Mike Miles, the controversial superintendent of the Dallas public schools, resigned. He was a military man, trained by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy.
When he arrived in Dallas, he announced ambitious goals, including significant gains in test scores. He fired many principals, closed schools, demoralized teachers (who left in droves), pushed school choice, instituted pay-for-performane, appointed large numbers of young TFA to high-level administrative positions (including the director of human tesources, hired at age 28, fired at age 30 for improprieties), evaluated teachers by test scores: the whole reform play book, but achieved none of his goals. After three years, test scores (the golden ring of reformers) were flat or declining.
Teacher turnover and flight from DISD reached unprecedented numbers. The atmosphere became so toxic that Miles moved his family back to Colorado, presumably for their safety.
One of the lowest points in his three-year tenure was when he directed police officers to remove a school board member from a high school in her district, where she was visiting.
His supporters were disappointed and called it “a sad day.”
An anti-Miles blogger insisted that Miles should stay and live with the chaos and destruction he caused.
Others, no doubt, will be glad to see him go.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Great! Now the question is, will he be replaced by someone worse a la Newark?
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These Broad Academy people act like Storm Troopers. Deasy behaved the same way in LA.
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“Others, no doubt, will be glad to see him go.”
Few are ever sorry to see these clowns go. It’s where they go next and who comes after them. Too bad for Miles that Cerf got to New Jersey first. I believe Chicago is still looking, unless Jesse Ruiz is going to be permanent.
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These guys from the Broad Academy are the worst! We lived through John Deasy, and are still cleaning up the mess a year later. It will take years. I am angry at school boards for either buying into the message, or facilitating the destruction. Citizens really need to pay attention to those board elections!!!
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As I mentioned below, there are many citizens, maybe a majority, who love these “run the schools like a business” types and love their bellicose behavior. After all, for most people, this is not about their children’s schools.
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Melissa,
When you get a Broadie, you not only get top-down, non collaborative leadership, you usually get a coterie of Broadie and TFA administrators, some of whom may be subsidized by Broad.
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Diane is absolutely right. Broad and TFA are the pipelines producing privatizers who flood public education at all levels to hollow out the capacity, budget, and morale in schools, then leave for the next 6-figure job in the Broadie-TFA-Hedge Fund sheltered job market. This is a powerful strategy to disrupt and privatize the public sector, diverting tens of millions of district tax funds into private hands of charterites and consultants, leaving debris of public schools in their wake. Only chance to stop it is for parental Opt-Out to grow and grow, refusing to let commercial parasites abuse our kids with testing, along with an alliance of opt-out with wildcatting teachers wherever school staffs can bypass the bought crony union leadership of AFT and NEA and take matters locally into their own hands, in alliance with students organized into walking-out of these captured schools. A three-part alliance of parent opt-out, teacher wildcat, and student walk-out will defeat this whole disgusting looting of public schools.
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Bingo!
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Since her conversion, Diane is always right. : )
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Thank you, Christine. It helps to know the players on all sides and what’s happening and the history
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Broad, Bloomberg and other privatizers are buying these school board seats by vetting and financing candidates that support their agenda.
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Double BINGO.
Certainly in LA, with close to $6 M donated to the last BoE candidates in March…mainly over $2.5 M to the Rheeformer, Ref Rodrigurz, who did BUY the election by bribing Latino voters to come to the polls and vote for him and win a cash prize of $25,000 in a lottery
Reminder…it only cost about $30K a decade ago to run for LAUSD school board..
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Typo…Ref Rodriguez is the new millionaire charter school owner, LAUSD BoE member. He owns 16 PUD charter schools and was generously rewarded with campaign donations from the billionaires mentioned above.
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If I may enhance your second sentence Diane: “He was a military man, SUPPOSEDLY trained by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy.”
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Oh, they’re trained, all right: trained to smash and grab public education in the interests of their billionaire patron.
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Here’s cynical me predicting that within one year DISD will hire someone who has more PR skills, but has the exact same agenda. The general public loves these “get tough & no excuses” types who go for the dramatic gestures. The public enjoys seeing people humiliated and disrespected. The superintendent may have been what you call controversial, but the fact that he wasn’t fired the day after he had the school board member taken out by police is telling. Truly, the fact that he resigned instead of getting fired is telling.
