Richard Corcoran, state commissioner of education in Florida, announced that he fired Amy Donofrio, a teacher in Duval County, because she supported #BlackLivesMatter.
Corcoran made his decision known during a lecture at conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. He was speaking about “critical race theory” and curriculum oversight and used her as an example of his cleansing of the ranks. Donofrio learned of her termination on a YouTube video. If you look at the photograph accompanying the story, you will see that she teaches at Robert E. Lee Hgh School. (Irony alert.)
Richard Corcoran is not an educator. He was the Speaker of Florida’s House when he was appointed to run the state system. His wife is or was a board member of a charter school associated with Hillsdale College. The Corcorans’ six children were home-schooled.
Corcoran has made clear his hostility to public schools and his desire to voucherize all the state’s schools. You may get the sense that he is totally unqualified to be state commissioner of education, and you would be right.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s just another chapter in the attack on public schools. They’re using our schools- schools they didn’t and don’t attend and don’t support- to launch a political campaign against “the Left” and beat Democrats in the upcoming midterms. This war has absolutely nothing to do with our students, but they will conduct it inside our schools.
Sadly, no one in ed reform has any credibility to defend public schools on the freedom to teach a history or civics curriculum because they’ve spent 20 years joining with these same far Right lawmakers to attack public schools themselves. The same people who are firing public school teachers are political allies of “liberal” ed reformers to promote charters and vouchers and bash public schools. They’re all ed reformers, they all have the same agenda, it’s just a difference of degree.
Arne Duncan is tweeting about how outraged he is that teaching about racism is being banned, but it never occurred to him that the Right’s opposition to public schools might be more ideological and political than “educational”? No one in the Obama Administration saw that? Wow. They really do exist in some kind of hermetically sealed ed reform bubble. Hearts and flowers and “liberal” ed reformers reaching across the aisle to promote and market charters and vouchers and attack public schools and then, out of nowhere, the far Right attacks public schools! No one could have seen that coming.
Public schools better learn to defend themselves because if they’re waiting for the Democrats in the “ed reform movement” to effectively fight to allow civics and history in public schools they’re going to be waiting a long time.
They’ve never worked on behalf of our schools and students. They aren’t going to start now. Even if they tried they have no credibility on public K-12 schools because they’ve conducted whole careers built on bashing them.
Public school supporters will defend public schools. As always. The ed reform “movement” will once again be AWOL. They’re too busy pushing voucher expansion and securing additional funds to expand charters to bother with our schools or students anyway.
This man is outrageous…another examples of spineless amorality- in a position of power he is dangerous as well.
Not only is Corcoran not an educator, his family owns a charter school in the Tampa Bay area. Appointing this man to run education in Florida is a clear conflict of interest. Corcoran should not be commissioner of education. He is part of the “good ole boys” privatization network in Florida.https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2018/09/18/watchdog-group-slams-state-leaders-for-using-public-funds-for-charter-school
Of course he does. There’s no such thing as a “conflict” in ed reform. The concept doesn’t exist in the echo chamber.
These are people who regularly “analyze” the success of charter schools by interviewing the CEO of the chain they’re “analyzing”. Why are Summit charters a huge success? Because the CEO says they are, over and over in every ed reform forum. They present these marketing campaigns as fact.
There are interviews in “The 74” where every single person involved is paid by the Walton heirs, including the journalist.
All the politics involved in Florida’s education system is sickening. As a former teacher in Florida I kept a close eye on the situation. The push to have Corcoran as president of Florida State University is horrifying especially in light of the new legislation which requires an annual assessment “related to intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” in higher education. I can only imagine where that might lead given the current political atmosphere.
My guess is that Amy Donofrio may have worn a shirt to school that indicated her support of BLM or some other infraction of the School District’s rules. I often felt that my First Amendment rights were truncated as a public employee. School Districts are in crisis mode and in desperate need of certified teachers. Our elected officials are supposed to abide by ethic rules too though like so many other areas it doesn’t seem to be working well. I wonder, did Amy’s “crime” really fit the punishment?
yes, whose ethics
She had a BLM flag. Nonetheless, I can’t stand what is happening in Florida. When issues are put on the ballot like local sales/property tax hikes for schools, class size reduction, etc., the liberal position wins. Yet the SAME voters will send people to the state capital who will do everything to undermine those measures. Is it all because of abortion?
