Tommy Chang is resigning as superintendent of the Boston public schools, only three years into his five year contract. The reasons are unclear, but the story suggests it may be because of failure to relate to parents or the mayor was dissatisfied or sharing of information with ICE, which led to a student being deported.
If you know more, chime in.
Chang was formerly a top deputy to John Deasy in L.A.
Governor Eric Greitens has resigned, after acknowledging an extramarital affair.
I have followed Governor Greitens because of his determination to increase the number of charter schools in Missouri. He packed the state school board with allies, who proceeded to fire the nonpartisan State Commissioner. Greitens had lined up his choice, a charter advocate. But he never bothered to have the State Senate confirm his appointees, and they had no authority to make decisions so for the foreseeable future, Missouri has no Governor and no State Board of Education. They did not have the legal authority to fire the State Commissioner but they did anyway.
John Thompson, teacher and historian in Oklahoma, has been researching the lives and times of the superintendents trained by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy, funded by billionaire Eli Broad. This post features the three-year tenure of Mike Miles in Dallas. Miles was a West Point graduate, military veteran, and foreign service officer before he entered the Broad program.
John Thompson, historian and teacher in Oklahoma, has written a three-part series about the Broad Superintendents and its graduates. This is part 3.
He writes:
In 2007, when Broad Academy graduate, John Q. Porter, was hired as superintendent of the Oklahoma City Public School System, the conservative Oklahoman reported, “Several high-profile consultants have ‘audited’ Oklahoma City Public Schools operations in recent weeks.” The results of the audit were not released, but, back then, we couldn’t fully understand why the reporter put parentheses around the word, “audited.”
I went to a school board meeting with the hope of communicating with either one of the auditors, the late Arlene Ackerman, or the rookie superintendent’s Broad mentor, Eloise Brooks (who had worked for Ackerman in San Francisco and followed her to Philadelphia.) Ackerman, of course, is remembered for the controversial and secretive manner that her contract was bought out when she was forced to leave Philadelphia. The New York Times wrote of her exit, “Many attributed this to arrogance and an autocratic style; some called her Queen Arlene.”
http://newsok.com/article/3090052
It did not take a formal introduction to identify the Broad advisor. The top OKCPS central office staff gathered deferentially around Dr. Brooks were clearly intimidated. When I tried to introduce myself, she scowled, “Why do you in Oklahoma City not teach our black children to read?”
The administrators, who were all black, female, veteran educators, tried to defend me, attesting to my commitment to the black community, but that was just one of the first snap judgments the Broad advisor made, and she did not show any interest in communicating. She and Porter were convinced that even in our poor, underfunded district, raising expectations would be enough to create a great learning environment.
A few weeks later, I was one of the few whites in a black church, with Dr. Brooks sitting on the front row as John Q. Porter addressed the congregation. He said that she had visited the predominantly black Douglass Mid-High. He attacked teachers who supposedly wanted to kick black boys out of school. Porter introduced his new advisor from Broad who had intercepted black boys who were being sent to the office for disciplinary reasons and returned them to class, just telling the teachers to teach them. Porter exclaimed:
I can’t make teachers love our black boys! “But I can make you do your job. … If you can’t teach our black boys, you have to go!” Porter started a chant that culminated with “Do your job, or you have to go!”
Dr. Brooks led the applause.
I’ve recently been reviewing reporters’ descriptions of Broad superintendents in other cities who have been dismissed or forced to resign. The similarities between the press accounts and what I have experienced with Broad graduates is uncanny. For instance, when leaving Rockford, Ill., Superintendent LaVonne Sheffield “said she was hired as a ‘change agent’ for the district: now she feels the district is no longer ‘moving forward.’” It was reported that, “Sheffield has been criticized for her leadership style,” and that she was sued, in part, for the allegedly false charge that an educator, “distorts data and he believes minority students aren’t as bright, that they can’t learn, and that efforts to teach those children, quote, “those children,” and close the achievement gap are essentially a waste of time.
A similar account of the resignation of Dr. Deborah Sims (class of 2005) of the Antioch Unified School District (CA) quoted a teachers union president criticizing “her approach to leadership: her absolute lack of personal communications with employees and the board; her flawed decision-making from a totally top-down leadership style … that reflected in everything from bargaining to discipline to curriculum to morale.”
