Donald Cohen writes a website called “In the Public Interest,” where he reports on privatization of the public sector: hospitals, schools, prisons, etc.
In this article, he demonstrates that charter schools are accountable to no one. If a parent is unhappy, she can’t go to a superintendent or to the district officials. Nor can she go to the charter board. The board is not elected and will be happy to see the parent go away. No one is accountable.
The recent video scandal at Success Academy, he writes, starkly demonstrates the complete lack of accountability to parents and to the public that pays the bills:
“Several weeks ago, the New York Times published a surreptitiously recorded videoof a charter school teacher berating a first grade student and ripping up her work in front of the class for being unable to explain how she solved a math problem. The publicly-funded school, the Success Academy founded by Eva Moskowitz, circled the wagons and launched a public relations blitz.
“According to the Times, the girl’s parent tried to raise questions at a meeting organized by the school to get parent support for the teacher in the press. She was concerned that the parents were being asked to help without even being shown the video. “She’s like ‘You’ve had enough to say’ and [Ms. Moskowitz] tried to talk over me,” the mother told the Times. Frustrated, she gave up and walked out of the meeting.
“The student’s parent went to the NY Department of Education to file a complaint. She was told that Success was independent from the school district and that she needed to contact the school’s board of trustees. But the board, chaired by hedge fund CEO Dan Loeb, that gets to spend taxpayer dollars aren’t elected by nor accountable to New York voters. They have no obligation to neither listen to her nor take action. They are a group of hedge fund and private equity investors, lawyers, public relationships professionals, philanthropists and one full-time educator.
“Here’s a few of the Wall Street investors on the school’s board of trustees who the girl’s mother was told to petition:
Joel Greenblatt is a Managing Partner at the hedge fund Gotham Capital and former Chairman of the Board of Alliant Techsystems, a NYSE-listed aerospace and defense company.
Steven M. Galbraith is a former Chief Investment Officer at Morgan Stanley who now runs Herring Creek Capital, a Connecticut based Hedge Fund.
John Petry is the founder and managing principle at the hedge fund, Sessa Capital.
Richard S. Pzena is the founder of Pzena Investment Manager, a global investment firm.
David Roberts has been for the last 21 years with the investment firm, Angelo, Gordon David, responsible for helping to start and grow a number of the firm’s businesses including opportunistic real estate, private equity, and net lease real estate.
John Scully is a founding partner of SPO Partners & Co., a private investment firm and a director at the Plum Creek Timber Company and chairman of Advent Software.
Paul Pastorek, the co-executive director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation founded by billionaire Eli Broad, who is leading an effort to turn half of Los Angeles schools into charter schools. Pastorek led the post-Hurricane Katrina effort in New Orleans that converted all elementary and secondary schools into charter schools. Recent research has shown that the New Orleans school system is now a multi-tier system that works for some, but leaves many behind.
“They are private citizens who get to spend taxpayer dollars to educate children. They argue that the market will determine success. Unfortunately, they get to define what success looks like — not the public whose taxes fund the school, nor voters who are the ultimate policy makers in a democratic society. The problem is that the market doesn’t need to pay attention to the whims of democracy that demands public accountability, high quality and inclusive education for every child — even the ones that struggle with math problems.
“The mother ultimately removed her daughter from the school. It’s the Donald Trump “you’re fired” brand of education. There’s no room for those that can’t take the heat – even if they are a 6-year old first grader struggling with math. That’s not America and it’s certainly not how a democracy should function.”
Do you think the mother or any other parent could get a meeting with the board? Who could she turn to? Who would listen?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Here once more for the benefit of any parent at a Success Academy or any other SUNY Charter School Institute-authorized charter school in New York State is the process for registering a complaint.
“Step 1: Formal Complaints – School Level. A formal complaint involves an alleged violation of law and/or charter. Please review and follow the school’s Complaint Policy which will instruct you how to file a complaint, in writing, directly to the charter school education corporation board or a person or entity the education corporation board has designated to handle complaints.
“Step 2: Formal Complaints – Appeal to SUNY. If the school board of trustees does not satisfactorily address the issue, you may appeal the decision, in writing, to the Institute. You must have a written copy of the school decision on your complaint. Please complete the SUNY Formal Complaint Form and email to charters@suny.edu or mail it to the Institute at: 41 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207. If you have questions about the SUNY formal complaint appeals process, you may leave a message at (518) 445-4275 and an Institute staff member will return your call.
“Step 3: Formal Complaints – Appeal to Board of Regents. If the Institute as the authorizer of the school does not satisfactorily resolve a formal complaint, you can appeal the Institute’s written determination to the New York State Board of Regents through the New York State Education Department ((518) 474-3852). Please or by submit written appeals by mail to the address listed below.
