Jan Resseger, a long-time advocate for children, families, and public schools in Ohio, asks “What Gives Campbell Brown Standing to Spin the News about Public Education?” Good question.
She was a news anchor. I know she gets upset when I say this, but she is pretty. It’s true; being pretty is nothing to feel bad about.
She has no prior experience in education. But with the financial support of the Walton Family and the Bloomberg Foundation and a few other billionaire donors, she now is in a position to opine about how to “reform” public schools. Did she ever attend one? Do her children? Was she ever a teacher or a principal? Is she a scholar? Has she studied the problems of the schools in depth? We know the answers to those questions.
She is obsessed with stripping away the rights of teachers. She hates unions. She thinks the schools are staffed by large numbers of sexual predators.
Why? I don’t know.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
$
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Here’s a fun 2-minute video from the NYSUT (New York state teachers union):
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Thanks for the video. “Donors” = Gutless Wonders. Jeb! Bush is the poster boy, for those donors in hiding. First, hide behind a woman’s skirts (Campbell’s). Then, look for cover behind a podium
when a school marm (Trump) wags a finger, with a sssshhhhing sound..
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I wonder if Jeb’s ability to stay in hiding is no longer much of a possibility as his “bid” for the Presidency has exposed so much of his true relationship to Corporate School Reform?
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She really does epitomize the school reformer profile: no experience in education, never attended a public school, no children in public school, wealthy and connected, having a voice, not because of her academic, or intellectual accomplishments, but because her ideology is aligned with the the 1%.
Like so many, she’s an emperor with no clothes.
Her supporters should be embarrassed.
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I didn’t elect any of these people and I resent the fact that the people I did elect allow them to run the show.
If elected leaders planned on “relinquishing” public schools to 150 well-connected people who all share the same agenda they probably should have told us that.
Our elected leaders know contracting their work out to this huge group of interconnected ed reform “orgs” eventually makes the people we elect irrelevant, right? Have they figured that part out yet?
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I see DC is having another charter school extravaganza with the TFA celebration.
Does anyone there ever do any work for public schools? Other than testing and finding new and innovative ways to cut funding, I mean.
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What became of Campbell’s lawsuit in NY? Is it up for trial anytime soon, or am I living under a rock?
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It sounds like Campbell brown needs some serious therapy, and I suggest she become a Zen Buddhist to start.
Zen is not a moral teaching, and as it is without dogma, it does not require one to believe in anything. A true spiritual path does not tell people what to believe in, rather it shows them how to think; or, in the case of Zen- what not to think.
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She is pretty? Please…It looks like someone set her face on fire and put it out with a sack of nickels. Or, it looks looks like she headbutted a belt sander
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That comment is beneath the dignity of this blog.
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There was another potential Parent Trigger takeover
brewing in LAUSD.
L.A. School Report—since it’s basically owned and
operated by the school privatization industry—had …
surprise, surprise … inside info on this Parent Trigger
situation, and thus may have beaten the L.A. Times
to the story — with an actual story — while LA Times
was the first two tweet about in on its Twitter.
Sort of a draw on the whole “who got the scoop?” battle
Well, Campbell, sounding like … oh … I dunno … an
stuck-up adolescent high school girl out of a John Hughes
movie, kind of lost it on Twitter.
She had this back and forth on Twitter with the L.A.,
Times’ Howard Blume — a journalist with over two decades
covering the LAUSD schools beat: (and one LAUSD teacher
joins in .. more on that after this exchange)
————————————————
CAMPBELL BROWN: “.@LAschoolreport beats
@LATimes on important parent trigger story –
maybe that’s why @howardblume is so obsessed
xo http://laschoolreport.com/parent-trigger-tries-takeover-at-south-central-lausd-school-again/#.VrP4BBlANHg.twitter …
HOWARD BLUME: “@campbell_brown To be clear:
I posted tweets breaking that story. But I’m sure there
will be days when LASR gets to things first.”
CAMPBELL BROWN: “@howardblume You know
how to tweet? How modern of you! Keep it up —
your union supporters are counting on you.”
DANIEL JOCZ: “@campbell_brown @howardblume
Is belonging to a union a bad thing?”
CAMPBELL BROWN: “@joczproductions @howardblume
“Of course not. this is about one reporters extremely biased
coverage.”
MathDoris @MathDoris 15h15 hours ago
@campbell_brown @joczproductions @howardblume
“Wow!”
HOWARD BLUME: “”@campbell_brown Looks like
LATimes posted on that story 2 hrs before LASR,
but good competition makes all better. Welcome to LA.”
