Mafia to Fund Education Reform

April 30, 2010 (GBN News): The Mafia announced today that it would join a number of wealthy foundations in matching federal grants to fund innovations in education. A source high up in the Mafia, who spoke to GBN News on condition of anonymity because, as he put it, “It’s none of your f***ing business what my name is”, explained that they wanted to make sure they got “a piece of the action”.

Technically, the money would be funneled through the Soprano Foundation, which, like other education funders such as the Walton and Broad Foundations, furthers corporate interests through charitable donations. “There’s money to be made in education”, said the Mafia source. “If an amateur like Eva Moskowitz can make $450,000 a year by muscling out schools to make room for her people, imagine what we can do with our methods.”

Asked what credentials the Mafia has to warrant such substantial influence on education, the source appeared to mock one foundation spokesperson who claimed to have “deep expertise” in education. “We’re the ones with ‘deep expertise’”, he said. “You don’t perform, we send you deep to the bottom of the river”.

NY City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, for one, says he is grateful for all the help he can get in these troubled financial times. “They promised me they’d ‘get rid of the f***ing ATR’s’ within a week”, he told GBN News. “The only condition was that we don’t ask how.”

The NY Times Has Provided Us With A Widget

The CityRoom article begins in the familiar Times style and heralds the arrival of something very important:

"The New York Times has assembled an extensive database of New York education statistics that will help readers put the vast sea of information about schools into better context."

But did they? The paper of record would have us believe that an "extensive database of education statistics" has nothing more than test scores. How about the age of the facility? class size? number of science labs? hours of gym? is art offered? music? an orchestra? credentials of staff? number of sports teams? number of after school clubs? funding per student? special education services? grievances filed? criminal incidents? AP courses? placement record? ....

Sorry, a school's test scores don't constitute a "vast sea" of anything. I suspect the publishers and editors of the Times would consider more than test scores before selecting a school for their children. But they have one idea of education for their children and an entirely different one for ours.

DOE's Blue Book Stats Don't Add Up, Critics Say

Times article on Klein's campaign to fire teachers regardless of seniority provokes more questions than it answers

In yesterday’s paper, the NY Times writes about Joel Klein's campaign to have the legislature pass a law that would allow principals to fire teachers, regardless of their seniority.

Excerpt: In 2008, New York City began evaluating about 11,500 teachers based on how much their students had improved on standardized state exams. A Times analysis of the first year of results showed that teachers with 6 to 10 years of experience were more likely to perform well, while teachers with 1 or 2 years’ experience were the least likely.

This article confirms what all research shows, that experience leads to more effective teaching. In fact, there are only two objective, measurable correlatives to effective instruction: smaller classes and more experienced teachers, and yet the administration has done everything it can to prevent either one from taking hold in NYC public schools.


Yet the article glosses over or omits much critical information.

Why does Klein want principals to be able to fire teachers with more seniority? It is not because of their quality, or lack thereof, but because they cost more money.

Why would principals tend to fire more experienced teachers if they get the chance? Not because they are less effective, but because of the “fair student funding” scheme imposed by Klein, principals now have to pay for their higher salaries out of their limited school budgets, meaning they are forced to choose between higher class sizes and experienced teachers.

Why is it that given the similar squeeze on the police and fire budgets, no one in the administration is recommending that either the Commissioner of Police or Fire Department be able to fire staff regardless of seniority? Indeed, there would be huge public outcry if the administration proposed firing senior police officers or firefighters; even though in their cases, there is far less research to show their increased effectiveness.


Of course, no one would dare put into place a system where police captains had total control over the staffing in their precincts, and had to pay for it out a limited budget, regardless of changes in local conditions and/or spikes in crime. Or for all the police officers to be fired in a precinct to be replaced with newbies if the crime rate rose.

No, this is part of the concerted attack on the whole notion of professionalism in the teaching force, and an attempt to destroy anything (read the union) that might interfere with the administration’s free-market, deregulatory, pro-privatization education policies.

One more question: how did the NY Times get a hold of the teacher data reports, based on value-added analysis of student test scores, to allow them to do the analysis mentioned above? Weren’t they supposed to be confidential?

According to an email from Jenny Medina, the reporter on the story, the Times submitted a FOIL request last year and received the teacher data reports on the district level, without names attached. It allowed them to “do some analysis, albeit fairly limited.”

Yet it is astonishing to me that there is a system in place for the last three years, in which these reports (see sample to the right) are distributed to principals and teachers, and now the Times as well, yet no member of the public has been allowed to see or vet the mathematical model on which they are based. This is especially the case, as given the chance, principals will likely refer to these reports to determine who to lay off.

More than a year ago, in February of 2009, I FOILed for the value-added formula embedded in the teacher data reports; as well as the identity of the supposedly expert (but still secret) panel that had approved of its validity and reliability, and the DOE has still not provided this information.

Every few weeks, I get the same canned response from the DOE, that “due to the volume and complexity” of the requests they receive, as well as the need to determine whether any redactions are needed, additional time is required, and I that should expect a substantive response within a month. And then I get the same exact email a month later. So much for transparency!

What's especially dangerous about all this, of course, is that through the "Race to the Top" fund, Arne Duncan and the US Department of Education is pushing states to adopt similar schemes, with teacher evaluation, pay and tenure based on student test scores, without any independent vetting of the reliability of such systems.

In fact, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report last October, warning that these systems are not ready for prime time, and might do more harm than good if implemented on a broad scale. From their press release:

"Too little research has been done on these methods' validity to base high-stakes decisions about teachers on them. A student's scores may be affected by many factors other than a teacher -- his or her motivation, for example, or the amount of parental support -- and value-added techniques have not yet found a good way to account for these other elements...

From the NAS report itself:

In sum, value-added methodologies should be used only after careful consideration of their appropriateness for the data that are available, and if used, should be subjected to rigorous evaluation. At present, the best use of VAM techniques is in closely studied pilot projects. Even in pilot projects, VAM estimates of teacher effectiveness should not be used as the sole or primary basis for making operational decisions because the extent to which the measures reflect the contribution of teachers themselves, rather than other factors, is not understood. ....such estimates are far too unstable to be considered fair or reliable.

And yet little attention was given these vehement warnings of the nation's top academic experts in testing and statistics; with no mention in the NY Times or other national media, and no acknowledgement by the administration that their efforts to impose these models on the nation's school districts might be off track.

No, the motto of Joel Klein and Arne Duncan as well as their sponsors in the business community and the Gates Foundation continues to be: full speed ahead! And the reckless high-speed train of experimentation that threatens to run over our children's schools hurtles forward, without any end in sight.

