Archives for category: Corruption
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Chicago: Board Member Picked by Rahm Invested in Companies Doing Business with Schools

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2018 //
7

The Inspector-General of the Chicago Public Schools called out a former board member, Deborah Quazzo, for significant financial conflicts of interest.

Blogger Fred Klonsky invented a new verb for corruption: “We got Quazzoed.”

Disgraced former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, now in prison for a kickback scheme involving millions of dollars in school contracts, accepted lavish meals at some of the city’s priciest restaurants from a CPS vendor whose investors included Deborah Quazzo, who at the time was a Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointee to the Chicago Board of Education.

That’s according to a new report from CPS Inspector General Nicholas Schuler, whose investigation led the FBI to Byrd-Bennett.

Among the findings Schuler has reported confidentially to the school board:

• Byrd-Bennett steered a $6 million contract to Think Through Math, a company in which Quazzo was invested.

• Byrd-Bennett and the coterie of top aides she brought with her to CPS had a series of expensive meals on that company’s dime during the bidding process for that deal.

• Quazzo violated the school system’s ethics code by talking up her companies’ products to CPS principals and introducing them to company representatives — which she at first denied to Schuler she’d done but acknowledged after being shown emails proving that.

“While Quazzo’s ethical violations were arguably less egregious than Byrd-Bennett’s violations involving her dealings with TTM,” Schuler wrote in the 26-page memo, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, “Quazzo’s violations were significant, nonetheless.”

According to the inspector general’s memo, CPS’s ethics policy violates state law and needs to be changed. Schuler wrote that it’s not enough for board members to decline to vote on matters in which they have a significant financial interest. He says CPS can’t do business at all with those companies — unless the board member with an ownership stake either divests or resigns.

In 2015, Quazzo said she saw no conflict of interest but asked Emanuel not to reappoint her after a Sun-Times investigation revealed that companies in which she had a stake had seen their business from CPS triple in the year since her appointment, taking in more than $3.8 million from deals with the city’s schools. Also, the Quazzo companies had gotten $1.3 million from CPS-funded charter schools.

It just goes to show that the person who gives the graft gets off easier than the one who took it.R

Categories Chicago, Corruption, Education Reform, Emanuel, Rahm

Denis Smith: The Unexamined Charter Corruption in Ohio

By dianeravitch
May 12, 2018 //
4

Denis Smith oversaw charter schools when he worked for the Ohio Department of Education. Since he retired, he has documented the numerous instances of corruption that have gone uninvestigated.

The recent collapse of ECOT (Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow), which died while owing the state many millions of dollars for inflated enrollments garnered media attention. But the media ignored the numerous times that legislators accepted expensive gifts of foreign travel paid for by the Gulen charter chain.

Cliff Rosenberger, the powerful Speaker of the House, recently resigned because he had accepted junkets from the payday lending industry.

“Before he left on the series of overseas junkets to China, France, and the UK that sealed his doom, Rosenberger pocketed $36,843 in campaign contributions from ECOT and its founder, William Lager. In 2016, the former speaker served as the commencement speaker for the now-closed charter school in the midst of the Ohio Department of Education audit controversy which ultimately brought down the ECOT empire.

“While all of the current attention about Rosenberger seems to focus on payday lending and foreign travel, there has been zero commentary about a previous all-expense foreign junket the former speaker and several of his fellow Republican legislative colleagues enjoyed just prior to his election as leader of the Ohio House.”

Why is the press alert to the sins of the payday lending lobbyists, but indifferent to the depredations of the charter industry?

Bill Phillis of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy read Denis Smith’s article and posed these questions:

“The Speaker of the House resigned under a dark cloud precipitated by overseas junkets funded by the payday lender lobby. So why didn’t the Speaker resign after taking a trip to Turkey funded by the Gulen Islamic charter school lobby? Would the Turkey junket have had influence on the fortunes of the Gulen charter industry?