Charter Schools Office
Room #5N EB
Mezzanine
89 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12234”
A direct link to the complaint form is here: http://www.newyorkcharters.org/wp-content/uploads/Grievance-Form.pdf
The direct phone line is (518) 445-4250.
The process Tim describes will, in time, be replaced with the mandatory arbitration that corporations, operating in the U.S. oligarchy, designed and imposed on powerless consumers.
The arbitration system has proven to be a boon to corporations.
Isn’t it now being written into many new teachers’ contracts (much like those now being imposed on many new apartment renters) that they cannot sue, but MUST go to arbitration?
Just because there is a policy for complaint doesn’t mean that policy is a viable tool for parents or amenable to correction. Registering a complaint against a charter is an onerous procedure and redress is unlikely when the institution to whom one makes complaint is detached from the families served by that charter. That’s like expecting better service from Comcast because you complained. It’s absurd that families are fooled into thinking that a profit driven market is a better protector of their interests than a school board or superintendent that they can fire.
Tim,
Maybe the beauty of traditional public schools is that a complaint does not have to be “an alleged violation of law.” E.g., a parent can contact a principal re a teacher who belittles or demeans learners.
How many assistant teachers are brave/savvy enough to record habitual put-downs of students by uncertified or even certified teachers?
Tim, you forgot that a group of public school parents gave the SUNY Charter Institute documented evidence that there were empty seats in quite a few Success Academy schools despite the claims of a wait list of “thousands”. And – televised for all to see – SUNY’s response was something like “we asked Eva Moskowitz and she said it was a glitch”.
So why in the world would any parent who complained they were on a got to go list complain to SUNY when we already know their response will be “we asked Eva Moskowitz and she said she fixed it”??
It’s been years since the very high suspension and attrition rates at Success Academy were documented to SUNY. Do you know what they ALSO said at that October 2014 meeting, over 18 months ago? We will “convene a committee” to examine how to start looking into these things. Their answer was to “think about” how to form a committee to figure out how a form a committee to do oversight!
It’s incredible that anyone would refer parents to SUNY with a straight face.
A low income parent has time to write all these letters of complaint ?
At a public school, she could go to the principal or go to the school’s design team or go down to the district office and talk to someone or go to the next school board meeting or talk to parents with similar complaints or bump it up to the county board of ed or even bump it up to the state Board of ed. (at our school we call it a design team, there is also the PTA and a bilingual group) For special ed issues there is a process you can can through at the county level if you feel your child is not getting the services they should.
At a charter they want you to write a formal letter to a hedge fund manager ?
Tim, can you report of any discipline emanating from this complaint system? Do you work for S.A. or its officers?
Old Teacher: glad to see another fan of Ionesco—
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
The utter refusal to give direct answers is, quite simply, a stunning admission that Eva Moskowtiz and some (if not most) of her Success Academy outlets preach best pedagogical and management practices in order to sell their product—
But observe worst pedagogical and management procedures in actual practice.
Thank you for your pointed queries.
😎
Old Teacher, my children have attended NYC DOE traditional public schools since kindergarten. I work in a field completely unrelated to any aspect of education, as does my partner. My only interaction w charter schools has been some modest (~$100) donations to the Icahn network.
I posted the SUNY CSI complaint information not because I’ve used it or because I know how it works, but to answer the vexed questions about what a charter school parent should do if they have a problem that can’t be resolved at the school level. Hope this helps.
SUNY, by operating charter schools, is betraying the trust of the taxpayers and citizens, who created the PUBLIC university system in N.Y.
Just because there is a policy for complaint doesn’t mean that policy is a viable tool for parents or amenable to correction. Registering a complaint against a charter is an onerous procedure and redress is unlikely when the institution to whom one makes complaint is detached from the families served by that charter. That’s like expecting better service from Comcast because you complained. It’s absurd that families are fooled into thinking that a profit driven market is a better protector of their interests than a school board or superintendent that they can fire.
In NYC we don’t have a superintendent or board that we can elect or fire, and we likely never will again. For some reason this doesn’t perturb almost all of the people who vehemently oppose charter schools.
I get better service from Comcast because they know I can go to DirecTV if they do not respond to my concerns.
It’s called choice and it works with TV companies and it is working in a growing number of places with schools and students.
jdhollowell – did you write that with a straight face? You get good service from Comcast?! Thanks for the laugh!
Tim, maybe not having local districts with school boards is part of the problem in NYC. A massive system is hard to manage. I taught in NYC for 6 years and we were underfunded that whole time to an extent that would shock a suburban school system. Not sure how that relates to charter schools, though.