Ravitch faces off Craig Johnson at Perkins' oversight hearings on charter schools

Sen. Bill Perkins held his oversight hearings on charter schools yesterday, and was criticized by the tabloids for daring to call for more accountability and transparency, despite numerous articles in the press, documenting repeated instances of conflicts of interest and excessive profit-making by the industry.

The Post has published eleven (!!!) articles and opeds in the last two days, shilling for the charter school industry, attacking Perkins, and calling for him to be ousted from office. I doubt the Post has ever expressed as much hostility against Osama Bin Laden himself.

The Daily News ran an editorial today entitled "Lunacy let Loose," saying that those academics and advocates who testified against the potential for unregulated corruption and abuse, and parents who told of how their own children had been pushed out or unfairly treated as making "unsubstantiated accusations, contradictory claims, canards and exaggerations."

The fact is that Sen. Perkins is not alone, and there is now not a single elected official from Harlem who now supports the charter cap being lifted, given the bullying tactics, lies and way in which DOE has allowed the district's public schools to be undermined through the loss of resources, students, and space. (For more on DOE's lies, see this video of CM Inez Dickens at the recent hearing on Harlem Success Academy's co-location at PS 123, who tells how she had been falsely promised by DOE officials two years ago that PS 123 would be able to regain all its lost classrooms and cluster spaces.) In fact, DOE could not do more to promote failure at the district schools that it is responsible for running.

In addition, it is the charter industry and their supporters in the Legislature who insist on preventing the ability of the State Comptroller to audit their use of tax-payer funds; a rather inexcusable position, which the tabloids cannot admit or defend. If there is no corruption there, what have they got to hide?

Diane Ravitch was the lead-off witness yesterday; her entire testimony is posted here. Here is an excerpt:

As the number of charters grows, public authorities must ensure that charter operators are responsible. We have seen stories in the press, especially the New York Daily News, about charters that produce astonishing profits for entrepreneurs and investors, while storing children in trailers with meager facilities. This is not right.

Just last month, on March 9, the New York Times described how public schools in Harlem now must market themselves to compete with charter schools for new students. The regular public schools have less than $500 each to create brochures and fliers; the charter firm with which they compete has a marketing budget of $325,000. That’s not fair.

We have seen stories about non-profit entrepreneurs who are paid $400,000 a year or more to run charters for 1,000 children. That’s more than the Chancellor of the New York City schools is paid, and more than the U.S. Secretary of Education. That’s not right. The New York Daily News reports today that charter schools, unlike other public schools, are not subject to public audits or to rules prohibiting nepotism and conflicts of interest by their board members or staff. That’s not right.

The Legislature must insist that charters act like public institutions and that they are fiscally transparent and accountable.

For Diane's gall in pushing for more oversight, she was bullied by Sen. Craig Johnson, Democrat from Nassau County, (picture to the right) who is the industry's main supporter in the Legislature, despite the fact that he has not one charter school in his district. Why? Could it be because he receives $65,000 a year in contributions from the charter school lobby?

Nah.

As it happens, Diane Ravitch is the keynote speaker at the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association for its 50th anniversary dinner on June 1. Knowing Diane as I do, I would guess that Sen. Craig Johnson has not heard the last about his insistence on foisting more unregulated charter schools on New York City, which the parents and school boards in Nassau County would vehemently oppose if they were inserted into their own communities.

Bloomberg's Opaque Investments and the Future of Democracy

We all know Bloomberg’s political mantra: “not beholden to special interests.” Of course, some of us also know that he IS the special interest to which all are or soon will be beholden.

While the politicians and the press exploit the American public’s exquisite ability to train its sights on the near-rich (Wall Street bankers’ bonuses as low as $50,000 would be taxed at 25% under some proposals) while letting the obscenely rich go scot free (John Paulson and other hedge fund managers will not be subject to the special tax since there’s no bonus component to their income, which gets taxed at the lower capital gains rate to boot), Mayor Mike has been quietly assembling his little empire—mostly at the expense of taxpayers.

Today’s New York Observer has a long and admirably researched article on Bloomberg’s Offshore Millions. For those who get a migraine at the mere mention of tax rules so shortly after April 15, or who don’t have the time to follow the many twists and turns, I have taken the liberty of summarizing the key points. (my comments in italics; quotes from the article in plain text)

On December 26, 2007—the same day that the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board opened the door for Mr. Rattner’s firm to manage the foundation’s money— the foundation immediately sent $210 million to a new fund—“QAM Select Investors (Offshore) Ltd.”—based in the Cayman Islands.

Why would Bloomberg’s foundation—a tax-exempt entity-- move money offshore?

Nonprofits like the Bloomberg Family Foundation are tax-exempt, but some investments that aren’t related to an organization’s core mission can be subject to a levy called the Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT, for short). So to avoid more than 40 percent in federal and local taxes on unrelated businesses, nonprofits use a legal loophole, routing investments through offshore tax havens.

The foundation’s tax returns indicate that Mr. Rattner’s team migrated much of its money to large hedge funds with ostensible island charters, including several in the Caymans, two of which list an address at P.O. Box 309 of the Ugland House, a building that “houses” an estimated 12,000 to 18,000 foreign businesses.

This is how it works and it’s perfectly legal, although it smells an awful lot like money laundering:

“It cleanses the unrelated business taint from the total return,” Harvey Dale, of the N.Y.U. School of Law, told The Observer. “You invest in the same thing through an offshore entity. You are making the same investment; you are just putting an intermediary entity in the middle. Instead of investing directly in the hedge fund, you invest in the foreign entity, which, in turn, invests in the hedge fund.”

“Is (using the loophole) allowable under the law? Yes,” said tax expert Dean Zerbe, a former staffer at the Senate Finance Committee. “Is it something that is a best practice, particularly by an elected official? I think they should look very hard when they are engaging in this kind of activity. What does it say to the average New Yorker?”

Gee, I don’t think it says anything to the average New Yorker because he/she hasn’t a clue and the media—who zealously pursue inconsequential improprieties such as the gift of Yankees tickets and sexual peccadilloes—somehow lose their investigative nerve when it comes to the big stuff. And then there’s Obama himself.

Of that very same Ugland House that ostensibly houses the Bloomberg Family Foundation along with 12,000-18,000 other foreign companies, candidate Obama famously said: “Now, that’s either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world….and I think we know which one it is.”

President Obama, however, seems content to score cheap political points by fulminating against greedy insurance companies and “bankers” while doing absolutely nothing to close tax loopholes that net some investors and their money managers billions (remember, it’s these kinds of folks who are investing heavily in charter schools and other education reform projects favored by Obama and his buddy Arnie Duncan).

