Guess who they are?
You don’t need three guesses.
A clue to the right answer: they are not actually married to one another.
They are members of this blog’s Wall of Shame.
Archives for the month of: July, 2018
Rick Hess of the conservative American Enterprise Institute reflects on the tendency of foundations to act like lemmings, blindly following the lead of the largest foundation Gates), even if it means jumping off a cliff, harming public schools, destroying the careers of teachers, and hurting children.
He was moved to think about this by the recent RAND report about the complete failure of Gates’ funding of test-based accountability of teachers. Who, other than teachers and their unions, the American Statistical Association, AERA, and the National Academy of zeducation, said this was a terrible idea?no foundation stepped off the bandwagon, nor did the U.S. Department of Education.
Hess writes:
“Most foundation staff spend a lot of time talking to people they fund, people they might fund, or people trying to woo them. They spend every day talking about their vision and mission, how to refine it, and how to execute it, and they do this mostly with people who want their money. Given all that, it’s easy to wind up in a self-assured, mission-driven bubble. After enough of this, almost any unsolicited critique can seem misinformed, unfair, and as proof that the critic “just doesn’t get it.”
Since Rick’s organization relies on philanthropy (the DeVos family funds AEI), his willingness to offer a critical view is gratifying.
Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the KIPP megacorporation national chain, was dismissed because of allegations of inappropriate sexual contacts with students, which he denied. Not to worry. Mike has a new gig, teaching people how to start charters.To be clear, I don’t approve of the behavior (unspecified) of which he was accused and led to his ouster or resignation.
I wish Mike would take a job helping public schools. Or he could be a fundraiser for the Network for Public Education.
You may not want to hear this, but I like Mike, even though I disagree with the whole charter school hustle. He invited me to Houston in 2010, and he was a very congenial host. I had a great Tex-Mex lunch with his staff, toured the flagship school, then lectured at Rice University. TFA co-sponsored the event. As he expected, I lambasted Charter schools and TFA. The room was packed with teachers who belonged to the Houston Federation of Teachers. I admired Mike for listening to a dissident like me.
C’mon, Mike, come on over to the good guys. The pay stinks, but you will definitely feel right with your conscience.
Arthur Goldstein reports here that Mark Janus, who sold out unionized workers by lending his name to a Supreme Court case against unions, has left his public-sector job to work for the conservative public policy think tank that funded the case. For the speed with which he sold out, and for his eagerness to harm working people, Mark Janus is hereby added to the blog’s “Wall of Shame.”
“Mark Janus, who lent his name to the anti-union lawsuit to screw American working people, has scored a really cool gig with a right-wing think tank. This should be a lesson to us all. It really pays to be the first one to sell out your brothers and sisters nationwide. You collect your union-negotiated retirement benefits, get some cool job sitting around an office somewhere, and you don’t really have to do anything ever again. Was this a deal he made in advance? I don’t see why not.
“So Janus has really paid off for Janus. It’s only the rest of us who will suffer. You see, if you actually study history, you find that Americans do better when they are unionized, not occasionally, not sometimes, but always. You find that unionized workers make more money than non-unionized workers, and you find that non-unionized workers make more money too when union flourishes.
“You will also find that union has been rolled back since Reagan was President. This is part of a concerted anti-union program in the United States and it’s sorely reduced the number of unionized workers. Now when government boasts of job creation it’s often as not jobs that pay minimum wage and come without health insurance or any benefits whatsoever. In fact, many crappy fast food jobs make you sign disclaimers that you won’t jump ship for other crappy fast food jobs. This removes the possibility of the competition that Republicans argue will improve the economy.
“We are a selfish country, and we choose to be that way even when we are screwing ourselves. We have a national news network that caters to the needs of the uber-rich. It’s somehow managed to persuade a great swath of the country that they too might be uber-rich one of these days, and that they therefore must support rules that expand the rights of the uber-rich.
“Of course, that’s not the only way you manipulate the public. You manage them through racism and xenophobia. You make them terrified of Muslims. You make a big thing out of not allowing them entrance to the United States, unless they come from countries with which you do business, in which case they’re fine. You then ignore all terrorist acts committed by white people, because if you demonize white people there goes your base. How are we gonna Make America Great Again if we contend the characters on Leave It to Beaver were terrorists?