Oh, as for this question–“Do you think the mother or any other parent could get a meeting with the board?–the answer is very simple. Any member of the public may attend a NYS charter school’s mandatory monthly meeting and address its board.
Where I am at Tim, it happens with regularity, the board meets weekly and parents can comment during an hourly and weekly public comment time. Complaints have been brought and people responsible have been investigated and fired after their due process was followed.
Do you really think that billionaire Joel Greenblatt would sit down and listen to poor black and Hispanic mothers?
It’s hard to believe many, if any, of SA’s board members are personally showing up for monthly public meetings.
Like all individual charter schools in New York State, each individual Success school has its own individual board of trustees. This is the body that would attempt to resolve issues that escalated beyond the school’s complaint process.
Greenblatt is on the board of the nonprofit Success CMO, not any individual school. You’d think the Success employees who advise you and share their stories would know the difference.
Diane.
This quote from the comics today is appropriate here.
“Apparently if you are always in rage, people will mindlessly go along with it, figuring you must be right if you are so outraged.
Raj, sounds like a description of the Trump campaign
There is a petition addressed to the Department of Education, at the OurFinancialSecurity.org website. Schools of “choice”, within higher ed., forced students, by contract, into dispute resolution through a tribunal, with members appointed by the school. The petition request is to enable students to sue the for-profit colleges that scammed them.
Plutocratic zeal is never more evident than in the attempts to quash the voices of the powerless.
“Do you really think that billionaire Joel Greenblatt would sit down and listen to poor black and Hispanic mothers?”
Yes. If they told him his dinner was served.
Didn’t the mother of the abused child speak out at a meeting and get silenced by Eva herself? C’mon people.
Charter schools that are a full instrumentality of the public school board, are fully under the direction of that school board. That is the only charters that have true accountability. They have the same Union, the same salaries, the money stays in the public system and they can’t be closed. Think about it!
Absolutely true that charters are accountable to no one. A “complaint process” is not accountability. Accountability means having an elected school board that must answer
to voters. Charters do not. Charters are not choice. They negate our citizens’ most basic, fundamental choice in education–the right to vote on who makes the decisions regarding our local schools.
If you believe the only “choice” that matters is that of parents who choose to send their children to these schools, I’m sure you also agree that the only taxes that fund them should be those collected from these parents. For myself, I do not want my tax dollars supporting these unaccountable institutions.
Tim said: My only interaction w charter schools has been some modest (~$100) donations to the Icahn network.
Isn’t that like bringing coals to Newcastle? Icahn is a zillionaire many times over, doesn’t he properly fund his own charter chain? He has donated tens of millions to his alma mater, Princeton University.
Joe, my gifts were a very modest token of my appreciation for the approach the network takes: Core Knowledge curriculum, small classes (capped at 18), backfill in all grades, very apolitical and student-focused (they are run by a former 30-year DOE vet and hire teachers from a wide range of backgrounds).
It would cost Icahn about $25-30 million/yr to supply all 7 schools with the basic state charter school per-student tuition. He can afford that, I’m sure, but I think they vastly prefer to use his money to supplement at the existing schools and to help open more schools.
“very apolitical” – not possible.
To members of the echo chamber,
This is balderdash. Standardized tests must be taken. Score targets must be met or a school is put on probation and ultimately closed if targets are not met.
Charter schools are also accountable to parents who choose to send their children there. Bad charters close when parents withdraw their sons and daughters. No students, no funding, no school. Charters close all the time when they cannot meet this unyielding reality.
I noticed that the Success Academy parent didn’t have options. Also, the ability to remove your child and put that child in some other location is not accountability. That’s the definition of no accountability. Voting with your child’s feet is not the same thing as choosing which laundry detergent to buy or which restaurant to go to. It’s a disruption to their lives during very important years. Using charters to defund public schools while dumping students that are unwanted preference a bad charter with better resources and more school ready children even if the charter itself is not a good place for kids. It is disingenuous of you to call that an option or an example of the free market. It is a brazen use of poor people to force through privatization at public expense. That, JD is the option of no option…
“Charters close all the time when they cannot meet this unyielding reality.” Isn’t that incredibly disruptive and wasteful, especially if a charter goes belly up in the middle of the year (which did happen in Trenton, NJ a few years ago). Usually, openings must be made at the real public schools for these charter school refugees. This is not a smooth, seamless process, quite the opposite, not to mention the disappearance of the tuitions for these former charter school kids.
jdhollowell,
Like the U.S. Dept. of Ed, which sent $71 million to Ohio, to expand charter schools, you don’t understand prudent use of taxpayer dollars.
Oligarchs, like the Waltons and Reed Hastings (who is opposed to democratically-elected school boards), have shown great willingness to spend profits from their customers to privatize public education.