With all the money it saves by not paying taxes on unrelated business income, you’d think the Bloomberg Family Foundation could afford to hire its own staffers and buy its own paper clips. Well, a penny saved is a penny earned after all, and Bloomberg Scrooge McDuck can save a lot of pennies because his friends (technically, appointees—but let’s not quibble) on the Conflicts of Interest Board look out for him:

[In January 2008], the foundation was given clearance to allow two city workers to use municipal time and resources on foundation work—on the assumption that the charity would “ultimately serve the city” and “further the interests and purposes of the city.”

The Bloomberg Family Foundation didn’t need an office or staff because there are lots of city employees who just love to spend their spare time helping their boss, which is the same as helping the city, according to the Conflicts of Interest Board:

In spite of the flurry of investments, it appears that for years, Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation had no office, phones, staff, Web site or public brochures. In late 2007, the mayor wrote a second letter to the Conflicts of Interest Board, looking for another blessing: Some of his staffers at City Hall, he argued, were asking him, “unsolicited,” if they could help with his foundation. Saying that the foundation would “ultimately serve city goals,” the board approved. At least three of his staffers were even allowed to use government resources, like office space, phones and Internet service, for foundation work.

No one loves to help Mayor Mike more than Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris, who somehow can help run a big city by day and a big foundation in her spare time. Not that she needs much spare time: Mayor Mike trusts her so much that she—the sole officer of the Bloomberg Family Foundation—manages to give away millions on its behalf while working a mere fifteen minutes per week:

One of the staffers was Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris. Aside from Mr. Bloomberg, Ms. Harris was the sole officer listed on his foundation’s tax return. A longtime Bloomberg loyalist, Ms. Harris worked at Bloomberg LP before joining the mayor at City Hall. On foundation tax returns, Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Harris each claimed to have spent .25 hours, or 15 minutes, per week on the charity—as it gave away tens of millions. Last month, the mayor announced that Ms. Harris would take on even more duties at the foundation, although it is unclear if she will increase her time commitment.

If you want to know more about the foundation, you’ll have to ask James Anderson, who runs its press office (naturally, he’s a former mayoral aide; possibly, one of the city employees who help the city by working for the foundation on city time). Given his job, Mr. Anderson is curiously mum: since Mayor Bloomberg must remain in the dark about specific investment decisions “in order to avoid conflicts,” Mr. Anderson“[is] not in a position” to discuss foundation business.

There’s a lot more in the Observer article, including details on some of the funds’ world-wide travels. At least one expert thinks the Bloomberg Family Foundation’s extraordinary opacity makes it a unique beast in the non-profit world ( the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reportedly does not invest in offshore vehicles, whose “profit model is centrally tied to corporate activity that they find egregious”):

Compared with those of the great foundations of America, the Bloomberg investment strategies stand out. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s about as opaque set of investments as you can find,” said Rick Cohen, who covers foundations and charities for Nonprofit Quarterly, and who agreed to review the foundation’s tax return. “This involves extensive investments in hedge funds offshore, where the motivation and purpose is not discernible, so you can’t tell what kind of activity it is or who is going to benefit from the investments.”

However, the former head of New York State’s Charities Bureau, who agrees that the Bloomberg Family Foundations’ tax forms reveal next to nothing, does not consider it extraordinary among the new breed of foundations:

“The Bloomberg foundation is not that significantly different from the foundations of other individuals who come out of the investment world.”

This should be very alarming to anyone who cherishes democratic principles and open government. As big money is increasingly being made in the investment world—whether by private equity or hedge funds—and governmental functions are increasingly being fulfilled by public-private “partnerships”, we the people are losing control of our own government. It’s especially galling that we, the taxpayers, are essentially funding our own subjugation by the clever use of tax-exempt “non-profit” entities by the likes of Mike Bloomberg.

TFA Names New Grad School Dean

April 21, 2010 (GBN News): Barely 24 hours after the NY State Board of Regents gave their approval to alternative Masters degree programs, Teach for America has already named noted Beverly Hillbilly Jethro Bodine as Dean of its new graduate education program. Mr. Bodine, said to be a favorite of TFA founder and President Wendy Kopp from the time she first saw him on TV Land reruns at the age of 10, will be taking up the position immediately.

At his introductory press conference, Mr. Bodine touted his own qualifications for the job, telling reporters, “I done graduated the sixth grade.” He also noted that he is not the first member of his family to be involved in a professional alternative certification program. “My granny done became a doctor back in the hills,” he said. “She didn’t need no fancy medical school. Why should teachers need some fancy education school?”

NY City Mayor Bloomberg welcomed the new program and expressed the hope that Mr. Bodine’s uncle, wealthy oilman Jed Clampett, would take an interest in NY City schools. “We love rich people,” said the Mayor. “And we love how they run our schools.”

Brooklyn briefing on school overcrowding

On May 13, I will be briefing Brooklyn parents, members of Community Boards, CECs, and concerned citizens on the school overcrowding crisis in the borough and citywide, and what can be done.

When: Thursday May 13 at 6 PM

Where: Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street

This briefing, sponsored by Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz, will be followed by discussion and a strategy session.

Together we need to take action before consigning another generation of children to overcrowded conditions, which the state’s highest court said was a violation of their right to an adequate education.

Here is a flyer you can post in your school; please RSVP to mkelley@brooklynbp.nyc.gov

Chancellor In Last Minute Putsch for RTTT Funds

April 18, 2010 (GBN News): Heavily armed paramilitary troops moving in on public buildings in the dead of night. Administrative offices occupied before dawn. Key leaders suddenly “disappearing”. Sounds like a banana dictatorship undergoing a coup d’etat? Well, this scenario could be coming soon to a public school near you under a new plan being formulated by the NY City Department of Education, aimed at winning the second round of Federal “Race to the Top” funding.

According to a source at the DOE, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has been working jointly with Xe Worldwide (aka Blackwater) and the Walton Foundation to instantly turn around failing schools. This would be accomplished by forcibly replacing the principals and entire administrative staff, as well as teachers and students.

The source told GBN News that as currently conceived, the plan calls for Blackwater mercenaries to physically take over the targeted school buildings, while Wal Mart executives move in to take over the schools’ administration. Blackwater is said to already effectively control the NY City school security apparatus (which may explain such incidents as the recent arrest of a student for writing on a desk). And Wal Mart has reportedly trained hundreds of its greeters to replace the entire teaching staffs of the failing schools.

