Only hours after the U.S. Department of Education put out a press release announcing Betsy DeVos’ visit to the Schwarzenegger Charter School, the visit was suddenly canceled.
Wonder why? The L.A. school board election is coming up soon. California doesn’t like Trump or DeVos. Would her appearance create a problem for the pro-charter candidate Nick Melvoin and the California Charter School Association? Did Eli Broad ask her to postpone her visit until after the election to avoid embarrassing the pro-charter forces who call themselves Democrats? This might not have been the right moment to have DeVos appear in Los Angeles lauding the glories of charters.
Here is the latest press release:
From: “U.S. Department of Education” <ed.gov@public.govdelivery.com>
Date: April 30, 2017 at 3:55:39 PM PDT
To:
Subject: UPDATED ADVISORY: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ Visit to CHIME Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School
Reply-To: ed.gov@public.govdelivery.com
[US Department of Education]
MEDIA ADVISORY
EVENT DATE: May 1, 2017
Contact: Press Office
(202) 401-1576 or elizabeth.hill@ed.gov
UPDATED ADVISORY: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ Visit to CHIME Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School
Due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ visit to CHIME Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School has been cancelled.
For more information, please contact Liz Hill, elizabeth.hill@ed.gov
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Due to unforeseen scheduling conflict…”
Yep.
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The Secretary has someone in charge of scheduling. How was this “conflict” discovered mid-day Sunday?
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Terminated …
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That is one brief press release. Nothing about how she was looking forward to the visit or hopes to reschedule…. Reads like a response to a snub.
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I think Betsy’s bodyguards warned her that in California they might not be able guarantee her safety from too many of her haters.
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“From your lips to God’s ears”, so to speak.
Why a billionaire public servant can’t pay for her own protection, given her brother’s background at Blackwater, is further proof of D.C.’s politicians fleecing the U.S.
Taxpayers wouldn’t be on the hook, if Trump had selected a qualified person who supported public schools instead of contractor schools.
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Why the hell she needs “protection” to begin with is beyond me. Are these people that afraid of the common folk? If so, get the hell out of the job on go back to your gated community, Betsy.
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Yes, please.
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Could it be that Schwarzenegger expressed displeasure with the visit. He isn’t a fan of Trump.
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People forget that Arnie’s youngest son has a probably undocumented mother who was the housekeeper for Arnie and Marie.
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What ever. All of these observations are interesting. Her scheduler certainly made a mistake and I doubt if was a last minute mistake. It was an error in judgment. She has all of the bodyguards to schedule too.
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I think Diane nailed it. There’s lot of resistance to Trump here in L.A. and her visit would have been a field day for reporters to connect her to the California Charter School Association and therefore to the candidates they are funding to the tune of millions of dollars.
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The Dean of the Rossiter College of Education at the University of Southern California was touted by Gates-funded Pahara, as its first Fellow in a college dean position. If that Dean wants privatization, she should work in a private college.
In a parallel call to action, the 90% should position leaders in private organizations and have them work internally, to nationalize the outfits.
Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California is featured at the Walton-funded Gen Next site, a foundation seeking to privatize public education. Why is the public paying her?
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Linda…USC IS a PRIVATE university.
UCLA is number one in the nation (with Berkeley) of our great U of C public system…and yes, Napolitano was a bizarre choice as President, which many argued against. The head of Homeland Security rather than a well known academic, boded it seemed to we taxpaying voters to be the Governor and the Board of Regents with some weapons manufacturers members, to be telling the taxpayers we are now a political supporter of war. The Chinese have long been given great access to various locations of U o C campuses such as Irvine, and they learn about our university/government partnerships in development of armaments and other dangerous accourtrements, with NO quid pro quo.
We the People of California have little to NO voice in this choice.
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Big Money interests vs. Big Money interests: The conflict heats up….
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If Eli Broad was involved, one thing is for certain, and that’s that he didn’t ask DeVos to cancel. Eli doesn’t ask anyone to do anything. He tells them to. He likes to scare people. Most likely, he told her there wouldn’t be any movie stars or popcorn in L.A. tomorrow — but there would be reporters with questions, and possibly grizzlies. Now she’s nervous. And she had to be a little edgy already, having just brought her ‘guns in schools’ message to the victims of another tragic school shooting in San Bernadino, like Charleston Heston when he visited Columbine against public protest. That must’ve been trying for Betsy. I bet DeVos is feeling pretty homesick about now. Poor Betsy. Her friends at the yacht club aren’t so disagreeable as on the left coast.