Cf. Deasy in Los Angeles.
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Jobs of tomorrow, ‘director of human testscoreses’,
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Another corporate job title (for real):
Executive director for talent
Also:
Chief Knowledge Officer
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Sounds like the old TV show “F-Troop”
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It’s more than a little ironic that positions like “Chief Knowledge Officer” are invariably filled with arrogant know-nothings, with minimal or no classroom experience.
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Our first “Chief Knowledge Officer” was little Timmy Knowles, then about 29 years old. What could he possibly have known about that he was the chief? TFA, of course, and now the Pritzker Director at U of Chicago. It helped that his daddy was in charge of the Harvard Grad School of Ed.
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God forbid reporters stop asking republican presidential candidates if they think the confederate flag needs to be taken down long enough to ask them……Do you have any plans to get tough with teachers and stop this outrage of letting so many black people in urban areas choose their own school boards……
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They need to lean in on this same question for Dems….especially Hillary who is another Repub in Dem clothing…like Obama.
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The know nots who know not they know not but are absolutely sure they know when given authority wreck so very much. They are always so very sure they have THE answer.
By now it seems that we might be “resigned” to their ignorance and stupidity but at least some of us have been on the firing line long enough to know only with THEIR resignations do we have any hope and hope we must. Hope and action.
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Where will he go? Dance of the genetically engineered 700 pound pumpkin crossed with a tart citrus fruit.
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Something is going on here. My background in literature (I have a BA and an MA in English) taught me to look for patterns to help understand something.
Suddenly there are reformist superintendents resigning all over the country. It started with Rhee, then Klein, then Vallas, Deasy, Andersen, etc. etc.
Even a nearby district here in Florida that hired a former Chicago and Minneapolis reformer super (who was former military and trained under Vallas) saw his abrupt retirement before the end of the school year and far short of his 3-year contract and promise to “retire from this job”.
I would not underestimate the reformist movement. These people are not resigning without some kind of a long range plan.
Perhaps their jobs were simply to enter, disrupt, destroy, demoralize, and deploy as many TFA/reformster bureaucrats as possible. That fits into the shock doctrine and management by disruption narrative.
Whatever it happening I say be prepared for Reform 2.0. They are not defeated, they are not retreating, they are not giving up and moving on. They are preparing for the next assault in the war against public schools, teachers, poor children, and the unions.
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Chris..is has not been “sudden”…the infliltration of non educator, Broad dictators, has been happening for at least the last 10 years. Broad started the Academy in 1999 and now has cloned thousands of these turds who then add to the Broad onslaught exponentially by hiring like-minded underlings. In LA, at LAUSD, Cortines has now put Melendez into the front line as his second in command, and she is a Broadie/charter lover…all the way. The print media does not report on all this. It is only with the advent of Diane’s blog site that the word has gotten out nationwide.
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Ellen, I wasn’t saying the hiring of these superintendents was sudden. I’m arguing that the sudden resignations of the reformist/Broadie super is evidence of something going on.
What, I don’t know, but I am sure they are not just playing musical chairs or giving up. Perhaps coming from outside education and from TFA they see themselves as only ‘owing’ a couple, three years tops to their jobs. If so, that should make destroying the movement a bit easier eventually.
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Sadly, some Boards of Ed side with the Rheeformers. In Glendale, Ca. just weeks ago, they hired the recently fired and disgraced Broadie who helped John Deasy destroy the LAUSD budget by his terrible decisions re iPads and MiSiS. He sailed to victory in this LA County independent district. Eli Broad has his hooks into almost everyone, almost everywhere.
I wish I could be sanguine and assume we will beat them…but I see in reality, their poisoned tentacles are rapidly absorbing public education in America. When I talk with university colleagues and local politicos who tell me that they love charters, as Henry Waxman did, and when a major charter operator, Rodriguez of PCC, who is under investigation by the district, but could buy the last BoE election and now is on the Board, I feel very discouraged.
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Ellen, I struggle every day with staying focused and as positive as I can about the whole reform mess.