While the benefits of the new turnaround policy seem clear - there would be no time for inconvenient public hearings, as the takeover would be presented as a fait accompli; and the greeters’ non-union salaries and lack of benefit package would save millions over that of the teachers they replaced – there could be some controversy given the recent indictment of the former President of Blackwater and five top company officials on weapons violations. But this could also work to the DOE’s advantage. “Chancellor Klein feels that the Blackwater folks have a certain cachet,” the DOE source told GBN News. “The intimidation factor could actually help head off any serious opposition.”

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, when asked about the Chancellor’s reputed plans, told GBN News that he cannot comment on specific “Race to the Top” applications. However, he did say that short of a hurricane or other natural disaster, a Blackwater/Wal Mart takeover could be “the next best thing” that could happen to a school system.

"The Cartel" Documentary Earns an "F" from the NY Times

Clearly, the latest wave in the "education reform" movement (anti-union, pro-voucher, pro-charter, anti-tenure, pro-teacher accountability via standardized tests) is manifesting itself in high-end documentaries supported by the likes of Bill Gates. Sundance saw the release of "Waiting for Superman," with Gates at hand and even on stage for the post-showing Q&A. Then there's Bob Compton's upcoming "A Right Denied," featuring Harvard MBA, Wall Street investment manager, and KIPP Academy Charter Schools of NYC Vice-Chairman Whitney Tilson.

And just this week, "The Cartel" (about NJ public schools, particularly Camden's) hit the big screens and was reviewed on Friday for the NY Times by Jeannette Catsoulis. Actually, "reviewed" is hardly the word for what she wrote; better to say trashed, skewered, shredded, ripped, and thoroughly humiliated in every possible sense for its argumentation, presentation, and even film-making values. As a film project, she obviously rates it a total F. There's a vast (and, too often, intentional) gulf between reasoned advocacy and flat-out propaganda, although few seem really to care any more.

Catsoulis's review is so devastatingly harsh, it would be positively hilarious if it were not for the knowledge that so many of the converted will just see this as further support of their "ed reform" positions. Regardless, for those who might, like me, take some comfort in having the "emperor's clothes" publicly called out for what they really are (or should I say, aren't) by an objective reviewer with no particular stake in the issue, I have included the full text of her review below. Those wishing to try a second (and critically similar) review source, as opposed to Kyle Smith's slavish, slobbering write-up in the NY Post, try Stephen Whitty's review from the (NJ) Star-Ledger.

Herewith, Ms. Catsoulis's positively priceless review from the NY Times:

Children Left Behind

By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Published: April 16, 2010

A mind-numbing barrage of random television clips and trash-talking heads, “The Cartel” purports to be a documentary about the American public school system. In reality, however, it’s a bludgeoning rant against a single state — New Jersey — which it presents as a closed loop of Mercedes-owning administrators, obstructive teachers’ unions and corrupt school boards.

Blithely extrapolating nationally, the writer and director, Bob Bowdon, concludes that increased financing for public schools is unlikely to raise reading scores but is almost certain to raise the luxury-car quotient in administrator parking lots. To illustrate, Mr. Bowdon rattles off a laundry list of outrages — like a missing $1 billion from a school construction budget — and provides a clumsy montage of newspaper headlines detailing administrative graft.

The evidence may be verifiable (and even depressingly familiar), but its complex underpinnings are given short shrift. Instead Mr. Bowdon, a New Jersey-based television reporter, employs an exposé-style narration lousy with ad hominems and emotional coercion. In one particularly egregious scene he parks his camera in front of a weeping child who has just failed to win a coveted spot in a charter-school lottery — another tiny victim of public school hell. Later, confronted with the president of the New Jersey Education Association, Mr. Bowdon performs the rhetorical equivalent of poking a lion with a stick and running away.

Visually horrid and intellectually unsatisfying, “The Cartel” demonstrates only that its maker has even more to learn about assembling a film than about constructing an argument.

Here, here!

Our class size lawsuit gets its first day in court

This morning, Judge John Barone of the NY State Supreme Court in the Bronx heard arguments in our class size lawsuit against the city, which has failed to comply with state law and its own mandated class size reduction plan. Instead of reducing class size, as the state ordered in April of 2007 as part of the Contracts for Excellence, class sizes have risen at an unprecedented rate in city schools over the last two years.

In its papers, the city argued that the court has no role in deciding this matter, but right off the bat, the Judge rejected the claim that the sole authority over NYC’s compliance with the law should be reserved for the NY State Commissioner of Education. Judge Barone said that even if the state legislature wanted to deprive the court of jurisdiction that would be unconstitutional. He said he was “astounded” that any attorney would dare argue that the court doesn’t have the power to review this matter.

Very quickly the legal arguments became focused instead on whether the plaintiffs (including Class Size Matters, the UFT, NAACP, the Hispanic Federation, and assorted public school parents) should exhaust other administrative remedies first before coming to court, i.e. filing a complaint with the Commissioner.

Charles Moerdler, one of our attorneys from the firm of Stroock, Stroock and Lavan, recited a long list of legal precedents as far back as 1919, including decisions of the Court of Appeals, showing that the court has a right to step in before other administrative procedures have been exhausted. He provided important background information, explaining how as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision, the city had been provided with more than $1.5 billion in state funds, with $760 million of that earmarked for class size reduction, on the condition that it reduce class size. The city submitted a plan to do so, promised it would spend that money appropriately, and did not. Thus it is in breach of contract, pure and simple. This is matter of law, not fact, and the court is the best place to hear a matter of law, he argued, especially as the Commissioner of Education has no legal background.

Moerdler also pointed out that going to the Commissioner now for a ruling could take months, and the courts have found that where there is a need for urgent action, as there is in this case, they should step in. Going the other route could consign thousands of children to irreparable harm and another school year of illegal and excessive class sizes that would deny them the fundamental right to an adequate education. Given that the Commissioner’s decision is likely to be appealed to the Court in any event, these children could have graduated from high school before the case was resolved.

The lawyer from the city’s Corporation Counsel, Emily Sweet, said that if the Judge did hear the case, the trial would be full of complicated and arcane matters involving budget allocations, DOE guidance memos and various funding streams, and that the Commissioner was more able to determine the facts of the case and understand these complex matters.

Yet despite the attempts of the city to confuse and obscure this issue with smoke and mirrors, including jargon-filled memos, abstruse powerpoint presentations, and talk of funding streams, the facts in this case are clear and undisputable: the DOE has not reduced class size, according to its own data. It has not adhered to its own state-mandated and binding class size reduction plan, and has not used the funding as required by law.

