This should be an April Fools’ Day joke, but it is not.
Rapper Sean (Puff Daddy) Combs is sponsoring a charter school in Harlem that will be run by the notorious Dr. Steve Perry of Hartford, Connecticut.
Perry bills himself as “America’s Most Trusted Educator.” His magnet school in Hartford was known for its harsh discipline. Perry became known for his contempt for teachers and unions. He once publicly referred to union teachers as “roaches.”
Perry has an intense lecturing schedule, including a few dates next fall after his charter school opens.
As Jonathan Pelto writes, Perry had quite a reputation in Hartford and beyond:
“Perry gained national notoriety for his school’s harsh disciplinary policies that included the use of the “Table of Shame” to punish children who received demerits and for his ugly public comments about unions, teachers and anyone who opposed his empire building efforts.
“As a 2013 Wait, What? post entitled, Hey Steve Perry – Tell us about Capital Prep’s “Table of Shame,” explained:
“Located in the cafeteria of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School at 1304 Main Street in Hartford, Connecticut is the “Table of Shame.”
“As part of Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry’s “zero-tolerance” policies even the slightest “violations,” such as wearing the wrong colored belt, will result in punishments designed to humiliate and demean students.
“For example, it is not uncommon for Capital Prep students to be forced to stand in the cafeteria to eat as punishment for violating the school uniform policy or some equally unimportant “violation.”
“And now, more than a half a dozen former and present parents, students and teachers report that Perry and his fellow Capital Prep administrators regularly require children, even the youngest students in the building, to sit at the cafeteria’s “Table of Shame.”
And yes… it is actually referred to as the “Table of Shame.”
Along with the charges of abusive disciplinary practices and questionable financial activities – According to federal and state documents, Steve Perry registered his private charter school management company at the address of the Hartford public school at which he worked – Perry’s unwillingness to provide federally required educational services to children with special needs led to a sweeping investigation and follow-up action.
As a Hartford school administrator, Perry was also unwilling or unable to recruit and retain students who were English Language Learners despite more than 50 percent of Hartford’s students being Latino.
Where Perry goes, controversy follows.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I thought New York did not allow for profit charters. I find it hard to believe that Sean Combs is going in to this out of altruism. I guess this will be one of the “I’m a non profit, but don’t ask me about my finances” kind of place. I thought New York just passed some laws that require more charter accountability. I don’t believe these two will just turn their books over to New York, or we will find many problems after millions have been wasted.
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i.e. cha-ching
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You’re mostly correct, Retired Teacher, that NYS no longer allows for-profit companies to manage charters, but they’ve finagled things and there are still a few “for-profit” charters available to be granted. In fact, there’s a special for-profit case being considered for Rochester. I don’t know the specifics of this particular charter in Harlem, though, but as you probably know, even non-profits can job out services to for-profit companies.
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Sharon,
When the CEO of a “nonprofit” is paid $500,000 of the public’s money, what’s the difference? There are some for-profit charters that are grandfathered, like National Heritage Academy.
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Oh I agree with you, Diane, the distinction is almost meaningless.
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Also, the current proposal for a “for-profit” charter in Rochester would be run by National Heritage Academies. I can tell you however that the locals, who remember the previous and unsuccessful NHA charter in Rochester, are not all that pleased the outfit might return.
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I don’t think Perry ever got his doctorate.
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Here is his education bio info from his linkdin page:
University of Hartford, Hartford CT
Dissertation, Ed.D Educational Leadership
2008 – 2008
Dissertation: Upward Bound Project Staff’s Perceptions of the
Program Practices that are Most Effective and Transferable to an Urban High School
University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, Philadelphia PA
Master’s Degree, Master of Social Work
1992 – 1995
University of Rhode Island, Kingston RI
Bachelor’s Degree, Bachelor of Arts, Political Science Minor: African American Studies Honor
1992
Bachelor of Arts
Political Science
Minor: African American Studies
Honor: President’s Award for Academic Excellence
This guy must be a genius or a . . . . An Ed.D in less than a year!
And from Mercedes Schneider (https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/steve-perrys-dissertation-heavy-on-lit-review-slight-on-scholarship/) who took the time to read and analyze that supposed dissertation:
“What is Perry’s PhD in? Honorary degree from somewhere? Cannot find trail of his education, degrees or dissertation credentials. Any info?
Yesterday, it just so happened that I read Steve Perry’s dissertation, an Ed.D. in educational leadership from the University of Hartford:
It ought to embarrass the sole faculty member who signed off on it and the school that issued it.
The dissertation file document does include details of Perry’s education, including a BA in political science from the University of Rhode Island in 1992; a MSW focused upon social and economic development from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Work in 1995, and this Ed.D. in educational leadership from the University of Hartford in 2008.