“But there is more, ECOT provided the former Speaker with $36,843 in campaign contributions plus commencement speaker perks. Would these “benefits” have had an influence on the way the former Speaker handled charter legislation?

“If the Speaker resigned due to payday lender lobby-funded trips, should there not be an investigation of those who have been fed a steady diet of ECOT campaign funds? These funds were laundered from tax money that should have been used for the education of students?”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corruption, Education Industry, Ohio, Privatization

Ohio: Gubernatorial Candidate Proposes Ban on Campaign Contributions by Charter Operators

By dianeravitch
April 24, 2018 //
14

 

Now, here is a startling and welcome development. Dennis Kucinich, who is running for Governor of Ohio, has proposed a complete ban on campaign contributions by charter operators. If charter operators couldn’t give campaign contributions, they would not be able to buy legislators or other state officials. Since public schools can’t make campaign contributions, that would level the playing field.

Are the voters of Ohio sick of charter corruption yet?

Charter school officials would be banned from making campaign contributions under a sweeping plan unveiled today by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kucinich.

The former congressman and Cleveland mayor also wants a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow local school boards to decide whether they even want charter schools, which are privately operated but funded with taxpayer dollars.

“Ohio public educational funding has been subverted by special interest groups and for-profit charter school management companies, who through campaign contributions have, in the past decade, normalized the privatization of public education funding, creating an often substandard, for-profit system ‘education’ system, using and misusing billions of dollars in public funds,” Kucinich said.

“The normalization of what is essentially a wholly corrupt system constitutes one of the greatest scandals in the history of the state of Ohio because billions of public funds have been diverted away from public education and have enriched private, for-profit enterprises.”

He pointed to the founder of ECOT, the online charter school forced to close last month, who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to state lawmakers who enabled lax oversight and the diversion of money from local school districts to charter schools.

“Any local school board member, member of the General Assembly, or employee of the Ohio Department of Education who accepts any payment, gratuity, or campaign contribution with a value of more than one dollar, or any pecuniary benefit in excess of one dollar from the operator of a charter school or on behalf of such entities will be subject to forfeiting any state benefit, including salary and pension,” Kucinich said.

He said he will ask the legislature to return to the public election of all members of the state school board, which was the case from 1956 to 1996, when governors were given the power to appoint several board members. Ironically, just two days ago Gov. John Kasich pushed to allow the governor to choose the entire board, because voters have no idea of for whom they are voting.

Kucinich pledged to “shine a light on the corrupt system that allows millions of taxpayer dollars to flow into the pockets of profiteering private charter operators, and then, into the political campaign coffers of politicians, all at the expense of local taxpayers, Ohio’s children, and quality public education.”

His running mate, Akron City Councilwoman Tara Samples, worked as a paralegal and board liaison for White Hat Management, long one of the state’s leading charter-school operators under Akron industrialist and major Republican campaign donor David Brennan.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corruption, Education Industry, For-Profit, Ohio, Politics, Privatization

Indiana: CarolMalaysia Writes a Letter to Senator Todd Young About His Support for Guns

By dianeravitch
March 10, 2018 //
6

Reader CarolMalaysia shares a letter she sent to Indiana Senator Todd Young, to be sure he understands that he has blood on his hands.

She writes:

3/10/2018

Corrupt Senator Young, a hero is in the hospital because of your support for assault weapons. He took 5 bullets to save his classmates in Florida

How many more mass killings are necessary before we ban military type assault weapons and criminalize their possession? I hold you responsible for the injury of this brave child of 15 who was shot 5 times and is still in the hospital.

If the point is it’s a great thrill to go to a shooting range and fire an AR-15, make a special permit for the shooting range owners to provide the AR-15, which the visitor uses and leaves at the shooting range.

Here is Anthony Borges’s story: When a 19 year old gunman raged through a high school in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018 a 15-year-old soccer player named Anthony Borges showed extreme courage.

