Jonathan Pelto supported Dannell Malloy in the last election,but is now running against him as a third-party candidate.
Pelto was not invited to address either the AFT or the AFL-CIO, but finally got his chance to speak to the Working Families Party.
Will WFP in Connecticut follow the example of its counterpart in New York, which toyed with a progressive candidate but then endorsed Governor Cuomo (aka Governor 1%)? Or will WFP-CT take its stand with a candidate who mirrors its values?
Michael Sharpe resigned as CEO of The Jumoke Academy, which runs charter schools in Connecticut and plans to expand to Baton Rouge, after revelations that he had been convicted of felonies many years ago and that he did not have a doctorate degree, as he had claimed.
One of the schools managed by Jumoke, the Milner elementary school, will be returned to the Hartford public schools.
“On Saturday, the website for Family Urban Schools of Excellence, the management organization created in 2012 to oversee Jumoke Academy and its expansion, still described Sharpe as “Dr. Michael Sharpe” and stated he was a graduate of NYU. Official documents, including the memorandum of understanding with Hartford for Milner School, have also referred to him as “Dr. Sharpe,” and in 2006, he told the state legislature’s appropriations committee, “my name is Dr. Michael Sharpe,” according to a transcript of his testimony.
“Controversy over the academic credential came days after The Courant detailed a behind-the-scenes feud between the city school system and Jumoke over its two-year management of Milner, a struggling school that has received $2.64 million in extra funding from the state’s Commissioner’s Network since 2012. The state intervention program gives millions of dollars to schools with three- to five-year “turnaround” plans to raise achievement — for Milner and Bridgeport’s Dunbar Elementary School, that strategy has featured a partnership with the charter operator to essentially run the schools.
“Among the Hartford district’s complaints were concerns over hiring practices. School officials had accused FUSE of nepotism and offering Milner jobs to people with criminal backgrounds, but that was before they learned that Sharpe was a convicted felon.
“Sharpe told The Courant that he has atoned for his mistakes and that he never kept his past a secret.”
Yesterday, it was revealed by the media that the CEO of one of Connecticut’s charter chains, Michael Sharpe, has a criminal background. Today the story emerged that he does not have a doctorate, although the chain’s website refers to him as “Dr. Sharpe.” Perhaps of greater significance is that his charter school in Hartford did not enroll a single bilingual student in six years. Sharpe says he never claimed to have a doctorate but somehow he was often described as “Dr. Sharpe.”
Says the Hartford Courant:
“HARTFORD — In a New Year’s message last December, the CEO of the Jumoke Academy charter school shared his enthusiastic vision for 2014, signing the letter, “Yours Truly, Dr. Michael Sharpe.”
“Some version of that prestigious academic credential has been attached to Sharpe for the last decade in school materials and biographies, which variously credit him as having a doctorate in education or a Ph.D.
“But on Friday, after the Courant questioned his academic background, Sharpe acknowledged that he never earned a doctoral degree and has erroneously been described as a “doctor.”
“Sharpe, 62, said he began coursework at New York University, but “I did not complete the work. People started calling me doctor while I was in school, and I have always told people, ‘Don’t do it,’ but it catches on and people just keep doing it.”
The leader of a charter chain in Connecticut has a criminal record, but no one ever asked him about his background, he says.
The Hartford Courant reported:
“Criminal convictions and past imprisonment of Michael M. Sharpe, the CEO of a charter school organization that receives millions in taxpayer funds, are worrying Hartford and state officials – who said Wednesday they hadn’t known of his record and now want answers.”
It added:
“The questions arise as Sharpe’s organization – Family Urban Schools of Excellence, or FUSE – faces heavy criticism from the Hartford school system over its two-year management of Milner Elementary School. There are accusations of nepotism and concerns over Milner jobs having been offered to people with criminal backgrounds. The Courant reported on the complaints Tuesday.
“Tuesday night – after hearing about part of Sharpe’s criminal record from a person Wareing described as a “Good Samaritan” – the school board put off a vote on a proposal that would strip many of FUSE’s responsibilities at Milner, but still give the charter group $215,000 in state funds to provide a few services in the upcoming 2014-15 school year.