Political science. Social and economic development.
Not a teacher.
And after reading his dissertation:
Not a scholar.
A dissertation is meant to be a scholarly contribution to one’s field of study. It is meant to be a unique contribution, one that adds substantially to research in the selected field as determined by a faculty committee chiefly comprised of those who possess the expertise to critically appraise the candidate’s work. And it is meant to demonstrate the author’s suitability to be recognized as an expert scholar in a clear and defined academic specialty.” . . .
and
“Steve Perry’s so-called “dissertation” accomplishes none of these goals and makes a mockery of academic rigor.
Perry has earned a “cereal box doctorate”: Buy the cereal; pull out the prize. That’s it.
Why am I being so hard on this former CNN “expert education commenter”? This “education expert” who on one hand says the problem is that professional educators “are not connecting” with students, but on the other, says, “If you don’t want to go to college, don’t go to Capitol Prep (Perry’s school). Go somewhere else”? This arrogant self-promoter who introduces himself on his website as “America’s Most Trusted Educator”?
His dissertation “contribution” amounts to nothing more than a self-reported six hours on the phone asking Upward Bound staff what they believe works; transcribing these interviews, and organizing responses into sets. Period.
So much for “manning up” academically.
Here is what he chatted about with six people for one hour:
1. What are the staff’s reports of how they implemented the project components and services designed to prepare eligible high school students for attendance at four-year colleges?
2. What are the staff’s reports of the project practices that are most effective in preparing eligible high school students for attendance at four-year colleges?
3. What are the staff’s reports of the project practices that they perceive to be the most easily implemented in an urban high school in their service area?
I am hard pressed to believe that discussion of these three questions required more than 15 minutes per staff member.
Far from sufficient for a rigorous dissertation.
For Perry– well– I think it has served its purpose.
Congratulations, “Doctor” Perry. Like a woman who agrees to get married for the diamond ring, you now get to refer to yourself as “doctor” for completing your University of Hartford program. Based upon perusal of your website, I know that the title is very important to you.”
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Sounds almost as rigorous as the Broadie, John Deasy, who’s phony PhD was earned in only 4 months with 9 units of credit. His dissertation reads like a bad high school report.
His supervisor got hired by Johnny as a consultant and ‘earned’ over $250K for this academic award (some might call this a payoff)…but he went to prison there after for stealing grant money from his university. Hope he kept his cell warmed up for Deasy who is still under investigation by the FBI and the SEC.
How corrupt is the public willing to allow these guys to get before there is an uproar?
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Another horse and buggy ready to roll!
Another predator joining the Gold Rush of the 21st Century.
Why Harlem?
What does it have in common with Camden, Newark, Detroit, and Oakland?
And as public education has money pulled from it for privatization, other cities will follow.
Another neighborhood of low to middle class where the citizens may not have the capital or political knowledge to sto them.
What we are witnessing are anti-American forces strangling more and more cities.
The privation movement is The Blob, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers combined…one body, one town…one city at a time…until our nation as we know it is destroyed by the billionaires, millionaires, and complicit political establishment.
While Harlem is stumping ground for Hillary, Combs and Perry mock the pillory
Logic and reason are obstructions here…just bring the check books and pens, and laugh all the way to the bank.
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In general, the stock market is flat. And, interest rates approximate 0%. As a result, desperate Investors from entertainment, Silicon Valley and hedge funds have focused in on cannibalizing the young and vulnerable.
Starting a charter school garners publicity (unpaid promotion) and, its somewhere people can double deal to get a return. Money managers encourage the investments b/c Wall Street gets a 10-18% return on charter school debt.
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So now there is Puff Daddy in Harlem, and Pitbull in Miami…running hip hop schools for profit. What will the new generation of children accomplish? Inventing medical miracles…or…relishing ‘gangsta rap’ that demeans women and incites hatred for authority?
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So, Perry’s latest charter school is going to be in Harlem.
How long until he bumps into Eva Moskowitz, who started her Success Academies in Harlem, and still has several there?
Ooooooh! What if they both want to open a charter school in the same location, at the same time?
Cage fight! (One can only hope.) 😄
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Here, below, is the latest offering from Tilson, the prime hedge fund guy who is teaching his clients how to invest in public education by turning it private. He writes mainly about NY charter schools.
Too long to send it all…go to Tilson online to read his lauding comments on Billionaire Rubenstein, and how these lords of the underworld, IMHO, function to rule the world of education. I deleted much of his rationale for the Bonfire of the Vanities guys righteously claiming all rights to society…since they are so much smarter and braver than the rest of us.