“It isn’t easy to get people to act against their self-interest. Fox couldn’t exist, for example, if American hadn’t done away with The Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to present both sides of an issue, rather than simply spout right-wing propaganda. But we’re way down that road now, and it will take a sea change to turn back.
“Janus contended he had to leave his First Amendment rights at the door when he went to work. In reality, unions have separate political funds. I contribute to one. Even though I sometimes disagree with UFT endorsements, I want union to be able to fight things like the Constitutional Convention. Now that we’re in an actual existential crisis, I want union to be able to fight even more…….”
This is a hilarious, must-see video, narrated by Gary Rubinstein, about his life in Teach for America, his disillusionment with Reform, and his collision with Reformers as they set about to remake American education.
I play a minor role in his story, because I too was an apostate, and my turnaround helped him make his own turnaround.
You will see all the stars of Reform, as Gary gives each of them their few seconds of glory and dispatches some of their heroes.
You will also see how he had his own moment of reckoning and developed a passion for calling out lies and propaganda.
It really is delightful and informative.
The moral of the story, he says, is that Tufts University (where he was a student) beats Harvard University (where most of the Reformers were students).
There are lots more morals to the story, and you will see how he skillfully weaves the history of the past 25 or so years together into a slide show.
The LAUSD has a 4-3 Majority of charter supporters. One of them, Ref Rodriguez, is about to take a plea deal that may lead to his resignation. Then businessman-turned-Superintendent will have a 4-4 split. Things get interesting.
Rodriguez held on to his seat long enough to put a Reformer in charge. But the day of reckoning draws near.
“The stage appears to be set for a deal that would resolve political money-laundering allegations against Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez, based on a filing posted Friday afternoon by the city’s Ethics Commission.
“The deal is likely to include his resignation from office, although parties involved in the negotiations would not confirm that.
“In the filing, Rodriguez, 47, admits that he “engaged in money laundering to further his 2015 campaign for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.”
“The commission staff is recommending a $100,000 penalty that would be paid by Rodriguez and his co-defendant, Elizabeth Melendrez.
“That fine would resolve Rodriguez’s case before the Ethics Commission, but that is just one half of his troubles related to political money laundering. The other — and the more serious — is a criminal case based on the same actions.
“In that proceeding, Rodriguez is charged with three felonies and 25 misdemeanors. If convicted on all counts, he could face several years in prison.
“Because Rodriguez has now apparently admitted guilt to the city’s Ethics Commission, it would be seemingly impossible for him to claim that he is not guilty of the same offenses in the criminal case. For that reason, all signs suggest that the criminal case also has been resolved with a separate plea deal.
“Details of the expected deal in the criminal case have not been made public.
“Legally, Rodriguez could probably remain in office if prosecutors agreed to lower the felony charges to one or more misdemeanors. But observers and those close to the case said it’s difficult to imagine a deal that would allow Rodriguez to keep his board seat, even if he is able to avoid time in jail.
“The ethics filing describes in some detail what happened, according to investigators.
“Late in 2014, Rodriguez, who was then a senior executive at a charter school organization, was putting together his first run for office.
“That December, he instructed Melendrez, his cousin, to enlist contributors and later reimburse them with Rodriguez’s money. Melendrez worked under Rodriguez as an administrator in the same charter-school organization.
“Rodriguez held an event at a family member’s residence later that month to announce his candidacy. During the event, he asked family and friends for support.
“Afterward, Melendrez promised contributors that Rodriguez would reimburse them. From Dec. 23 through Dec. 31, Rodriguez’s family and friends, including employees under his supervision, made 25 campaign contributions ranging from $775 to $1,100. The contributors included low-wage custodians for the charter schools and totaled $24,350.
“Soon after, on Jan. 15, Rodriguez attended a mandatory Ethics Commission training for candidates. It included a detailed discussion of city law regarding contributions, including prohibitions on money laundering.
“Rodriguez declined to come forward. Had he done so, the fallout could have derailed his campaign.