But I am still curious as to why these superintendents are giving up power and resigning en masses across the country.
What is next in the pipeline from Broad and his minions?
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Chris…I always assume that LAUSD is an exemplar for most districts nationwide, but more so since it is the second largest and most diverse in the nation. Considering most things are done behind closed doors, no explanations ever given, and ZERO transparency) my personal theory is that Cortines was chosen as interim to play ball with Broad and his in group, and to place Melendez in a position that she will be the natural choice for the next Supt. Mayor Garcetti had positioned her as his Education advisor, but then she showed up back at LAUSD after the Deasy debacle. I think perhaps this dance of the trolls was done deal as soon as Deasy left, and they now have his successor, anothe Broadie true believer, in line for this prime job.
I know I am jaded, but you can’t live a long life as a professional policywonk and not keep looking behind the PR sound bites for a modicum of the truth. I have grown to think that every public job description should add the operant word after the title and that word is ‘corruptible’.
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Rhee located a board position at a fertilizer company. Usually, top management dominates corporate boards. But, sometimes, board members back coups of disgruntled shareholders. Takeover of America, one firm at a time. … the plot thickens?
With the egos of Broad graduates and their training in disruption, expect ugly exchanges in the board rooms that they occupy.
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“Rhee located a board position at a fertilizer company”
Oh, how appropriate.
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More on Broad and his military school reform warriors…from Schools Matter
Broadie Supt. Illegally Hires Broad Trainee at Public Expense
Posted: 23 Jun 2015 05:58 AM PDT
Since being hired over more qualified candidates for the position of Knox County superintendent, Jim McIntyre has distinguished himself as a loyal stooge of Eli Broad’s corporate efficiency training camp, where he learned undemocratic practices that he has brought to his public responsibilities in East Tennessee.
Last fall he illegally put the KCS on the hook for almost a hundred thousand dollars to pay a Broad trainee to practice her austerity lessons in Knoxville.
This week County Commission rejected payment due the Broad clone. When will Knoxville have enough of McIntyre, another sad example of big business run amok among public institutions!
(WBIR – KNOXVILLE) – At its regular meeting Monday evening, the Knox County Commission retroactively rejected a controversial grant agreement with the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems.
The embattled grant agreement laid out the terms of employment for a Broad Center fellow, Christy Hendler, as she worked for KCS during the 2014-15 school year.
The Broad Center is, essentially, a training program for people with executive leadership experience aspiring to become school district superintendents and other leaders within large education systems.
Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre is himself a Broad graduate.
McIntyre accepted the grant agreement for Hendler’s employment back in September, without seeking the approval of the KC Board of Education or Knox County Commission.
In April, county Law Director Bud Armstrong informed Board of Education members McIntyre had no authority to do that, since the grant has a matching fund requirement, among other reasons.
RELATED: BOE, law director question superintendent’s Broad grant acceptance
In the arrangement, the Broad Center agreed to give KCS a grant totaling up to $29,700, to be put toward Hendler’s salary. In exchange, the district would foot the rest of her salary, plus pay benefits.
The baseline salary for a Broad fellow, according to the Broad Academy, is $90,000. The Broad grant would pay for up to $29,700 of that.
With McIntyre’s unauthorized acceptance of the grant agreement, Hendler has been working as the district’s director of planning and improvement. Her time with the school system as a Broad fellow is set to end at the end of July.
That means KCS – and therefore taxpayers – have been footing the bill this whole time for not only the difference ($90k salary – $29.7k grant = $60,300 taxpayer responsibility), but also for the cost of benefits. The district estimates that at about $27,000, putting taxpayers on the hook for a total of $87,300.
However, because McIntyre accepted the grant agreement back in September, both the Knox County Board of Education and the County Commission had to vote to retroactively approve the grant agreement.
In a 5-4 decision late this spring, the BOE narrowly approved the agreement.
On Monday evening, however, Knox County commissioners returned a surprise vote.
At their work session last Monday, a majority of commissioners indicated they would be in favor of approving the agreement, recommending its approval 7 to 3, with one commissioner opting to pass.
Within a week, six commissioners had changed their mind.