Judge Barone said that he would give both sides two weeks to submit more papers, but that he intended to rule shortly thereafter as to whether the case should proceed to trial. As he said the city's motion to dismiss is is an important motion in an important case. Cross your fingers and hold onto your hats!

Diane Ravitch on the privatization of public education

Diane Ravitch speaking at the NYU Radical Film and Lecture series on March 26. She begins by saying "This may be the first and last time that you ever have anyone from the Bush administration addressing you." (Though later she makes clear that she is referring to Bush I and not Bush II.)

The second part of her speech is posted here.

Megan Fox Protests Rising Class Sizes and Education Budget Cuts

Hot for Teachers w/ Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green from Megan Fox

John Liu on Budget Cuts, Wall Street Bonuses and Wasteful DOE Spending

Upcoming parent conference and class size lawsuit!

This Saturday, April 10, Class Size Matters is sponsoring a citywide parent conference with two major themes: The Overcrowding crisis and Kindergarten waitlists; and building bridges with charter school parents. The latter panel is co-sponsored by the NY Charter Parents Association.

We will also offer workshops on PTAs, School Leadership Teams, and the new Chancellor’s regulations; how to ensure your special education child receives the services s/he needs; toxic schools; the rights and responsibilities of Community Education Councils; Title 1 and parent involvement: and how to advocate for your school and reach out to the media.

All sessions are provided free of charge.

When: Saturday, April 10 from 9:30 AM-3:30 PM.
Where: School of the Future; 127 E. 22 St. (between Park and Lexington.)

Here is a flyer you can post or distribute in your school. Be there or be square!

Also, next Monday, arguments will be heard in our lawsuit against the city for its failure to reduce class size.

When: Monday April 12, 9:30 AM
Where: Supreme Court Bronx County Courthouse (Grand Concourse and 161st Street) before Justice John Barone.

Join us if you can and show your support! For more about our lawsuit, which we filed in January with the UFT, the NAACP, the Hispanic Federation, and other parents and parent groups, check out on the Class Size Matters website here.

The Post and the Daily News editorial boards: designated hit men for Joel Klein

On Friday morning, the NY Post published a picture of Judge Lobis, assigned the case of the lawsuit filed against Klein's arbitrary closing of 19 schools; and wrote an editorial implicitly threatening her if she ruled the wrong way.

After she decided in favor of the plaintiffs later that same day, finding that Klein had clearly violated the mandated procedures established in the governance law, the Post vicioiusly attacked her in another editorial on Saturday morning, accusing of basing her judgment solely to benefit the UFT.

This, by the way, is the Post’s standard attack one anyone who dares to oppose the administration’s flawed and increasingly lawless policies.

On Sunday, the Daily News piled on, in an editorial that sounds like it was written by Klein himself.

Let’s hope that Judge Lobis is not intimidated by these thugs, bought and sold by Rupert Murdoch and Mort Zuckerman, close allies of the Mayor and Klein and members of the Billionaire’s Boys Club.

All of these men, of course, send their kids to elite private schools, and would never stand for arrogant abuse perpetrated by Bloomberg and Klein on students who attend the city's public schools.

The Gig is Up

March 27, 2010 (GBN News): Tiger Woods was not the only public figure to recently lose a lucrative celebrity endorsement contract due to embarrassing legal trouble. GBN News has learned that Joel Klein, the NY City schools chancellor, had apparently been paid “in the high six figures” by Research in Motion to prominently display his Blackberry at public events. But the company is reportedly dropping Mr. Klein due to a recent lawsuit.

According to a ruling by state supreme Court Judge Joan Lobis, the closure of 19 schools by the NY City Department of Education under Mr. Klein violated state law. And Mr. Klein may even be defying the court ruling itself by effectively preventing children from enrolling in the schools, which are now supposed to remain open.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better pitchman for our product,” a source at Research in Motion told GBN News. “He’s shown off that Blackberry every chance he gets. He never takes his eyes - or his fingers - off of it at PEP meetings, press conferences, even social events. He clearly prefers his Blackberry to human beings. But we’re a reputable company, and we can’t be associated with people who don’t show respect for the rule of law. So we had to let him go.”

There was apparently some good news for the Chancellor, however. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Mr. Klein broke the record for longest game of “Brickbreaker” when he managed to make the game last the entire length of the marathon January 26 PEP meeting.

The court decision on the closing schools, and Klein's ongoing defiance of the law

Yesterday, Judge Joan Lobis of the State Supreme Court ruled that Chancellor Klein's actions to close 19 schools were illegal and should be blocked.

The decision to close these schools has been met with tremendous protest from parents and teachers alike, because of the devastating effect on their children, their communities, and the public school system as a whole.

Neverthless, the Department of Education sent out a message late Friday that the high school admissions letters would go out anyway this weekend, excluding all the schools originally slated for closure.

That is, none of these schools would accept students, even those 8500 students who had listed these schools as one of their choices. Instead, they would receive another letter, "stating that, should the schools remain open, they may select one of them."

Clearly, Klein is trying to ignore the court decision and as a fait accompli, close these schools down no matter what the court says, by starving them of students.

This is similar stratagem to what he did when he lost the court case to close zoned neighborhood schools and replace them with charter schools , because he refused to ask for the mandated approval of the local Community Education Councils--- and then sent letters to all the parents at these schools anyway, recommending that they take their kids out of these schools.

If Klein goes ahead with this plan to send out acceptance letters without the schools he had proposed to close among them, he should be held in contempt of court and thrown in jail; not to mention disbarred.

The arrogance and hubris of those who run our schools never ceases to amaze, and their utter disregard for the views of parents, the law and the truth itself. They have gotten so used to having their way, no matter how arbitrary and irrational , that they act as though immune from all external limits.

The court decision is based on three, clear findings of fact:

1. The Educational Impact Statements required by law were cursory and inadequate. Specifically, they "failed to provide any meaningful information regarding the impacts on the students or the ability of the schools in the affected community to accommodate those students" shut out of these schools.

For example, they did not show where students enrolled in LYFE centers for students who are pregnant or those with small children might find similar programs targetted to their needs elsewhere.

2. Lack of public notice: the DOE failed to provide hard copies of these proposals to CECs, Community boards, Community superintendents, and SLTs. Simply posting them on the DOE website was insufficient.

3. Lack of community involvement: The DOE failed to hold joint hearings with the School Leadership Teams and Community Education Councils of the affected schools, as required by law. Some members of these groups were invited to participate in hearings after the fact; but even then, had no role in running the hearings or devising the way in which they would be held.

Unmentioned in any of the articles so far is that the court decision should nullify all the co-locations of charter schools and other schools approved by the Panel on Educational Policy over the last three months, because of similar deficiencies in the process.