Instead, when Rodriguez filed his first campaign statement, he reported raising $51,001. Nearly half of that was the laundered contributions. In the same reporting period, incumbent school board member Bennett Kayser reported raising $13,739, and another challenger, Andrew Thomas, reported raising $10,732.
“Therefore, Rodriguez’s first public disclosure statement identified him as having received more contributions in that reporting period than any other candidate in the LAUSD District 5 race,” the Ethics Commission noted.
“Rodriguez could have contributed the money openly and legally to his own campaign, but it is against the law to disguise the true source of campaign donations.
“The violations “were deliberate, and Rodriguez knowingly received and made use of laundered funds during the election,” the filing states. The actions reflected “an intent to conceal, deceive and mislead.”
“It is possible that the ethics case and the criminal case could be resolved simultaneously Monday. The Ethics Commission, which has jurisdiction over local campaigns, has called a special meeting at City Hall for 10 a.m. The Rodriguez matter is the only item on the agenda.
“Meanwhile, for the criminal case, a hearing also is scheduled for Monday morning in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, which is across from City Hall.
“If the plea bargain happens as expected, Rodriquez would not necessarily be free from legal jeopardy. Sources tell The Times that the U.S. attorney’s office has looked into unrelated conflict-of-interest allegations against Rodriguez.
“Those allegations arose when his former employer, Partnerships to Uplift Communities, or PUC Schools, reported that Rodriguez had an improper conflict of interest when he authorized more than $285,000 in payments.
“The payments were made from PUC to a separate nonprofit under Rodriguez’s control and to a private business in which Rodriguez may have owned an interest.”
For a chronology of Ref Rodriguez and his troubles with the law, see here.
Dora Taylor, a parent activist in Seattle, noticed an interesting new development.
A developer plans to build a project that includes retail, low income housing and at one time, a charter school, the Green Dot charter school chain, in Southeast Seattle.
Based on further research, I found this is not an anomaly but a national trend.
Bankers, developers and real estate brokers are working together with Teach for America (TFA) and charter school enterprises to offer low income housing mainly for Teach for America recruits and other teachers who do not have adequate pay for clean and safe housing along with free space for charter schools through city and state support. These are our tax dollars paying for highly lucrative business ventures where all the profit goes back to the bankers, developers and brokers.
These people are not developing these projects out of the goodness of their hearts, they are doing it for, of course, the money.
Max Boot is a conservative foreign policy expert. This article appeared in the Wash Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/07/20/how-i-miss-obama/
“How I miss Barack Obama.
“And I say that as someone who worked to defeat him: I was a foreign policy adviser to John McCain in 2008 and to Mitt Romney in 2012. I criticized Obama’s “lead from behind” foreign policy that resulted in a premature pullout from Iraq and a failure to stop the slaughter in Syria. I thought he was too weak on Iran and too tough on Israel. I feared that Obamacare would be too costly. I fumed that he was too professorial and too indecisive. I was left cold by his arrogance and his cult of personality.
“Now I would take Obama back in a nanosecond. His presidency appears to be a lost golden age when reason and morality reigned. All of his faults, real as they were, fade into insignificance compared with the crippling defects of his successor. And his strengths — seriousness, dignity, intellect, probity, dedication to ideals larger than self — shine all the more clearly in retrospect….”
During and since his campaign, Trump has urged his rabid followers to view the press with hatred and contempt. Reporters at his rallies feel endangered by his belligerence. Who can forget the time he tweeted a short video showing him (the bully) beating up an anonymous person labeled CNN? And his absurd claim that the free press is “the enemy of the people,” a phrase first used by Stalin to label those he planned to exterminate?
I’m not blaming him for the massacre of five journalists at the Capitol-Gazette in Annapolis. He does, however, have to take responsibility for the atmosphere his hatred for the press has generated. Words have consequences. I am accusing him of a direct assault on the First Amendment, which explicitly defends freedom of the press. If nothing else, he is guilty of incitement to attack the press.
Denis Smith writes movingly here about a recent visit to Annapolis, where people are still in shock about the murders. He includes some of Trump’s most incendiary personal attacks on journalists covering him.