Nine voted against approving the agreement. Commissioner Amy Broyles was not present.
Chairman Brad Anders, who voted “yes” at the work session but then voted “no” Monday night, said “there was more study and questions raised over the week,” and agreed it was quite a change.
“The thing that I used as a measure,” he said, was that McIntyre’s approval “was improperly done and you can’t condone that.”
Commissioner Sam McKenzie was the lone “yes,” though he explained himself prior to the vote.
“The water’s over the dam…these funds are pretty much spent,” McKenzie told his fellow commissioners, urging fiscal responsibility. “We’re basically turning down $30,000…the money’s been spent, so we’re going to have to take out – at this point – $30,000 out of a potential teacher’s assistant or potential, I don’t know, across-the-street hire or, you know, toilet paper or something. That money has to come from somewhere to pay this money because it’s pretty much been spent.”
“This, to me, is just the clean-up,” McKenzie continued. “If folks want to make a point, I think there are better places to make a point than us paying $30,000.”
Commissioner Charles Busler said he understood McKenzie’s point, but said, “the money was spent before it was approved, and that should bother us to no end….I mean, how could we look at the people that voted us in office and say, ‘Oh, they went ahead and spent it, so it’s spent anyway, so we’re not going to do anything about it.’?”
In the pre-vote deliberations, Commissioner Randy Smith asked McIntyre: “Do you feel this is a wise spending of taxpayers’ money?”
McIntyre told the commission he does think Hendler’s salary has been worth the cost.
“She’s been able to work with our operational areas to identify key performance indicators, to ensure that they’re as efficient and effective as they can be,” he told the commission. “She has been leading and facilitating some of the work around, ‘How do we make sure that all the student assessments that we do are either required by the federal government or are valuable to inform instruction for our teachers?’ And so, yes, I believe it’s been– it is a good investment of resources, and it’s been valuable to our school system to have access to the skills and abilities that she’s brought to the table.”
Several commissioners mentioned getting several dozen emails from constituents, urging them to reject the grant agreement.
McKenzie, however, cautioned, “We represent 500,000 people. Thirty people sending me an email does not mean we’re doing the people’s business. That does not mean that. No way does that mean that. …Listen, but don’t say that that’s indicative or representative of all the people, because it’s not.”
Armstrong told commissioners what a “no” vote would mean.
“If it’s not approved by this body, then the grant is rejected,” Armstrong said. “Then the Board of Education will have to then contact the grantor, and then they’ll have to work out something with the grantor and see where it goes from there. There’s not a clear-cut answer yes or no.”
Bob Thomas, KCS assistant superintendent of administrative services, confirmed to the commission the Broad Center grant has been received and already spent on Hendler’s salary.
Asked if the $29,700 will have to be paid back to the Broad Center, Armstrong said those are issues “that I will have to address with the school board and the legalities of where it leaves them.”
After the overwhelming, near-majority rejection of the grant agreement, McIntyre said he’ll now wait and see what the county law director and BOE decide to do.
“Some of the commissioners indicated one of the possibilities: We might have to send the money back, and I don’t know. We’ll have to figure that out, and I’ll defer to the law director’s office and to the school board to sort all that out,” he told WBIR. “This is, you know, $30,000. We have a $430 million budget, and so, you know, this is a relatively modest set of resources in the big picture of our overall budget.”
McIntyre acknowledged this was a grant agreement approval process with flaws.
“At times there are things that come through the process that don’t get handled properly. We try to rectify those and correct those and make sure that they’re handled properly in the end, and this was really what this was about,” McIntyre said. “It was about, ‘How do we address the deficiencies in this process? How do we make sure we get it right?'”
Asked if the district will keep Hendler on as a regular employee after the end of July, McIntyre said, “that’s really a separate decision from the grant agreement or from the grant itself, and we’ll certainly evaluate that as we do with all employees, moving forward.”
Fredrick Hess: Duplicity Personified
Posted: 23 Jun 2015 02:45 AM PDT
By Ken Derstine
June 22, 2015
Frederick Hess is a resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. He has a blog on Education Week called Straight Up.