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“1) An insightful article in today’s Chalkbeat about school discipline policies, which is a very difficult issue (educationally, emotionally and politically). I’m glad it’s being discussed/debated and, where necessary, changes made:
Parallel shifts are happening across New York City, as some charter school leaders take a second look at discipline policies they put in place when they opened. Those policies, connected to a broader set of ideas referred to as “no excuses,” combine teachers’ high academic expectations for students with strict behavior rules meant to ensure an orderly learning environment.
Some schools have tweaked those policies after seeing the effects on students, particularly as they exit their charter schools for more lenient environments. Others aim to distance themselves from the harsh practices that have grabbed headlines and generated fears that they could erode crucial political and parental support for charter schools. And some have changed simply because the charter sector’s swift growth has made faithful implementation of original practices impossible.
The schools often reject labels like zero tolerance or no excuses. But they generally have firm guidelines for everything from how students walk down hallways to what they wear.
While some charter schools never subscribed to a similar theory, those ideas still form the backbone of the culture at the charter schools that belong to networks like Achievement First, KIPP, and Ascend. Teachers say they’re key to allowing students to focus in class and net high scores on state tests. But as the sector grows — and issues of school discipline make national headlines — many schools are pulling back slightly as they search for the right balance.
“There is a broad movement away from no excuses discipline policies,” said Mary Wells, the co-founder of Bellwether Education Partners, a nonprofit that advises charter schools. “I’m not privy to all [charter management organizations’] conversations, but I would say most are having conversations about how and how much should we adjust our culture.”
2) Speaking of tricky issues related to school cultures, this is an interesting article:
A recent update to federal education law requires states to include at least one nonacademic measure in judging school performance. So other states are watching these districts as a potential model. But the race to test for so-called social-emotional skills has raised alarms even among the biggest proponents of teaching them, who warn that the definitions are unclear and the tests faulty.
“I do not think we should be doing this; it is a bad idea,” said Angela Duckworth, the MacArthur fellow who has done more than anyone to popularize social-emotional learning, making “grit” — the title of her book to be released in May — a buzzword in schools.
She resigned from the board of the group overseeing the California project, saying she could not support using the tests to evaluate school performance. Last spring, after attending a White House meeting on measuring social-emotional skills, she and a colleague wrote a paper warning that there were no reliable ways to do so. “Our working title was all measures suck, and they all suck in their own way,” she said.
And there is little agreement on what skills matter: Self-control? Empathy? Perseverance? Joy?
3)…………………..
4) Coincidentally, ProPublica just published this in-depth story about how David Rubenstein, the multi-billionaire co-founder of the Carlyle Group, has led the (so-far-successful) lobbying effort to keep the loophole open – and cut his tax bill by millions (tens of millions?) of dollars annually…
———————-
‘No excuses’ no more? Charter schools rethink discipline after focus on tough consequences
As the charter sector grows, school leaders search for the right balance
Monica Disare headshot
By Monica Disare
@monicadisare
mdisare@chalkbeat.org
Published: March 7, 2016 – 6:00 a.m. EST
http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2016/03/07/no-excuses-no-more-charter-schools-rethink-discipline-after-focus-on-tough-consequences
Students still learn in rigorous classroom environments, adhere to strict uniform codes, and are held accountable for their behavior using rigid merit and demerit systems. An untucked shirt can still earn a demerit at Achievement First. Success Academy gives students infractions for slouching. Chewing gum means the loss of paycheck dollars at KIPP.”
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This, above, is just a taste of how these cash vultures think as they urge creation of kid robots of color who will bend to their will. What do you think their fave Dem, Billary, said to them in her Wall Street/Goldman Sachs speeches? Where does she stand on charter schools v. public schools?
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Have you noticed that in the pictures of charter school students, they’re never smiling?
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Sounds like he’s preparing them for a career of prison life instead of college.
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Sorry to say that Mr Perry will be presenting an annual lecture at University of Delaware this coming week that honors a Wilmington, DE, civil rights leader, Louis Redding. Not sure who invited him, but the event appears to be organized by the Provost’s office.
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Eve, go and listen. This man despises unions and teachers too
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He’s also a fraud. His ‘doctoral’ dissertation has all the hallmarks of being written by someone else. Who would write his own dissertation stating he had attended the non-existent ‘Lexmark University’ and had been born in the city of ‘Anytown’? That’s what it says in his dissertation. I conclude somebody wrote his extremely light-on-facts-and-data dissertation as a work-for-hire, expecting that the purported author would at least proofread it and change those placemarkers to the correct data. But, apparently, Perry couldn’t even be bothered to do that.
What a faker.
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He may respond that he was using pseudonyms, but this is not reasonable.
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You can find his dissertation by googling ‘Steve Perry doctoral dissertation’ or else clicking on this link:
Click to access steve_perry_dissertation.pdf
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