This letter by the head of the Atlanta AFT local was addressed to the chair of the board of Atlanta Public Schools, who is an alumnus of Teach for America. Four members of the school board are TFA alumni, presumably trained by TFA’s Leadership for Educational Equity and primed to support charter schools, not public schools. What is the connection between TFA and privatization? Why does TFA favor charter schools over public schools? Why would a locally elected school board want to relinquish its responsibilities to corporate charter chains controlled by out of state entities?
February 18, 2019
Jason F. Esteves, Board Chair
Atlanta Board of Education
130 Trinity Ave., SW
Atlanta, GA 30303
Dear Board Chair Esteves:
You are now privileged to hold the position of Treasurer of the Georgia Democratic Party. That party has been pro-public education. Yet you are supporting the “Portfolio of Schools” model for Atlanta Public Schools. This model is called “Innovative Schools” in Denver. And per your leadership, it is called “Excellent Schools” in Atlanta. “Excellent Schools” is not pro-public education. As you may or may not know, seven cities are being courted in order to turn their schools over to this model.
- How did Ed Chang get connected to the school board?
- Who is financing select parents and school board members’ trips to Denver?
- What is the objective?
- How is Dena Blank Kimball connected to the business of the Atlanta Public Schools?
In the interest of time and since I’ve not heard back from you, we are asking you once again to meet with some concerned Atlanta public school stakeholders and you are requested to walk away from the Portfolio of Schools plan. We understand that you, one other board member, and the superintendent chose the facilitator to sell the Portfolio of Schools model to the board.
You, Eshe Collins, Matt Westmoreland, and Courtney English are TFA products.
- What is the connection between TFA and KIPP?
In short, the direction of the board has amounted to preying on citizens and selling the district short. Black elected leadership has closed schools and brought in partnerships.
- Does the board decide the partnerships or does the superintendent decide?
This superintendent served without goals or an evaluation for years.
- Did the superintendent do her own evaluation, scorecard, and narrative?
- How close to contract renewal did the board receive that information from the superintendent?
The superintendent’s contract is over in 2020. Unlike the previous process where Ann Cramer conducted various activities, we also want to discuss, vet and publish a process for a superintendent search that should be real and open. Unlike the last superintendent search, where we the union had reports from Austin, Texas, and St. Paul, Minnesota, it is time that Atlanta, all of Atlanta, know who is doing what. Atlanta taxpayers are being exploited. It is insane that you are awarding 25 to 40-year contracts to companies that are not about real evidence-based solutions for our children. The superintendent’s School Turnaround Strategy was a failure. The Strategic Plan was a failure. “Excellent Schools” is a private takeover with failure built in. You are closing schools, giving large charter companies contracts at the taxpayer’s expense and restructuring communities. Some members on the board are disengaged in the community, keeping big funding sources pleased in order to stay in the political arena.
- Are you planning on running for City Council?
You ran for the state house and now you are on the Board of Education. You are Afro-Latino.
- Are you aware of the Austin Latino Chamber of Commerce Op-Ed per the now Atlanta Superintendent?
We applaud you for forming relationships with the Latino Business Community, but per the Latinos and Hispanics in APS, we have not seen a comprehensive engagement plan with them.
Please walk away from the Portfolio of Schools plan and paradigm and, when and if you are ready, we are ready to help with evidence-based solutions that work in public schools. Please review the NCSL, OECD and PISA reports. The GFT asked former Senator Vincent Fort to sponsor the Community Schools Bill. It passed the Senate 50 to 1 a few years back. Senator Emmanuel Jones is sponsoring it during this session. By the way, when you close schools you destroy communities and gentrify. Controlled agendas hurt people at-large. Please help champion the Community Schools Bill as the Chair of the Democratic Party supports it.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Verdaillia Turner, President, Atlanta Federation of Teachers
VT/ksf
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is amazing how many take a concept that may have good points and twist them around for a political agenda. There is no single model, currently used, that can slip into a school and automatically transform that school into a fake success story.
Individual schools have individual needs. They must take ideas from a wide spectrum and then use what works for them and discard the rest. Teachers, It is your school, the parents school and the students school. Together the decisions must be yours..
Gather those ideas and get politicians out of the mix. The solution is not in a catch phrase, but a wide range of ideas. Don’t listen to bumper sticker pseudo educators..
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This is an example of TFA’s long term strategy of moving their two year temps into training for legislative slots, including local school boards, and aides to state and federal legislative staff. I am sure there are internal records that document the “success” of these efforts. My local school board has a TFAer. The two-rear wonders are also “advanced” into other roles in TFA and TFA-friendly foundations. The presence of TFA and TFA sympathizers in local, state, and federal roles needs to be well-documented. I am not sure how this can be done unless you are inside of the organization.
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Bill Gates and Charles and David Koch have the same agenda . If the Koch name was stamped on TFA, it would be easier to expose them for what they are.
When celebrities and self-serving politicians burnish the image of Gates, they undermine America.
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YES.
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At her site, Mercedes Schneider lists a sample cohort of 29 TFA’ers. After the TFA stint, 75% of them got employment in places that exist because of wealthy patrons.
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The Atlanta AFT should join with the NAACP, SPLC, ACLU and BLM in a mission to exonerate the Atlanta teachers who filled in bubbles on tests so that urban students could graduate after the rich man’s testing regime made it impossible.
The fight should expose the million dollar Gates’ grantee at Harvard’s school of education who advocated for discriminatory testing.
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I agree. There is power in numbers. They need to form an alliance with parent groups as well. If a polite letter falls on deaf ears, they should organize and protest. The more support they get, the more likely they will be heard.
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Turner wrote a great letter calling out the treasurer of the Georgia Democratic Party for his complicity in the privatization of public education.
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On 1/29/2019 I received an email from the newly elected Chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party, Nikema Williams, introducing herself and saying “Nice meeting you.” I promptly replied, offering:
Nikema,
I absolutely agree “we need to fight for our democracy all year, not just when campaign season rolls around.”
Ironically, however, some would-be Democrats, black folk no less, are working to undermine democratic ideals and practices for selfish political gain by promoting the destruction of public education through privatization operating in service to corporatists and would be oligarchs. Such persons are, in effect, today’s new-age compradors helping to make 21st century-style colonialism the new reality for the majority of black and brown people. It really is a case of “déjà vu, all over again.”
One such individual in particular who continually shows his character is that of a new-age comprador is the Atlanta Board of Education Chairman, Jason Esteves. I have been informed Mr. Esteves will serve on “The New Democratic Party Board.” And that, simply put, is deeply troubling. Public education is the foundation for sustaining and advancing democratic practices ever closer to democratic ideals, wouldn’t you say? So why someone on the board who participates in destroying democracy’s foundation?
The questions are not meant to be rhetorical. I am truly interested to know.
By the way, Mr. Esteves’ character and lack of democratic leadership competence are quite transparent to many, according to last month’s Atlanta Public Schools Leadership Quality Survey Results. [1]
Ed Johnson
Advocate for Quality in Public Education
[1] https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3Ac24a71e2-cc4e-44b3-9c7e-6349e455d7bf
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Ed,
Your statement to Ms. Williams perfectly captures what is wrong with Esteves. I wrote to Ms. Williams at her government site and referenced Dr. Keith Benson’s article, “To the Black Education Reform Establishment:… ”
I also wrote to Chrystian Woods, the new head of the administrative staff at GeorgiaDemocrat.org
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