Those famous "educators", Campbell Brown and Dan Senor, on attack against NY teachers.

[madfloridian]

This is a perfect example of why education "reformers" have so much influence, though they know little about education. There is money and power behind them, and the media loves them. Teachers have little money and influence, and there are only a few bloggers telling their side of it.

How in the world did a former CNN anchor and an Iraq war architect get the credibility to move into New York public education? Who gave them the authority to try and force teachers to lose due process and collective bargaining rights?

There's a important graph at Muckety. Also an article about them.

Brown and Senor take on New York teachers

TV journalist Campbell Brown and Republican strategist Dan Senor are becoming the first couple of school reform.

Brown, a former CNN anchor, is the founder of Partnership for Educational Justice, which wants to abolish teacher tenure in New York.

Her husband, Senor, is a former adviser to the Romney campaign and spokesman for the Bush administration’s Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

Senor is on the board of StudentsFirstNY, another group that has faced off against the teachers unions. The organization is an affiliate of StudentsFirst, founded by former DC school chancellor Michelle Rhee.

The couple’s school connections overlap in many ways, as illustrated in the interactive Muckety map above. StudentsFirst and Success Academy share funders and board members, including billionaire hedge funder Daniel Loeb.

Don't miss Salon's article today by very capable education writer, Jeff Bryant. Love its digs at Michelle Rhee.

A reeling Michelle Rhee passes the lead to Campbell Brown

For years, Michelle Rhee, the former District of Columbia schools chancellor, has been upheld in the media as someone with the formula and fight required to “fix” public schools.

...Supported by shadowy money and shaky science, these wealthy folks have created a “blame teachers first” campaign that seeks to address education problems rooted in inequality and low investment by attacking teachers’ job protections and professional status. Their efforts are, of course, “for the children.”

...But recent developments in the career trajectory of Rhee may have prompted the Blame Teachers First crowd to pick a new front person to lead their campaign: former CNN anchor Campbell Brown.

..Rhee’s Sullied Reputation

However you feel about Rhee and her campaign to label “ineffective” teachers as the cause of just about everything wrong with public education, her luster certainly seems to be waning.

I wonder how New York teachers feel right now while waiting the same shenanigans that led up to the teachers of California losing their due process rights in court?

[geek tragedy]

1. A really loathsome couple. Brown rights wingnut op-eds while pretending to be a Democrat

and then gets all huffy when it's pointed out her topics relate to her husband's lobbying.

[madfloridian]

5. Good description....loathsome.

Apt. They are moving in on territory they simply do not understand.

[geek tragedy]

6. In fairness to them ,

they haven't understood any issue they've talked about

[delrem]

2. who is the big money behind them?

[madfloridian]

3. Did you look at the graph from Muckety?

[delrem]

9. I'm still looking at it. Fascinating.

It's concentric rings, not always overlapping.

There's such a mixture of categories that I think it doesn't say who's paying the wages.

Very thought provoking.

[madfloridian]

10. I don't think you get the point.

I don't think you recognize the Broad name and the Walton name. I would have to write another whole post to explain.

Not about wages.

[delrem]

11. Oh well, if you think that then all is lost.

Not much for me to say here, then.

[madfloridian]

13. Okay, I promise to get some of my previous posts together and link to them for you.

It is complicated, I admit. Most of the people behind the "reformers" are billionaires. They have long resented that they were not profiting from public education....so now with Obama and Arne enabling them.....they are taking it over.

Most of the groups formed by reformers have nice little names like Students First (Michelle Rhee's anti-union group) or Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) which is really a conservative bunch.

Most groups do not disclose their funders, they are not required to do so. But there is a huge influential bunch surrounding the Dan Senor family....that is what Muckety is pointing out.

Walton...is Walmart. The Broad Foundation is a very wealthy group close to Arne which trains school leaders to move in and take over school systems as superintendents. They also had an instructor named Randi Weingarten who became president of AFT....and compromised them almost into nothingness.

I will have more later. Late tonight.

[delrem]

14. I understand the interests of billionaire psychopaths.

I purposely self-censored myself in my response to your post.
That wasn't because of ignorance, per se, but out of respect for the topic.

