Updates on FL and NJ education "reform"..behind the scenes where nothing is ever considered illegal.

[madfloridian]

Of course it is not just those two states in which the "education reformers" are getting away with everything. They are just the two I am writing about right now.

NJ Star Ledger columnist: "School reform effort between Christie, Booker is against the law"

Interesting column at the NJ Star Ledger about the huge amount of private money being poured into Newark, NJ schools by education reformers. Mark Zuckerberg is at 100 million, Gates at 3 million, New Schools Venture fund at 10 million.

From Bob Braun at the Star Ledger:

Braun: School reform effort between Christie, Booker is against the law


Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerNewark Mayor Cory Booker, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and NJ Gov. Chris Christie have joined forces to form a powerful, and unexpected, team.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker speaks of school reform with eloquence and passion. He is a man of deep conviction. All these — eloquence, passion, and conviction — are admirable traits for those who serve in government. If appropriately restrained. By the law. By transparency. By respect for the governed. All these — the law, respect, and transparency — can prevent admirable traits from descending into hubris and, possibly, disaster.

Recently, Booker stepped up his campaign for his version of reform. In a speech last week, he said, "After years of persistent failure, you have to hit the reset the button."

But the law gives him no role. It excludes mayoral control of Newark schools. The law permits a vote to return schools to mayoral control, if he can persuade voters. In 1984, residents voted for an elected school board, wresting control from then Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson

Massive amounts of money are pouring into Newark. More from February's Star Ledger:

Cory Booker discloses $43M in private donations for Newark schools reform

Not counting 100 million from Mark Zuckerberg.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker Thursday provided his most detailed accounting yet of private donations made to bolster reform efforts in the state’s largest school district.

There is $25 million from a New York investor, $10 million from a venture capitalist, $5 million from a team of husband-and-wife bankers and $3 million from one of the world’s most prominent philanthropists. The disclosure comes amid a week of questions about just how much Booker has raised to match Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million gift to the city schools, what the money is being used for and in what amounts.

It also comes days after revelations of acting state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf’s relationship with a consulting firm hired by Booker to audit Newark schools. The firm, Global Education Advisors, produced a controversial plan to close or consolidate low-performing, under-enrolled schools and provide space for charter and new high schools.

I will be curious to see what happens by a group that threatened to sue if Christie put Booker in charge of Newark schools without mayoral control.

Putting Newark Mayor Booker in charge of city schools will incite legal action, experts say

If Cory Booker even thinks of making a decision affecting Newark schools, he and Gov. Chris Christie will find themselves in a lawsuit faster than you can say Facebook, the head of the Education Law Center said yesterday.

David Sciarra, a veteran of numerous court battles involving public education, said it would be "improper and illegal" for Christie to formally offer Booker any authority to make decisions about the Newark Public Schools. Sciarra was lead counsel on the historic — and successful — Abbott suit filed in 1997 against the state to provide more funding for its neediest schools.

..."According to Sciarra and state law says Acting Commissioner of Education Rochelle Hendricks is the state official with true authority over school districts under state control. In Newark’s case, it’s elected advisory board also has some responsibility, but Booker and Christie do not. Newark schools have been under state control for fifteen years.

.."Yesterday, on the Oprah Winfrey show Christie said Booker will be the point person leading his effort to reform Newark’s schools, but did not offer any more explicit details about Booker’s role in the restucturing.

It's not just New Jersey. This hard to legally define kind of stuff is going on all over now in many states. It's hard to get attention to it, it's impossible to get anything done about it.

It's "bipartisan", thus there is no party speaking out for public education.

The secrecy, the lack of information from the reformers is a huge problem right now. The billionaire boys' club so named by Diane Ravitch is behind the scenes in many states...and they think they do not have to answer to the public though they are funded by our taxes.

A Tampa education blog points out the union bashing and the extreme new changes to Florida education.

Florida education news: Teacher evaluations, evolution vs. creation, union bashing and more.