On June 11, 2015 he posted this column on his blog:
5 Thoughts on Nevada’s Landmark School Choice Law
In the article Hess praises the newly enacted Nevada law that makes Education Savings Accounts (vouchers) available to all families for a hodgepodge of education choices if parents want to flee the funding and resource starved public schools. The bulk of his article sings the praises of disaster capitalism as the means to promote privatization of public schools.
He concludes his article with the astonishing statement:
“Finally, per usual, I’m puzzled as to why teachers aren’t embracing this kind of reform and all the possibilities it holds for them. Instead, Nevada State Education Association president Ruben Murillo has denounced the bill, arguing that taxpayers should not be helping families to attend “private school interests. Now, I’ve met Murillo (Nevada NEA President). He knows that plenty of teachers in Nevada are frustrated with testing, disciplinary issues, teacher evaluation, accountability systems, and more. And the opportunity for families to choose the kinds of teaching and schooling that will best serve their children means more kids will be in different kinds of schools—which gives teachers opportunities to work in schools that aren’t wired into the system of state-mandated evaluations and accountability, if they wish. After all, many of those “private school interests” will offer a very different school culture and approach. Seems like a win-win to me. I hope Nevada’s educators proceed with that possibility in mind.”
On February 5, 2015 Hess moderated four hours of panels at the American Enterprise Institute. The theme of the conference was “Is the ‘new’ education philanthropy good for schools? Examining foundation-funded school reform”. The main purpose of the conference was how to promote standardized tests for teacher evaluation.
For a synopsis of the conference, see:
Talking to the Choir: AEI panels discuss their attack on public education
Apparently the “starve the public schools, feed the charters” tactic of corporate education reformers to make charters appealing to parents is evolving into “flee from the public schools to escape standardized testing” (which corporate education reformers initiated and are promoting).
Duplicity – deceitfulness in speech or conduct, as by speaking or acting in two different ways to different people concerning the same manner; double-dealing.
Also see:
Privatization Primer
Curmudgucation – June 20, 2015
Investors Ready to Liquidate Public Schools
Life at the Intersections – November 9, 2014
It’s over half a year old, but this article captures the corporate education reform method.
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I don’t think one can get hired for a large school system in the US without spouting the ed reform “movement” lines, so I’d assume the next manager will be a lot like the last manager.
I keep waiting for a genuinely interesting or innovative hire- someone who comes in and says “I’m breaking with what we’ve been doing the last 2 decades”. Now THAT would take courage.
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These reformers keep getting passed around like “bad pennies.” When are they going to realize that the educational reformation is just smoke and mirrors? Their privatization agenda is doomed. They will not achieve better results by ignoring poverty. Their ideology is false, and the public is catching on to the vacuous rhetoric. Parents are weary of seeing their children being tossed around like a hot potato in a patchwork of underfunded schools. Nothing they propose is research based. Education reform is marching orders from billionaires that stand to directly benefit from its implementation and a misguided, corrupt government that provides incentives to implement bad education policy.
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Teacher…agree that these rotten apples are recycled rapidly, but I cannot see that they are doomed. If they are, it will be after they destroy generations of students and teachers. Many poor parents are too uninformed about any of this and are easily manipulated…this is the target group of the Rheeformers and parent trigger ghouls like the Waltons and Broad who use their henchmen like Deasy and Ben Austin, to create endless chaos to further their end of killing all public education and unions, and corporatizing everything for Free Market profit (read Tilson). The informed parents rush to get their offspring into the better of the charters. At least this is what is happening in California.
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These Broadies sound like ants. You can step on one, but they’ll keep sending out more soldiers. The only way to stop them is to poison the nest. That is what I hope happens if the public catches on. Children do best in a stable home, and I am sure all the chaos in the schools cannot be good for them. When you mention parents in California seek better charters, do you mean more selective? The best way to prevent them from getting a strong foothold is to opt out of testing.
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Teacher…At Calabasas HS, an upper middle class + area, most of the students did opt out just weeks ago. Of course, teachers are threatened with dismissal if they even mention opt out info.