I supposed that you would understand all that I wrote.
I seem to have been wrong.

[madfloridian]

15. I do not understand what you are saying.

I don't know if you are being critical of my post or really thinking it is confusing. I apologize for not understanding, and I offered to take time to be more clear.

You do not have to self-censor yourself in anyway in regard to my posts. You have every right to express your opinion. I simply don't get your point but would like to do so.

[delrem]

18. I'm neither critical of it nor thinking your post is confusing.

The graphs show sometimes overlapping interests, sometimes not.
There's no indication of how the MSM, which is totally involved in your graphs, is connected with the Waltons and other individual billionaire families.

Any average person (not just the Waltons) can invest in the MSM. Most, I think, invest collectively, without conscious thought, as part of associations intended to bring people wealth.

I think a further synthesis is required, to understand the economics, but I can't supply it myself.
But I think it should be a topic of conversation.
This is why I said there was a "mixture of categories".
IMO the MSM is some kind of lynchpin. Not an actual actor, in itself, but an essential part of the means, of the mechanics. At that, perhaps more central than the Waltons.

_________________

Your topic started me thinking about how even so-called "homeless" people have an economy, a system of trade, a rationale that makes each individual unique. Their lives worth living. That's how far off topic I can get.

[BuelahWitch]

17. Walton family = WalMart n/t

[delrem]

19. Come on. That isn't an answer.

For one, it supposes that I'm too stupid to know the connection, which is absurd.

Do you really think that "The Waltons are the problem" is true, and that's it? That's it??

[BuelahWitch]

20. Your question was "Who is the big money behind them?"

I answered that question.

If you had another question you should have phrased it differently. If my answer didn't fit into whatever agenda you have, that's your problem.

And yes, I think that the Waltons, ie. Walmart, has a vested interest in changing education to make sure they get good little worker bees for their stores. They are part of the problem.
If you want some Walmart love, I'm afraid you logged into the wrong website...

[delrem]

21. OK, I think I'm done with this thread.

[Squinch]

22. Is this something you do on purpose? Because I've seen you doing it before.

[madfloridian]

25. I for one am glad for that. It's an important thread, doesn't deserve being hijacked.

I wondered and did a little searching...and I am not the only one who had trouble understanding your points.

[delrem]

30. OK, I won't participate in any thread of yours again,

since you can't understand me.

I had no ill intent.

[chervilant]

34. Just another candidate for my IL...

Your OPs seem to attract such bizarre responses -- yet more proof how few people understand the ongoing assault on teachers.

[delrem]

35. So now I'm catapulted in the role of: Enemy of Teachers.

Wow.

[Mnemosyne]

4. Anything for a buck. Owned boneheads. nt

[Starry Messenger]

7. k&r

[blkmusclmachine]

8. Race To The Top (Obama's Pet Baby)

[LWolf]

32. Race to the bottom. nt

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, madfloridian.

[ReRe]

16. Thanks for keeping your eye on the ball, mf

K&R

Marking to come back later when I can spend some time with it.

[Squinch]

23. Kick. Michelle Rhee wasn't real good with the PR, and look how far she got. These two are experts

at PR. I fear for what is going to happen.

I still say, all these battles are strategies in a bigger war. Reduce the benefits to teachers, thereby reducing the quality of teachers. Then you can pull out all your test scores and say, "See? Public education is no good!" And then you can privatize education and all that money can go into the pockets of the Pearson and Harcourt and Success Academy investors. And none of it into the classrooms.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory, but I don't think it is one.

[Sancho]

24. Thanks for keeping us informed...

it seems like these well-funded hacks keep on cropping up. So far, we've held off the TFA on the west coast of Florida, but Jeb is still running around. We'll likely see Campbell Brown down here soon.

If Rick Scott gets elected again, we will see more attacks on educators, public employees, and unions. Even in a state like NY, these people infiltrate local school districts and school boards. In less solid states southern states like Florida, NC, SC, and GA it's a constant fight to hang on.

Teachers in Florida don't realize what they lost when Scott got rid of continuing contracts. Twenty years from now, it will be important to all those new hires.

[madfloridian]

26. Well-funded hacks...good description.

They don't have to know anything about education.....just be well-funded.