I wonder what would have happened if Amy had brought in ALL the flags that have shown up at demonstrations during the last year, and assigned students to advocate in class for a flag and a position they did NOT agree with–like in law school.
We did this many years ago during my “Methods of Teaching History” class. Our professor chose women’s suffrage and we used an acting “kit” from an educational publishing company which included background information, photographs, biographies of historical figures, and copies of newspaper articles, speeches, and court arguments. Of course, none of us opposed the issue, but some of us had to argue against it.
Regarding the negative opinion some have of BLM, I have watched in dismay as some dedicated, concerned protestors set themselves up for failure by ignoring the discipline and methods of nonviolent protest developed by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King and many others. You could not be a Freedom Rider or sit in at a lunch counter unless you had demonstrated firm self-control while being spit on, sworn at, etc. etc. during training.
I did see a newscast of one effective BLM protest leader. As dusk approached, she instructed her group through her megaphone, “It is getting dark and we are going to disband until tomorrow morning. We are not going to be associated with the violence and looting that often develops after dark. Repeat: we are disbanding…”
Perhaps the “best” way to show a fool (Corcoran) he’s wrong, is to do it HIS way.
“The Commissioner possesses significant authority to ensure every child has access to a world-class education free from indoctrination.”
To imprint ideas or opinions, in the strict sense of the word, PREJUDICES
on the minds of children, is indoctrination, far removed from a world-class education.
To wit: The glorification of “our” founding racist slave owners.
To persuade the children they are “defective”, in some predefined manner
(test scores), exploiting their emotional vulnerabilities, is indoctrination,
far removed from a world-class education.
To “paint” the borders created by the
Christian “Doctrine of Discovery”and “Manifest Destiny”
– doctrines whose sole purpose was to justify genocide and the complete pillaging of a continent that Christian settler colonists arbitrarily claimed for their Anglo Christian god, as America the great, is indoctrination.
To imply “Democracy” is a good approximation of a system, top heavy with
unelected dictators (YOU) calling the shots, is indoctrination.
Untill contradictions are brought to a head, we will remain the same…
AMEN!!! The choir is well versed. How to bring the light to people who vote? I’m also very concerned with prospect of falling population and how to advocate for the best needs for our country’s future.
“How to bring the light to people who vote?”
Does it take more than a birthday candle to see the vote
of “We the People” DOESN”T undermine the “power”
of the UNELECTED dictators calling the shots??
Untill contradictions are brought to a head, we will remain
the same…
Flori-DUH …
I’m sure that if Traitor Trump handed out RED and WHITE MAGA TRUMP armbands, Richard Corcoran would proudly wear one just like Hitler’s Nazis wore swastika armbands.
People like McConnell, Traitor Trump, and Corcoran may not be fascists and/or Nazis but they all have a similar mindset.
According to LinkedIn, the founder of the Ninja Warriors, Douglas Logan, is a self described:
Peripatetic Wanderer. Cultural Pilgrim. Cuban. https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-logan-19033657/
Logan holds an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College, completed in 1964. Manhattan College promotes its image “an independent, Lasallian Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning that provides its students with a personalized classroom setting and big-city opportunities” Manhattan College thrives promoting an image of holding “high academic standards, reflections on values and principles, and preparation of its students for a dynamic, lifelong career.”
Logan also attended law school at the University of Baltimore (1969-1973). Records verify this, but offer no clear indication that he earned a doctoral degree (JD). Instead there are mentions of participation in moot court and a one year stint as editor of the Law Review.
Logan is proud of his ownership of Ninja Warriors. He is also claims to the author of at least one report that persuaded key election officials in Maricopa County, Arizona to hire him. See this link for exemplary journalism about the founder of Ninja Warriors . https://www.azmirror.com/2021/04/09/arizona-audit-leader-doug-logan-wrote-fraud-claims-on-kraken-lawyers-website/
Logan has had many fabulous careers. I judge that he is now in his ninth decade. He is proud of his longevity and accomplishments and wants more credit than others have given to him especially in Maricopa County.
This is a heck of a story. Florida is out of control. How about if I gave a student a fail in my class for supporting Republicans. No? Well, discrimination goes both ways. Heck of a story. Just amazing.
I fail to see how anyone could have a problem with someone supporting the Bureau of Land Management.
They do a lot of good things for our country.