Please read this article by Bill Becker, journalist and environmentalist, about the state of the free press, which has deteriorated since Trump took power.
“A democracy does not work without a well-informed citizenry with access to a free flow of information. Yet the United States ranks only 45th in the world in press freedom, according to this year’s evaluation by Reporters Without Borders (RWB). The 44 countries with better-informed citizens include not only Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands, but also Estonia, Surinam, Ghana, Latvia, Cyprus Namibia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Romania.
“Why does the United States rank so low?
“U.S. press freedom…has been under increasing attack over the past few years,” RWB explained, “and the first year of President Donald J. Trump’s presidency has fostered further decline in journalists’ right to report. He has declared the press an ‘enemy of the American people’ in a series of verbal attacks toward journalists, attempted to block White House access to multiple media outlets, and routinely uses the term ‘fake news’ in retaliation for critical reporting. He has even called for revoking certain media outlets’ broadcasting licenses. The violent anti-press rhetoric from the highest level of the US government has been coupled with an increase in the number of press freedom violations at the local level as journalists run the risk of arrest for covering protests or simply attempting to ask public officials questions. Reporters have even been subject to physical assault while on the job.”
“We might not think that with its cute little bird logo, Twitter could be weaponized, but Trump uses it to punish anyone who dares to critique, correct or contradict him. He also uses it to intimidate the members of Congress who are supposed to keep a president from abusing his office. One Republican congressman known to dislike Trump reportedly holds back his criticism because “one tweet could kill me”. Kurt Bardella, a former congressional aid and spokesman for Breitbart, told Slate magazine, “I wish more than anyone that there would be more courage demonstrated by Republican members of Congress in speaking out against what I think they know is wrong. But they lack the fortitude to do so.”…
“If Trump’s rhetoric does indeed create an atmosphere that encourages mentally unbalanced individuals to do bad things, the most generous explanation is that he does not fully appreciate the power of a president’s words. The least generous explanation is that he understands that power well and use it with intentional recklessness to fire up his base. Either way, members of Congress should put on their big boy and big girl pants and as difficult as it will be, do what’s necessary to tone the president down. “
Sadly, it is not going to happen. Trump has sucked the spine out of the GOP. It is his party now. He owns it. They are his minions. Weak and willing. Spineless, gutless, heartless.
Franklin Towne Charter High School in Philadelphia has been accused of discrimination against a student with disabilities, reports Greg Windle in The Notebook.
Pamela James was thrilled when her granddaughter was accepted at Franklin Towne Charter High School. Her granddaughter raced off to tell friends the good news, and James gave the school a copy of her granddaughter’s Individual Education Plan (IEP), which included the need for emotional support — a common but relatively expensive requirement among students in Philly schools.
Hours later they were both shaken when James got a call from the Northeast Philadelphia school, informing her that her granddaughter could not attend as a result of her emotional disturbance diagnosis, that the class she needed was “full” and that the school would not accommodate her.
“After I took her IEP to the school, that’s when they shot me down,” James said. “That was really ugly discrimination.”
James was furious. No one at the school would return her calls, though she eventually received a brief letter restating that her daughter could not attend.
“I don’t understand how they’re able to do this,” James said. “They decided to change their mind because she needed emotional support.”
At that point, James did not know it is illegal to deny a student attendance at a public school based on their special education status. But she would soon find out. The Education Law Center of Philadelphia has since taken up her cause, sending an open complaint letter to the schools’ lawyer.
The article includes a graph created by the Education Law Center that shows the stark disparity between Philadelphia’s public schools and its charter schools in enrolling students with disabilities.
The only type of disability where charters accept the same proportion of students as public schools is “speech or language impairment.”
On every other type of disability, the contrast is dramatic. The public schools enroll more than 90% of students who are blind and nearly 90% of those who are deaf. The proportions accepted by charter schools are tiny. Eighty percent of students with autism are in public schools, 20% in charters.
Let us all be grateful to organizations like the Education Law Center. Without them, many students would have rights that are not enforced.
Diane Ravitch's blog 