—————————-
The teacher injecting his two cents is Daniel Jocz,
the California “Teacher of the Year”, and one of
five finalists for the “National Teacher of the Year.”
This has been covered extensively, but Ms. Brown,
with all her vast knowledge of the education scene,
seemed unaware of his renown, nor was Jocz
story covered by Brown’s THE 74.
Could that be because Jocz teaches AT A TRADITIONAL
PUBLIC SCHOOL in LAUSD? And that Campbell
“there-are-not-two-sides-when-covering-education”
Brown won’t ever cover stories that
are positive towards traditional public schools?
Had Jocz been a teacher at one of LAUSD’s private sector
charter schools — Green Dot, Aspire, PUC, Alliance, Celerity,
Synergy, Goethe International, etc. — you know damn
well Ms. Brown and THE 74 would have been salivating
on their keyboards and they wrote and posted such a
story.
The gall and irony of Campbell “not-two-sides” Brown
wagging her finger at Blume, for “extremely biased
coverage” is quite breathtaking. (and quite cleverly
illustrated by the black pot ‘n kettle cartoon that
“Math Doris” interjected.)
Now, Success Academy charter schools have been
embroiled in scandals since last October … AND
CAMPBELL BROWN HAS NOT WRITTEN
ONE WORD ABOUT THEM. … yet she has
the gall to accuse Howard Blume of being
one-sided.
Howard Blume is “extremely biased”?
For Campbell Brown to say that … well …
It’s hard to imagine someone with a greater
lack of self-awarenss, or a greater blindness
to one’s own hypocrisy.
MORE ON THAT BELOW
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Here’s the opening article of THE 74, where
Campbell Brown states its mission:
“I have learned that not every story has two sides.
And I will not allow for false equivalency when
a child’s future is being compromised, regardless
of the vitriol it provokes.”
How can someone purporting to be a journalist say
something so transparently idiotic as that?
Here’s that quote in context:
https://www.the74million.org/article/campbell-brown-journalism-advocacy-and-why-not-every-story-has-two-sides
Okay. That’s just great.
In Campbell’s mind, there’s only one side
that’s right — Campbell Brown’s, and the
school privatization billionaires that are
funding her … they’re “for the children”.
The other side — teacher unions, parents who
want to keep democratic governance of schools —
well they’re just wrong, wrong, wrong …
“they’re not for the children.”
Remember EDUSHYSTER’s expose just before
THE 74 just went on-line?
A prominent (unnamed) reporter interviewed for
a job with Campbell’s THE 74, then reported back
to Edushyster the astonishing conversation she had
while interviewing.
One of Campbell’s functionaries told the reporter
applying to work there that THE 74’s reporters —
including her, should she get hired — would be
barred from doing any reporting that was critical
of charter schools, or of school privatization, and
that any charter school scandals — even those that
that hit the mainstream media and became national
stories — must be ignored as well.
Here’s that story:
http://edushyster.com/will-the-74-investigate-charter-scandals/
Well, that’s basically what’s happened. Regarding the
recent scandals with Eva Moskowitz & Success Academy,
scandals that got national coverage on PBS and elsewhere …
as far as Campbell Brown, THE 74and — in Ms. Lyuton’s
words — “the 74’s roster of smart, veteran journalists” are
concerned, it’s like the Success Academy scandals never
even happened.
They wrote not one word about all of that.
This is like back with the old Soviet news outlet TASS.
Well, we can now expect the same thing with LA School Report.
Another thing you notice is that in Edushyster’s article is
that the operation that’s running THE 74 is the “Mercury”
P.R. group, the same group that Walmart uses in its
suppression of any budding unionism in its stores. Mercury
operatives even pretended to be journalists at an
anti-Walmart rally in Los Angeles’ Chinatown.
Mercury is also in charge of PR for … wait for it …
Eli Broad’s “Great Public Schools Now” plan to
convert half of LAUSD school to privately managed
charter schools.
So Mercury is running L.A. School Report —
controlling 100% of its content — where it will
report on Eli Broad’s “Great Public Schools Now”
privatization plan, which Mercury is also doing P.R. for.
WTF???!!!!
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In the now infamous exchange between Howard Blume
and Campbell Brown, Brown references how Blume
is “so obsessed with” Campbell & her site THE 74’s
takeover of the L.A School Report.
What is she talking about?
Well, I guess, in Campbell’s mind, writing one article
qualifies as being “so obsessed with” something.
THAT’S ALL BLUME WROTE ABOUT CAMPBELL
AND THE 74 … ONE SINGLE ARTICLE.
