Despite loud protests from the district’s teachers, the school board of Burbank, California, named Matt Hill as the next superintendent of schools.
Teachers were upset for two reasons:
1) Hill never was a teacher.
2) Hill is a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy, which is known for promoting school closings and privatization.
Hill persuaded the board that it should give him a chance. He said it was just as unfair to demonize his business background as it is unfair to demonize teachers.
Hill was responsible for the disastrous iPad program and MISIS program in the Los Angeles public schools. In addition to an ongoing FBI investigation of conflicts of interests in the district’s procurement agreement with Apple and Pearson, the SEC is now probing whether the use of bond funds to buy iPads was appropriate.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The fact that teachers didn’t want him and the board voted for him anyway spells trouble for Burbank. They decided o go with this Broad deformer to effect in Burbank, the same types of destruction of the public school system he did at LAUSD.. When did poor performance and unethical decision making become a ticket to a higher paying, better job? When teacher’s performance is poor, they fire them while deform administrators are promoted. Burbank, you did it to yourself or did Broad promise to financially take care of you for taking his boy.Teachers beware, he is a charter lover and they do not support teachers or their unions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Who hires these people? Look to who runs for BoE, who finances them, and why they get elected.
There is an LAUSD election to be held on May 19. Ref Rodriguez, a charter school owner, is running with huge donations pouring into his coffers from the usual suspects like Broad and his gang of privatizers, and the California Charter School Association.
These same wealthy Wall Streeters are financing the incumbent, Tamar Galatzan, who was Deasy’s (and Hill’s) backer all the way. Her opponent, Scott Schmerelson, is a lifetime educator, and the only dirty word both the LA Times and lesser media sources could find to pillory him was to say that “he is a Republican”.
So, based on this the short sighted Dem Party endorsed Dem. Bennett Kayser, which is getting no publicity from media nor the Dems, but even knowing what a Deasy/Broad hack Galatzan is, they will not endorse her opponent for she is a Dem. BoE is supposed to be non-partisan.
How can these elected Dem Central Committee politcal morons, who also it seems are bought off by Big Daddy Dem, Broad, make even more trouble for the public schools?
I would love to know how many on the Dem Central Committee already have private investments in Pearson, and how many have accounts with Tilson? They all love Tony Villagraigosa, the former LA mayor and Deasy/charter supporter ‘who would be governor’, and his band of corporatist friends, whose dirty deeds he promotes on a daily basis.
Wake up America! If we don’t ban togther and help finance and elect opponents of these kinds of corporate candidates, be they Dems or Repubs, then we get the Broad toadies elected…and they proceed to hire charlatans like Deasy (who has now segued ‘rapidly’ from job to job including his stint with Gates, and for many years, now under the protection of his overlord, Broad).
This has happened with Ben Austin, another PRev charlatan, who did not miss a beat in his rollover from the Waltons to the Broad-man.
If We the People don’t come out to vote, don’t take action against media which hides information from us, don’t help finance decent candidates, then this onslaught is inevitable.
Our system is SO BROKEN.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know it. I know it. The $$$ is overwhelming our politics… not just the schools… the health of our people mean nothing to these politicians who have health coverage for life; the falling infrastructure means nothing to them; The people who now run our country, thanks to Citizens United, have the means and the access to ensure that NOTHING we the people need, is addressed.
I am not cynical. I am real. The revolution is over, and although we can rant and rave, there is not a thing we can do. Look at the NCLB debacle. Despite the will of the people, the opting out and the destruction chronicled by experts, the re-authorized it.
Yeah, we people vote… but if you saw the Maddow piece, you know the reality.
Rachel Maddow – How Republicans set up a decade-long advantage over Democrats – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiAq9sIvTJE#t=119
We cannot give up talking about it, but after a while, more is needed…like a president, on like Bernie Sanders… but when I mention his name, people say “Bernie WHO?” but then when I mention Diane ‘s name they say: “WHO?”
We need a film, an inception incident like “Ferguson’ which gets the attention of our people, who are stressed out, and unable to hear the truth midst the noise… all those talking heads, and ‘handlers’ who know the ‘hidden persuaders,’ by heart.