When Thandiwe Peebles (class of 2002) resigned from the Minneapolis public school system after 18 turbulent months, she “was criticized for an abrasive personality and use of district resources for personal business. An employee complained, “principals go to these meetings and they come back chilled. … The superintendent has publicly shamed professional staff.”
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/a-guide-to-the-broad-foundations-training-programs-and-policies/
The late Maria Goodloe-Johnson (class of 2003) was fired after 3-1/2 years with Seattle Public Schools “after the state auditor’s office uncovered up to $1.8 million in losses or questionable spending in the district’s small-business contracting program.” The Seattle Times reported that “Goodloe-Johnson wasn’t directly implicated in the scandal, but an outside attorney hired by the board concluded she knew enough that she should have acted.”
Just as important was the vote of no confidence by district employees in the wake of “rancorous negotiations” including the now-discredited use of test scores in teacher evaluations. One of her opponents wrote, “Goodloe-Johnson developed a poisonous relationship with teachers, in no small part because of her repeated attempts to bypass state labor laws and her bad faith contract negotiation efforts.” Similar, when describing her defenders’ arguments, a reporter acknowledged the “superintendent’s obvious failings as a communicator.”
By the way, Goodloe-Johnson was praised for her relatively long tenure, and 3-1/2 years is supposedly the average for Broad superintendents, if not their high-profile ones. But the average Broadie last two years less than the average superintendent.
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Goodloe-Johnson-ousted-as-Seattle-schools-chief-1039336.php
http://thebroadreport.blogspot.com/2011/03/maria-goodloe-johnson-broad.html
http://old.seattletimes.com/html/edcetera/2014560982_in_defense_of_maria_goodloe-jo.html
How long does a big-city superintendent last? Longer than you might think.
There are two intertwined issues that explain so many controversies, with the abrasiveness of Broadies being just the first. The second is the way that Broad embraces the punitive and the dismantling of programs, as well as school closures. As Parents Across America explains:
General Anthony Tata (class of 2009), has been embroiled in controversy for dismantling Wake County’s desegregation plan. John Covington (class of 2008), Superintendent of Kansas City Schools, has announced his intention to close half the schools districts in the city. Robert Bobb (class of 2005), the Emergency Financial Manager of the Detroit Public Schools, recently sent layoff notices to every one of the district’s 5,466 salaried employees, including all its teachers, and said that nearly a third of the district’s schools would be closed or turned over to private charter operators.
These cuts help explain why Randolph Ward (class of 2003), “aroused huge protests with his plans to close schools and hired a personal bodyguard. Similarly, Bobb had to be escorted out of a town hall meeting by six bodyguards.
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/a-guide-to-the-broad-foundations-training-programs-and-policies/
I could go on and on, synthesizing on secondary sources to outline the flaws of other influential Broad graduates such as John White (class of 2010), Tom Boasberg (2009), Tom Brady (2004), Mike Miles (2011), and others. I could further review the ways Broad-trained administrators were involved in closing schools in Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Miami-Dade County, Oakland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Seattle. But readers can find great analyses of each one by a variety of contributors such as Sharon Higgins, Susan Ohanian, Jim Horn and others to the Diane Ravitch Blog.
My contribution as a veteran inner city teacher, who has done his best to work with corporate reformers, is to help discern patterns. Sadly, whenever I’ve seen behaviors like those exhibited by so many Broad superintendents, I’ve then seen disastrous consequences inflicted on students. As our district’s veteran educators used to be told, when feces is dumped on teachers, it rolls downhill, into the kids’ classrooms.
http://thebroadreport.blogspot.com/p/featured-graduates.html
And that brings me back to the audit of OKCPS schools that the Broad reformers kept secret. Even then, it was clear that the failure to use an objective performance auditor and to publically share the findings were terrible mistakes. Even then, we knew the problems with using standardized test scores as an accountability metric. We could not have known, however, that just about the only evidence of successes that Broad-led districts would ultimately produce would be based on bubble-in metrics. And we certainly could not have predicted that so many Broad graduates would engage in so many other questionable games with data and other so-called evidence.
What we sensed then, and what we know now, is that the combination of Broad’s obsession with micromanaging, based on horrible metrics, when combined with its disgusting culture and its graduates’ abuses of fellow human beings, was guaranteed to fail.
John Thompson, historian and teacher in Oklahoma City, has written a three-part series about superintendents “trained” by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy, financed by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.
