Have you been missing Campbell Brown? There was a long period when she stepped forth to position herself as the symbol of the corporate reform movement, warning the world to be wary of public schools loaded with pedophile teachers who were protected by unions and tenure. As Michelle Rhee faded away, Campbell Brown’s star rose in the corporate reform firmament.
Her Partnership for Educational Justice launched lawsuits against tenure, none of which have been successful. She garnered millions from the usual billionaires to start a news site called The 74 Million, to sing the praises of charter schools and privatization. She served on the board of Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children, which handed out millions of dollars to fund candidates who support charters and vouchers. Betsy, in turn, funded The 74 Million.
But now she has left us! She has joined the messaging team at Facebook, where she is smoothing ruffled feathers and soothing angry critics. In this long profile in the New York Times, Campbell’s role as the dragon slayer of public schools gets only a few paragraphs.
Here is what the New York Times says about Campbell’s foray into education as the new Michelle Rhee:
“But after leaving CNN, Ms. Brown did shed her journalistic skin, and turned herself into a political animal.
“Ms. Brown became an activist focused on education. She fought teachers’ unions, a tactic some friends think was meant to position her for a run for office. A New York Magazine profile once posed the question, “How did an ex-news anchor become the most controversial woman in school reform?”
“She was a celebrity in ed reform,” said Eva Moskowitz, the founder and chief executive of the Success Academy Charter Schools, where Ms. Brown is a board member. “We just didn’t have people of her prominence before.”
“Ms. Brown also started an education news site called The 74 Million, which often reports on issues around teachers’ unions, and an advocacy group called The Partnership for Educational Justice, which funded a lawsuit against teacher tenure. She served on the board of Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children. (Ms. Devos has funded The 74 Million.) When President Trump nominated Ms. DeVos to be Secretary of Education last year, Ms. Brown wrote an op-ed in her defense, calling Ms. DeVos a “friend.”
“By then, Facebook was in crisis mode over how it handled news.”
Her career as the nation’s leader in the fight to crush teachers, unions, and public schools has receded into the background, perhaps ended.
Who will be the new face of corporate reform? Who will be the next bold reformer to grace the cover of TIME magazine, broom in hand, as Rhee once did?
Campbell Brown, we hardly knew ye.

I wonder if it is a coincidence that Facebook was so obviously complicit in covering up how their data was being used for the benefit of right wing political candidates with people like right wing ideologues Campbell Brown and Peter Theil allowed to promote their right wing visions.
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This Campbell brown woman is a high school drop out…..So, how can she be a face for reform if she did not even graduate high school??
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I looked this up on Wikipedia. Have no idea if it is correct.
…………………………
Campbell Brown was born Alma Dale Campbell Brown in Ferriday, Louisiana, the daughter of the former Louisiana Democratic State Senator and Secretary of State James H. Brown Jr., and Brown’s first wife, Dale Campbell.[1][2] Alma Dale was her maternal grandmother’s name.[5]
Brown was raised as a Roman Catholic,[6][7] though her father is a Presbyterian. She has two sisters.[8]
Brown grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, and attended the Trinity Episcopal Day School. Her family was involved in hunting, politics, and cooking, “It was all about Cajun and tight-knit families and big parties,” according to Brown.[9]
She was expelled from the Madeira School for sneaking off campus to go to a party.[10] Brown attended Louisiana State University for two years before graduating from Regis University. After graduation, she spent a year teaching English in Czechoslovakia.[11] In her 2006 wedding announcement in the New York Times, she was described as having “spent her postcollege years as a Colorado ski bum.” [9]
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Does Campbell Brown fit the\is Urban Dictionary definition of a quisling? Just substitute a few words
“During a Zombie-pocalypse a quisling is any person who has become so physiologically disturbed that he/she subconsciously convinces him or herself that they are one of the walking dead. A quisling will imitate a zombie perfectly and will attempt to feed on a normal human should it encounter one. A quisling’s bite is NOT infectious. …”
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=quisling
Revised to fit Campbell Brown:
During the public school reform-apocalypse, a quisling is any person who has become so physiologically disturbed that he/she subconsciously convinces him or herself that they are one of greedy, lying, fraudulent corporate reformers. A quisling will imitate a greedy corporate reformer of public schools perfectly and will attempt to eat children should it encounter them.