As to the charters I mentioned, Palisades HS and Paul Revere JHS have embedded charters that are reportedly very good academically. Some of these in WLA with highly educated, professional parents, are directed to middle class +, but they take a few inner city students to justify their charter. A few years ago, a fledgling science charter was looking for public support, and the director (who was slated to apportion herself a six figure salary) explained this selection process at public meetings. Speaking of cats out of the bag.
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Ellen,
Reading what you have to say is depressing. You present yourself as a plausible expert on education matters and then proceed to forecast nothing but gloom and doom for the future of public education.
I won’t give up and I won’t give in to the privatizers. Here is one card among many that I received on this last day of school.
Dear Mrs. Marshall,
Thank you for the awesome year! I learned lots of new things…. THANK YOU!
I really hope that I will have you as a teacher next year! I want that because you’re AMAZINGLY AWESOME! You figure out ways to make learning math more fun! I’m going to miss you!!…
P.S
Every day I will be so excited about what we will learn in math because of you!
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This is why I fight. This is why doom and gloom is unproductive for teachers on the front lines.
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Betsy…what a wonderful accolade from your student. I do understand your points of view, and I too stay in the fray hoping that every little bit of effort might make things better. But my own overview from a public policy perspective, conjoins public education with all other aspects of what we want from our democratic republic. And what I see with ALEC, elections, SCOTUS decisions, and all aspects of the vast inequality and financial disparity of Americans, leads me the think that without some miracles, and/or revolution of the masses, things will not change. I hope that I will be proven wrong.
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Echoing a comment yesterday by knight427 about how the rheephormsters should (if they had a heart and a moral center) subject themselves and THEIR OWN CHILDREN first to their own data-maniacal driven measure-to-punish schemes, I say—
Why does Mike Miles get to run, like a coward, from the consequences of his own actions? Gritless? Can’t stay the course? When the going gets tough, the tough-talking get out of Dodge? Can’t face the consequences of his own words and deeds?
Mikes Miles, like John Deasy, an exemplar of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s pithy observation:
“You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.”
😎
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We had superintendent musical chairs here for a while and they finally got smart and promoted from within.
It’s a good fit.
I don’t believe constant chaos is good for children. I don’t care how many times they insist it is, I still don’t believe it.
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Deasy hired the best Beverly Hills ‘fraud specialist’ lawyer money could buy, and he only resigned, quit, before being fired, with the proviso that the LAUSD BoE would NOT investigate him, nor press charges for an indictment. (But the FBI abd the SEC picked up the cudgle and are investigating him.) He segued instantly into Broad’s inner sanctum without losing a payday. Broad keeps these lawyers close by to represent his own henchman….but I wonder if he can even get to the FBI and SEC (which has Wall Streeter Mary Jo White in charge, with many calling for her resignation).
Until and unless our entire system of government changes with regulations like Glass Steagall again installed, and with disasters of SCOTUS legislation like Citizens United and McCutcheon forced on America by the most activist Court in our history, public education, along with Social Security, Medicare, the Post Office, and all social services are doomed.
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One of the lowest points in his three-year tenure was when he directed police officers to remove a school board member from a high school in her district, where she was visiting.
His supporters were disappointed and called it “a sad day.” <How much will his 'resignation' cost Dallas? What about the students; they should file suit and sue for educational neglect and malfeasance? Why didn't someone should have step in when the family was threatened? What was Mike thinking? Glad they didn't become collateral damage- seems like there was a war going on in Dallas. I remember reading about this fellow a few years ago. Surprised he lasted this long.
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NO ONE threatened his family. No one. Some protestors protested on the corner near his house–not even at his house.
Parents at his son’s school said his wife acted obnoxiously at PTA meetings and was not well liked.
Also, Miles didn’t seem to like that DISD is 95% low-income and minority; that was not the type of school district his son had come from.
Miles’ reforms were for everyone else’s children, but his own child was too good for them.
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I think LA is looking to replace their 80 years-old superintendent. Eli Broad lives in LA. I’m just saying!
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Here is an idea for Los Angeles: hire Eli Broad as the next superintendent. Don’t settle for less!
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You are going to give me a heart attack. Eli already rules LAUSD and has for many years.
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Ellen, give Eli a chance to do it himself, not by proxy.