Somewhat surprisingly, Howard Blume wrote this article
that included many prominent people critical of THE 74,
and its takeover of L.A. School Report.
Indeed, when Blume and L.A. Times weighed in,
the actually made some sense — believe it or not:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-seventy-four-takes-over-school-report-20160201-story.html
———————
L.A. TIMES: “(THE 74)’s entry into Los Angeles has
alarmed union leaders and some supporters of traditional
public education. They say it could undermine trust in the
reporting of education controversies.”
———————
Ya think???!!!
What’s great — and what certainly enraged Campbell, leading
to her Twitter meltdown — is that Blume gives the roll
call of “THE 74’s big-money, school privatization backers
(but not all of them), putting a lie to Campbell’s claim
that it’s a grassroots organization of poor black
and brown parents banding together to improve
education:
———————
L.A. TIMES: “The group’s funders include a roster of
charter school supporters, such as the Walton Family
Foundation, the Doris & Donald Fisher Fund and
Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“Critics call the Seventy Four an advocacy effort on
behalf of a pro-charter school, anti-union agenda. The
organization, critics say, uses opinion pieces and
reported stories to promote charter schools and to
find fault with traditional campuses and teachers
unions.”
———————
THE 74 denies this, of course:
———————
L.A. TIMES: “Not so, said co-founder and Chief
Executive Romy Drucker.
“ ‘We try to highlight what’s working,’ Drucker said.
‘Part of the mission also is highlighting what’s broken
and needs to be fixed and highlighting the solutions.
“No type of effective school is favored; no type of
ineffective school is spared,’ said Drucker, who had
been a top New York City schools official under
former Chancellor Joel Klein.”
———————
Really, Ms. Drucker?
Then how come “THE 74” HASN’T SAID A G**-D**N
WORD ABOUT THE SCANDALS THAT HAVE
EMBROILED EVA MOSKOWITZ’ SUCCESS ACADEMY
CHARTER SCHOOLS SINCE LAST OCTOBER?
This is a story that got national coverage from both
the networks, and from PBS, which broke the story
wide open … yet to THE 74, it was as if it never happened.
Could that be because… oh I don’t know … Campbell
Brown sits on the Board of Directors for the Success
Academy charter school chain?
No, perish the thought.
I mean, here’s Campbell Brown, the top dog at THE 74,
speaking at SUCCESS ACADEMY’s SPRING BENEFIT:
Does anyone with any sense think that the woman giving
this speech could possibly cover the SUCCESS ACADEMY
schools fairly, or with an open mind to covering any of
SUCCESS ACADEMY’s failings?
( 01:36 – )
( 01:36 – )
CAMPBELL BROWN: ” … I’m a soldier in Eva’s Army. …
the accomplishments of Eva and the team that makes (the
SUCCESS ACADEMY schools) possible. It amazes me
that anyone would dare try to put a chokehold on the most
exciting, innovative things happening in public education
right now. … there is no compromise possible. …
” .. ”
“I’m sorry. Both sides do not have merit, and when
the lives of children are literally hanging in the balance,
you can’t play referee. If we want to do what he know
is right, what we know is truly right, then we have not
choice, and there is no compromise possible.
“Even if we try to assume the best motives all
around (for everyone, on both sides) … if we believe
that our charter schools are what’s best for kids,
then any attempt to stop them, or put limits on them,
is a limit on that good influence, and why would we
ever accept a compromise like that?”
“… ”
“It’s not a complicated problem. There’s no middle
ground. … Mayor DiBlasio have to choose
between making a comfortable interest group
(CODE for “teachers unions”) more comfortable, or
being a true force for good in the lives of New York
City’s children … he can protect ‘the status quo’,
or he can protect the public interest, but he can’t do
both.”
——————
I can’t transcribe any more of specious tripe. I’m
about to vomit on my keyboard.
How can you claim to be “soldier in Eva’s army”,
yet still claim that you cover Eva’s schools fairly,
or are open to reporting on any failings in Eva’s
schools?
Really Campbell? That’s the black-and-white truth
as you see it? Any attempt to criticize or call into
question the privatization of public schools is a
failure “to protect the public interest.”
And her lackey Romy Drucker can tell the L.A. TIMES
with a straight face that THE 74 is fair and balanced,
and is equally open to stories critical of all groups of
schools, including charters?
Campbell Brown claims to care about children?
What about the children of the kids on the
Got-to-Go List?
What about Faida Geidi’s child?
What about Shanice Givens’ child?
Don’t they matter?
