Diane, please deliver the message about the total insanity happening here in Los Angeles.
http://www.dailynews.com/social-affairs/20150415/lausd-to-apple-on-ipad-software-we-want-a-refund
This evening Burbank teachers made a display of prejudice and hatred against a man they knew little about, other than his association with the Broad Foundation. This week teachers lectured their students, about the evils of schools privitization, handed out flyers to children and scared them into imagining that their beloved schools were going to collapse if this terrifying man came to Burbank. Their manipulation of children crossed ethical lines as educators. The hysteria they generated was unprecedented in our community, based on rumor and innuendo, hearsay and accusations. Those few who actually spent time with the individual in question had to agree, he was a good man, “friendly and open” as noted by a previous comment, and not the devil incarnate. Here’s the thing – to teach we must have an open mind. To learn we must pay attention. To be human we must show compassion. The display of hostility at the school board meeting was shameful, embarrassing and did little more than destroy life long relationships. And that’s not a lesson to teach our children. He was hired, but not until after the damage was done. And truth to tell, none of it was his fault.
To “A witness,” I did not attend the meeting and can’t comment on what transpired. My understanding is that the teachers were upset that a superintendent was hired who had never been a teacher or a principal. And then of course there is the stigma of having tone to the unaccredited Broad Academy, which believes in closing public schools and replacing them with charters. I can understand the teachers’ frustration.
Do you mean “rumor and innuendo”, like his involvement in the iPad and MiSis fiascos, which he has both acknowledged and apologized for? That “rumor and innuendo”? He has spent the last ten years of his life dedicated to a series of privatizing measures he now says he has no interest in. Maybe he’s even telling the truth. But I wouldn’t put the fox in charge of the hen house, on a “leap of faith” that Matt and our local school board seem to want.
When should we have gotten to know Matt, btw? His hiring was advanced at the last minute so as to avoid any accountability. The need to rush his hiring through before the seating of new school board members was the real travesty here. Had the community been given a valid opportunity to vet him, and had he had to prove himself to incoming school board members, this fiasco never would have happened. Oh wait… they called a meeting… on Monday…. for Tuesday afternoon… when people were working… Yep, that’s transparency, the BUSD way.
Also, when I teach, I need “evidence”, as much as I need an open mind. We asked the board for evidence, and got righteous indignation. No questions were answered, and we got obfuscation and off topic rambling. Oh… And one vengeance vote by the retiring member who stuck around long enough. There was no attempt to inform us of all these great things the board saw in Matt, just anger and hostility. There WAS a shameful display at that meeting…but I will eventually forgive the board.
For the record, if any indoctrination was brought into the classroom, that should be dealt with, but leafing on the street is legal. It is a necessity, as the sitting school board has a history of keeping the community in the dark. Parents are frequently unaware of actions by the board, due to its history of cloaked action.
As to teaching the children. Well, your view seems to be that we should all hold hands, and when we feel that there is a miscarriage of justice, we should just trust authority, no matter what. Yep… That’s the future I want for America. It’s sure going to make my teaching job a lot easier from here on out.
Again, you are making accusations against someone you don’t know. I was very specific in my remarks to object to the manipulation of children inside the classroom. I champion the right of anyone to speak up, or “leaf in the street.” And to speak openly as part of the democratic process. However, I believe in being accurate and factual when doing so, without immature sarcasm, temper tantrums and other equally childish behavior. To be clear, Mr. Hill was cleared of responsibility for the LAUSD fiasco’s you allude to. He faced a full inquiry, and retained his job.
For the sake of further clarity, I’ll share my comment here from another blog on this page:
“I agree completely with the concerns about the stigma associated with the Broad Academy, and why teachers may be frustrated. It makes sense. However, the histrionic behavior of some of Burbank’s teachers this week was beyond belief. Their accusations based on assumption and insinuation rather than fact. They made a battleground of their classrooms, by lecturing children on their point of view, making them carriers of their message (in writing) to the parents, and frightening many of them. As I understand it, children may not be used in this manner in public schools. In this instance, some teachers crossed that professional and ethical line. During the public session on Tuesday Mr. Hill publicly promised teachers that he had no intention of bringing Charter Schools to Burbank, several times. At that time, he pointed out that parents and teachers are the only ones who CAN bring a charter school forward. He indicated that one of the many reasons he wished to work here and raise his children here is because our schools are strong. No one on our community of 16 wonderful public schools has an interest in closing them. They’re packed, and in no need of reform or closure. We’re all in agreement about that, including Mr. Hill, as he has stated. Every single person deserves to be judged on their own merit. It hasn’t been noted that he has already been cleared of any responsibility in the famous LAUSD “iPad scandal.” When we begin to assassinate individuals based on their associations we are traveling down a very slippery slope.
“Three out of the five members of the Board of Education of BUSD ARE TEACHERS. Two with decades more classroom experience than any of the teachers who crucified them during the last meeting. Elected school board members were supported by, and elected by the entire community of Burbank, four out of five of them have been elected to multiple terms. They were worthy of our trust for years, over multiple elections, and still are. They followed a traditional selection process in hiring Mr. Hill. Members of the teachers union leadership met with him, and he made every effort to spend time with the entire board of BTA. He also made himself available to the general public at length and answered every question asked of him in a forthright and direct manner. He took accountability for himself, and treated every single person with respect. The loud, angry mob present at the school board meeting represents a very small fraction of our community, and only one sector of the school community. Most importantly, they don’t represent EVERY teacher in Burbank, as evidenced by the three on the board who supported Mr. Hill’s appointment as superintendent, and the MAJORITY that didn’t join in the mob. Spend time with Mr. Hill. Ask questions, and hold him accountable to his answers. He will be measured by his own actions. The jury is out on him, and we’ll still be here if he doesn’t prove to be a match for Burbank. One thing we know for sure, superintendents come and go in this town, and the sky doesn’t fall. Meanwhile, our community could do a better job of representing itself.”