He writes:
This second post will provide a brief overview on the backgrounds of people who joined the Broad Academy, and the records they brought to their education jobs, as well as the reports of misbehavior that did not interfere with them climbing the professional ladder. I am making no judgments regarding legal controversies, but reviewing the ways Broad graduates were described when doing their jobs. I am continually struck by the similarities I have seen when trying to work with Broad leaders and what has been reported in regard to Broadies across the nation.
In 2007, the OKCPS hired a graduate of the Broad Superintendents’ Academy, John Q. Porter. The Broad Academy was run like a corporate executive training program, and it emphasized data, choice, and other market-driven policies. Porter left Oklahoma City after a tumultuous seven months. Porter – who was clueless about improving high-poverty schools – later became president of Mosaica Turnaround Partners.
An investigation by a former federal prosecutor found Porter had, “improperly sought reimbursement from the school system for personal, first-class airplane tickets to Washington; that he had been reimbursed for apparent alcohol purchases at expensive restaurants;” and that he asked district employees to perform a personal task at his home. The district attorney did not indict but Porter agreed to resign.
http://newsok.com/article/3190204
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/01/23/20porter.h27.html
My reading of the evidence was that Porter had not meant to violate the law. Perhaps naively, I concluded that it mostly was his high-handedness that brought him down. Because of his micromanaging style, the people who knew the information he should have sought were not invested in his success. I now believe I was too charitable when sizing up nature of the problems.
Perhaps the most famous Broad leader was John Deasy (class of 2006), When he was superintendent of Prince George’s County in 2008, a controversy erupted over his doctorate of philosophy. He only completed nine credit hours in one semester. Deasy was later driven out of Los Angeles after pushing a $1.3-billion plan to provide an iPad to every student and educator. He did so despite questions about the wisdom of using of long-term bonds to buy devices that would last only a few years. But the overriding issue was the acrimony Deasy fostered. As one educator said, “If you feel the earth begin to violently shake sometime tomorrow, don’t worry — it won’t be an earthquake … “It’ll be 40,000 LAUSD employees dancing.”
When resigning, Deasy wrote that he “was unable to adjust my leadership style and my expectations for the system in a way that would have gotten me longer tenure in the job. I own 100 percent of that.”
http://www.governing.com/topics/education/mct-deasy-resigns.html
Another consequential Broadie, Jean-Claude Brizard (class of 2008), helped provoke the Chicago teachers strike. Brizard came from Rochester where he was “mired in controversy,” and named in at least two federal lawsuits, as well as being condemned for his aggressive reform style and his methods for his handling of teachers and staff. As the Chicago CEO, Brizzard was criticized for his management style, his manner of communication, and high turnover for department heads and cabinet positions.
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/a-guide-to-the-broad-foundations-training-programs-and-policies/
http://www.gazette.net/stories/09112008/prinnew175734_32486.shtml
Conversely, Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana (class of 2006) brought sniffles to teachers in Eugene, Ore., who gave her a standing ovation after she told the inspirational tale of a teacher and a 5th grader. It turned out the story came from a forty-year-old work of fiction.
https://pilotonline.com/news/local/education/article_0ec71a80-7b5c-51bf-bf46-c940186c34d7.html
Joseph Wise (class of 2003), formerly Superintendent of the Duval County Florida Public Schools, left a $26 million deficit while a superintendent in Delaware, before being hired and fired from his Duval post. He moved on to Edison Schools.
http://www.wboc.com/story/7944956/former-christina-head-fired-in-fla-hired-by-edison
Speaking of Edison Schools, in 2007, when its former leader, Chris Cerf (class of 2004), was the acting New Jersey Education Commissioner, The Newark Star Ledger reported that Cerf “can be thin-skinned, quick-tempered and, at times, less than forthcoming, even when the answers to questions could hardly be seen as damaging.” He was criticized for not identifying his involvement in a consulting firm which developed a secret plan to turn many Newark public schools over to charter operators.
The Broad Foundation acknowledged that it put up $500,000 to pay for the study.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/nj_acting_education_commission.html
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/acting_nj_education_chief_cerf.html
Involvement in previous scandals doesn’t necessarily seem to be grounds for exclusion from the Broad team. The Baltimore Sun reported that Kimberly Statham, the former chief academic officer for Howard County Schools resigned after allegations of a “grade changing scandal” involving her daughter. Deborah Gist, then the state superintendent of education for the District of Columbia, later hired Statham as deputy superintendent of teaching and learning. Gist said, “We discussed it really briefly.”