NO VETO THIS TIME: A bill to change Florida school teacher contracts, evaluations and pay heads to Gov. Rick Scott, who says he'll sign it into law. The Florida Education Association is likely to sue over the measure, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Some lawmakers suggest the biggest benefactors of the law will be testing companies, the St. Augustine Record reports. Meanwhile, Palm Beach's superintendent begins looking for money to cover the costs, the Palm Beach Post reports. (AP photo)

ANOTHER TUITION INCREASE? A Florida House budget committee proposes higher tuition among ways to balance the higher education budget.

PARENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS: They can be complicated, columnist Marlene Sokol writes.

UNION BASHING: Efforts to curtail Florida's public employee unions smack too much of politics at a time when collaboration is needed, the Times editorializes.

There is a charter group in Central Florida that was receiving criticism from a local school member for refusing to keep students...sending them back to public schools.

I notice that Frank O'Reilly, the school board member has not said much about those charters for a while. Since the head of the school is a state representative, pretty powerful, I guess he figures it is counter-productive.

From McKeel's state website:

McKeel Academy of Technology Charter Schools, volunteer, Board member 1997-present
My grandfather, Seth McKeel, served on the Polk School Board and is the namesake of our charter elementary and high schools. Lakeland, Florida native-5th generation Floridian.

Now his namesake school sends kids they don't want to keep back to public schools, saying they do not meet their school's standards...though they receive public money.

FL school board member demands that charters account for kids sent back to public schools

School Board member Frank O’Reilly wants district official to start tracking how many students are transferred from charter schools to public schools as a result of their grades, social economic status or behavioral issues. During a work session this morning, O’Reilly read a letter sent by Harold Maready, superintendent of McKeel charter schools, to a parent about their third grader who flunked the FCAT.

“Your child does not meet the criteria to be a McKeel student,” O’Reilly read.

If public schools were to reject students based on their academic performance, then they could be A schools, too, O’Reilly said.

“We must take every child that comes through that door whether we like it or not,” O’Reilly said. ‘‘That is a public school paid by taxpayers’ dollars, and I like to remind Mr. Maready of that.”

Would you like to hear Mr. Maready's arrogant response?

Maready said there needs to be drastic changes made in education, just as the MSNBC program pointed out. (He refers to the week-long Education Nation...a very long promo for the reformers).

“Analysis of the data would allow for an open forum to work together in solving the education issues in Polk County,” he said. “If we do not recognize there is a problem, then there cannot be a solution.”

He didn't even bother to answer. He felt empowered to be dismissive. The reformers do that, they don't have to even explain things to us. A local blogger translated his remark.

Let me translate that answer into big boy speak: "You’re damn right we dump our difficult kids. In great numbers. And we’ll do it again. That’s our culture of achievement. And then we’ll brag about how different we are from traditional schools. Oh, and the magnet schools do it, so there."

How many dumped kids are we talking about? And who are they? Well, check out this sheet produced by the School District. Pay particular attention to the table at the top outlining transfer figures for the three McKeel schools. In McKeel Academy, the junior-senior high in Lakeland with 1,042 students, 130 students left for regular Polk School District schools in the 2009-2010 school year. That’s 12.5 percent of its enrollment. South McKeel Academy, a K-7, rid itself of 77 kids, about 7 percent of its enrollment. That’s in a mostly elementary school, where kids are generally easier to deal with and American schools generally do pretty well.

Mr. O'Reilly made a decision last week to stand with the public school teachers who were gathered outside McKeel's legislative office. As far as I know he was the only one.

Good for him.

And here is more about what a local blogger said about McKeel charters last year. It was never investigated, and nothing was done.

I hear now that the McKeel empire is trolling local private schools – perhaps a Catholic school or two – for their best students and jumping them ahead of the large wait list for the plebes. The recruiting pitch, I hear, is hey, you get an exclusive private school for free. Please someone deny this on the record so I can go track it down. Because I’d like to.