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Given that scenario…all public schools would be converted to charters in a nanosecond, and Eli and his band of corporate vultures like the ubiquitous Waltons who sit on every education board, would buy up all of these public school venues paid for by the taxpayers, for a cent on the dollar, and resold by them to be used for high rise condos and shopping centers. Remember Shock Doctrine. Some of us often think he is trying to force the district (and others across the nation) into bankruptcy…an easier route for takeover when you are the puppet master.
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To Chris in Florida–I wholeheartedly agree w/your “pattern” commentary. Something could very well be rotten in Denmark. Perhaps Edushyster can get the down-low on this?
Anyway, I was thinking, of course, about the dance of the lemons (or–as Duane wrote–“morons”–TAGO again, Duane!)–Cami & Mike, looking at the want ads…wait for it, Chicago!
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No…Rahm is very happy with Broadie, Byrd-Bennett.
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Nope, Byrd-Bennett is out with her tail between her legs. The federal investigation of her no-bid Supes contract was getting too close to the 5th floor of city hall, so she dutifully took the fall. School board member (appointed) Jesse Ruiz is acting CEO – not sure if he wants the job permanently. It would mean giving up a very lucrative gig at his law firm.
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Forgot that Dienne…thanks for the reminder…isn’t she also being investigated for theft/fraud by the FBI? She left Cleveland in a mess, not Chicago…where to next? Maybe the ‘pen’?
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typo…meant ‘now’ Chicago…
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Now that you mention it, yes, I think she’s also being investigated for that. Eh, a little corruption here, a tiny scandal there, what’s the big deal?
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high-profile carpet baggers are wearing out their welcome
these individuals are mere pawns to the Broads, Bloombergs, Gates and Waltons
they play the long game
http://www.prweb.com/releases/SurgeInstitute/2015Fellows/prweb12654434.htm
Surge Institute was founded in 2014, in response to a dearth of leadership of color at the decision-making tables within education reform. The Surge Fellowship, the Institute’s signature program, is designed to identify and groom emerging talent in education, and provide them with leadership development as well as access to networks and visibility, empowering them to bring new ideas, perspectives, and solutions that change the landscape of education. By preparing, connecting, and supporting high-capacity African-American and Latino leaders across organizations, Surge aims to dramatically improve education options and outcomes for low-income children.
A host of exceptional candidates applied for the fellowship, inspired by the promise to receive skills, networks, tools, and support necessary to deepen their impact. The diverse inaugural cohort is comprised of African American and Latino men and women from the Chicago Public Schools, high-performing charter schools and networks, non-profit advocacy agencies, higher education and justice reform.
2015 Surge Fellowship Awardees
• Adrian DeLeon, Data Strategist, Chicago Public Schools
• Melissa Connelly, Senior Director of Regional College Persistence, OneGoal
• Adria Husbands, Director of School Financial Support, AUSL
• Angela Layne, Instructor, Noble Network
• Grisel Maldanado, Impact Director of College Success, UC Urban Education Institute
• Ana Martinez, Founding Principal, Rowe Elementary School
• Stacey Mitchell, Senior Managing Director of Staff Diversity and Inclusion, Teach for America
• Candace Moore, Staff Attorney, Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• Khair Sadrud-Din, College Years Counselor, LINK Unlimited Scholars
• LeShonne Segura, College Seminar Teacher, Bulls College Prep
• DuJuan Smith, Assistant Dean of Students, UIC
• Cassie Williams, Director or High School Curriculum, Civitas Education Partners
“The outstanding quality of all of the applicants made the selection process challenging. Surge is very fortunate to have an incoming cohort that represents some of the best up and coming minds on education in Chicago,” said Sarah Duncan, Co-Director at the University of Chicago Network for College Success and member of the selection committee.
Surge Institute is part of a new wave of organizations that focus on diversifying the education leadership pipeline.
Founder Carmita Vaughan captured the attention of large, prominent foundations and secured over $1 million of funding for Surge from The Walton Family Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NewSchools Venture Fund, and Schusterman Family Foundation.
