Rick Hess believes that a report on the Tony Bennett grade-fixing scandal exonerated him. But Indiana parents and friends of public schools don’t agree. Here they explain that no one understood the school grading system and that Bennett was voted out of office because of his policies, not his style.
Somehow I suspect we haven’t heard the end of this matter. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Governor Mike Pence was elected last fall with fewer votes
than State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz. Ritz,
you may recall, beat Tony Bennett, despite his 10-1 advantage in
money. Bennett was the author of the state’s A-F grading system,
which fell into disrepute when it was revealed by the Associated
Press that Bennett rigged the grades to favor a politically
connected charter school. Bennett was also a staunch advocate for
charters, vouchers, for-profit charters, cyber charters, and
anything else that would privatize and undermine public education
in the Hoosier state.
Since the election Pence has made it clear
that he will stop at nothing to strip away the powers of the state
superintendent.
This is a summary of the latest power grab, as
reported by the Indiana State Teachers Association:
It appears as though there are no bounds to the State
Board of Education and the Governor’s march to power-over and
over-power Indiana’s duly-elected state superintendent of public
instruction, Glenda Ritz.
Today’s lengthy SBE meeting began and ended with twin power grabs
targeted squarely at Ritz.
The first resolution offered by member Dan Elsener called for him to chair a
new committee that is tasked with setting the goals for Indiana’s
education system-something that has always been within the purview
of the State Superintendent’s office-who also happens to be the
lawful chairperson for the State Board of Education. The
publicly-funded “Elsener Committee” will contract out with outside
consultants, spending additional taxpayer dollars along the way to
do the Department of Education’s work. Elsener did not give Glenda
Ritz, as chairperson, the courtesy of prior notice of his
resolution and then called for action on the resolution even though
it was not part of the meeting’s agenda. Ritz suggested Open Door
Law issues with this and then abstained from voting.
After over six hours of handling bona fide agenda items,
the power grab continued with another resolution (again, with no
prior notice to Ritz) indicating that the State Board of Education
was hiring its own executive director, its own general counsel, and
will use the Governor’s new Special Assistant, charter school
advocate Claire Fiddian-Green as its “technical advisor.” Ritz was
the sole opponent to this move.
“Both of these resolutions are thinly-disguised vehicles to wrest authority over
public education policy-making from Indiana’s duly-elected state
superintendent and they not only disregard Glenda Ritz but the 1.3
million voters who supported her,” said ISTA President Teresa
Meredith. “These attempts at discrediting,
diminishing, and disrespecting Glenda Ritz and the agency she leads
are partisan arrogance at the least and voter nullification at the
worst,” added Meredith.
From now on, public officials will be more careful about what they write in emails.
Tom Lobianco, the investigative journalist, hit a treasure trove when he filed a Freedom of Information Act request for government emails.
But what does it all mean?
Karen Francisco, the editorial page editor of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, explains it here.
The fix was in. The backroom deals were made. The plan: vouchers and privatization.
From a reader who read the emails gathered by investigative
reporter Tom Lobianco of the Associated Press, insights about the
back room discussions to impose “reforms” without talking to
legislators.
She wrote:
“Todd Huston, Tony Bennett’s Chief of
Staff, Indiana Department of Education is clearly in collusion with
a small circle of deformers to destroy public education in Indiana.
Al Hubbard, a classmate and fundraiser for GWB and David Harris of
the Mind Trust are involved in the plan of destruction. According
to Hutson, “We have to lead the media.” and “If we respond to the
educrats, we will always be on the defensive.”
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/an-email-timeline-of-indianas-education-reforms
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ind_ed/choice.pdf
pg 1 of 3 Al and I have encouraged him to pay attention to ed and
he’s having lunch soon w D Harris. He knows the Mind Trust has
hired commissioned a study that will support Mayor control. pg 3 of
3 4) We have to lead the media. If we respond to the educrats, we
will always be on the defensive. Instead, we should begin a strong
communications effort focused on the major media markets. Our
experience has been that the Indianapolis, South Bend, Evansville
and Lake County papers really desire educational reform and those
are the markets we have to win in. The rural and small town markets
won’t care and could even be persuaded that it might mean more
money for them.