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And a cadre of retired teachers and some parents with other public school supporters had planned to show up and picket her…but that is probably happening with every school she visits.
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Hooray! Finally an explanation of the non profit/for profit shell game in charters:
“Florida law technically requires charter schools to be nonprofits. But the system is largely run by for-profit companies, which Cortes left out.”
“The Miami Herald’s examination of South Florida’s charter school industry found several instances of for-profit management companies controlling charter schools’ day-to-day operations.”
It goes like this: charter is contract between state and school. There are then contracts between school and operator.
When someone tells you charters are “non profits under state law” look at the next layer of contracts, the set underneath the charter.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/politifact-florida-how-not-for-profit-are-charter-schools-really/2321984
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The twisted language of the plutocrats is meant to deceive. Whether it’s Gates-funded Senior Congressional Education Staff Network, which banters the word “non-partisan” (as if oligarch objectives were lofty) or, Chiara’s illustration, it’s all the same.
Ethical violations are those that destroy democracy. Non-profit, bi-partisan and non-partisan should be retired as obsolete obfuscations..
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http://www.changethelausd.com/suckling_at_the_taxpayer_s_teet
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let’s be fair…unforeseen scheduling conflict…..does she not have a long history of lack of foresight in what she does and does not do? If there are conflicts between just how things are working out between charter enthusiasts and voucher fans—-I doubt she will see it coming.
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DeVos may have had carpet samples to select. (Deutsch 29 blog- stock photo of DeVos “working”.)
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Linda,
Best explanation yet!!!
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I’m curious if Kim Smith, founder of an array of Gates-financed ed organizations and Melinda Gates reflect on their parallels to Betsy DeVos.
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In the LA Unified School DIstrict there is more than one kind of charter school. One kind that doesn’t get much attention (and is probably in the minority) in the charter debate is defined as a “conversion” charter, which is a school that started life as a regular public school and “converts” to charter status, becoming either “independent” or “affiliated” charter. These schools convert because they want to be able to administer their own funds (rather than leaving administration of the funds solely in the hands of LAUSD. Some of these independent conversion charters have a high level of accountability and are known for educating well. The charters come up for renewal every five years. Because of fear that Steve Zimmer (currently defending his seat on the school board against Nick Melvoin) wants to cancel their charters, people associated with these schools are siding with the corporate charter privatizers in opposing Zimmer and the charter legislation currently pending in Sacramento (the legislation would take away the power the state has to approve charter schools, and locate it solely in the district and/or the local Board of Education). They claim to want local control of their schools, but want the state ALSO to have the power to approve charters because they want some place to appeal if their charters are not renewed. I think that the people involved in the conversion charters who are fighting for Nick Melvoin have no idea how corrupt the corporate charter sector is.
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Please understand that there is a world of difference between an independent and affiliated charter. Affiliated charters are district schools and teachers are UTLA members. Their funding still comes down from the district, but they have more leeway in how it is spent. They have to submit a charter petition which is renewed every five years. Typically, affiliated charters serve the exact same population of students that attended previously with the same percentage of special ed and English Language learners. Parents are also very involved because of the wider range of decision making allowed.
But, independent conversion charters can and do operate differently. They have total control over their budget and their board of directors do not have to be comprised of current teachers or parents. Also, board members are chosen by the present board. Of the four conversion high schools in LAUSD, two continue to have current teachers and parents on their board. Those schools are Palisades and Birmingham. However, both Granada and El Camino Real have recently changed their policies and do not give their staff or parents the opportunity to chose a representative from their ranks.
Of course, the independent charters want to maintain as much control as possible so it’s no surprise that they might support Melvoin. But please do not forget how the lack of proper oversight at El Camino Real almost lead to the school being revoked due to the misuse of the school credit card by the CEO. That’s one reason why you need to have more, not less local control.
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And, not that test scores matter, but affiliated charters are not only less segregated but also “perform” better than independent charters. Still, Broad wants independent charters. Must be where the money is.
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Yet the Alliance Charter Schools which seem successful in the inner city, and to represent their population well, continue to battle UTLA and not allow their teachers to belong to the union.
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Thanks for adding that info.. The school I am most familiar with is Palisades, since my children went there and I know people who work there. Many of the people in the community also know Melvoin personally. They are not interested in hearing about the damage done by that lack of local control over charters. They are in a bubble of their own making (not unusual in this pocket of West L.A.)