Ohio’s reputation, relative political pay-offs from charter operators, legal decisions that make taxpayer-bought assets, the property of charter operators, and the abysmal performance of charter schools, proves people who think like you do, like the fleecing of taxpayers.
jdhollowell
You forgot the colon after “This is balderdash”
jdhollowell sounds EXACTLY like the folks who supported lunch counters refusing to serve non-white customers.
Hey, he says “if you aren’t being served, just go somewhere else”. That’s called “choice” of restaurants and if you don’t want to attend one that humiliates you, well just go to one of the poorly funded schools that will educate the kids who won’t score well on standardized tests.
jdhollowell and people like him think that as long as white people support restaurants that treat minorities poorly, it’s fine. They will “choose” that restaurant, and the folks who aren’t white can “choose” with their feet and take their business somewhere else.
No oversight or regulations necessary! That’s the charter school way!
Actually that is not true JD, in Texas Checker Finn advertises to parents that in his charter schools they will not have to take tests or follow the awful Common Core curriculum (yes he calls it a curriculum). In Nevada charters that have taken the state tests have been caught cheating on them the school results invalidated, but they are still operating. The Agassi academy is but one of these, and now they are becoming a chain. In many places they are now the only school in the neighborhood, so let me ask you, what echo chamber are you in?
Agassi is an ahole who didn’t graduate, went bald, and now invests in disruption. He and Prudential Insurance work hand in hand with Team and Uncommon in New Jersey. He, like PItBull and John Legend, has no conscience. Hey hey, Fat Albert – remember when Saint Bill Cosby was friend of charters???????????
“Who” pay the bills.
A public who pay the bills.
I continuously see “that” used to modify a group of people and I think it impacts our thinking in an unfavorable way.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
I sent a letter to the N.Y.C Dept. of Education Office of Special Investigations a few weeks ago asking them to investigate the testing procedures of charter schools. I suggested that the unusually high scores of Success Academy Schools, in particular, should constitute a red flag, as did the high scores in Atlanta and D.C. I asked the D. O. E. if charter schools adhere to the same very strict and highly monitored testing protocols that district schools follow. The D.O.E. replied that they have no jurisdiction to investigate charter schools. The told me that I should first contact the charter school’s board of trustees and ask them to investigate (themselves??). If i am not satisfied with their response, I could then contact the NYS Charter School Association and ask them for an investigation. Finally, if I am still not satisfied with this response, I could contact the Board of Regents.
I have worked in schools for many years and I can attest to the very strict guidelines that all schools must adhere to during the administration of tests. I wonder if the charter schools are subject to the same kinds of intense supervision as district schools . You would think that some government agency would look into this situation.
I do intend to follow up on my suspicions about Success Academy’s unusually high test scores.
There is nothing stopping charter school tests from being graded in the same central location that public school tests are.
Apparently, NYC charter schools were perfectly free to have their tests graded with public school students, but instead the NYC Charter School center HIRES a company to grade their exams separately. I wonder how much benefit of a doubt the company gives to the written responses where a grader can be fairly subjective in how much credit they give to an answer and whether the “show your work” deserves all credit. And of course, charters can choose to grade their exams in-house if they want. There is absolutely no oversight by anyone necessary.
http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2015/08/27/charter-school-where-english-scores-spiked-scored-own-state-exams/#.VtnTQ8dfXKM
But in truth, I think charter schools like Success Academy achieve high test scores mainly by managing the kids who are allowed to TAKE the test. At SA Bed Stuy 1, where “100% 3rd graders passed the math exam”, it turned out that the number of economically disadvantaged students in the 2nd grade declined by 40% by the time those kids took the 3rd grade exams.
I repeat: 40% of the economically disadvantaged 2nd graders in that school did NOT take the 3rd grade exams. Some were held back and some disappeared. But making 40% of your at-risk kids disappear from the testing cohort will go a LONG way toward giving your charter school 100% passing rates. Especially when you have an enabling — dare I say encouraging — oversight agency like SUNY Charter Institute which completely disregards the kids who disappear and rewards the highest scoring charters regardless of how many of those missing kids were expendable. Apparently, SUNY Charter Institute agree that some kids are just expendable. The fact that most of them are the very at-risk kids they are supposed to make sure charter schools are serving is not something they care about.
Sadly, no reporter who parrots the press releases about the high scores ever examines how many kids were expendable in that charter school bragging about their high scores. Now THAT would be a good subject — do the charter schools with the highest scores lose more of their entering Kindergarten class by 3rd grade (or hold them back)? The fact that faux reformers are completely uninterested in the answer to this shows that they don’t care about reform as much as promoting a brand.