Here is the statement we sent out yesterday, after the court decision was released:

Today’s court decision is an important step forward for the rule of law. It is also a confirmation of the necessity for a genuine public process to inform and improve arbitrary and rash decision-making at the Department of Education.

So far, the process has been a mockery; with no attempt to involve the parents in a meaningful way, or to provide the sort of careful analysis that should precede these critical decisions.

In January, Class Size Matters submitted detailed comments on the school closings, pointing out the utter inadequacy of the educational impact statements, here.

Department officials should take another look, perform the careful scrutiny required by law, and for once, involve the public in the process of decision-making, before taking such ill-considered and illegal actions.

If they did so, they would find that in many cases, it would be far better to support and improve these schools, rather than close them down.

To add insult to injury: more co-locations and charter school funding tonight at the PEP

The Panel for Educational Policy will vote in Staten Island tonight on the co-locations of another ten schools.

As Joel Klein said at the last PEP meeting, “I wish we had much more space so that each school could have all the space it needs, but we have the space that’s provided to us in our capital budget and by the city. And our obligation is to ensure that that space is shared equally by all 1.1 million students.”

Yet the more co-locations he orders, the more overcrowding is created for all 1.1 million public school students. As John White admitted at a recent City Council hearing, small schools and charters are an inefficient use of space. Moreover, these co-locations will create further inequities across the system.

The Daily News has an article in today’s paper about how the co-locations are pushing out special education students, who in many cases are receiving their services in locker rooms, closets and staircases: Parents say special-ed kids falling victim in charter battle for space inside city schools .

In our principal survey, more than one fourth of principals (27 percent) said that the co-location of new schools or programs in their buildings had worsened the level of overcrowding in their schools, leading in many cases to lunch times before 11 AM, and slightly more than half said that overcrowding sometimes leads to unsafe conditions for students or staff.

Moreover, some of the schools that will be forced to give up additional space are on the city, state and/or federal accountability lists, and yet still have excessive class sizes.

For example, Washington Irving HS, according to the DOE, has a graduation rate of 38.3 percent. It is quite likely that next year, the school will be on the chopping block unless its results radically improve. And yet the average reported class size is over 28 students per class.; and in many subjects, classes are as large as 34, and one CTT class has a class size of 41.

These class sizes are far too large and much higher than the other schools in the building, some of which are more selective with higher achieving students.

If there is room to put a new school into the building in which Washington Irving HS is located, there is also be room to reduce class size to at least the state mandated level of 25, or even better, to the state average class size for high schools, which is twenty students per class.

The failure of DOE to reduce class size at Washington Irving, full of struggling students, is not only inequitable; it calls into question whether the administration intends to allow this school to improve results or would rather see the school, along with its students, fail.

For other examples of the negative impacts of these co-locations, see our full comments here.

To add insult to injury, also on the PEP agenda tonight is the DOE's proposal (see pp.12-13) to spend more than $2.08 million per year, totaling more than $10.4 million over five years, to train “non-public school principals” (read charter school principals) to become “school building” leaders.

Though the administration has apparently claimed that these are just “federal funds passing through the DOE,” they are actually redirecting Title II funds that could be used for many other purposes, including keeping class sizes as low as possible in the public schools, in the midst of potentially massive cuts to the teaching force. Or even to train public school teachers or principals.

Instead, DOE wants to use these precious funds to teach the principals of charter school how to run the buildings and boss the public schools whose space they have occupied.

The tangled web of money and political influence of the charter school lobby

Today, Meredith Kolodner and a crack investigative team at Daily News begin to untangle the tangled web of money, connections, and political influence that lies behind the story of Peninsula Prep charter school, which is still sitting in trailers on a developer's land, despite the promise of $31 million from DOE to help build a facility.

Still, many unanswered questions remain, including what was behind the city’s promise to donate millions in taxpayer funds for a facility for this charter school, considering its shaky history?

Also, if private developers realize that providing schools give them an advantage in selling their properties, why doesn’t the city recognize the economic value of building more regular public schools, to sustain and strengthen the city’s economic future?

See also the today's Crain's NY, about how many of the financiers who are backing the charter school lobby are pouring millions into the campaigns of certain State Senators, while targeting the elimination of others:

In addition to targeting state Sen. Bill Perkins, the legislator who is
most outspoken against charters, they'll likely set their sights on state Sen.
Shirley Huntley. Proponents hope to hire former Bloomberg campaign manager
Bradley Tusk to coordinate.

Senators Perkins and Huntley were also two of the more vociferous opponents to the renewal of mayoral control last summer. No doubt the mayor will be inveighing on billionaire buddies to contribute funds to defeat them, and will likely put forward a pretty penny of his own.

The bake sale ban and the hypocrisy of the DOE

Why does the DOE get itself into these messes, like banning PTA bake sales?

Because they never bother to consult with anyone, least of all parents, before making these harebrained decisions.

Excerpt from today's NY Times:

The education department is trying to persuade parents and students to hold food-free fund-raising events, perhaps selling T-shirts, pencils, notebooks, shoelaces or handmade beaded jewelry instead. One option it suggests is selling exercise: the buyer pays for the student to run a certain number of laps around a park or track.

That’ll be a big seller for sure.

What hypocrisy! When it comes to important educational decisions like class size, they say they don’t care and they will leave it up to the principal to decide. When it comes to banning home-made goods from our schools, all of a sudden they have to have the final word.

Check out info about the bake sale protest tomorrow, Thursday March 18 at City Hall at 4 pm; more info at www.nycgreenschools.org

Save the date! Citywide parent conference on April 10

On Saturday, April 10, Class Size Matters will be sponsoring a citywide parent conference, with workshops on running effective Parent Associations and School Leadership Teams; toxic schools; how to reach out to the media; how to advocate for your special needs child, the rights and responsibilities of Community Education Councils, Title one issues, and more.

Click on the image to the left or here for a flyer you can post in your school.

The theme of the conference is "Building Bridges with Charter School parents" and one of the panels will be dedicated towards this goal. More on this soon.

The conference will be held at School of the Future on 127 E. 22 St; please come!

An even more punitive approach for our poorest schools, but with a nicer name?

Today’s article in the NY Times on Obama’s plan to revamp NCLB might fool the uninitiated that the administration’s proposals will help solve the myriad problems that NCLB helped create – too many schools labeled as failing, too much emphasis on standardized testing, and the use of harsh accountability measures that hurt rather than helped improve learning conditions at our public schools:

The proposals would require states to use annual tests and other indicators to divide the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools into several groups: some 10,000 to 15,000 high-performing schools that could receive rewards or recognition; some 10,000 failing or struggling schools requiring varying degrees of vigorous state intervention; about 5,000 schools that would be required to narrow unacceptably wide achievement gaps; and perhaps 70,000 or so schools in the middle that would be encouraged to figure out on their own how to improve.

