Remember the Vergara case in California?
A stray Silicon Valley billionaire (or multimillionaire) named David Welch on behalf of a newly minted group called “Students Matter” filed a lawsuit against teacher tenure and seniority, claiming that these practices caused low-income children of color to fail, thus depriving them of their civil rights. At the lowest trial Level, a judge named Rolf Treu agreed with them, setting off a frenzy among Deformers and their admirers in the media.
The Vergara decision was hailed as the new “Brown” decision and even netted a cover in Time magazine (“Rotten Apples,” referring to teachers). Teachers endured a plethora of discussions about the great moment coming when all teachers would have no job protections, no due process rights, and all teachers would be great and no child would have low test scores. But higher courts in California overturned the decision, then dismissed the case. Cooler heads pointed out that the poorest kids had fewer tenured teachers than the districts with high scores, and the whole Vergara episode was illogical.
Ex-CNN commentator Campbell Brown, the then-new face of deform, glommed on to the legal strategy and her organization, the Partnership for Educational Justice (in partnership with hedge fund managers and billionaires) filed Vergara-style lawsuits in several state courts. So far, PEJ has a perfect record of failing everywhere. Its lawsuit was tossed out in New Jersey and was just dismissed in Minnesota. It’s lingering in the New York court system but no one expects it to go anywhere.
Meanwhile as its legal strategy waswithering on the vine, PEJ expired. It was absorbed by 50CAN, the organization founded by Opioid King Jonathan Sackler. Brown decided to join Facebook to handle media relations. Vergara is no longer even a footnote.
Who will be the next face of Deform, now that Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown have moved on? When last heard from, Rhee had joined the board of fertilizer company Scott’s, which makes Miracle-Gro.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Michelle Rhee seems to have disappeared from the board of Miracle-Gro and from the public eye. Any impact of the money her operation StudentsFirst reaped is invisible to the public eye too. Presumably she’s living well. (The ridiculous StudentsFirst fell far, far, far short of the hypefest with which it was launched, but it still did bring in some cash.)
Rhee’s persona must now be toxic to a brand like MiracleGro. I watched John Oliver and Monica Lewinski a couple days ago talk about the scourge of public shaming on Last Week Tonight. Lewinski didn’t deserve to have her name permanently associated with Bill Clinton’s lewd, lascivious, male chauvinistic behavior. It made me think about all the public shaming I’ve done of especially Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates, and Arne Duncan.
They deserved it. They grabbed power and abused it. They hurt millions. Campbell Brown deserves public shaming too. Let them be known as examples of what not to do, and let society learn from their heinous mistakes. Thank goodness (and all of us) the attacks on tenure are behind us. Time to heal.
Miracle-Gro actually works. If student growth is the goal, none of the reformers preferred strategies do.
“When last heard from, Rhee had joined the board of fertilizer company Scott’s…”
Is it just me, or does fertilizer seem somehow an eerily appropriate association for her?
Exactly. That’s probably the most important page in their playbook right now. IQ45 and Ditzy DeVos will be long gone, but we shall be living with the decisions made by the troglodytes Trump appointed to the Supremes and to the federal courts.
The only thing more apt would have been a company that makes manure spreaders.
ah, but surely she is moving on to fertilizer because of her “deep, deep interest in children…”
Diane That’s why they have been going after court appointments. If they cannot buy public opinion and school boards, then they can buy judges who will make decisions in their favor.
It is great news that the courts are supporting stability in public education. Deformers attack tenure laws on lame grounds to destabilitize the teaching profession. It is all part of the plot to make teaching a low paying gig rather than a stable profession. Stability in the teaching staff is one of the key elements of creating stronger public schools that can better serve students and communities.
Campbell Brown at Facebook- predictable since Z-berg hires Republican strategy firms.
Also, it adds insight about Sheryl Sandberg’s advice to Z-berg that CAP would help him with his political ambitions.
The next face of deform could be the similar to the recent past and present, especially if the marketing of charters, vouchers, and the destruction of public education is endorsed by candidates for President, among these Booker who is perfecting his narrative about the fabulous reforms in Newark NJ under his leadership… and with some help from billionaires.
https://www.the74million.org/article/74-interview-sen-cory-booker-on-teacher-quality-celebrity-star-power-and-why-his-newark-school-reforms-were-actually-a-success/?utm_source=The+74+Million+Newsletter&utm_campaign=62475affeb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_18_09_38&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_077b986842-62475affeb-176113397
In addition, most states are still in the grip of ESSA and Devos-approved “state plans.” Tests are still a condition for receiving federal funds and test scores have become “weaponized” as major indicators of the performance of students, teachers, schools and the presence or absence of “high quality seats” in a district–a clear sign that charterizers want to take over.
Also hidden from much discussion is the ESSA requirement for per-pupil spending reports at the school and district levels (not just average expenditures per-pupil). Those reports are sure to be grist for promoters of “better bang for the buck” financing of schools such as computer delivery of instruction, larger class sizes, fewer “expensive” courses, among these foreign language, music, art, many AP courses, and hands on science labs. See this example of the thinking.
https://www.crpe.org/publications/out-box-fundamental-change-school-funding
What you describe to some extent is the elites once again inserting themselves into policy to ration educational resources and quality for the children of working Americans. Under Obama the federal policy fostered free market competition in public education. Under DeVos the feds want to crush public education.
74’s Booker interview reminds me of what Booker was dealing w/as Mayor [Christie fund-cutting, Newark bankruptcy, the great recession], & the good things he did do. Granted, I hated him for the One Newark fiasco. I purposely sat out the special election to replace Sen Lauterberg, figuring how could even a rwnj like Lonergan do worse for ed than this neolib philanthrovulture-grubber. And rejoiced when Baraka replaced him as mayor.
I look at that a bit differently now. When Rep austerity politics cuts revenue-sources for public goods, it forces the system into finding private funding: a vicious circle. In several areas [not ed], Booker was indeed squeezing lemonade. What I blame him for is buying into that wrong big picture & glorifying warped methods. Baraka is a far wiser man: we could use folks like him in the Senate.
Diane….I believe your site might be the most logical place to create…..a report card for 50 states—-how are they doing putting up a fight against privatization and takeovers.
I am sure Missouri would get a bad report card.I have seen cases where so called conservative states would get a better report than supposedly more liberal, progressive places……..a greater focus is needed, and hopefully it could push public education as a much more important issue in the historic 2020 election process.
Looking at the general picture, the more conservative states keep learning about how much th
ey like privatization…..so they do dominate the number of places which deserve a bad report.
Joe,
You will notice that the conservative states never put vouchers to a vote because if they do, the public rejects them.
Joe. the NPE report card for States is here.
https://www.npe-schott-issue-50-state-report-card-school-privatization%2F&usg=AOvVaw1fsvAs3ZEtV4JL8TtnJEG2
It is along the lines I was thinking of…..and the map is the feature I was hoping for, but something seems……..amiss. C+ for Missouri? D+ for California……I know huge amounts of money are being spent to advance the cause of privatization……is this group immune to their influence? It would seem so, and the f grades seem well deserved.
I wonder how much money Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown deposited to their bank accounts with the money that flowed their way while they were the face of Ed-Deform.
It just goes to show that real teachers are those who remain committed to student learning through their lifetime, and there are stiil people in the real world, like judges, who recognize money-grubbing Deformers.