But she said. “It seems clear that it was an unfortunate situation, and that Kimberly had done the right thing, and that she did not do anything that would concern me at all.”
Of course, D.C. Superintendent Gist was far from aggressive in investigating cheating during Michelle Rhee’s time at D.C.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2007-10-where_are_they_now_kimberly_a-story.html
And that brings me back to Oklahoma, and whether we were sufficiently inquisitive about our first Broad graduate. After Porter resigned, the Washington Post took a second look at his record. It reported:
In a June 2006 interview with District Administration, a magazine for school administrators, Porter confessed a weakness for fine dining — “I try to find the top 10 in new cities I travel to” — and fine things: “I like expensive clothes, expensive cars. I collect pens. I collect Rolex watches.”
The Post reviewed expense records for the last full year Porter worked in Montgomery County and it noted three items:
One was Porter’s first-class flight to San Francisco for a conference in April 2006, which cost $1,379.50. “Our people don’t fly first class,” said Brian Edwards, Weast’s chief of staff. The others were a pair of December 2006 purchases at Best Buy stores totaling $373.46. There’s no evidence Porter recorded them in a transaction log, as required by the school system.
More importantly, the Post looked into “other aspects of Porter’s work in Montgomery [that] also are being questioned as a result of the Oklahoma City investigation.” The Post reported on his relationship “with a New York high-tech firm. Oklahoma City school board members alleged Porter last year arranged a contract with Wireless Generation that ‘was not, but should have been, open to competitive bidding.’ The contract provided diagnostic reading software to Oklahoma City schools.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002774.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011601876_2.html
Again, I’m not qualified to investigate legal matters. My focus is the attitudes and demeanor of Broad graduates. If you believe that education leaders should be technocrats, not people persons, that’s one thing. But if you believe that politics and human interactions are keys to education improvement, the patterns that I have seen and read about are important. In a third post, I will further stress what I saw firsthand in Oklahoma City, and how it is representative of the ways that the Broad culture has infected public schools across the nation.
John Thompson, historian and teacher in Oklahoma City, has written a three-part series about superintendents “trained” by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy, financed by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.
He writes:
After less than two years on the job, another Broad-trained Oklahoma City School System superintendent resigned. I was struck by the many similarities between Aurora Lora’s (Broad class of 2015-16) term as superintendent and those of other Broad-trained reformers. Although I endorsed her efforts to advance gay rights and changing the names of schools named for Confederate generals, and even though she seemed to understand the need for a more holistic approach to schooling, trying to discuss education policy was extremely frustrating. The sincerity of those who disagreed was repeatedly dismissed, making the exchange of policy ideas difficult if not impossible.
And then came the Oklahoma teacher walkout and the conversations with educators who had similar experiences with Broad graduates. Although we appreciated Tulsa superintendent Deborah Gist’s (class of 2008) support for a teacher pay raise, she presided over a district with ten Broadies in leadership positions. (The hiring of another, from Denver, was announced last week, bringing the total to 11.) Despite the large number of Tulsa’s advantages in comparison to Oklahoma City, it is near the bottom of the nation’s urban schools in increasing student performance. When I hear from Tulsa teachers about the micromanaging imposed by the Broad-dominated administration, it’s hard to believe that their mandates haven’t undermined teaching and learning.
This prompted a survey of secondary sources, and an inventory of how and why other Broad graduates were dismissed or forced to resign. As with Oklahoma educators who finished each other’s sentences when discussing their Broad graduates, reporters across the nation used very similar language in describing the careers of their cities’ Broad superintendents. It was shocking to read how many of them played fast and loose with the facts before and after being hired, ruled their systems in similar ways, and left office in a comparable manner.
It would take a far more detailed study to determine whether Broad superintendents behave the way they do based on the personalities that they brought to the academy, as opposed to determining what it is about the organization that recruits such people and trains them to operate in such similar ways. I assume it is a combination of the two factors – it takes a certain type of mindset to advance in the corporate reform system, and there is something about the Broad world which turns out certain types of leaders.
Or should I say, turns out leadership outputs?
In 2007, the OKCPS hired a graduate of the Broad Superintendents’ Academy, John Q. Porter. The Broad Academy was run like a corporate executive training program, and it emphasized data, choice, and other market-driven policies. Broad superintendent candidates attended long weekend training sessions over a ten-week period. Their curriculum stressed instructional alignment, performance management systems, and leadership. Its management techniques emphasized “prioritizing and pacing work for optimal quality.”