Anthony, who is of Venezuelan descent, apparently was the last of a group of students rushing into a classroom to seek refuge. He shut the door behind him and frantically tried to lock it, but in an instant the gunman appeared on the other side. Instead of running for cover, Anthony blocked the door to keep the shooter out. He held his ground even as the attacker opened fire.

Asked why he would do that, he replied, “What’s so hard to understand about what I did?”

Shot five times in the legs and torso, Anthony phoned his father to say that he had been wounded. He was rushed to a hospital and survived.

Anthony Borges may not yet be able to walk, but tens of thousands of us will be Marching for him, led by his classmates from Parkland, on March 24 in Washington DC and in places all over the country. Hoosiers are going to show that they do not support corrupt politicians like Senator Todd Young who was bought out by the NRA. [$2,896,732] We want meaningful strict gun legislation.

Senator Todd Young, are you going to pay for this young man’s medical bills? You are personally responsible for all the deaths and injury caused by an assault weapon. What about giving Anthony Borges a scholarship? A moral person in your position would accept what he needs to do.

Corrupt Senator Todd Young’s stance:

I believe the “Assault Weapons Ban” of 1994 was bad legislation that needed to be repealed.”

Source: 2010 House campaign website, toddyoungforcongress.com/ , Nov 2, 2010.

Let’s honor Anthony Borges, not just as a counterpoint to corrupt, bought out politicians who leave children in harm’s way, but as a beacon of courage and selflessness for all of us to follow.

Categories Corruption, Courage, Education Reform, Guns, Indiana

Mercedes Schneider: NRA Chief Lobbyist in Florida Is Paid $206,000 Per Year to Work 5 Hours a Week

By dianeravitch
February 27, 2018 //
3

 

Mercedes Schneider writes here about the most powerful NRA lobbyist in Florida. Florida is a state that loves guns. And the lobbyist who has directed the NRA lobby is a 78-year-old woman, Marian Hammer.

Hammer is paid $206,000 a year to work five hours a week. Nice work if you can get it.

Schneider quotes from an in-depth article about Hammer, which appears in The New Yorker.

She does her own research into the NRA’s tax records.

 

Categories Corruption, Education Reform, Guns

Chicago: Inspector General of Schools Says CEO “Repeatedly Lied” and Should Be Fired

By dianeravitch
December 7, 2017 //
5

The Inspector General of the Chicago Public Schools concluded an investigation of Forrest Claypool, chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, and recommended that Claypool had “repeatedly lied” to cover up ethical breaches and should be fired.

Dan Mihalopoulos and Lauren FitzPatrick report in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked schools chief “repeatedly lied” and engaged in other “elaborate cover-ups . . . designed to hide improper behavior” that he and the Chicago Public Schools top attorney engaged in, the CPS inspector general alleges in a report publicly released Thursday.

In a blistering, 13-page memo he sent Tuesday to the Chicago Board of Education, CPS Inspector General Nicholas Schuler said he was “left with no recourse but to conclude” that the board should fire CPS CEO Forrest Claypool.

“Claypool greatly compounded the severity of his misconduct when he repeatedly lied to the [inspector general’s office] through two separate interviews,” Schuler wrote.

Schuler said he launched his investigation last year, prompted by a Chicago Sun-Times article that “raised the question of whether” CPS general counsel Ronald Marmer — a longtime friend of Claypool — had violated the schools’ ethics code.

The Sun-Times first reported that CPS had hired Marmer’s old firm, Jenner & Block, to work for the schools even as the firm was paying Marmer a $1 million severance package. The ethics rules prohibit CPS employees from supervising the work of contractors with whom they have a business relationship.

Schuler said Claypool and Marmer ignored the advice of six lawyers who said Marmer was violating the ethics code and instead “searched for an exonerating opinion. They got a seventh, more favorable opinion from a lawyer who was a political supporter of Claypool.

“It is that approach that was fundamentally deceptive,” Schuler said.