See what happens when things that really have to be illegal or dishonest or immoral or something....just get to happen. And no one does anything because they are the good guys...the "reformers."

And our Democratic leaders are too busy being bipartisan to notice these things that must be illegal or dishonest or immoral.

[madfloridian]

1. Seth McKeel, the protestors, and his undying support of breaking tenure.

Interesting blog.

http://jim-merson.blogspot.com/2011/03/house-bill-7019and-seth-mckeel.html

"There are a set of schools in Polk County the bear the McKeel name. It’s a charter school – which basically means that special rules apply to them. They get to choose their students and have the option to get rid of those students, for a variety of reasons. It’s no coincidence that a local State Representative is named. . . Seth McKeel. Today a group of teachers held a rally outside of Seth McKeel’s office. Those teachers who were there disapprove of House Bill 7019 and wanted our local Representative to be aware of our feelings.

This was part of his response:

“Today and tomorrow the Florida House will consider House Bill 7019. . . a personnel initiative seeking to end guaranteed tenure by linking evaluations, performance pay and employment decisions with student learning gains.”

Let’s start with some honesty here: call it what it is: Performance pay based on testing. He goes on to say:

“I will be voting in favor of House Bill 7019 on the floor this week. . .”

I have a hard time with this part. He has already decided how he’s going to vote, regardless of what his constituents think, how his constituents believe and regardless of what evidence is presented to him. Why on Earth is the House wasting two days discussing the bill, if everyone knows how they will vote already? Is it possible that they are just going through the motions, trying to convince us that they really care what we think, when they plan to pursue their own agendas regardless?? "

[madfloridian]

2. Love it...Lakeland Local blogger after McKeel charters again.

http://www.lakelandlocal.com/2010/12/mckeel-lake-wales-and-the-ledger/

"In the short-term, when The Ledger writes about high school grades, as it did last week, it needs to add a standing caveat to McKeel.

Now it reads:

Only one high school, McKeel Academy of Technology, a charter school, received an A grade.

It should read:

Only one high school, McKeel Academy of Technology, Polk’s only charter school that actively tailors its enrollment based on test performance, received an A grade.

And this year may provide an interesting peek into the relative value of administration and enrollment demographics in school performance, considering that the McKeel high school has now lacked a principal for several months. And just a question: Do you think the principal at any other school could get arrested on stalking charges and not have it make news until a second arrest occurred? I have no idea how that happened, but it’s certainly odd at a time when any old teacher arrest gets immediately splashed."

Here is more about the principal arrested on stalking.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20101201/NEWS/12015013

[boomerbust]

3. I thought of madfloridian Saturday

On Saturday I saw the transformation quickly happening in Wisconsin. Attended granddaughters 5th grade public school BB game. Straight A student, along with her 8th grade sister. One billion being cut from public education. I walked into the gym and saw something I never seen before at one of the many school functions I've attended. A sign on the wall with the logo and name of a local company proclaiming to be a proud sponsor of grade school athletics. madfloridian suddenly came to mind.

[madfloridian]

6. That has been the goal. Corporate sponsorship of schools.

They have already succeeded in sports, and they are trying to get into the academic areas. Not going to be hard to do that now.

I so admire WI workers. The teachers and others have put everything on the line for workers' rights.

[Starry Messenger]

4. k&r

[madfloridian]

7. Appreciated.

Education posts are pretty much ignored now. The reformers are going to have an easy job of completing the process, I think.

[theaocp]

5. Public schools help the PUBLIC

and therefore, nobody. gets. PAID. Charter schools are. not. free. They are funded with public money, but again, somebody's getting paid.

[Snoutport]

8. SOS save our schools nt

[Overseas]

9. I want to pretend this is not happening.

I don't want so much privatization continuing under a Democratic administration.


I keep wishing we would overcome the dogma that "the private sector does better." There are many cases in which it does not, including public education.

Thank you for continuing to give us the facts we may not want to face.