OMG! I found the video of the Geidi and Givens
confronting Eva at the forum on January 22, 2016,
and it’s more intense than I thought.
Indeed, this is an instant classic in the whole
corporate reform movement, and the fight against it.
It’s either HERE:
http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/a383f1d9713a49c49cddb999e631de8d1d?playFrom=3383&autoStart=true
OR HERE:
http://www.citylandnyc.org/complete-video-the-131st-citylaw-breakfast-with-eva-moskowitz/
“COMPLETE VIDEO: The 131st
NYC City Law Breakfast with Eva Moskowitz.
“On Friday January 22, 2016, the Center for New York City
Law at New York Law School hosted the 131st City Law Breakfast.
The event speaker was SUCCESS Academy’s Eva Moskowitz.”
The “Perry Mason Moment” of the forum starts here at about 41:58.
Watch how the moderator Ross Sandler, a New York City Law
School professor moderating this event, goes to bat for Eva
when Eva is criticized. Earlier, at the beginning of this video,
his introduction to Eva was so fawning and gushing you may
think that he was describing Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Later, Eva faces the heat from an angry Success Academy
parent, who asks if Eva had ever apologized to parents whose
children were harmed by being placed on the infamous
“Got-to-Go List,
After Eva says she has indeed apologized, this parent,
Shanice Givens, points out to everyone in the room
that Eva just lied. She’s one of those parents, and Eva
never apologized to her.
Hell is then unleashed … from Givens toward Eva…
and then from moderator Ross Sandler towards Givens.
This is some truly riveting footage — an instant classic in the whole corporate education reform controversy.
http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/a383f1d9713a49c49cddb999e631de8d1d?playFrom=3383&autoStart=true
OR HERE:
http://www.citylandnyc.org/complete-video-the-131st-citylaw-breakfast-with-eva-moskowitz/
TRANSCRIPT —
( 41:58 – 43:03 )
———————–
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “Good morning, Eva. How are you?”
EVA: “Good morning.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “Hi. You didn’t shed
any light on the ‘Got-to-Go List.’ Uhmm… I just want to
know. Did you privately or publicly apologize to the any
of parents that were affected by it.”
EVA: “There’s been an enormous amount of coverage. I
see Kate Taylor (the NY Times writer who penned
the Got-to-Go List article) in the audience. There
were two stories on it, and yes, I … I did (apologize).
“The (Got-to-Got) list existed for three days. As soon as
it came to our attention — which was within about 24 hours
of it being produced — the principal was brought into the
school and severely reprimanded for his actions. I have
personally have done many parent meetings at Fort Greene (
Success Academy School) … uhh … because of that mistake.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “Hello. Sorry. I just wanted to
say. My name is Shanice Givens- ”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “Wait, wait.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: ”And my son was
‘Number Three’ on the list.”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “May I- ?”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “My son was’ Number
Three’ (on the Got-to-Go List) and I NEVER got an
apology from Ms. Eva.”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “May I ask you to be courteous?”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “I just want to say that she just said that she – ”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: (turning away from Given to the other mic)
“We’re on this side now.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: ” – publicly said something, and she
NEVER said ANYTHING to me. My son was ‘Number Three.’ ”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “Madame -”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: (to Eva) “And you said that you
‘loved children so much’ ?
“Yet you STILL allow Mr. (Candido) Brown to teach?”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: (to some technician)
“Turn her microphone off!”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “He has wronged sixteen children and -”
(Given’s MIC CUTS OFF)
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “This is not the place.
This is an academic institution. We’re having a conversation.
We’re going to this side (the other microphone) now.”
—————–
There’s a whole mess o’ wrong goin’ on here.
I don’t get the rationale of “This is an academic institution.” as
justification for silencing this woman, and killing her mic.
Shouldn’t an academic institution be a place for vigorous
debate where all sides are allowed to offer their opinions?
To be accurate, Sandler should have said, “This is an
academic institution in which only those who, like me,
heap unqualified praise upon Ms. Moskowitz, will be
allowed to speak.”
Immediately following this, a well-dressed pro-Success
Academy parent — Thomas Lopez Pierre (sp?) mentioning
in his remarks that he’s a candidate for NYC City Council —
starts off with gushing praise for Eva and what Success
Academy has done for his son. He even spouts the
“My son was trapped in a failing school” line.
In contrast to the parent criticizing Eva, Ross Sandler
lets Pierre (sp?) run at the mouth while Pierre effusively
praises Eva & Success Academy.
Standing beside Eva, Sandler nods and smiles as if to say, “Now, that’s more like it.”