He also alleged that Claypool “violated his fiduciary duty under the Code of Ethics to act in good faith” toward the school board, whose members were appointed by Emanuel.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the Chicago public schools, reaffirmed his support for his old friend Forrest Claypool. He said that there are two sides to every story, and he prefers Claypool’s version, not the Inspector General’s. In other words, he will instruct his hand-picked board to ignore the Inspector General’s report and recommendation.

This is yet another reason to oppose mayoral control of public schools. Too much cronyism and favoritism that should not withstand public scrutiny.

Categories Chicago, Corruption, Emanuel, Rahm, Ethics

Bob Braun: Former NJ State Commissioner Hespe Hired to Work in Newark by Former NJ Commissioner Cerf

By dianeravitch
December 3, 2017 //
6

Dale Russakoff’s book “The Prize” described how everyone—consultants, entrepreneurs, reformers—fattened off Mark Zuckerberg’s gift of $100 Million, which was intended to make Newark the New Orleans of the North. Things didn’t work out so well for the students, who were treated like pawns on a chess board, shuttled from school to school.

The game goes on. The current superintendent of Newark is Chris Cerf, who previously served as New Jersey State Commissioner, chosen by Governor Chris Christie.

As veteran journalist Bob Braun reports, Cerf has given a consulting job to another former New Jersey Commissioner of Education, David Hespe, Another Christie appointee.

Braun writes:

“David Hespe, the former New Jersey education commissioner responsible for many of the worst excesses of state control of the Newark public school district, has a new source of employment–the Newark public school district….

“Hespe’s work for Cerf is the latest in a dizzying exchange of jobs between top state educators. Hespe appointed Cerf to run the district which has been under state control since 1995. Cerf had preceded Hespe as state education commissioner–and Cerf himself had worked for the school district before he was appointed state education commissioner. Jobs among pals of outgoing Gov. Chris Christie spread like a highly contagious stomach virus among preschoolers.

“Contagious. Nauseating. But profitable.

“Both Cerf and Hespe as state education commissioner supported the so-called “reforms” imposed by Cami Anderson, Christie’s first choice to run the state-operated district–wrenching changes in district enrollment patterns, the closing down and sale of public schools and their assets, the misuse of new teacher tenure rules to dismiss veteran teachers and union activists, and the vast expansion of privately-operated charter schools.

“That charter expansion came at the expense of traditional public schools. Tens of millions of dollars were transferred annually by Hespe and friends to privately-operated charter schools to ensure they are “saved harmless” from state aid cuts–cuts that devastated regular public schools. Hespe supported the transfer of public funds away from Newark public schools to the charters.”

New Jerseyans pay very high taxes. Watch the carnival in Newark to see how that money is squandered.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Corruption, New Jersey, Newark

Arthur Camins: “Americans: At Long Last, Have You Left No Sense of Decency?”

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2017 //
19

Arthur Camins refers to the famous line of attorney Joseph Welch, challenging Senator Joseph McCarthy.

“Don’t let Republicans take away your self-respect and humanity– your claim to be a decent person. Tell them enough. Stop. Tell the Democrats to stand up and fight back for all of us or get out of the way for politicians who will.

“Self-respect, humanity and decency are what is at stake in the Republican give-to-the-rich tax plan, their effort to undo environmental and financial regulations, their unrelenting push for charter schools and vouchers instead of public schools, their efforts to undermine voting and labor rights, their endless attempts to undo the advances of the Affordable Care Act, cut back on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and support for the disabled, their drive to control access to information on the Internet, and their opposition all reasonable controls on guns.

“Republican ascendancy in federal, state, and local government marks the triumph of an immoral moral principle: Their gain comes at my expense. Historically, the identity of them (Native Americans, African Americans, the latest immigrants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, women, LGTBQs, the disabled, and always the poor) has been fluid, as suits the political exigencies of the moment, but the core principle and morality is consistent.