A quisling’s bite is NOT infectious. …”
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I am reminded that Steven Singer had trouble posting his anti-privatization posts on Facebook. If he opined Against School Choice, his posts went directly to “Facebook jail.” Wonder why?
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Good riddance, Witch Campbell. (Why don’t you become a public school teacher and see how “easy” it is? Do you think you could live on the salary? What if unions didn’t exist and teachers had no way to increase salaries and to fight for benefits? Busting unions is a good way to make America a two-class society: the rich and the poor. And I know which class you think you deserve to belong to!
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“Her career as the nation’s leader in the fight to crush teachers, unions, and public schools has receded into the background, perhaps ended.”
Who says life isn’t beautiful. Now if this would happen to all of those who know everything about education based on having gone to school once, things might improve.
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The oligarchy needs SLAVES and therefore creates a system of SLAVERY. Never forget this fact.
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If Facebook wants to crack the lucrative public school market- and they do- they’ll have to gain the trust of public school parents.
And Campbell Brown isn’t one.
It’s not a great look to get hauled before Congress for irresponsibility and dishonesty when you’re trying to get access to 50 million school children. They might want to rethink the ol marketing plan. Maybe hire someone who hasn’t made a career out of bashing public schools?
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Reformers don’t want to “crack” the public school market, they want to disrupt and privatize it.
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The reformies should have known better before depending on her. In general, you can never trust anyone who’s named for a soup can.
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What flavor of Campbell’s soup is she named for?
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Cream of Teacher
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How about “Creamed Teachers”
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Ralph-a-bit
(Or is ralphalot?)
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Barf barley?
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I vote for Campbell’s Barfed Barley – good suggestion
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How about Campbell’s Spit Pee
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Oh, that’s a good one too.
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No-can-read-alphabet soup . . . .
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Rhee-volting and Brown-noser were both nothing more than spokesmodels of a rather obvious sort, opportunists who knew where the best paycheck would come from and had no scruples or conscience about what the harmful effects of the work involved in earning that paycheck would be, even when they were repeatedly pointed out to them. We are scalp deep in the Lemon Dance of the oligarchs paid, professional liars.
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But the 74 million propaganda machine still exists.
I have not and will not Facebook.
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Seems like many people “mature”out of corporate reform after they learn why all the so called reforms are not new. They have failed in the past and are failing again.
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Dystopian thoughts…
I hear that Jeff Sessions is planning his “escape” from the WH! Perhaps the scent of publicity and “green” will help him drag out long lost “educational expertise” from the depths of his soul (aka bowels) as Campbell Brown hands him the “lofty” ed reform torch… or then again… maybe a robot drone will take over education manned by a Bezos “mini me” who scours the lands ensuring that free smart phones are given to students in order for them to attend Amazon schools. Wondering what this novel education entails? Students carry Gates-controlled smart phones into Bezos- owned “schools” across the land and learn at various stations by holding up their smart phones! The smart phones track attendance and participation while the government dishes out federal money to pay for these centers. Perhaps Coleman and Danielson will control the material. A government accountant decided it would save gazillions of dollars eliminating teachers with their pensions and this includes publicly funded education programs at universities across the nation. Robots ensure safety at the centers. Why have centers? Why not have students do this from home? Students need human interaction is the official word… all-the while pointing to the reality that Trump’s children will oversee the school real estate empire and be rewarded handsomely for their amazing expertise learned from their beloved dad. Why hire public school teachers or education professors when Bezos knows all and a select few who “know better than everyone else” can provide their expertise! Congress will enable a pay system to feed directly from the government coffers into the pockets of Bezos and Gates provided that each member of Congress get a guaranteed percentage of the profits. How is the pay system set into motion? Each time a student is marked “present” at school and clicks on a link at one of the stations, out flows the money! Ca-ching to Bezos, ca-ching to Gates and Ca-ching to the Trumpettes.