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Anne…Pali HS, now the golden charter which produces hedge fund DFERs, is the essence and exemplar of the problem and is situated in one of the wealthiest communities in the nation. (This locale was
All Hollows Farm and was taken by the State of California from Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds to build the school in the late 1950s.)
Thereafter, as time progressed, the ‘newbie’ wealthy parents (of the 1980s) were able to wield power to form their own ersatz ‘private charter school’ financed with taxpayer money. It is disgusting that the few inner city students bussed to the ocean every day to uphold the charter determination, is rarely reported on or questioned. Pali, El Camino, Granada Hills, and a few others, are in the midst of areas of great privilege….while East LA and South LA suffer from lack of funding and from a dirth of consistent college bound offerings of curriculum…and even of vocational ed training.
In our state, with the greatest ethnic diversity in the nation, and the highest enrollment of Latinos, it is disheartening to see how power and privilege (T)rumps need.
Harvard-Westlake prep school, best in the nation, at a tuition of about $40K a year, is available to top students, including some few of color on scholarships, but as a PRIVATE school, they can do as their private Board determines. Pali et al, are PUBLIC, and the public should be howling at how their taxes are being used, appropriated, by some of the richest people in our state.
Meanwhile, the elite Broad/Romero/Austin/Litt/Rose group Parent Revolution continues to trick uniformed inner city parents to sign away their public schools to be charterized/privatized for profit.
I can speak with authority on Pali since I grew up on Via de la Paz in the 1950s when there were still bean fields surrounding us on the hills, and most of us came from modest households with Victory Gardens. Doubt that many here remember any of those days when we went to Palisades Grammar School and then were bussed to Emerson JHS and University HS in Westwood. Not too many changes for the better in our special coastal area since then, sad to say.
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As a parent at the largest conversion charter, Granada Hills High School, I have witnessed the ways that these administrations skirt the rules. I think that they have a pretty good idea about how corruption can take place…
http://thewire.k12newsnetwork.com/2017/04/18/above-the-law/
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Thanks for the link.
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K-12 News Network’s The Wire by Cynthia Liu looks like a great site!
Has there been consideration given to posting articles at Truthout and The Conversation (the latter is financed by Gates but, one can hope the site is as independent as it claims to be).
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Linda…many of us who write comments here, also write articles for Cynthia’s site, K12NewsNetwork. She has done a great job in building this venue for the past four years.
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Anne Richards,
You make an excellent point in distinguishing between different kinds of charters.
Pali High does more than just take a few token students and when others are mischaracterizing it only deserves to drive the parents who would side with you into the reformers’ hands.
The critics of Pali High Charter school are implying that taxes are being wrong “appropriated” for some corrupt cause! This is a board comprised of parents, teachers (union teachers!) who are being attacked. No wonder they are being fooled by the reformers when they listen to mischaracterizations about their own school.
Pali High is 52% white, 24% Latino, 14% Black, 8% Asian. 31% of the students are economically disadvantaged.
Sure, it could be even more diverse, but this is a school welcoming students from outside the regular school zone and not just a few. In fact, I believe that when there was a problem with funding busing, the more affluent parents at the school raised money so that the poorest students could get to them.
Making these parents out to be the enemy is only driving them into privatizers arms because they hear so many untruths about some “agenda” they have to keep students out. There is a difference between parents who don’t want to completely upend a high school serving their community so that school choice becomes a free-for-all and those who want to keep their school and yet make it more diverse.
That is giving parents a false choice that plays right into the privatizers’ hands. “If we only assign affluent and poor kids evenly throughout every school it will be good. When every school is 76% economically disadvantaged students instead of some schools having only 30% poor, everything will be fine.”
That’s a reform that is cheap and useless. It isn’t JUST the demographics of a school that matter. It is understanding that at-risk kids need small class sizes and extra resources that affluent parents can buy for themselves. Having 20 or 24% of each school be kids who are middle class is not going to magically make the 75% disadvantaged kids thrive. And believing that those 24% of parents will somehow use their resources to subsidize the other 75% because we no longer have the will to raise taxes to support schools the way they should be supported seems truly absurd. How often does it just mean those parents leave the system? And the rest of the students still suffer while this reform has succeeded in driving more middle class parents from supporting public schools.
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