However, that same parent, in mid-speech, then surprises
everyone, and does a total 180. He goes on the same attack
as Givens for Eva’s exclusive admission and expulsion policies.
The moderator Ross Sandler again intervenes.
( 43:57 – 44:04 )
———————–
THOMAS LOPEZ PIERRE: (polite tone) “With that said, I’m
a critic of you, Ms. Moskowitz. And here’s the reason why.
You have failed to provide every public school student who
wants to attend Success the opportunity, and until you are
able to serve ALL of the kids who want to get into your
wonderful charter school, Success will not be a ‘success.’
Thank you. ” (walks away from the mic)
EVA (clearly frazzled): “Thank you. I do have a lot of critics,
and it comes from a variety of places … and that’s … uhh …
part of the … wonderfulness … of New York- ”
The douchey moderator Sandler swings into action again, saying,
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: (visibly irritated)
“Let me just step in a second. This is an academic institution, and
decorum is required of everybody, and I have no doubt that
everyone n this room will honor that.”
————-
The angry parents are not yet through with Eva.
Remember Fatima Gehdi, the parent who’s upset at Eva who, as part of Eva’s retaliation against Gehdi, illegally released Gehdi’s son’s private discipline records to the press?
Well, she got in her licks, too … at 49:05
http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/a383f1d9713a49c49cddb999e631de8d1d?playFrom=3383&autoStart=true
or
http://www.citylandnyc.org/complete-video-the-131st-citylaw-breakfast-with-eva-moskowitz/
I don’t have time to transcribe this, so just watch Gehdi yourself at: (this is what provoked Eva’s “customer service” comment)
Watch how, again, the moderator Sandler tries but fails to silence this parent.
Here’s moderator Ross Sandler in a nutshell …
“When praising Eva, you can talk all you want.
“When criticizing Eva, you are showing ‘bad decorum’
and must be shut up, or have your mic turned off.”
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I thought that I was through, but Catty Campbell apparently can’t let up.
She implied that Howard Blume — with decades on the LAUSD education beat —
is “not an actual reporter”, saying that finally, “actual reporter”, those from THE 74, will be covering LAUSD.
Wow, things are getting “so high school” now, I
expect to hear a bell ring an minute:
Here’s another tweet from Catty Campbell. It’s sort of a
two-fer-one, snarking at Howard and LAUSD School
Board president Steve Zimmer simultaneously:
———————
———————
CAMPBELL BROWN: “LAUSD school board
member @lausd_zimmer expresses anger over
being covered by actual reporters.”
#parody @howardblume http://fw.to/uZNA15F”
———-
Steve’s not just a member; he’s the President of the
LAUSD School Board.
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Speculating, Brown hates working people because she speaks for the financial sector’s elitist view. They drag down U.S. GDP and rob workers of their productivity gains, which leads to a viewpoint that the 99% are suckers, ripe for exploitation. Maybe, Bernie and a Democratic Senate will give action, to the 99%’s viewpoint about America’s leeches on Wall Street.
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Campbell is defensive…good sign…the reformers have been routed. Donors in hiding…good sign…they are scared to identify with their treachery against the American people.
Charter school debt makes 10-18% for Wall Street. Money snatched from OUR children’s education.
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Brown’s husband, neocon Bush flack Dan Senor, is a big, big player for a rightwing hedge fund supporter of Tea Party/far rightwing politicians.
There are connections with the Koch Brothers and their John Birch Society hatred of all things government, regulatory, social safety net, public education, etc. It is no mystery why Brown is doing what she’s doing.
The mystery is that people still don’t connect the dots and see the long arm of ultra rightwing political maneuvering in eliminating unions and public schools.
Their next targets are all regulatory agencies and Social Security. When David Koch ran for Vice President as a Libertarian against Ronald Reagan he advocated an end to all of these things and the FBI, the CIA, and every government authority that existed.
He hasn’t changed. ALEC, which he founded, carries the torch and the Tea Party are the soldiers on the ground.
Beware the fascist Tea Party/ALEC cabal that is hiding under a cloak of libertarianism and ‘freedom’. They are very, very dangerous and they subvert democracy at every opportunity.
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You have articulated the reach of this frightening “cabal” so well; I feel exactly as you state it — “the mystery is that people still don’t connect the dots and see the long arm of ultra rightwing political maneuvering in eliminating unions and public schools.”
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Julian Assange exposes an organization “Gen Next Foundation”, which is linked to the Walton-funded “Seventy-Four”, in his book chapter titled, “Google Is Not What It Seems”. About the 30 th paragraph into the chapter, he describes “Gen Next”.
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