[Smarmie Doofus]

27. Kick, Rec n/t

[madfloridian]

28. Campbell refuses to say who is funding her group. But Robert Gibbs on board with her.

Gibbs on board with anti-teacher groups. You just never know, do you?

https://bangordailynews.com/2014/07/07/opinion/contributors/teacher-tenure-challenge-revs-up-in-n-y-court-can-plaintiffs-find-a-winning-anti-tenure-formula/

Brown’s group, the Partnership for Educational Justice, has recruited attorney Jay Lefkowitz of Kirkland & Ellis, which will pursue the case pro bono. Brown also hired the Incite Agency, a public relations firm founded by former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Surely, calling on a Democratic firm is a maneuver to protect the group from the charge that these are right-wingers intent on destroying public-sector unions.

The media love to point out that Brown is married to Dan Senor, a former policy adviser to Mitt Romney who serves on the board of StudentsFirstNY, a pro-charter schools lobbying group founded by lightning-rod Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor. And the Brown-Senor children attend private school.

Even now, Brown has refused to say specifically who’s funding the anti-tenure effort. Trust that there will be some among them whose motives raise suspicions. But it’s impossible to argue with her basic premise: “Everything should be driven by one fundamental question: Is this good for kids? Why are all the laws written to protect the adults?”

Talk about a big fat lie? No, all laws are NOT written to protect adults. Tenure is simply giving a teacher "due process" before firing.

Ha. I notice that the twitter feeds of Brown and Rhee are getting pretty cross with those of us using the term due process....they do not like it one little bit.

BTW the article is obviously pro-Campbell. Not surprising.

[JackRiddler]

29. Thank you MF!!!

[sabrina 1]

31. Unbelievable, aside from what we already know about that vile human being Senor,

regarding his role in the Cheney administration, Brown is a shill for the most conservative elements in this country.

Why are they suddenly in a field they know nothing about? It is their financial reward for all the 'work' they did for the business world that gave us NCLB.

Wasn't she once engaged to Rush Limbaugh also, or dated him airc?

Obviously there are no longer any standards for education in this country. This is the bottom of the barrel of Right Wing ideology.

Shameful, even more that the Dems we elected, not only did not reform Bush's, well, the Corporate World's 'education' system, they enhanced it.

[madfloridian]

33. Blogger Peter Greene comments on Campbell Brown's crusade against teachers.

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/07/08/peter-greene-explains-what-campbell-brown-doesnt-know-about-schools/

He writes:

“Tenure– NY makes teachers wait three years and eighteen observations for tenure. This is the most obvious difference between the New York case and Vergara (California was awarding tenure after less time). This is a hard argument to make– if an administrator can’t tell whether or not she’s got a keeper after three years and eighteen observations, that administrator needs to go get a job selling real estate or groceries, because, damn!

Yeah, but FL teachers had to wait 3 years for due process rights....and they lost them in 2011. No new teachers in Florida have any job security.

“On the plus side, I look forward to Brown’s accompanying argument that all New York schools should be barred from ever again hiring Teach for America two-year contract temps. If it takes more than three years to determine if a teacher is any good, then clearly TFA is a waste of everybody’s time. Do let me know when Brown brings that up.

“Dismissals– Too long, too hard. I’m not in New York, so I don’t know the real numbers here. This was the weakest part of the state’s case in Vergara– while you can’t rush through these proceedings, there’s no excuse for dragging them out for months and years. It’s not good for either party.”

And he concludes:

“In the meantime, teachers here in the East can now look forward to a PR blitz tearing down teachers in support of a lawsuit designed to dismantle teaching as a profession. We can only hope the ultimate result will be better than the California version of this traveling circus.”

[Iris]

39. 18 observations = 3 per semester

That's a significant number.

I also love the TFA argument

[JackRiddler]

36. Bump for important stuff we ignore!

[madfloridian]

37. Thank you.

That was nice.

[greatlaurel]

38. Thanks for the links.

Their corporate masters have no ideas on how to make a decent product and sell it for a profit. It is much easier to hire a couple of flacks to run cover for the corporations so they can steal our tax dollars.

[Mc Mike]

40. Thanks for the info and graphic. Rec. no text.