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc1004/article_903.shtml
and sell poop to a public so ignorant that they will eat themselves into an early grave.
How easy to Bamboozle them.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/BAMBOOZLE-THEM-where-tea-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-110524-511.html
and see them a Deasy or a magic elixir iPad.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Magic-Elixir-No-Evidence-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-130312-433.html
Sigh!
LikeLike
Did they not get their fill of Deasy? Are they scared witless of Broad? Same crap, different flies. Lord help them. And Paula, they commit the crime/perfect storm to fire teachers, frame them, defame them, lie about them….fire them because it is the desire of Broad and his henchmen. Only in the deformer crowd does crap float back up to the top.
LikeLike
Those who don’t learn from past mistakes are bound to repeat them…..what the heck these aren’t even distant past mistakes….this all just happened.
LikeLike
This proves to me that broad has moved on from trying to take over lauded and is after burbank now. What I want to know is how much money he spent on each board member to make them completely ignore that this man they chose is horribly Incompetent to be a superintendent of any district. It’s obvious they were not basing their decision on his useless, ,corruption charged resume.
LikeLike
Julie…they are indeed branching out in So.California, and all over the country.
Broad and the Waltons through their PRev parent trigger arm which was not making enough of a dent in LA County, now have focused on Orange County and are trying to charterize schools in Anaheim. Former state legislator, Gloria Romero, is pushing that assault to use parent trigger in their schools. Villaraigosa and his contacts like Perez are influencing state legislators like the new leader of the Dem Senate, Kevin de Leon, to privatize public schools in California. Michelle Rhee and her husband are quietly turning Sacramento’s public schools into charters.
It is a new game being conducted somewhat under the radar. They seem to be winning.
Someone here mentioned keeping an eye of Thelma Melendez…good advice. She is part of this and Cortines has put her in a lead role to do much damage now that Garcetti got rid of her. Some of us remember her self serving manipulations and her support of charters.
Broad now has Deasy and Austin doing this dirty work full time on his payroll, as well as promoting the destruction of public ed nationwide. He has the hghest paid and smartest lawyers in the US, David Bois and Ted Olson, working to kill public ed and the unions by pressing Vergara-like lawsuits in other states. It is now a full scale attack which the Murdoch media keeps low profile. The WSJ avoids reporting on it. The NY Times makes a bit of noise, but the LA TImes cleans it all up in their articles.
This is a full scale planned and organized attack. With the Broadies now leading the charge to use parent trigger nationwide, file Vergara lawsuits nationwide, do away with due process and the unions nationwide, Broad, Welch, Waltons, Murcdoch, et al, have the ignoranat lazy ill-informed public in full retreat. Only a few beleaguered educators, like most of us here, seem to give a damn. The media is bought and paid for, and the public prefers to roll over and not take action.
Burbank is a drop in the bucket of this huge scheme…and with Rahm’s reelection, the Broadies feel they are on a roll.
LikeLike
This is educational ‘whack a mole”. You just can’t make this stuff up. Burbank parents…get ready for it. Someone should check into how these board members were funded for their elections. I’ll bet the bones aren’t buried too deep. The Broadies will start to scoop up smaller districts and then will come back after LA. They won’t give up. How old is Broad anyway???? What the hell is in it for him?
LikeLike
Location, Location, Location
LikeLike
I predict the marriage will not last long…
LikeLike
LA should keep its eye on Thelma Melendez, a big ol’ Broadie who snuck into LAUSD from her short stint in the mayor’s office. Lately, you can see her up In the semi circle at the board meetings. Head of IT or some such. With Tommy Chang off to destroy Boston (he took some of the Broad Wreaking Crew with him), Aquino at The New Teacher Project, and now Hill off to eat Burbank alive, LA may feel as though we are safe. DO NOT BELIEVE THAT FOR A MINUTE.
Pat attention, Los Angeles. Mr Burns ain’t gonna give up that easily.
LikeLike
YES, ArtEd…why did Cortines promote Melendez to this position where she can do so much damage? Was it another Broad edict?