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Audrey Watters was at ASU+GSV convention where Facebook claimed “education is at our core. It’s at the true foundation of what the platform was invented for.” I wonder if there’s a connection…http://hackeducation.com/2018/04/20/asu-gsv
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Diane,
I apologize for changing the subject, but did you just see that Bernie Sanders refused to endorse Cynthia Nixon and he made a point of strongly praising Andrew Cuomo (who recently talked about how much Bernie and he were in lockstep and which Bernie barely touched)!
“Governor Cuomo has a strong record, he has done some very good things, obviously there are areas where I disagree with him…” (Not one mention of those areas of disagreement – Bernie presents their differences as simply a minor policy disagreement between two great Democrats who care so much about this country!)
This is especially ironic because this love for Cuomo by Bernie came in the same discussion in which Bernie attacks and criticizes the Democratic party nationally for relying too much on big donors and not doing enough to support progressive candidates!
I’m sorry, but Bernie has a lot of chutzpah trying to undermine the Democrats nationally by pushing the same dishonest narrative that lost them the 2016 election — that their candidates are entirely owned by rich billionaires and will sell out the public, guaranteed.
And then turning around and offering only words of praise for Andrew Cuomo and not a single mention that he is selling out progressive ideas to his billionaire donors.
I don’t care if Bernie wants Cuomo to win because public education isn’t very important to him. But it is seriously hypocritical for Bernie to criticize the national DNC for depending on donor money while going out of his way to mention how much he loves Andrew Cuomo and making sure the public knows that while they have some slight policy disagreements, it has absolutely nothing to do with the hedge fund campaign donors who own Cuomo. Bernie would never say that Andrew Cuomo does the bidding of his hedge fund donors and he certainly made no mention of that as he offered over the top praise of Cuomo.
Dear Bernie – stop smearing the Democrats. Until you criticize Andrew Cuomo — and that doesn’t mean “we have some policy differences but he’s terrific” — you have no credibility in your claims that the party is corrupt.
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^^^Here is what I mean
“Mr. Sanders also argued that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other national party organizations are not doing enough to support liberal grass-roots candidates who are running against Mr. Trump and backing a progressive agenda.”
How can Bernie Sanders attack the national party for this when he refuses to support the grass-roots candidates who back a liberal agenda when they run against right wing Democrats like Cuomo?
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If you can change the subject, I guess I can too. How about your friend and #Resistance Hero Tim Kaine introducing a bill to modify the AUMF to give Trump even more unfettered war power? https://theintercept.com/2018/04/21/donald-trump-war-powers/?comments=1#comments
Not defending Bernie (I’ve long suspected he either sold out or got his arm twisted in a back room meeting), but who exactly do you suggest we vote for these days?
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What are you talking about? Why don’t YOU tell me who meets your standards of perfection? Jesus? At least until you start repeating the right wing talking points about how co-opted he is, right?
Please tell me what exactly you believe limits Trump’s war powers ability right now? He does exactly what he wants and of course, since you told us over and over again that Trump was absolutely no worse than Hillary Clinton would have been, I guess you are the world’s biggest hypocrite.
Trump is on you. You repeated the right wing talking points over and over again. You said he wasn’t no worse than those nasty Democrats. The fact that you find no difference between Trump and Tim Kaine speaks for itself.
If you aren’t a troll, you are just one of those Americans who fall for the same old right wing propaganda in election after election. You are no different than the self-righteous people who said insisted that Mike Dukakis was evil because he was a “card carrying liberal who wants rapists and muderers to go free”. You are no different than the self-righteous people just like you who just “knew” that Al Gore was a serial liar who couldn’t be trusted. You are no different than the self-righteous people just like you who just “knew” that John Kerry was a cowardly traitor and liar. You are no different than me in most self-righteous teens when I absolutely knew that Jimmy Carter was the most corrupt and evil right wing Democrat ever.