“In just one day, Donald Trump managed to stir more hatred by re-tweeting extremist anti-Muslim videos and defend proposed tax gifts to the already obscenely wealthy by promising to help struggling workers by curtailing government benefits to people who do not work. “Welfare reform, I see it, and I’ve talked to people,” he said. “I know people that work three jobs and they live next to somebody who doesn’t work at all. And the person who is not working at all and has no intention of working at all is making more money and doing better than the person that’s working his and her ass off.”

“The New Deal and perhaps later the Great Society, marked the American apotheosis of institutionalizing–through collective government action– the moral principle that that everyone is worthy of a decent life. Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and myriad other programs all represented the idea that people should not be left to fend for themselves in difficult times and circumstances. All manner of health, safety, environmental, and financial regulations were all enacted to protect people from unrestrained profiteers without concern for the wellbeing of others. Voting, civil and labor laws were enacted to move the nation closer to its founding principle, the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

“Republicans aim to undo it all. That is indecent.”

He is appalled by what Trump and the Republican Party are doing. They are crushing the lives and rights of millions of people while sanctimoniously claiming that they are doing the opposite.

How long can we stand for their lies, hypocrisy, indecency, and malice?

Let our anger turn into resolve, into determination to reverse the damage they are inflicting.

Join the Indisibles. Support the Flippables, a group of young people who crowd-source funding to flip seats from red yo blue.

Target: 2018.

Model: Virginia.

Categories Civil Rights, Corruption, Inequity, Injustice

New Mexico: Charter Founder Pleads Guilty to Stealing Millions

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2017 //
5

The founder of a group of prominent charter schools admitted to stealing millions of dollars and lying to the FBI.

“Scott Glasrud used to be the head of the Southwest Learning Centers, representing three different charter schools. Now, Glasrud faces up to five years in federal prison.

“Glasrud accepted a plea deal in Albuquerque Federal Court Wednesday, admitting to what federal prosecutors call a 15-year fraud scheme. Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico say the scheme started in November 2000 and continued until Glasrud left the charter school consortium in 2014.

“According to federal documents, it appears Glasrud stole more than $2 million from the four schools, which include the Southwest Secondary Learning Center, Southwest Primary Learning Center, Southwest Intermediate Learning Center, and the Southwest Aeronautics, Mathematics & Science Academy (SAMS).

“Glasrud and the SAMS Academy’s finances were the subject of a KRQE News 13 report in March 2014. At the time, Glasrud was making an annual salary of $210,000, as well as making money by renting his own private planes to the school.

“At the time, Glasrud said that questions about how he runs the schools were misdirected.

“I recognize people have problems or they don’t like the way we’ve done it. We’re competition for people, but so be it,” Glasrud said in a March 2014 interview.

“However, according to federal prosecutors, Glasrud was taking several illegal actions with charter school money.

“He’s accepted legal responsibility and he’s prepared to accept his punishment,” said Glasrud’s attorney Ray Twohig, who spoke to KRQE News 13 outside of the federal courthouse Wednesday.

“According to Glasrud’s plea agreement, he’s admitted to creating fake companies and funneling school funds for projects into businesses he controlled. The two dummy companies were located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Court documents indicate that Southwest Learning Centers also received money from the legislature for building projects and paid it to one of the dummy companies with fake proposals and invoices.”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corruption, Fraud, New Mexico

Nonprofit Quarterly: Corruption Scandal Rocks Los Angeles School Board and Charter Movement

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2017 //
18

Most of the time, scandals come and go and no one remembers them after a day or two. But sometimes scandals cause a seismic reaction. Think Harvey Weinstein. Powerful men have sexually assaulted women in their employ and hoping to be in their employ or just in their proximity for as long as anyone can remember. Despite a number of high profile scandals, the larger phenomenon is ignored. Many people assumed Trump’s gloating about his sexual assaults would doom his campaign but it didn’t. Bill O’Reilly had to leave FOX news, but that passed. The Harvey story has gotten more attention and more outrage than any of the others.

