Jeannie Kaplan, a retired member of the Denver school board, can’t stop watching and documenting the follies of corporate reform in her city. Here she tells about the curious alliance between Denver Public Schools and a local health-care provider.
She writes:
“Get this. Over the past four years a Denver-based health care provider settled (without admitting any wrongdoing) three whistle blower lawsuits with the federal government for $961 million. The cases involved defrauding the federal Medicare program ($495 million), double billing the government ($55 million), and engaging in a kick-back scheme for patient referrals. ($411 million). This same company underwrote a Denver Public Schools “pep rally” of sorts in 2012 where, using some of the company’s cultural training techniques, the six core DPS values were determined. Not surprisingly the DPS’ core values look remarkably similar to this company’s core values . And since relocating its headquarters to Denver, the CEO of said company and his wife have contributed $33,000 to four “reform” school board candidates in 2013 (10K to Barbara O’Brien, Mike Johnson, Landri Taylor, 3K to Rosemary Rodriguez) and $61,000 to three “reform” candidates in 2011 ($25K to Happy Haynes and Anne Rowe, 11K to Jennifer Draper Carson). I try not to be overly cynical, which given the state of public education in the United States is often challenging, but when I saw the invitation below, I could no longer contain my cynicism regarding this alliance. It turns out this corporation with core values such as INTEGRITY and ACCOUNTABILITY is COLLABORATING once again with the Denver Public Schools for some FUN, this time to honor those who have a shared value and vision. The company and CEO having such access to Denver Public Schools? DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. and its CEO Kent Thiry.”
This corporation helped DPS frame its core values. It recently gave a party to celebrate and honor those who share its values.
Kaplan asks:
“How much influence does this corporation actually have within Denver Public Schools? Why is a public institution allowing a private corporation to determine its values? Isn’t this an example of taking privatization within “education reform” too far? Just askin’”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hi, Don’t know if you saw this. http://www.epi.org/publication/five-social-disadvantages-that-depress-studen t-performance-why-schools-alone-cant-close-achievement-gaps/?utm_source=Econ omic+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=26b9c8a34e-EPI_News_06_12_156_12_2015&utm _medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-26b9c8a34e-58010897 Gene B.
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I tried to find that link and was told can’t be found? Do you know where?
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The private sector always seems to trump the public sector in these “public private partnerships”. How much autonomy and agency did the public sector “partners” trade away in order to secure this “free” help in crafting their mission?
I’m always kind of amazed that we have so many public sector people who believe they are getting something for nothing from the private sector. That isn’t the way the private sector works. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is “free”. Why can’t they just honestly assess the cost instead of insisting on telling us this fairy tale? There’s nothing wrong with paying for something, and they WILL pay. The point is to ask “how much and is it worth it”?
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Amen!
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Do they really need the sketchy health care provider to help them come up with a boilerplate management mission like “accountability” and “collaboration”?
I hope they didn’t trade autonomy for something of so little value. There are probably ten million sources of this kind of management “advice” and it’s cheap to purchase-, no strings attached.
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That you so much, Jeannie Kaplan, for continuing to share what you see going on. This scenario is really worrisome. It sounds like DaVita and Thiry are maneuvering for control of DPS. There is undoubtedly a financial goal in mind. We need to keep our eyes wide open.
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Keep medical services out of the public schools. Parents who allow their children to receive medical services in the school forfeit their children’s privacy and whatever care or issues their children have medically will be contained in their record forever. HIPAA DOES NOT pertain inside the walls of the school this is why they are pushing medical services to the schools. They AGAIN use the poor and low income families as the excuse but the real reason is one stop data collection on every child and their family. School is to educate on reading, writing and arithmetic and “transforming” school to be the “center of community” is a dangerous slippery slope.
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There is a connection between learning and health. Community health services provided through the auspices of a community based school system seems like it could be a workable partnership. But I agree that there needs to be complete transparency on funding issues and on the collection and retention of sensitive medical information on children and families.
The private sector is not required to open their books to the public even when they are using public monies to sustain and grow their business. That’s a problem.
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I agree with theses comments and think the liason is all about getting clients in this dubious alliance, not only students and their parents, but also teachers, and administrators. I really get red flags waving to my brain when I hear or see the word “partner.” The terms is thrown about to conceal the legal responsibilities and/or deals behind these PR announcements.
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This is what I was talking about. Corporate funding of “democratic” elections. This process takes a huge amount of energy and organization. The kind of thing unions have been doing.
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Question. Does the newspaper print this. Our local paper permits a maximum of 150 words, and these are usually “edited”.
If interested, my latest 150 words.
Like fabled lemmings suicidal stampede toward annihilation homo sapiens destroy the planet sustaining us.
Nationally, Constitutional freedom guarantees drastically diminish. Middle class disappearing, upper 1% siphons national largess. Perpetual war promoted, diplomacy questioned. Doublespeak supplants investigating idea quality. Scholarly in depth research defined as liberalism.
Best government money can buy? Plutocracy supplants democracy. Peoples interests succumb, CEOs expand.
Whose educational failures leave us susceptible to such catastrophes? Profound chutzpah! Corporate media promotes corporate agenda. Bottom line: making money. Quality journalism: secondary.
Government lies: unexamined; promoted. Gulf of Tonkin; war exploded. Weapons of mass destruction? Iraq war cost trillions of dollars, untold death, misery. Unexamined bank problems; bank failure, depression
Public schools denigrated. Corporate schools costing more producing poorer results pushed.
A corporate reporter with suspect logic comprehension, defending Iraq war, questioning, denigrating one politician offered coverage three times that of philosophical questioning for ALL politicians,
Causal effects? Worth examination!
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Health care scams are among the latest privatization scams ripping off public education dollars. Instead of managing their own benefits offices, as they did for more than a hundred years, Chicago’s public schools has been outsourcing that “function” at greater cost than ever. And part of the problem is that the health providers (and the “Wellness” coaches) don’t know anything — or at best very little — so when people call for help, if they get through the siting times, they don’t really get much help.
Now that I represent my “demographic” (old retired teachers) in the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates, while my wife represents working high school teachers as a delegate from Steinmetz High School and one of six high school vice presidents on the CTU Executive Board, we keep close track of all the built-in nonsense that adds to the costs of what should be going on through a department within the school system. One of many examples: When I call to speak to our “Wellness” coach (a requirement or we have to pay $50 more per month for the family insurance), I get to talk with some young child in Seattle who is obviously reciting from a script you might as well be reading in the produce aisle at Whole Foods. Since many of us among the CTU retiree group are retired teachers with advanced degrees and also coaches (I was the coach of Chicago’s first co-ed weightlifting team, back when women were not supposed to lift weights in the mid-1970s, for example) it adds insult to injury to have to make these calls and listen to these inanities. But that’s life at the Chicago Board of Education Privatization and Teacher Bashing in 2015.
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