Oklahoma City’s Broad graduate was unquestionably dedicated to the students, and he was a good enough sport to compete in my school’s first “Buffalo Chip Throwing Championship.” (Dressed in a fine business suit, the superintendent finished second, behind me, but unlike the champion buffalo feces thrower, he wore a plastic glove.) The superintendent enjoyed talking with my students, but he never seemed comfortable listening to teenagers when they disagreed with his policies. I never understood how a man, who was so committed to poor children of color, could be so unwilling to listen to the real experts on poor schools – the students whom he sought to help.
In one such meeting, the superintendent acknowledged that his experience had been in a suburban district that had nearly three times as much per student spending, but he said that his former district, Montgomery County, had more low income students than the OKCPS had students. I remained silent as my students tried to explain the difference between one of the nation’s top school systems where only a quarter of students were low income, and our schools where almost everyone was poor and most students were several years behind grade level. I was so proud of my students as they argued that poor kids in neighborhood schools could master the same high-quality material as kids in his old district, but that it would take time. Afterwards, my student leaders were blunt, saying that the superintendent had no idea of what he was rushing into.
At the same time, the principals whom I most admired were clearly intimidated by the new superintendent. Video cameras were installed in schools, not for supervising unsafe areas but as a first step toward monitoring routine activities. No memos, I was warned, should be sent by e-mail anymore. I wondered, perhaps naively, how policy discussions could be conducted without e-mail. Before long, however, it became clear that expressing dissent was no longer seen as appropriate and memos were no longer welcome.
According to assistant principals at my school, every teacher would now have to “be on the same page” in teaching at the same rate from the same textbook. My principal knew that I would not abide by that rule. Since I was an award-winning teacher who was then on his way to being selected the runner-up OKCPS Teacher of the Year, I had political leverage to make a deal. In case we had a visitor from the central office, my students would keep their textbooks open to the official page, regardless of whether they looked at it.
The superintendent confirmed to my students and me that he ultimately wanted a system where he could supervise classroom instruction by video throughout the district from his office. In the meantime, compliance was monitored by teams of central office staff. My visit was conducted by the former principal of the district’s nationally-ranked magnet school. This highly-paid professional continuously typed the details of our class’ instruction into his laptop. He obviously enjoyed the lesson, smiling at all of the best parts. When I tried to speak with the administrator, however, it was like we had never known each other. We later met in the hall, and started a real conversation. He complimented my lesson and relationships with students, but another central office administrator approached, and our discussion stopped mid-syllable.
A second post will describe published accounts of Broad superintendents’ behavior that show a very common and destructive pattern of abrasiveness, micromanaging, and playing fast and loose with many facts. Just as important, Broad seems to be doing its best to stop education conversations, mid-syllable, in schools across the nation.
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens withdrew all his nominees for the state school board so that they would not be barred for life. The state senate won’t confirm them because Greitens is under indictment for sex crimes.
At this moment, all the seats are vacant.
Republican Governor Greitens wanted to replace her with a crony who loves charter schools.
Here is a puzzle:
Why was this unconfirmed state board allowed to fire the non-controversial state commissioner, Margie Vandeven? How did they have the authority to do that? They are still nominees, not confirmed by the Senate.
She should sue to restore her job.
The Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to appoint a wealthy investment banker, Austin Beutner, as its superintendent by a vote of 4-3. The deciding vote was cast by Ref Rodriguez, a charter founder who is waiting to stand trial on multiple felony indictments related to campaign finance. The initial vote was kept secret for more than a week. Then another vote to taken to offer a contract to Mr. Beutner, and that was approved 5-2.
After many years as an investment banker, Beutner served briefly as deputy mayor of Los Angeles and served briefly as publisher of the Los Angeles Times. He has a close association with Eli Broad, the octogenarian billionaire who has declared his hope to put half the students in the nation’s second largest school district into privately managed charter schools.
The two career educators on the board were the dissenters. Scott Schmerelson released a statement decrying Beutner’s lack of any education experience.
George McKenna issued this statement today.
For Immediate Release May 2, 2018
Contact: Patrice Marshall McKenzie (213) 259-9763
STATEMENT FROM BOARD MEMBER DR. GEORGE J. MCKENNA III
REGARDING THE SELECTION OF LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT
As an experienced lifelong public-school educator, I feel compelled to voice my dissent regarding the selection of a non-educator to lead the second-largest school district in the nation.