The only difference is that I stopped being played for a fool and stopped falling for the “if the Dem doesn’t agree with me 100%, it is because he is evil and absolutely no different than the worst right wing Republican candidate with fascist tendencies.” You did not.
The right wing plays you like a fine violin. They love to hear your self-righteous “spidey sense” that tells you that Bill de Blasio is really a corrupt tool of Wall Street and that Cynthia Nixon is really “anti-union”.
I am absolutely positive that if Bernie had won the nomination, that you and people like would have repeated the non-stop anti-Bernie propaganda just like you now parrot the right wing’s attacks on Cynthia Nixon and Bill de Blasio. You would have voted for Jill Stein because the Russians would have released their curated selection of e-mails from Bernie’s staff in which they bashed African-American voters or denigrated some older women as has-beens (but in less polite terms). You would have seen the ad telling you that Bernie got his wife a job in which she paid herself hundreds of thousands of dollars to bankrupt a college but Bernie’s friends stepped in to cover up her crime. You would have posted non-stop about how co-opted and corrupt Bernie was.
The heirs to Lee Atwater have always found their helpers in self-righteous people like you.
You will you attack next? I know — whichever progressive or moderate politician the right decides is too dangerous to stop their march to fascism. They knew exactly how to play you.
After all, as you posted over and over and over again — Trump is absolutely no worse than the evil Hillary Clinton.
Just don’t be a hypocrite now because you got the guy who you think is just like the Democrats. You own Trump.
And the heirs to Lee Atwater are laughing their heads off at you.
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^^By the way, Tim Kaine is my hero because he has stood up for public education again and again while other politicians have sold old public schools.
I realize that doesn’t mean much to you. The question is, why are you even on this blog unless it is to bash all the politicians who actually stand up for public education?
That’s why I suspect you are a troll. You post on a blog for people who believe public education is one of the most important issues. And bash those few politicians who support public schools. Because they never live up to the perfection that you only expect from politicians who can put a stop to the fascist Republicans.
There IS a difference. No matter how hard to work to convince Americans that there is not, there IS.
Trump is on you.
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Hey, don’t accuse me of bashing politicians when you’re the one who never misses an opportunity to excoriate Bernie for something, even something completely unrelated to the topic at hand, even when no one else has been talking about Bernie for months now.
As for what means much to me, education isn’t going to mean jack to anyone once the neocons/neolibs like Kaine get their wish and start WWIII with Russia.
As for the rest of your rant, tl;dr.
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Oh, can’t overlook this: “Trump is on you.”
Well, not so much: https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/
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BTW, question for you, Diane – I’ve been posting on this blog much longer than NYCPSP (almost from the outset of the blog itself). Will you agree with me that my interest in education is bona fide? So is it okay with you that NYCPSP calls me a “troll”?
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dienne77,
I didn’t say you were definitely a troll. I said that you so often repeat the exact same talking points that the right wing trolls paid by billionaires whose goal is DEFEAT progressive candidates post.
Thus your innuendoes that Cynthia Nixon has sold out. Thus your innuendoes that Bill de Blasio is a secret right winger. Thus your non-stop posting that the evil Hillary Clinton was so evil and corrupt and secretly in bed with the right wing that Trump winning the election absolutely would be no worse than Clinton winning.
Every statement above mimics what the right wing trolls post. Because it helps depress the vote and make sure their right wing candidates — the very ones that people like dienne77 say are absolutely no different than the democrats — win.
dienne77, you have some chutzpah hijacking a post I made in which I did NOT call Bernie evil and corrupt and someone who should be defeated because he is absolutely no different than Andrew Cuomo and now we all know that evil and corrupt Bernie has always been the tool of the exact same people who fund Andrew Cuomo. I did NOT say that if a right wing Republican runs against him next election, we better be sure NOT to vote for Bernie because even a right wing Republican is no worse than he is.