That clears it up. The Washington Post and AP stories are a bit more understandable.

Rather than 100% student proficiency, the new proposal would have as its goal “college readiness” (as taken from the current emphasis of the Gates Foundation.) Schools and teachers would be evaluated on the basis of test score gains rather than absolute standards.

Here, from the AP story is the “spin” from the administration, of a supposedly less punitive approach:

In the proposed dismantling of the No Child Left Behind law, education officials would move away from punishing schools that don't meet benchmarks and focus on rewarding schools for progress, particularly with poor and minority students.

Yet what the administration is really proposing is even more punitive, to expand the pro-privatization and destabilizing policies represented in its "Race to the Top" slush fund, including school closures, charter takeovers, and/or supposed “turnaround models”, where at least half the staff would be fired, to all of the nation’s lowest performing schools, or else risk having their Title one funds being withheld:

…the bottom 5 percent of schools would be forced to use the department’s four turnaround models that now govern the Title I School Improvement Grant program. The next-lowest 5 percent would be on a “warning” list and be required to take action using research-based interventions, although the department would not mandate one of the four turnaround models.

The Title one program was originally created to try to equalize funding for poor schools. But these proposals, if adopted, would apparently be provided only to those schools that put into place the administration’s heavy-handed “reforms”. Again, here is the AP summary:

…. for the first time in 45 years, the White House is proposing a $4 billion increase in federal education spending, most of which would go to increase the competition among states for grant money and move away from formula-based funding.

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post accurately portrays the proposed changes this way:

The lowest achieving 5 percent of schools in every state will be punished even harder than under NCLB, according to my colleague Nick Anderson, who reported about the Obama plan today….. Obama today promised to treat teachers “like the professionals they are.” What Obama and Duncan have in store for teachers makes one wonder just how they think professional teachers should actually be treated.

….. standardized test scores of students [would be linked] to teacher performance evaluations and pay. That means that all of the other factors that might go into a student’s test score — whether they are tired, or hungry, or can’t see well, or have a toothache, or were distracted in class, or have test anxiety, etc. — don’t actually matter.

None of the distorting effects of basing teacher or school evaluation on standardized test scores alone will diminish under this system, even if they are now “value-added” measures, and in fact, would likely grow even more extreme, especially for our neediest schools.

Ignored are the significant methodological problems of fairly basing evaluations on value-added test scores, as pointed out by the National Academy of Sciences and other experts, who have warned of the unreliability of such measures, and their potentially damaging consequences.

In apparent response to complaints that the overemphasis on scores in reading and math in NCLB has driven out other parts of the curriculum, according to the Times,“the administration says it will allow states to test subjects other than math and reading and use scores on those tests to rate their schools, though it will not require states to do so.”

That’s generous of them.

Nothing here is likely to achieve the goals that the administration supposedly has to attract experienced, quality teachers to work in our lowest performing schools; in fact, they would be likely to leave in droves, given the increased risks of being judged on unreliable test score gains and/or losing their jobs.

What else? Oh, yes, Duncan will change the name of the program:

“Duncan has said the name No Child Left Behind will be dropped because it is associated with a harsh law that punishes schools for not reaching benchmarks even if they've made big gains. He said the administration will work with Congress to come up with a new name.”

Any nominations for a new name, folks?

The saturation mailings and advertising of Harlem Success Academy

See this message from a friend who lives on the Upper West side, who has a child entering Kindergarten next year, about the multiple mailings he has received from Harlem Success Academy:

Today we received the 3d or 4th mailing in the last week from the Harlem
Success Academy, looking to enroll [his son’s name].

This really surprises me: A. How do they get the $ to do direct mail & find out what kids are going to start kindergarten?
B. Why are they direct mailing to White couples on 102nd?

Really curious if you have any thoughts or insight - -

The infamous Eva Moskowitz/Joel Klein emails, FOILed by Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News and posted here, revealed how Klein overturned long-standing policy to provide her with names and addresses of prospective parents through mailing houses; and allowed her to make repeated mailings to promote her chain of charter schools.

Juan’s column in which he showed how she picked out the space she wanted for her schools in existing zoned public schools, which Klein then tried to illegally close for her benefit, is here.

His earlier column about the preferential treatment she received from Klein, including his help in securing a $1 million grant from the Broad Foundation to build an army of parents to promote their political agenda, is here.

In her emails to Klein, Eva confides her desire to engage in saturation mailings, supposedly to promote “choice”, but really to build up her waiting list; which then she uses as a political weapon in their battle to lift the charter cap.

This may be one reason DOE is making parents register for Kindergartens earlier at public schools, so they can capture their addresses and make them available to charter schools in time for their lotteries.

Though Eva told the NY Times she spends $325,000 on recruitment, a cursory examination of the school’s financial statements shows that her spending on recruitment is actually much more.

She has run ads in buses and is now also advertising on NY1. The actual expense must be near a million dollars or more. Harlem Children’s Zone was featured on American Express ads during the Oscars.

Of course, no district public school could afford this sort of marketing campaign; and if they did, they would be accused of wasteful spending.

To the left is Eva’s message to Klein, dated Dec. 21, 2007, in which she complains about the fact that DOE only allows “one mailing to elementary and pre-K families” and that she wants to be able to mail promotional materials 10-12 times to each family.

As in all things between Klein and Eva, she quickly gets her way. Her choices are clearly maximized! Soon thereafter, she is provided with unlimited mailings through a third party mailing house to prospective public school parents.

To the right and below is the response from Michael Duffy, the head of the DOE charter school office, written the day after Xmas, in which he pledges cooperation and tells her she can always call him, day or night, on his cell.

Eva has now extended the reach of her mailings into large swathes of Manhattan and the Bronx. As one astute observer pointed out, this not only allows her to build up her charter school waiting list, but also to gather names for future battles over the charter school cap, funding, or her own future candidacy.

Her mailings and advertising, financed through contributions from her hedge-fund supporters and billionaires like Broad, resemble the saturation mailings and domination of the air waves that New Yorkers have been subjected to by our billionaire mayor, each time he runs for re-election, sparing no expense.

Just as he has bought his way into a third term, the hostile takeover of public education by charter schools has nearly unlimited financing to back it up. No one could argue that this is an equal contest, when all the advantages are being provided to the charters; not to mention Klein’s relentless promotion of charter schools, which is priceless.