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The Broad Foundation is the master mind of the school reform behind puppets like Miles. The Foundation is like a progressive cult. Miles may have resigned but he will be replaced by a similar Broad Foundation cult member. http://28sherman.blogspot.com/2014/09/great-resource-deliberate-dumbing-down.html
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Art, nothing about the Broad Foundation is “progressive.” It is devoted to privatization and stripping teachers of due process.
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Off topic but good news from Oregon as the Governor signs the opt out bill in the face of intense pressure to veto it.
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/06/kate_brown_signs_bill_making_i.html
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Art….Where in the world do you come up with Broad Academy being “progressive?” That is ridiculous. The are not only regressive, they are retrogressive. They operated on the business models of the worst of the robber barons and current banksters. A cult, maybe, more like an unauthorized training ground for assassins.
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There is great rejoicing all across the city! Sadly, there is still a corporate oligarchy in place, controlling much to most of the Board, so we’ll have to remain extremely vigilant throughout the selection/replacement process.
We’re all (fellow current and former DISD teachers I know and hear online now) a bit freaked out by the possibility of having Ann Smisko as Interim Superintendent, since she has been staunchly backing this tyrannical Broadie. She was also supposedly resigning soon, so no one is sure what is going on, other than Miles having presented her as Interim, which is not a good sign.
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I don’t want to end on a negative note. Nothing should diminish this long-awaited day! We’re all hopeful that we will no longer be forced to use his wretched made-up “MRS DOLLO” teaching approach for every class, every day, K-12, all content areas.
There is also general amusement and “What the Floyd?” (local phrase using his real first name) reactions to his departure speech, in which he referred to his legacy as Camelot. Yes, I’m serious. We had a Broadie, but also a serious megalomaniac on our hands here!
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As to your last statement, miss edu–aren’t they all?
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Oh! I thought I had built up some kind of immunity, but some of the propaganda might have permeated my being after all.
This one had me thinking he was unique -horrifying, but in a singular manner, like Broad plus one unstable electron.
Someone must have stuck me with a tiny Kool-Aid syringe without my knowledge!
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Here is the Dallas Morning News editorial board opining:
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20150623-editorial-miles-reforms-must-not-end-with-his-resignation.ece
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/talking-mike-miles-and-disd-on-kxas.html/
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/disd-trustees-now-that-youve-run-miles-off-lets-hear-your-plan-b.html/
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/mike-miles-needed-more-political-lessons-from-broad-superintendent-school.html/
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/miles-resignation-we-must-distinguish-between-the-good-reformer-and-the-bad-communicator.html/
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/mike-miles-was-his-own-worst-enemy-but-dallas-isd-reforms-must-continue.html/
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/57262.html/
Along with Mayor Mike Rawlings
It’ all about promoting “reform” Broad-style in Dallas because it is “fashionable.” They all want this madness to continue.
Additionally, the news stories just in the past day concerning Miles:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20150623-dallas-isd-chief-mike-miles-announces-resignation-after-contract-changes-rejected.ece
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20150623-disruption-scandals-clashes-had-dogged-dallas-isds-mike-miles.ece
http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/mike-miles-says-he-has-no-job-lined-up-cites-several-reasons-for-resignation.html/
http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/dallas-isd-trustees-turn-to-finding-a-new-superintendent.html/
http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/miles-resignation-sparks-cheers-in-some-circles.html/
http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/the-oddest-part-of-mike-miles-resignation-speech-dallas-isd-is-camelot-and-hes-king-arthur.html/
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/steve-blow/20150623-blow-miles-military-style-never-meshed-with-messy-dallas-isd.ece
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(cont.)
http://www.disdblog.com/2015/06/24/for-the-kids-in-disd-financial-transparency-neighborhood-schools-and-principal-accountability-now/
http://www.disdblog.com/2015/06/23/miles-to-resign-at-930-a-m-tuesday-june-23/
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/miles-is-out-at-disd-and-the-politicians-are-in-is-everybody-happy-now-7340950
http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2015/06/23/dallas-isd-superintendent-mike-miles-to-resign/
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maybe the best yet
http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/maybe-dallas-isds-mike-miles-should-have-paid-more-attention-to-monty-pythons-arthur-than-camelots.html/
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Gee, Newark and Cami come right to mind. Excellent analogy!
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