Jeannie Kaplan, who was elected to two terms on the Denver Board of Education, writes here about Denver Superintendent Tom Boasberg’s unsuitability to be Secretary of Education.
She calls her post “I’m with Her, Not with Him.”
Reformers have been touting Denver as a great demonstration of the success of their brand of high-stakes testing, teacher evaluation by test scores, and privatization. Jeannie has written repeatedly (see here and here) that these policies have had consistently negative effects, despite the spin.
In this post, she explains why Boasberg should not be considered for Secretary of Education.
She lists the reasons, beginning with the fact that he does not live in Denver or send his children to Denver public schools; instead, they attend public schools in Boulder, which has been untouched by corporate reform. He never listens to parents and community members.
In addition: No experience as an educator. He is a businessman, and, as such, approaches education like a business. The model used is called a “portfolio strategy” and depends on constant churn from constantly closing schools and opening schools.
There are other reasons, but the most important of them is that he is a zealous advocate for education policies that have failed, again and again.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’d like to see someone from outside the cloistered little ed reform “leader” club.
It’s been 15 years and there’s literally no difference between Republicans and Democrats on this, so there’s no real debate in DC.
I don’t have any faith that will happen, once they’re captured to this extent it’s self-perpetuating, but it would NICE 🙂
“. . . they attend public schools in Boulder, which has been untouched by corporate reform.”
I’d beg to differ. All public schools are touched by the edudeformer and privateer (still don’t agree with using the term “corporate”) agenda through the nefarious malpractices of the standards and testing regime.
True. All districts are affected by the ever-increasing testing demands.
However, here in Boulder Valley School District, we live in an educational utopia. BVSD has a few charter schools, but they are the “old kind” – you know, the ones established by parents and teachers.
Our superintendent and HR took a completely different approach to the Colorado state law which mandates that 50% of a teacher’s evaluation be based on test scores. HR told us: “We are not using the new evaluation system as a “gotcha”. We view it as professional development. We will not be using test scores as part of the educator evaluation process.”
I wish that all districts in this state, and in the country, could follow the lead of our wonderful superintendent, Bruce Messinger.
Be honest with yourself. Who do you think Hillary is going to appoint? And I don’t mean transition team a la Obama with Linda Darling-Hamilton. Who are the realistic choices for her for the long haul?
Yes, let’s be realistic. Not having one’s own children in public schools is a qualification for the job. It shows a certain degree of savoir faire.
Jeannie Kaplan indicated that Mr. Boasberg’s children attend public schools in the district where they live, not in Denver where he works. Nevertheless, in Boulder’s schools we are treated as professionals worthy of respect, which I understand is not the case in Denver.
That’s why he sends his children to Boulder schools, not to the ones he supervises and controls.
He also took 6 months vacation and pulled his kids from school.
Nothing less than an authentic educational expert is acceptable. The head of the DOE must have considerable training and experience from a legitimate school of education in order to render informed decisions on education policy. There are a plethora of “self appointed education experts” with agendas leading our discussions. They are imposters! Privatization has attempt to co-opt our policy and is responsible for our current misguided policies. Authentic educators have been deliberately marginalized in order to forward failing privatization schemes. Only 13% of educational commentators in the media are actual educators. If the Democrats want to fulfill the promise of the platform, they need to appoint an authentic expert in education to bring some balance to our policies and earn the respect of the public. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/08/teacher-ill-ask-a-pilot-how-to-fly-a-plane-not-a-ceo-why-wont-policymakers-listen-to-educators/
You mean Hillary can’t select her basketball buddy?
Not related directly to education per se, but to the larger issue of the spectacle of Election 2016 and what the reality show that is Trump v. Hillary is masking: http://www.salon.com/2016/08/10/better-than-reality-televisio_partner/
As always, Tom Englehardt gets it.
Trump is insane and dangerous. He is encouraging every impulse control challenged, shallow thinking, insecure yahoo with a gun to commit acts of violence. The NRA statement supported Trump’s approach. Around here, the latest craze is roving bands of jacked up pickups with mounted American and “don’t tread on me” flags in the bed driving around like some kind of Mad Max gang to intimidate motorists. We arm Stupid.
Trump is a symptom, not the disease.
Trump has emboldened our violent, racist underbelly.
Which violent, racist underbelly is fueled by rampant inequality driven by bankster and corporate fraud and perpetual war.
You are right. Trump is a symptom. I sense it around here. Angry people on the road, in stores, in school, on the blogs. The trouble is, the Trump people are fearful and angry and seem to not care he would destroy America.
I’m with Dienne again. Trump is a symptom. Election 2016 is a symptom of a disease for which the cure is going to be more and more painful and risky the longer we wait for someone like Doctor Bernie to apply it.
As a retired Denver Public School teacher, I agree with Jeannie Kaplan 100%! She outlines the reasons very well!
As a forced-into-retirement Denver Public School teacher, I agree with Jeannie and warn Hillary: NO ONE should ever have to work under Tom Boasberg.
Agreed!
Continuous “spin”. Continuous lying. Continuous failure. I live it everyday. He is unfit for educational service. He needs to take several seats. Just sayin.
All districts have been a victim to some extent of privatization. But Boulder has been able to withstand much of it while Denver continues to drive at breakneck speed toward the cliff. The recklessness of Boasberg and his staff will result in the “portfolio strategy” becoming a permanent structural change if Denver residents don’t wake up very, very soon. The changes will be set in concrete.
Denver has a different population than Boulder. Denver is 75 percent disadvantaged. Boulder is predominantly affluent and white.
Cross posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/A-Note-to-Hillary-Clinton-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Charter-School-Failure_Education_Educational-Crisis_Evaluation-160812-901.html#comment612427
with this comment :Just like Obama’s choice of Duncan, picking another ‘shill’ to push privatization would be just like Hillary.
Bernie would not have done this, but then, Bernie made no effort to speak to the educators and the experts on LEARNINg, SO HE COULD REACH OUT TO TEACHERS.
If a charlatan like this creep gets to be education secretary, then you can say goodbye to public education and thus to income equality, since it is in our schools that the poverty stricken and the ethnic minorities get a foot up, by learning real skills. With the privatization of schools, comes the end of democracy. Sooooo simple…. because Our Democracy Depends on Shared Knowledge
Click to access hirsch.pdf
With the control of the schools in the hands of people like this, https://dianeravitch.net/2014/12/05/north-carolina-plans-to-adopt-koch-funded-social-studies-curriculum as it is in North Carolina… history will be rewritten to serve the oligarchs.