Is this the future we really want for our public schools?

The Broad inside game

Check out this posting on “The Broad Effect” , about how the Broad Foundation influences educational policy by inserting graduates of his Broad Superintendents Academy into top positions at urban districts from throughout the country, to pursue its privatization agenda, sometimes provoking controversy in the process.

Just as the Gates Foundation plays the "outside game" by putting its people inside the US Dept. of Education, where they can use the Race to the Top funds to bribe states to adopt their policies, Broad plays the inside game.

The Rhode Island State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, who recently ordered the firing of the entire teaching force of Central Falls HS, is a Broad graduate.

Here in NYC we have much experience with the grads of this fabled institution. The first was Chris Cerf, Class of 2004, formerly head of Edison charter schools, who became Deputy Chancellor for “Strategy and Innovation” at DOE, then moved over to the Bloomberg campaign, and is now is selling science curricula in Brazil. (See the inspired illustration above, thanks to David Bellel; sadly Cerf now seems to be excised from the “featured” alumni on the Broad website.) Also:

• Marcia Lyles, class of 2006, former Deputy Chancellor of Instruction, now Superintendent of the Christina School District in Wilmington Del.
  
• Jean-Claude Brizard, class of 2007, former DOE “senior executive for policy and sustainability” and now superintendent in Rochester, NY.
  
• Shael Polakow-Suransky, class of 2008, (currently Chief Accountability Officer at DOE).
  
• Garth Harries, class of 2009, former head of Office of Portfolio Development and now asst. Superintendent in New Haven.


• Currently, John White is in the Broad class of 2010, now Cerf’s successor as “Deputy Chancellor for Strategy” (he now apparently leaves off “Innovation” from his title)

Broad doesn’t stop there. He also gives out his award each year to the top urban school district; conveniently awarded NYC in 2007, despite stagnant gains on the NAEPs, shortly before Bloomberg embarked on his campaign to renew mayoral control. And Broad is a generous donor to charter schools in NYC and elsewhere.

Chancellor Klein persuaded Dan Katzir, the head of the Broad Foundation, to give a million dollars to Eva Moskowitz's chain of charter schools, so she could create an army of parents who would support their initiatives, writing: “she’s done more to organize parents and get them aligned with what our reforms than anyone else on the outside.”

The Times ran a recent rather unflattering profile of Broad . In it, Roland Fryer, whose “institute” at Harvard and large scale experiments in student bribery are funded by Broad: “For me there has been no downside....But I think if you’re not on your game, Eli will crush you." (For more on Fryer's Broad-funded experiments, see here, here, here, and here.)

Bribery seems to come naturally to these guys. More recently, Katzir has admitted that they use an unusual method to "place" their superintendents -- promising cash-strapped districts that in exchange, they will cover part of their salaries.

The Detroit Public School Board has just unanimously voted to file a lawsuit against Robert Bobb, the "emergency" manager of their schools and a Broad graduate, saying the extra $145,000 he receives from the Broad foundation and other "unidentified philanthropic organizations" represents a conflict of interest.

"Because Bobb has sole and virtually unreviewable control over the $1.4 billion DPS budget, it is especially dangerous to allow the Broad Foundation and similar 'venture philanthropists' to fund one-third of his salary," according to the complaint.

In Los Angeles, Broad is paying the salaries of top school officials including Matt Hill, who is “overseeing the district's high-profile effort through which groups inside or outside L.A. Unified could take over new and low-performing schools."

Responds Dan Katzir: "It's common for the foundation to match people it has trained with districts, and initially to help pay for it."

Can you imagine if the people running our public hospitals were trained by the drug companies and had their salaries supplemented by them? There would be justified outrage. But when it comes to our public education system, anything goes, and conflict of interest is the name of the game.

Bob Hughes, announced as member of NY's "Race to the Top" team and criticized by the EEOC the same day

According to Gotham Schools, Bob Hughes of New Visions will be part of the NY State team to appear before the panel of judges to determine the federal “Race to the Top” awards.

As EdWeek puts it, "How a state’s delegation performs in a 30-minute presentation and a 60-minute question-and-answer session with a panel of judges could make or break its chances in round one of the competition.”

This dog and pony show, which might be likened to “American Idol”, is a function of the politicization of these grants, which should be honestly won or lost on the basis of substance alone.

Unmentioned in the Gotham Schools are Hughes’ close ties to the Gates Foundation, which financed many of the small schools in NYC through his organization as an intermediary.

Some have said that the Gates Foundation is really the power behind the throne in determining who wins these awards – as well as many of the pro-privatization policies being pushed by the US Dept. of Education; the foundation also helped states write their RTTT applications.

The woman who head’s the RTTT program at the US Dept of Ed, Joanne Weiss, is former COO of New Schools Venture fund, which finances charter school expansion with large infusions of Gates money; accordingly, states can win “points” on their applications depending on how charter-friendly they are.

Other members of the NY State RTTT team are Laura Smith, formerly chief of staff under former deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf, and before that, an employee of the NYC Charter School Center, and deputy Commissioner John King, formerly head of the Uncommon Schools charter chain.

According to Gotham Schools, New Visions has a financial interest in NY State’s winning the funds:

Hughes has also said that New Visions would be a likely applicant for a program, proposed by the Regents, to allow alternative organizations to bypass education schools to certify teachers. [Merryl] Tisch also cited Hughes as an expert on how schools can effectively use data to guide their work with students and on launching high schools, an area that will become key as the state attempts to replace its lowest-performing schools. “Bob has a track record on this, and he is respected in every corner on this subject,” Tisch said. “I trust him, I trust his judgment.”

Hughes was also cited in the just-issued decision of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about the discriminatory dismissal of Debbie Almontaser as the principal of Khalil Gibran school: New Visions "concurred in DOE's judgment that she should resign and acted as agent in advising her to do so . . . . In the course of its advisory services to the Community Superintendent in the selection process, it concurred in DOE's conclusion that the circumstances of her resignation were such that continuing her candidacy was not desirable." (The EEOC decision is here.)

Hughes tried to get Almontaser to resign, but she refused until she could meet with the Chancellor, who was conveniently"unavailable." Instead, Deputy mayor Walcott acted as the designated hit-man, and threatened her that the school might be cancelled if she did not resign.

As David Bloomfield, expert on education law, pointed out, “Thus, while New Visions was found not liable since it was not in an employment relationship with Almontaser, it served as willing handmaiden to her illegal discriminatory dismissal 'on account of her race, religion, and national origin.'”