Could the Ref Rodriguez corruption scandal awaken the public to the systemic problem of giving public money to private corporations and individuals without regular oversight and accountability? Could this be the Big One that tarnishes the privatization movement?

Nonprofit Quarterly writes:
“Something is rotten in the world of Los Angeles school board politics.

“Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC) charter school network founder and L.A. Unified School District Board member (and, until recently, board president) Refugio Rodriguez faces three felony charges, 25 misdemeanor charges, and conflict-of-interest allegations for laundering money in his school board campaigns in 2014 and 2015. Charges were filed last month by the city’s ethics commission.

“It might seem unusual that a charter school founder (and recent employee) would head the school board for a major city’s public K-12 system, but this was no accident. Rodriguez was part of a slate, “one of four board members who came into power with the strong backing of charter school supporters and who now make up a majority of the seven-member body.” As Rachel Cohen writes for The Intercept, Rodriguez “was backed by the well-heeled charter school movement, which spent more than $2 million to help elect him. This past spring, education reform advocates won three more seats, giving the board a slim pro-charter majority for the first time ever. Rodriguez was then elected board president in July.” After the ethics charges were filed, Rodriguez stepped down as board president, but remains a school board member.

“Then this past Monday, the other shoe dropped and a second investigation was launched. As another Los Angeles Times article explains, “Officials at PUC Schools, a local charter school network, have filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.”

The filing alleges that Rodriguez, who co-founded PUC, ordered the transfer of about $265,000 from PUC to a nonprofit that appeared to be under his control. An additional $20,000 went to a private company in which he might have owned a stake.

““PUC”, according to the Los Angeles Times, “operates 17 schools in Los Angeles and one in Rochester, N.Y. It is a nonprofit that operates under its own board, with L.A. Unified authorizing its local schools individually.”

“Last Friday, PUC accepted the resignation of Rodriguez’s cousin “senior manager Elizabeth Tinajero Melendrez. In PUC records reviewed by the Times, Melendrez is listed as the person who requested eight of the checks Rodriguez authorized, adding up to nearly $188,000.”

“As NPQ has reported previously, conflicts of interest, or even the appearances of them, put the entire organization at risk of losing its credibility. Jacqueline Elliott, the cofounder of PUC, has distanced herself from the scandal in the media, perhaps hoping to maintain the reputation of the charter network with funders. (Elliott is not under any investigation.)

“A large and complicated web of money and influence has been woven under the feet of Los Angeles’ education leaders. Untangling it will certainly cost the district time and credibility, especially since, as noted above, the balance of the school board recently shifted toward charter school supporters, who strongly supported Rodriguez and who now occupy four of the seven board seats.“

NPQ ends hopefully on the note that “Big money and scandal are not, obviously, necessary or even frequent companions to large charter networks.“

As we have seen time and again, “big money” is indeed a necessary and frequent companion of large charter networks. Whether scandal follows depends on the extent to which there is public oversight of public money.

Given the fact that the charter industry controls the school board in Los Angeles, don’t expect LAUSD to clean its own house. Expect it to join the coverup, even if Ref is thrown off the island as a necessary sacrifice.

Will the public wake up to the waste of their tax dollars? Will this scandal be the one that ignites outrage? Should the public pay $1 Million a year for visas for Turkish teachers? Should the public pay charter CEOs over half s Million a year? Should the public pay for executives at virtual charters who collect millions a year in compensation? Should the public turn a blind eye to the millions from hedge fund managers and other financiers and rightwing foundations that want to privatize public education?

When the editorial boards of the nation’s most powerful newspapers—the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times— consistently defend private and unaccountable charters and support privatization, it makes you wonder how big a scandal is necessary before they wake up and defend the public interest? Do they know they are supporting the agenda of ALEC and Betsy DeVos? Do they care?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corruption, Deregulation, Education Industry, Fraud, Privatization
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