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ind_ed/last_nights_agenda.pdf
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ind_ed/notes_and_agenda.pdf
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ind_ed/agenda_wrap.pdf
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ind_ed/meeting_notes.pdf
http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/auber/bios/miles.pdf
http://inhrcc.com/candidates/37/todd-huston
http://www.indystar.com/VideoNetwork/1334522956001/Matthew-Tully-with-Mind-Trust-CEO-David-Harris
A reader posted this comment about Labor Day:
“Because my father, a lineman at the local electric company, was able to collectively bargain a contract, my sister, brother & I were able to live a middle class existence. My dad was able to send three kids to public universities in Indiana without acquiring debt. Did we all work to make it happen? Absolutely! The State of Indiana also helped by supporting its public universities which made college affordable for middle class & poor families.
“If he were alive today, he’d be heartsick by the way Democrats have turned their backs on working people.”
Tom Lobianco, the investigative journalist of the Associated Press who uncovered the Tony Bennett grade-fixing scandal, has opened up another treasure trove of emails in Indiana.
What he learned was that the plan to introduce rightwing reforms was hatched in secret by GOP power brokers and did not include legislators or open hearings.
He writes:
“…emails and other documents obtained by The Associated Press show a small group of GOP powerbrokers crafted the details of the education policy that made Indiana a conservative model – over Scotch whisky at an Indianapolis steakhouse and in meetings at a private club.
“In the months before the education package was unveiled to the public, its architects mulled the policy and politics of the rollout without any input from state lawmakers who’d later be tasked to pass the measures. They even debated when to loop in Daniels ahead of an election in which Republicans reclaimed control of the Statehouse.”
We learn in civics textbook how laws are written, legislators debate, hearings are held. But that ‘s not what happened in Indiana.
Does anyone care?
Last fall, educator Glenda Ritz trounced Indiana state superintendent Tiny Bennett, who outspent her 10-1.
Ritz collected more votes than newly elected Governor Mike Pence.
Ritz is a Democrat, meaning that Pence and the legislature want to nullify her election. Controlling the state board of education was not enough.
Pence announced today the creation of a new state agency–the Center for Education and Career Innovation–ansorbing some of the functions of the Department of Education and reducing Ritz’s authority.
This is disgraceful. Democracy is not war, where one side obliterates the other. Democracy requires a respect for the rule of law and the will of the people. When your side loses, you accept the loss and try to win next time.
Mike Pence, in his lust for power, has spit in the voters’ eye and showed his contempt for democracy.
For shame.
A reader, who requested anonymity, posted the following comment:
“How closely did Bennett follow in Michelle Rhee’s footsteps.” One of the first things that happened during Rhee’s reign of terror in D.C. was that she announced that there was a multi-million dollar shortfall in the education budget. Shortly thereafter, she fired 241 D.C.P.S teachers, citing the need to make huge budget cuts. After the firings, the monies were suddenly found. Rhee and her CFO, Noah Webman, said that the problem with the missing millions was “accounting mistake.”
Once the lost money was restored to the education coffer’s books, Rhee went on a hiring spree, filling many vacancies with….you guessed it!…Teach for America teachers.
Later, Webman said, under oath, in a hearing with the DC city council, that he and Rhee had devised the “accounting error.” Currently, one of the teachers fired is pursuing a fraud charge against Rhee. This past April, a DC judge has said that there is evidence enough for the case to move forward.
A cursory look at other states that are being pushed into heavy ed reform shows a curious pattern…
*Put a dubiously qualified person in as the state’s superintendent (or equivalent);
* Be sure that this person has enough charisma, brashness, wizardry, whatever to sell the public on the “Big Lie” that public schools are failing;
* “Misplace” massive amounts of money
*Force schools to make severe cut-backs (like the arts) that the public sees as failures in the schools
*Find the money….blow it on under-educated “teachers”, charters, vouchers…whatever.
How Closely Did Bennett Follow in Rhee’s Footsteps????