My criticism of Bernie were EXACTLY like Bernie’s criticisms of Andrew Cuomo. Bernie and I, like Bernie and Andrew Cuomo, have some policy differences. Bernie can say he has some policy differences with Andrew Cuomo but Cuomo has also done some very good things.
Bernie can say he has some policy differences with Hillary Clinton, but that Hillary Clinton has done some very good things.
What is missing is the slanderous words you always use — that the policy difference is because those other candidates are evil and corrupt and will enact the entire right wing agenda so are no better than Donald Trump.
If people like you had talked about Hillary Clinton the way Bernie Sanders talks about Andrew Cuomo, she would have won. Instead you demonized her and helped push the propaganda that she was corrupt.
And my criticisms of Bernie Sanders is that while Bernie did NOT do that to Andrew Cuomo and bent over backwards to talk about how great he is (despite some policy differences), Bernie criticizes the Democrats for not standing up more for progressive candidates with what we all know it innuendo that there is something corrupt about it. . Which is quite ironic coming from the guy who is unwilling to criticize Andrew Cuomo and give support to Cynthia Nixon.
I am absolutely certain that Bernie Sanders’ unwilling to stand up for the progressive candidate in the NY State Governors’ race is NOT because he is co-opted or corrupt.
And I have never once said that Bernie Sanders is co-opted or corrupt.
But I do think it is very hypocritical of him to criticize the Democrats when he himself is doing exactly what they are doing and no doubt feels completely justified in doing so. And no doubt the DCCC feels just as justified as Bernie does when they “aren’t doing enough” to help progressive candidates.
Just like I believe it is hypocritical for you to attack the Democrats for not being more progressive and then repeat every right wing talking point against a progressive candidate like Cynthia Nixon and express your outrage that she is just not progressive enough to support.
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I hijacked a post??? Maybe you could tell me what Bernie has to do with Campbell Brown or Facebook. You were the one who came on here to, yet again, criticize Bernie apropos of absolutely nothing.
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dienne77,
First of all, I acknowledged in my first sentence that I wanted to bring something to Diane’s attention that was only semi-related to this post which mentioned how much ed reformers love Campbell Brown and how she sits on the board of a charter school that Andrew Cuomo adores.
My post is about Bernie refusing to endorse the pro-public school candidate Cynthia Nixon and instead offering the kind of praise for anti-public school candidate Andrew Cuomo that I begged you to use when you talked about Hillary Clinton. Not one character attack on Cuomo. Not one statement talking about how Cuomo is the most corrupt and co-opted politician ever and even a right wing Republican like Trump is no worse than Cuomo.
My post is about the hypocrisy of Bernie giving high praise to Cuomo (and not word of criticism beyond minor policy disagreements) and refusing to endorse Nixon while at the same time accusing the DCCC of not supporting progressive candidates enough!
I like Bernie. A lot. I can recognize his imperfections and call them out without making it a character assassination or reason not to vote for Bernie. Just like Bernie can recognize Andrew Cuomo’s imperfections without making it a character assassination or even worthy of any criticism at all!
I just want Bernie to give that same benefit of the doubt to other Democrats who deserve it. And I wish you would, too.
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In other words your post has nothing to do with this thread. Glad we agree that hijacking isn’t a problem.
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dienne77,
Recently FLERP! posted about some news event that s/he wanted to bring to Diane’s attention. FLERP! posted it on in response to one of Diane’s posts about a completely different issue, and noted that it was off the subject.
While FLERP! and I disagree on many things, I didn’t decide to gratuitously try to start an argument with him. Instead I politely replied to tell FLERP! that there had been a discussion a few posts earlier where this might be more relevant and later I noticed FLERP! posted it there as well.
And not long after, Diane made a post about whatever it was that happened that FLERP! thought might be worth bringing to her attention. (That might have been purely a coincidence – please don’t assume I am saying one resulted in the other.)