Don’t forget Jim Ryan, the United Way Deasy/Broad colluder, segued to his big leadership job with Marian Edelman in Sacramento. They protect their own and most graduate to a national platform to spread their word.
LikeLike
There is speculation Ms. Melendez is next in line to finish the job here in LA. I imagine Mr Burns is pushing that.
And eww! I almost forgot Jim Ryan. ugh. They are everywhere.
LikeLike
Do you think Thelma wants to be the next LAUSD superintendent?
LikeLike
He blew a billion dollars in public funding and left his last district a gigantic mess and they hired him because of his “business background”?
How does that even make sense? Even if I accept that we must run schools “like a business” why would they want THIS manager? He ran his last district into the ground.
LikeLike
I bet Broad is paying some or all of his salary like he did at LAUSD how in the heck is that not a conflict of interest. The. Burbank teachers union is crying foul in that their BOE violated the Brown Act several times with this appointment I only see one way out of this mess. We have to put all our energies behind a national opt out movement. No continuous testing, no reason for these corporate leeches to involve themselves in education.
LikeLike
Hill was not the decider in chief…only a cog in the Broad collection. It was Deasy and Aquino who seem to have colluded with Apple and Pearson to give them early info on how to produce a winning bid. And they were the prime influence on the BoE to go along with it all. Both Deasy and Kayser had some stock in Apple and so Aquino did most of the public talking. Hill worked for them.
LikeLike
Teachers from BUSD where chastised by their board of education last night for speaking out against this hire. They were called prejudice, unfair, closed-minded, and literally yelled at for succumbing to a “mob-mentality.” They were given a tongue-lashing for speaking during the public comments portion of the public board meeting. They simply felt that our city could do better. A nice, friendly, intelligent family man he seems to be, however, that doesn’t make you qualified to run a district full of award winning teachers, including a National Teacher of the year, and programs, a district who’s teachers are deeply, deeply committed to public education.
LikeLike
Is the a video of the meeting? If so a link please.
LikeLike
I put the link at the bottom that I found on Laschoolreport.com. Pay attention to what he says about teachers putting in extra time over MISES at around the 8 minute mark. He also says that “amazing things were happening in classrooms (with the iPads,)” yet the LA Times is reporting that LAUSD is now trying to ditch Pearson software. http://laschoolreport.com/burbank-forum-an-interrogation-of-lausds-hill-for-superintendent/.
LikeLike
The BoE never got to read the Pearson software from the get go, yet they followed Deasy’s admonition to purchase it sight unseen…this software was not completed even after their contract was a done deal. Pearson still has not delivered the curriculum software…so Monica Ratliff, seemingly the only BoE member who does her job, is forcing the issue (that the contract should be null and void), and the money returned since Pearson breached it by not delivering the product.
Ratliff got her law degree from Columbia Law School. not a shabby institution, and she practiced public service law before returning to LA and becoming an inner city elementary school teacher, where her heart led her to affect positive change. Would that we could clone her. I hope she is next President of the LAUSD BoE.
LikeLike
Our elected officials are killing us. They care nothing for citizens or children. This hiring is a travesty.
And no one will hold them accountable.
LikeLike
The community should recall the Board. NOW.
LikeLike
I’m not sure which is greater, the idiocy or the arrogance of this board. I think they go hand in hand. Why would one even consider hiring someone with such a background? And on top of that, to turn around and have the audacity to put the onus on the teachers for speaking out because of their concern for their district and their students. In the past, Burbank’s parents have been involved in their children’s schooling. The hope here is that teachers and parents work together and against this “new venture.” This board gives new and glaring definition to the term “bought off.” How obvious can they be?
LikeLike
It seems odd that the Atlanta teachers are going to jail for reacting to a situation that they did not create. Now we have Matt Hill who was on the ground floor with the iPads. I bet that he will never accept any responsibility for the mess and if confronted, would most likely blame Deasy for everything. But, instead of being fired as he should have been from LAUSD, he is promoted to a superintendent’s job.
It certainly helps to have friends in high places. I’m sure that helped the Burbank School District ignore such trivialities as Integrity and honesty.
