Mayor Muriel Bowser of the District of Columbia announced today that she had chosen Dr. Lewis Ferebee as the next chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools. Dr. Ferebee is currently superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools. From what I know, he has worked amiably with the reformer group Mind Trust, which is intent on characterizing as many schools as possible in Indianapolis.
If you live in that city and can provide advice to readers in D.C. about Dr. Ferebee, please let us know. Perhaps my view from afar is unfair. Answer this question: Is Dr. Ferebee committed to public schools under democratic control? Has he resisted the Reformers? Will he steer a middle course in D.C., where the Waltons have opened a large number of charter schools and nearly half the DC pupils are in charters? Will reformers continue to have the run of the place? Will Dr. Ferebee insist on accountability for charters?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Indy has been one of the major epicenters of rephorm, so either Ferebee has been very ineffectively resisting it or very effectively aiding it. My guess is the latter, but I haven’t had connections in Indy for a while so I can’t say for sure. Either way, though, this does not bode well for D.C.
The Dance of the Lemons continues.
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http://chiefsforchange.org/our-chiefs/#lewis-ferebee
https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/lewis-ferebee/
https://conference.publiccharters.org/2018/program/speaker_info.php?speakerid=29148751
https://chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2018/03/08/walton-gives-indianapolis-public-schools-1-7-million-to-increase-principal-power/
https://www.the74million.org/article/reinventing-americas-schools-aleesia-johnson-lewis-ferebee-indianapolis-public-school/
Pretty much picked his camp.
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Ah, a Broadie. He will surely maintain the Michelle Rhee legacy in D.C.
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The Legacy of Rhee
Brooms and flying monkeys
And other castle flunkies
In skies above DC
The Legacy of Rhee
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He will have no say at all about charters, which are under the charter school board, which is appointed by the Mayor, as are the Deputy Mayor for Education and the State Superintendent of Schools Thus the Mayor controls all aspects. The State Board of Education is elected, but has no power. “Choice” rules here. Infuriating!
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Not that it matters, but ed reformers have hugely over-sold the success of privatization in Indianapolis:
“Overall, these results indicate that the promise of charter schools as a vehicle for school improvement should be viewed with some skepticism,” said study co-author Gary R. Pike, a professor of education at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. “Our results suggest that charter school experience for most students does not measure up to expectations, at least for the first two years of enrollment.”
The researchers also found that of the original number of students who transferred to a charter school in 2012, 47 percent returned to a traditional public school by 2016. Only about a third of students remained enrolled in charter schools long enough to see their scores catch back up. The study called the mobility “problematic,” and suggested other researchers look into it further.
https://chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2018/04/16/indiana-students-scores-lag-after-transferring-to-charter-schools-new-study-shows/
No skepticism allowed! Only charter cheerleading is permitted!
They are telling the entire country to adopt this “portfolio” method, where they gradually privatize all the schools and there is not a shred of evidence that it “works”.
But it doesn’t matter. They all get promoted and the privatization plans just accelerate.
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Here’s Indiana’s wildly deceptive (and charter friendly) method of grading schools:
“Cold Spring School and School 79 were standouts on the recent ISTEP test. At both schools, more kids passed the state exam than the average for Indianapolis Public Schools, and their students made solid gains over last year.
So why did Cold Spring earn an A from the state while School 79 received a C?
It’s largely because Indiana lawmakers decided to judge some schools by a more generous yardstick than others.”
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2017/10/06/how-indianas-a-f-rules-created-a-two-tiered-system-that-benefits-innovation-schools/
Public schools can have the same results as charter schools and the public school will get a C while the charter school will get an A.
Will they be adopting this in DC? Where charters get grade inflation and public schools get a tougher grading scale?
“When you start evaluating otherwise identical schools using different measures … that is not informative,” said Marcus Winters, a Boston University researcher who has found benefits to grading schools. “It’s hiding information.”
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That’s funny because Marcus Winters has done a lot of pro-choice writing. He would be in the reformer camp.
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This doesn’t sound that great.
…..
More Options in Indianapolis
Mayoral charters and innovation schools expand choice
By David Osborne 05/02/2017
…So Ferebee forged a relationship with the mayor’s charter office. An alliance was attractive to both sides, because IPS had thousands of empty seats it wanted to fill, while charters were struggling to find space in old grocery stores and the like. Deputy Mayor of Education Jason Kloth and his staff drafted a bill to create incentives for IPS and charters to work together, by allowing the district to bring outside operators in to run autonomous schools in district buildings. Clearly, the Mind Trust’s vision informed the draft, but the mayor’s office had also built a broad coalition seeking to boost the number of quality schools in the city.
The draft legislation gave IPS authority to replace its failing schools with innovation network schools, run by charter operators. Ferebee signed on and publicly supported the bill. In legislative hearings, the state teachers union suggested allowing traditional IPS schools to convert to innovation status, and Ferebee and the mayor’s office agreed. The bill passed in 2014, and in 2015, the legislature added new features and extended the same authority to the state’s other districts. When the 2014 elections brought three more reformers onto the board, Ferebee had strong support for the idea.
Innovation network schools have five- to seven-year contracts with the district, much like charters. If the school fails to fulfill the terms of its contract, the district can terminate it or refuse to renew it, but otherwise the district cannot interfere with the school’s autonomy.
The principal and teachers are not IPS employees; they work for a 501(c)(3) corporation. The nonprofit’s board hires and fires the principal, sets the budget and pay scale, and chooses the school design. There are four types of innovation network schools:
1. New startups, some of which are also charter schools
2. Existing charter schools that choose to become innovation schools and are housed in district school buildings
3. Failing district schools relaunched as innovation schools, often in partnership with an outside operator
4. Existing IPS schools that choose to convert to innovation status
http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php#.XAXP1zW1W4Q.gmail
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Thank you for these resources. I have one kid in DC public school, and next year will probably have both of my kids in public schools. The mayor had a series of town halls as part of the selection process, but I don’t know how they actually influenced her decision.
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Carl,
From her decision, it appears that the choice was preordained. Had to have someone with Broadie credentials who knows how to build up the charter sector.
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Does Ferebees appointment mean charters will get lots of freebees?
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😀
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If the corporate/Gates-funded Center for American Progress stopped giving cover to privatizing, Democratic politicians and if, hedge fund-backed Black influencers stopped shilling for privatization, the deform movement would grind to a halt. The movement would be exposed as the Koch’s agenda.
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It’s hard to tell the difference (if there is any) between the Koch and Gates agenda.
Or perhaps Bill is a kinder gentler Koch?
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Gates has better PR than the Koch’s. But, they share political beliefs common to oligarchs e.g. social Darwinism, arrogance based on money instead of expertise, self vindication for their indefensible acts, opposition to the collective good….
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That’s a 1,000 font size if, Linda!
If wishes were fishes, kisses or knishes. . .
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