I am concerned about Cynthia Nixon, not Bernie. My only concern with Bernie was his seeming unwillingness to help elect the progressive Nixon against the right wing Dem Cuomo which I felt directly contradicted his own criticism of Democrats who aren’t helping progressive candidates!
Mea culpa for believing I could simply post something off-topic to bring it to Diane’s attention the way FLERP! did and not have you make it all about me.
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NYCPSP,
Don’t fight with your allies. Realize their and your own limitations. Everyone has them. Even people as chosen and anointed as yourself have limitations.
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It’s fitting that Campbell Brown has become the face of Fakebook.
Everything about her is fake.
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“Who will be the new face of corporate reform?”
A Canadian, Jordan Peterson? He was on Bill Maher recently & he trashed Ed Schools (in this country). He referred to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed this month, “How Ed Schools Became a Menace” –which I can’t read because it’s behind a paywall. However, they were discussing political correctness in that segment of the show and Peterson seemed to be blaming our Ed Schools for that.
Apparently the article is based on the Education Schools Project study by Arthur Levine and that researcher contested the article here: “Ed Schools Are No Menace” https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/letters/ed-schools-are-no-menace/
Know anything about this?
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Campbell Brown’s latest career move reminds me of Michelle Rhee who once said: “Nobody makes a thirty-year or ten-year commitment to a single profession.” The mark of a dilettante and opportunist…
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I remember when Rhee said that, and thinking,
“WTF is she talking about?”
Back when she made that comment, her own children (two daughters) attended Harpeth Hall in Tennessee (and I believe still do) which is, for want of a better phrase, a rich kids’ private school.
Given Rhee’s comments, it’s interesting to note that, on its website, Harpeth Hall touts its … wait for it …
… decades of experience of Harpeth Hall’s teachers.
On its faculty page, there’s even an embedded video profiling a teacher and that, in part, it celebrates this teacher’s … wait for it again …
“over 15 years of experience.”
https://www.harpethhall.org/academics/innovative-faculty
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
HARPETH HALL Website’s “Faculty” page: (italics mine)
“Quick Facts About (Harpeth Hall) Faculty:
“81% — Hold advanced degrees
“10 years — Average number of years of teaching experience
“86 — Full-time Faculty Members”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
I doubt that Michelle has ever voiced a complaint to Harpeth Hall administration about the overly long careers of her daughters’ teachers.
Somewhere else, Rhee mentioned that a teacher’s career should last 2 years, with 5 years at the MAX. She obviously limits that prescription to those schools attended by “other people’s kids”, or the children of the middle and working classes.
For her own kids, however, … bring on those veteran teachers, Baby!
A little bit more on Michelle.
Back in September 2013, Rhee perpetrated an infamous teachers-union-bashing & traditional-public-schools-bashing speaking tour. Student activists in Philadelphia held a candlelight vigil outside Rhee’s speech at Temple University as part of a campaign to increase their state’s per-pupil spending amount.
They asked for Rhee’s support in getting the legislature to vote to increase the (then) $9,000-per-pupil funding.
Rhee’s response?
Rhee refused, and opposed the students activists’ campaign, claiming the the then $9,000-per-pupil was more than enough, as the state was already “throwing too much money at the problem.” (Music to her corporate masters’ and Wall Street funders’ ears, no doubt.)
Read that here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130919_Two_radically_different_schools_of_thought.html
Hmmm … so if $9,000-per-pupil is plenty, what’s the per-pupil funding for Rhee’s own children?
Well, for the answer to that, just go the Harpeth Hall website on its “Tuition” page and see:
https://www.harpethhall.org/admission/tuition-financial-aid
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
HARPETH HALL Website’s “Tuition” page:
“2017-18 school tuition is:
“Upper School Students: $27,930
“Middle School Students: $26,900”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Mind you, that’s a low-ball figure, as Harpeth Hall gets millions in fund-raising on top of this figure.