In an abbreviated and rushed process without open community forums or input from school and District staff, parents and students, a majority of the Board of Education selected the new superintendent with a 5 to 2 vote. This choice of a person with no experience as an educator in K-12 school districts reflects the lack of concern for the continuity and stability of the District.
The premise that a non-educator is a better fit to lead a large educational organization because of limited managerial experience in outside business experiences is fundamentally flawed and politically motivated. To intentionally seek non-educators to serve as superintendents reflects a lack of respect for the professional educators who have demonstrated effective service and leadership within school systems, along with a denial of the Board’s ultimate responsibility to establish policies that govern the District and hold the Superintendent accountable.
The primary purpose of a school district is to establish and adequately resource effective schools, which are ultimately dependent on teachers, administrators and other school site staff. The dream of business-style governance being used in an urban school district to turnaround failing schools and/or lessen the achievement gap is a myth that has not materialized. This continued experiment on the neediest students and families is an injustice and an avoidance of the reality that our communities need the best educational leadership that be found.
Despite the enthusiasm by some for “outside” and “non-traditional” leadership for school districts, the reality is that this strategy never results in the reversal of underachievement in our neediest schools and communities. It is hard to believe that a governing board of a multi-billion dollar company would hire an inexperienced novice to lead their company in time of greatest need. This decision was predetermined by outside influences with a profit and political motive that will continue to expand without providing adequate resources to our neediest schools.
Although this decision was predictable and disappointing, I encourage our great team of employees and parents to continue communicating their needs and concerns to the superintendent, to me and the other Board Members.
###
333 South Beaudry Avenue, 24th Floor / Los Angeles, California 90017 Telephone (213) 241-6382 Facsimile (213) 241-8441 E-Mail:George.mckenna@lausd.net
The Los Angeles Unified School District hired billionaire banker Austin Beutner as its next superintendent of schools at a meeting on April 20 and kept the decision secret until May 1.
The vote to hire Beutner was 4-3.
Board member Scott Schmerelson, a retired educator, voted no and issued this angry statement.
Beutner was briefly publisher of the Los Angeles Times. He is close to billionaire Eli Broad. His investment company Evercore purchased American Media Inc., parent company of the National Enquirer, the supermarket tabloid. Beutner was a member of AMI’s board of directors. Ironically, his father was a top executive in Amway, the DeVos company in Michigan, where Beutner was born.
Schmerelson wrote an apology to the parents and educators who had been writing and emailing to express their views, not knowing that a decision was already made.
He wrote:
”I do not believe that Austin Beutner, who has absolutely no experience in the field of public education, is qualified to manage the largest school district in the nation with an elected Board. He has never taught in a public school, never managed a public school, has no instructional background, and has never worked for a school district of any size. The Board majority refused to exercise due diligence regarding Mr. Beutner’s lengthy and tangled business affairs including the disputed delivery of services and breach of a $3 million contract between LAUSD and Vision to Learn, an organization that he founded and continues to lead.”
I agree. Beutner is totally unqualified. The LAUSD board should be ashamed of this decision. They did not put students first. They put their campaign contributors first. They put students last.
Tom Ultican writes that the board of LAUSD is nearing the time of making a decision about who will be the next superintendent of the Los Angeles public schools.
The former publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Austin Beutner, a billionaire and a buddy of Eli Broad, wants to be chosen. He has no education experience, although he does seem to have ties to Betsy DeVos.
The superintendent of the Indianapolis public schools, notorious as a fan of privatization, has taken his hat out of the ring.
That leaves Andres Alonso, who was superintendent in very low-performing Baltimore City, and veteran Los Angeles educator, Vivian Ekchian. The NAEP scores for Baltimore City are significantly below those of the Los Angeles district.
Ms. Ekchian has worked in the LAUSD for 32 years. She has had every possible role in the schools and is now acting superintendent. An Armenian-American who was born in Iran, she has natural empathy for the many immigrant students in the public schools.
The LAUSD board should choose a consensus candidate, not ram through a candidate chosen by a temporary majority.
If the swing vote, Ref Rodriguez, should be convicted of the felonies on which has has been indicted, the board will be 3-3. The superintendent must be in a position to work for and with the board, in the best interests of the students. That will be impossible if the next leader is chosen in a divisive 4-3 vote.
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