LikeLike
Hill did as he was told by Deasy…and probably by Aquino. He was a small cog in the iPad affair, not the lead perp. That buck stops with Deasy…and Aquino. I wrote all about this just two years ago on this site when it all hit the fan.
LikeLike
Lenny Ienberg wrote about it ,too,
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/06/lausds-treacherous-road-from-reed-to-vergara–its-never-been-about-students-just-money.html
He nailed Deasy way back
http://www.perdaily.com/2012/02/lausd-superintendent-deasys-miramonte-doubletalk.html
but as he often says to me, “it’s all out there; everyone knows, except the public, which is fed lies by the media
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/HAVE-REPORTERS-BECOME-POLI-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Media_Media-Bias_Media-Blackout_Media-Corruption-140322-673.html
LikeLike
Now he gets to screw up another district. My Burbank friends are having fits over this.
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
Ok then why do you want a superintendent of education who has never taught a day in his life or been an administrator in a school. He is not and was not ever an educator. How does this qualify him to be in charge of educators or education?. He is a graduate of broad academy that champions charter schools, common core testing, getting rid of teacher tenure, unions and no teacher freedom in the classroom. He worked in a district with another broad graduate , deasy, who left the district in shambles and is under investigation. These are facts that make teachers boil because he is obviously not qualified for the job. So why are they giving it to him. Look at Deasy, same background. Bought and sold by broad and broads agenda. These so called hysterical teachers do not believe a word he says and if you study the superintendents that have graduated from broads academy you will see why they are horrified. You need to dig way deeper than what this man said in a job interview.
LikeLike
What happened in LAUSD can be seen in the chronicle that is Perdaily.
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/former-ctc-attorney-kathleen-carroll-lays-out-unholy-alliance-between-union-and-public-education-pri.html
Brilliantly written by Lenny Isenberg, it traces the corruption and the collision with the union and the media that has removed the professional staff. How was this accomplished. Here’s a helpful insight into the method, if not the madness.
http://citywatchla.com/8box-left/6666-lausd-and-utla-complicity-kills-collective-bargaining-and-civil-rights-for-la-s-teachers
LikeLike
Perhaps you didn’t recall the opening of my comment. In answer to your questions, I’ll share it again. “I agree completely with the concerns about the stigma associated with the Broad Academy, and why teachers may be frustrated. It makes sense.” However, 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. As you suggest, it is wise to “dig a little deeper” and not believe propaganda. 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.
LikeLike
Mr. Hill? Is that you? Are you trolling for Students First?
LikeLike
Good point Donna…Rhee just filed a California union busting lawsuit similar to the Quinn case…and she and her hubby now own 23 charters in Sacramento. Although her raunchy and wierd public behavior caused her powerful supporters to seem to withdraw from her, nothing has changed and she had just gone underground to continue her dirty work. But now we see that StudentsFirst works hand in glove with the other Broad/Walton/Welch etc. groups in unity. Why can’t America’s teachers,parents, and teachers unions do the same?
LikeLike
You sound like one of Michelle Rhee’s newest paid bloggers. Can you give specific examples of how these teachers “made a battleground out of their classrooms?” Hill may promise no charters, but we know all Broadies, like many politicians, will say one thing to gain approval and reverse course after elected or appointment. Getting himself “cleared” in the iPad fiasco means nothing. We seen many corporate reformers (Bennett, Rhee, Deasy) get cleared by a system controlled by their connections.
LikeLike
If you read this deformers statement after he was appointed he alluded to leading Burbank into a new perspective on education that is deformers for charterization and opening Burbank’s coffers to his corporate buddies. Just watch and see how thet work.
LikeLike
Agree Paula..but sadly we must recognize that the leadership of the deformers, Rheeformers, are too often Dems like Eli Broad…the Repubs at least spill their beans about their love of the free market. The Dems like Obama/Duncan, Broad, ‘Billary,’ et al, are the ones who say what is most convenient to lead the public astray.
We have to get away from believing either party line. I am fast becoming a Bernie Sanders Social Democrat.