In the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER article above, it’s interesting to note what Ms. Rhee’s standard is for the funding (and other aspects) of the education of Philadelphia’s children — as it relates to politicians and school administrators (she was one in D.C. 2007-2011, as we all know):
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130919_Two_radically_different_schools_of_thought.html
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: (italics mine)
“Rhee said elected officials should make the same education decisions for all students as they would for their own children.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Now everyone drinking a beverage while reading that can wipe his / her computer screen of the spit take they did.
I mean really.
For Rhee to be consistent, wouldn’t she then advocate that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania increase its per-pupil funding to $27,000/year?
No, that’s right. They’re already “throwing too much money at the problem.”
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Jack: I read that Trump’s kids got schooling for $50,000 a year tuition. Makes me wonder about the “vouchers that are supposed to bring better private schools to the poor”.
It is utter nonsense that people who can afford to spend this type of money on their children can decide what is good enough for the middle class and the poor.
My daughter, for one year only, went to a Catholic school. I paid $1000 tuition and that was a struggle for me as a single parent teacher. The rest of her education was in public schools. I did this hoping that she’s get more one on one instruction.
How unfair that people with less money can’t get schools that are properly funded. Shame on politicians who don’t think schools need money and it’s okay to pay poverty level wages and let school deteriorate. Old text books are fine. Who needs desks when kids can sit on the floor. Gad.
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The Great Voucher Lie is that vouchers will give poor people the same choices as rich people.
Rich people spend up to $50,000 a year on tuition for elite schools.
Poor people get a voucher worth $5,000, if they are lucky.
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And how are poor students supposed to get to these ‘marvelous’ private schools since most of their parents don’t have cars? Many of them don’t have phones or they have just been disconnected for a variety of reasons, mostly no money to pay for such an extravagance.
Rich people, and that includes politicians, have no idea of how poor people exist. They work to make their lives harder and then blame them for their poverty. I wish the US would become a caring nation. I’m tired of the injustices that continue to grow. There isn’t money available since the wealthy and corporations never get enough. They are the greedy ones.
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Even if they win the lottery, and can pay the $50,000/year tuition, those private school STILL DO NOT HAVE ANY OBLIGATION TO ACCEPT YOUR CHILD.
That’s one of thing which Devos continually gets roasted for in her House and Senate hearings. Devos believes that schools should be able to refuse — or later, with no due process, kick out when they’re too expensive or difficult to educate — students who show up with a voucher.
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those who seek power start so young
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Campbell Brown is exactly the wrong person Facebook and Zuckerberg should be putting forward as a messaging face, unless, of course, the messages to be sent to the general public for its consumption are phony baloney.
Which they most likely are.
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Looks like Campbell Brown is working to have Facebook turn into a far right competitor to cable news. That’s all this country needs is more far right news…’original news programming’? Unfortunately, anything repeated often enough becomes ‘fact’. I hate to imagine what ‘facts’ this organization will promote.
……………………..
Is Facebook’s Campbell Brown a Force to Be Reckoned With? Or Is She Fake News?..NYT
By NELLIE BOWLESAPRIL 21, 2018
…Since joining the Silicon Valley company in 2017 to repair its frayed relationship with the news media, many have considered the former CNN and NBC anchor as little more than window dressing. Others see her as a more insidious figure — a telegenic personality with close ties to conservative figures who can offer Facebook’s outreach the veneer of journalistic credibility. To them, she is an ambassador from a dictatorship, willing to deliver bad news with a smile and some canapés. No matter their view of her, almost all question what influence she has at a company where the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has viewed news — both making it and displaying it — as a headache.
But a year and a half into her tenure, Ms. Brown, who became a school-choice activist with close ties to conservative politics after her TV career, is emerging as a fiery negotiator for her vision of Facebook as a publishing platform, according to interviews with more than 30 people who work or who regularly interact with her. This month, Hollywood Reporter named Ms. Brown one of this year’s 35 most powerful New York media figures… Facebook has set aside a $90 million budget to have partners develop original news programming, and Ms. Brown is pitching publishers on making Facebook-specific news shows featuring mainstream anchors, according to two people involved in or briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details were confidential.