“The board expects to make a decision soon on whether to terminate the relationship, but first, Wareing said, the questions about Sharpe need to be addressed.
“Sharpe, 62, has been convicted twice on criminal charges. He pleaded guilty in Connecticut Superior Court to two counts of third-degree forgery in 1985 and agreed to pay two fines of $1,000 each. Then after moving to California, he pleaded guilty in 1989 to federal charges of embezzling more than $100,000 and conspiring to defraud the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, or BART, where he had served as the public transportation agency’s real estate manager.”
Sharpe said his criminal history was never a secret.
The charter chain has been a significant presence in Connecticut:
“The influence of Sharpe’s organization extends far beyond its assistance in the management of Milner School in Hartford. It also operates three Jumoke Academy charter schools in Hartford; manages Dunbar Elementary School in Bridgeport; and received state approval in April to operate the new Booker T. Washington Academy charter school that is scheduled to open soon in New Haven.
“In addition, FUSE has received approval to run at least one charter school in Louisiana.”
Spokespersons for the corporate reform movement hope to launch legal attacks on tenure and seniority in Connecticut, following the example of the Vergara case in California.
Even though the laws in the two states are quite different, the corporate reformers object to any job security at all for teachers, and they assume that low scores anywhere must be caused by teachers who should be fired.
Here is one of Connecticut’s leading corporate reform voices: “”The Vergara case exposed the fact that children have unequal access to quality teachers in California. This problem exists in Connecticut as well,” said Jennifer Alexander, chief executive officer of ConnCAN, an organization that supports school reform.”
The head of the corporate reform Connecticut Parents Union said she wants a judge to rule that teachers in low-performing schools should have neither tenure or seniority.
But Connecticut has a much longer waiting period for tenure than California. In the latter state, teachers may win tenure in 18 months, but in Conne it cut, tenure is awarded after four years of teaching. In California, dismissing a teacher is a long and costly process, but in Connecticut, according to Cindy Mirochine, president of the Danbury Teachers Union, the time allotted to the termination process is limited: “”We reduced the time for due process,” Mirochine said, adding that the maximum time from notice of termination until termination was reduced from 125 days to 85 days.
Given the differences between the two states, it becomes clear that the goal of a lawsuit in Connecticut would be to remove any and all job protections for teachers so that they could be fired promptly, for any reason. There is no reason to believe that such changes would increase the number of “great teachers” or have any beneficial impact on students with low test scores.
Bridgeport officials are worried. The state board of education approved the expansion of two charters and the addition of a new one. Local officials want to know where the money will come from and how the budget for the other 90% of the city’s children will be affected.
Jonathan Pelto reports that the AFT’s Legislative and Political Action Committee endorsed Governor Danell Malloy for re-election, despite his dismal record on education.
The committee did not interview Pelto.
He wrote:
“The decision to endorse Malloy without an open process is a sad commentary on the state of politics. Putting aside the work I’ve done to speak out for teachers and their unions over the past two years, and my lifetime commitment to public education, Governor Malloy has proven himself to be the most anti-teacher Democratic governor in the country. There is not a teacher in Connecticut who has forgotten that Malloy proposed ending teacher tenure and unilaterally repealing collective bargaining for teachers in ‘turnaround schools’ when he put forward his “Education Reform initiative.”
If their own unions don’t defend the rights of teachers, who will?
Blogger. And former state legislator Jonathan Pelto must raise $250,000, in amounts no larger than $100 to challenge Governor Malloy.
The laws protect incumbents and those with deep pockets or friends with deep pockets.
Jonathan Pelto, ex-state legislator and prolific blogger, is deciding whether to mount a challenge to Governor Dannell Malloy, based in large part on Malloy’s embrace of the agenda of the privatization movement in Connecticut.
Pelto here describes reactions from friends and foes.
In my view, this would be an honorable challenge.
Teachers and parents should not vote for a governor–whether it is Malloy or Cuomo–who consistently sides with the billionaires who seek to undermine public education.
Most children in both states attend public schools. Those schools need to be improved and supported, not placed in competition with charter schools that are free to choose students they want and free to push out those they don’t want.
I wish Jon Pelto well and hope that every governor who abandons public education faces a similar challenge.
Diane Ravitch's blog 