I am both shocked and deeply disappointed in Dems with widely read blog sites who refuse to publish Robert Skeels recent excellent investigative expose on Ref Rodriguez and the California Charter School Association, so that the online public can learn more about these greedy hypocrites. Beginning to feel that many Dems are also profiteering from corporate ed, and stealing the taxpayers money.
LikeLike
Histrionic? Assumption? Insinuation? Broad Academy’s grads have a clear record across the country of imposing top-down, rigid, corporate management, and privatization on school systems. Can you please name ONE Broad superintendent who was not met by outrage & protests from parents, teachers and communities whose children lived (and are living) through their destructive policies?
What is more troubling is their conduct when faced with popular resistance. They behave as if the families and teachers are simply a few troublemakers, parents are routinely dismissed, teachers & principals are transferred or fired. To allow this to go unquestioned is why the financial elites behind education privatization can spread deceit and propaganda over and over again.
Teachers have a right and professional obligation to speak out against policies that hurt children. The Broad Academy & its unqualified grads deserve more scrutiny. Only the most authoritarian mindset justifies shutting down teachers & education professionals their rights to dissent.
LikeLike
” 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.”
Can you elaborate on that statement because to me it doesn’t make any sense.
LikeLike
“. . . based on their associations. . . ”
Sometimes those anonymous dead old folks had bits of wisdom that still hold true: “Dime con quien andas y te diré quien eres.”
I guess we’ll find out if that bit of wisdom holds true in Burbank.
LikeLike
Speaking of histrionics… Would you care to address the behavior of Board members in addressing people (not all of whom were teachers) who exercised their First Amendment right in a public forum?
LikeLike
Wonderful teachers are utterly destroyed, and the administrators go on forever.
The corruption that is endemic in administration is beyond imagination
LikeLike
If teachers are indeed making classrooms their battleground it is only because the battleground has been brought to them. And yes, the children should be afraid. Moreover, if we cannot judge people by their actions, then how precisely should we judge them? Hopefully Mr. Hill will be able to rouse his oft-mentioned, seldom evidenced talents and make his (hopefully brief) tenure as BUSD superintendent something less of a public debacle. There’s a first for everything.
LikeLike
Are there no other candidates for this job? People with teaching experience, expertise, and fine records? I wonder who the Burbank school board turned down? This wreaks.
LikeLike
When Deasy was hired by LAUSD, there was no national search and no other candidates interviewed. Elit Broad and Tony Villaraigosa told the Board to hire him, period. And that weak, manipulated B0E did as they were told. The Godfather rules all education it would seem. And his Broad Academy has turned out thousands of these phony administrators….they permeated the nation.
Some of us continually urged the LAUSD BoE to purge the district of all of the Deasy/Broad hires when Deasy left. It did not happen.
LikeLike
Well Ellen, LAUSD got this useless baggage off their payroll and he’s on to doing Broad’s business in Burbank
LikeLike
Yes, Paula…and we all screamed for Cortines to fire them all…but they just play musical chairs. Where do you think Cortines is in all this? He appointed Melendez and other Broadies to high profile roles.
LikeLike
ELLEN, I posted my comment to you as one to all readers here, because I dislike the way it will snack along the side.
What I reveal is simply that this has been ongoing for almost 2 decades, and IT NEEDS TO STOP. Out with the top-down charlatans and up with the grunt on the line. Teachers need the autonomy to enable kids to learn as they know how.
This shameful destruction of our teaching professionals in America is bad enough, but to have these malignant charlatans dictate policy so that charter schools, replace public schools has go to end NOW!
LikeLike
Cortines is just another administrator on the take for the best deal for himself. Just heard about tentative deal of LAUSD and UTLA. I’m underwhelmed by the terms.
LikeLike
Paula, I don’t know about the contract in LA, but I don’t see what Cortines’ ulterior motives might be or why he would be, as you put it, “on the take.” He is 82 years old and has a generous pension. Why would he be on the take?
LikeLike
Diane…it is called lingering testosterone, endless hunger for power, if not money motivation.