Once those shows get started, Ms. Brown wants to use Facebook’s existing Watch product — a service introduced in 2017 as a premium product with more curation that has nonetheless been flooded with far-right conspiracy programming like “Palestinians Pay $400 million Pensions For Terrorist Families” — to be a breaking news destination. The result would be something akin to an online competitor to cable news…
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If Fakebook suffers the same fate as Cambell Brown’s last failed venture (The Seventy Four), Zuckerberg is going to regret hiring her.
Of course, it won’t be just Brown who brings Fakebook crashing down. Zuckerberg has been doing an admirable job of that himself.
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THE 74’s ridiculous take on the 2018 teachers strikes:
It’s interesting to note how out-of-step Campbell Brown’s THE 74 is with the public’s attitude regarding the recent, historic, and unprecedented wave of statewide teachers’ strikes. Depending on polls / states, the striking teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, and the rest are garnering 70-85% public approval rating and support!
However, you’d never know that if all you read were the pieces put out by THE 74.
Campbell Brown — that self-professed progressive Democrat … yeah right! — and her org The 74 finally put out an opinion piece on the latest teacher strikes or impending teacher strikes in states such as West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona perhaps others such as Colorado.
Here’s that unbelievably tone-deaf piece:
https://www.the74million.org/article/west-virginias-teacher-strike-held-kids-hostage-to-union-demands-with-more-walkouts-likely-school-choice-is-more-important-than-ever/
It may as well have been ghost-written by Grover Nordquist or John Stossel. In fact, was written by on-line charter school parent Tillie Elvrum, who of course, is also President of the Board of Directors of a billionaire-funded corporate reform org PublicSchoolOptions.org.
(But in Campbell’s astroturf Bizarro World, Tillie’s the true voice of parents.)
Quick summary with excerpts:
1) it’s written by a virulent, union-hating parent, who’s paid by the corporate ed. reform industry to write this;
(who’s from Pennsylvania, so perhaps Peter Greene could debunk some of her claims — i.e. the length and frequency of the strikes in Scranton, which she references)
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2) full of the usual false tropes:
“innocent children held hostage”
“in a district ravaged by teacher strikes,”
“The strikes were devastating for our son”
“the demands of the union kept him from this most basic need”.
“We had to do something to help our son, because everyone else was failing him.”
The teachers, of course, have no agency, as the “unions(‘ leaders) force teachers to walk out of classrooms, students and families are held hostage in an ugly tug-of-war among adults.”
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3) makes the implicit assertion that teachers have it just fine right now — salary-wise, job conditions-wise, health benefits-wise — and so they all should just quit whining, shut up, and go back to work.
Indeed, Tillie Elvrum concludes the piece by saying if the schools with striking teachers were non-union charters, none of these evil strikes would be happening right now, and all would be right with the world.
Don’t you get it? These strikes are all about teachers’ selfishness and shows their appalling disregard for the best interests of the students whom they teach.
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4) Again, Elvrum offers the solution to all of this is … just turn all or most of these states’ schools into non-union charter schools …
… and Voila! PROBLEM SOLVED!
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
TILLIE ELVRUM:
“Parents across the country should see West Virginia as a harbinger. Unions in other states will be emboldened to do the same. Teachers unions in Oklahoma and Arizona are already threatening strikes.
” … ”
“If there was ever a time to make the case for expanded choices in education (i.e. replace all or most traditional public schools full of striking teachers with privately managed charters, and voucher-funded private schools), it’s now. Parents need options so that when a school isn’t meeting their child’s needs — because of strikes or for any other reason — they have access to options that will work for them.
“School choice gives power to parents. If there is a silver lining to these strikes, perhaps it will be more parents exercising their right to find better options for their children.”
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