This great letter by Phyllis Bush, retired teacher in Indiana, is going viral. Phyllis is a fighter for public education and a member of the board of the Network for Public Education. When I met her, she gave me a tee-shirt that says, “Sisyphus Rocks.”
This came to me from an education activist in Indiana:
“Parents and Educators,
“Here is a call to action. We reported this morning that the Fort Wayne Community Schools (FWCS) School Board “presented a resolution stating the board would no longer publicly recognize schools based on the letter grade assigned to a school based on the A-F grading system. The resolution passed 6-1.”
“The following statement was written and shared by public education advocate Phyllis Bush in Fort Wayne. Please share this resolution and message with your local school board and, if you feel comfortable doing so, ask for their consideration of following FWCS’s school board in no longer publicly recognizing the A-F grading system. Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Lately I have grown so weary of all of the labeling and grading of children that when I drive down the road and see a car proudly sporting a bumper sticker which proclaims,”My child is an HONOR student at “X” school or when I see a school sign board boldly proclaiming, “We are an A school,” I wonder if the purpose is to honor that child and that school, or is it to let others know that they are not good enough?
“Since buildings are not people, I wonder how a building can receive a grade, unless of course, it comes from a building inspector. I also wonder how it must feel to students and teachers who go to a C school in a nearby neighborhood? I also wonder how it must feel to be a valedictorian at a school which receives a C, D, or F rating? Does that mean that all of the work that that student has done to excel academically is for naught? I also wonder if my neighborhood school receives a lower grade, what does that rating mean to my property value? What does it mean to my community?
“Politicians keep saying that parents need to be able to choose which school their children should attend, but I would contend that they already have those choices. While our legislators assume that the reason a family would choose a school is because of a dubious letter grade, I would counter that people choose schools for a variety of reasons, the least of which is an arbitrary grade. Perhaps, many people choose their schools because they want their children to attend neighborhood schools within walking distance from home. Some choose schools because of programs like Montessori or New Tech or IB. Some choose schools because of music or arts programs. Some choose schools because they have talked to friends and neighbors and church members and found that a particular school seems like a good fit for their child. I have never heard anyone say that their kids are going to this or that school because of the State letter grade any more than I remember any kid ever coming back years later to walk down memory lane to remember some awesome test I gave.
“Accountability has become the catch phrase of the reformers; however, for many reformers/policy makers/politicians/know-it-alls, data seems to be the only means of assessment that they understand. However, this flies in the face of what most educators know. If a test is to be meaningful, it should only be used for diagnostic or for evaluative purposes. Tests should give us information about what skills and concepts have been mastered and which skills and concepts still need more work. Most teachers can assess what is happening in their classrooms by walking up and down the aisles, by looking at student work, by looking and listening to what the students are saying and doing, and by reading the clues of the classroom environment. Can those things be measured on a data sheet? Probably not. However, most of us know a good school, a good class, a good teacher when we see it.
“I have no issue with holding teachers to the highest standards; however, why do we not hold that same level of accountability to students, to parents, to administrators, and to policy makers? When we single out teachers and schools as the only ones who are to be held accountable, that does make me wonder what the real agenda is. Why in the world should we siphon even more tax dollars out of all already cash strapped schools to pay a dubious testing company with some mysterious grading system to come in to evaluate students, teachers, and whole school communities based on a test score which may or may not have any bearing on what the teachers are teaching or what the students are learning.
“Perhaps, one solution might be to untie the hands of teachers, administrators, and school boards and to allow them to create programs and assessments which are instructionally sound. Instead of hampering the classrooms with the latest, greatest experts’ ideas, why not trust them by giving them the resources, the class sizes, and the support needed to improve what has been judged so harshly?
“Perhaps we should include parents and teachers in this very important discussion.”
A newspaper story in Indiana says that if Tony Bennett had given the same break to other schools that he give to his favorite GOP campaign contributor, two Indianapolis schools would not have been closed.
But unfortunately neither school had contributed to GOP campaigns, so there was no reason to save them.
Which reminds me that I received this tweet:
Angel Cintron, Jr.
Bennett’s rubric:
A=awesome donor
B=barely donated
C=can’t afford it
D=Democratic district
F=Free public school
Diane Ravitch's blog 