LikeLike
Cortines also would have more in common with these people than with teachers. I think Cortines is old school educator and for that I give him his propers, but these are people he comes in contact with more than teachers. In addition teacher jail was started under his regime
LikeLike
The ed reform approach is just monolithic. There doesn’t seem to be any room to change direction if the leaders just move from one area to another.
Why on earth would Chicago hire Byrd-Bennett, for example? Because they were so impressed with Cleveland and Detroit? Cleveland is on something like the 4th radical restructuring plan- they’re now doing the currently fashionable “portfolio” model. The public schools there will be gone in a decade, unless they keep a few around as the “safety net” schools to backstop the “choice” schools. Is that what they wanted for Chicago?
Even putting wrongdoing or allegations of corruption aside, how is ed reform in any way “innovative” if they all come out of the Broad Academy, they all follow the same approach and it always ends the same way? Wouldn’t a track record of “improving public schools” have to include improving actual existing public schools somewhere?
LikeLike
You’d think that logically but what has any charter school done innovatively that is so effective it could be replicated in public schools? Nothing, and yet they are touted as improvements over public schools. It’s a scam and unfortunately, many parents swallow this Kool aide. There’s no magic bullet for fixing education, educators could tell you that. Deformers use it as a tease to win over uninformed parents.
LikeLike
Paula,
I heard recently of one great charter innovation: marketing. They have been great at that.
LikeLike
Chiara..that is the conundrum. Is it human nature to be greedy and self serving? What makes some feel entitled, with or without the knowledge and hard work others feel are needed to produce worthwhile results to benefit society? Inductive and deductive reasoning seem not to bring us the answers. Maybe blinders, and a Citizens Common Core, would make us more maleable to the overlords. Ask David Coleman.
LikeLike
Dysfunctional boards hire dysfunctional superintendents. Do Burbank parents have the right to recall board members? If so they should exercise it.
LikeLike
Not sure if Forrest ever visited Burbank but “stupid is as stupid does”.
LikeLike
A non educator running schools? You mean Duncan, Klein, and the short-lived Cathy Black. Or do you want “an educator” such as Michelle Rhee and other TFA’s with a total of 2 years teaching. So it’s either a Broadie or someone from TFA. That’s the trend. Didn’t PBC Florida just appoint a Broadie?
Of course hiring someone who made a million dollar blunder is totally stupid. Burbank better watch their wallets!
LikeLike
Here are some definitions
diatribe |ˈdīəˌtrīb|
noun
a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something: a diatribe against the Roman Catholic Church.
ORIGIN late 16th cent. (denoting a disquisition): from French, via Latin from Greek diatribē ‘spending of time, discourse,’ from dia ‘through’ + tribein ‘rub.’
discussion |disˈkəSHən|
noun
the action or process of talking about something, typically in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas: the proposals are not a blueprint but ideas for discussion
| the specific content of the legislation was under discussion.
• a conversation or debate about a certain topic: discussions about environmental improvement programs.
• a detailed treatment of a particular topic in speech or writing.
ORIGIN Middle English (denoting judicial examination): via Old French from late Latin discussio(n-), from discutere ‘investigate’ (see discuss) .
I believe that comments above may be classified as diatribe. My question is “Does the blog owner really want this kind of stuff?”
LikeLike
Raj…you always make it clear that you are a supporter of DFER and the Rheeformers. So do you really think your comment carries any weight with legitimate educators?
LikeLike
Personal attacks here comes under the heading “DIATRIBE”. You or any one else can call it any way you want. How do you create new words to make your point? How do you decide who do I support?
Finally, remember everyone is not against you.
LikeLike
The corporate reformers must have taken over the school board for Burbank’s schools. All they need is a one vote majority to control a school district and those boards decide who runs the districts.
LikeLike
Absolutely on the mark, Lloyd. Some of us are old enough to have fought this battle in Vista, California, in the late 60s when the John Birch Society Right Wingers took over that school board with a racist and reactionary agenda. We must all remember how easy it is to fool most of the people most of the time,
LikeLike
It’s easier to fool most of the people most of the time when you own the traditional media and control the content.
LikeLike
The website LA School Report, run by reformers, won’t allow any comments on that post because on a previous post that discussed Hill being considered for the position were a ton of negative comments. The reformers want to stick teachers with all the responsibility in education but can’t take any criticism themselves.
LikeLike
You’re so right about that blog. They reprimanded me for being so negative about profit making in charters and refused on several occasions to print my comments.
LikeLike
There were no other candidates put forth to the public as a possibility. In addition, teachers were given less than 24 hours notice between the time Mr. Hill’s name was publicly announced and when a public q&a was announced. BTA was given only slightly more. I will link the actual board meeting where teachers were chastised and insulted for speaking up.
LikeLike
http://www.schoolhouselive.org/
LikeLike
Here is a video of the Burbank BoE meeting:
http://original.livestream.com/schoolhouselive/video?clipId=flv_4431f5f1-7310-4952-883d-4bf795a66708
Here is a post by a Burbank blogger, commenting on the unusually hostile reaction of the Board to having their decision questioned:
LikeLike
36 minutes into the video there is an LAUSD employee who teaches at a school that piloted the MiSiS program before it was fully implemented. She tells how the teachers warned how unworkable the program was and how they were ignored by Hill.
At about 01:10 one of the board members has a bit of a fit, accuses the teachers of a “mob mentality,” resigns, and storms out. Incredible. I saw nothing in the video that would justify the “mob mentality” accusation.
LikeLike
His comment is a tactic of verbal abuse: attack! pure and simple.
LikeLike
How is trust ever going to be rebuilt when these are the decisions. How disheartening!
LikeLike
The fine union leaders in the Burbank teachers union should never have let it get this far. Where are your relationships with your board members? Every elected BOE member in your district should be on your president’s speed dial to keep each of them informed of any concerns they have. I don’t know abut the Brown Act violation issues, but if you have them the place to discuss them is not only on a blog but with the District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit. Believe me, they listen. The problem now is that you are stuck with a guy with a 3 year contract, (something they teach and advocate for in board member and superintendent schools ) and no matter how much you raise heck about it, he’s in there for good.
LikeLike
This is in reply to Ellen Lubic who said:
“Yes, Paula…and we all screamed for Cortines to fire them all…but they just play musical chairs. Where do you think Cortines is in all this? He appointed Melendez and other Broadies to high profile roles”.
Over a decade ago, before we knew of this conspiracy to end public education by removing the professionals and replacing their voices with those of the charlatans, A new teacher, Dania Hall ,contacted me. After completing college and getting her license at age 52, she had taken a position as a music teacher in North Belmore, Long Island, NY. In 3 years, she brought a full music program to the schools in which she worked, and created orchestras in each. She was phenomenal, but the superintendent there, like the one in LA, knew that she needed to be sent out the door and off the budget — before she vested in tenure and benefits.
She was found to be incompetent by his lackies..(see the link below how this very same process played out when it was transported to LAUSD)
http://citywatchla.com/8box-left/6666-lausd-and-utla-complicity-kills-collective-bargaining-and-civil-rights-for-la-s-teachers
This process–the allegations, and false evaluations existed because there are no civil rights for teachers, who depend on the UNION to enforce the contract. They don’t!
This process of denying all access to civil rights…
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
… eventually found its way from NY to California. The unions never aired her grievances, and the Superintendent won. For his complicity he now collects a pension from North Belmore, and he moved on to Englewood N.J. She lost her job, can get no other, and is years in the courts trying to get justice… at great expense of time, energy and money.
I too remember, by the way, Cortines in NYC, who then moved on to LAUSD.
In fact, from failure in NYC, the inept Rudy Crew moved on to Florida; Superintendent Elaine Fink who decimated veteran teachers in NYC moved on to attempt that in San Diego.
It is teachers who do not move on to new jobs. They lose everything.
I have one thing to say — AT WHAT POINT DOES SHAME KICK IN?
LikeLike
Why would they hire this problem child. Help me see the political side of this. Are children succeeding in CA schools, because of anything this man has done?
Have faith in God!!! Victorious Living & Giving P.O. Box 383104 Duncanville TX 75138-3104 214-226-6111
LikeLike