Fact Checking is Kryptonite to the Ed Privatizer's Lies

An out of town  Eduformer shill group called EAGNews.org  published a "study" the other day handing it off to their co-conspirators at the Bufflo Snooze as well as the local news channels. Their so-called "concern for the taxpayers" came in the "discovery" that Buffalo Schools laid out $197K for travel expenses to conferences last year. What nobody at this Breitbartean freakshow remembered to check though was the previous years' spending. At the nadir of the Jimmy Dubz regime's influence the sisters et al racked up a bill close to $500,000. So in the reality world, the one with gravity, earth, air, fire and water, where most of us actually live, travel  spending is way way down from where it's been. And what these shameless shitheads also know but neglected to put into their story is the reality that a percentage of this travel is state mandated by their brother in school privatization Ommissioner John King of Albany. 

And speaking of which, I fear for his tenure in said position after reading the weighty c.v.'s of all staffers over at AEG Inc. Have a look at this wizened veteran of 2 harrowing years spent in a classroom -- or so he says anyway, but more on that later... What hasn't this guy done? He's the prototypical Teach for A Little dilettante who dipped his pinkie toe in the edu current for a bit, realized he was in waaaay over his pointed head and bailed to hire on with an outfit staffed by nobody who knows anything about education but they all have plenty to say about it. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet your next Commissioner of the New York State Ed Department, Ben Velderman, Communications Expert. 

Future NYSED Commissioner

Here is the Curriculum Vitae of Ben the Ex-Educator, Look on His Works Ye Mighty and Despair! with Apologies to P.B. Shelley

Ben Velderman, Communication Specialist. Even though Ben's teaching career lasted a brief two years, he accumulated a storehouse of experiences as the 7th and 8th grade classroom teacher for Zeeland Public Schools' alternative program. Working with fellow teachers and classroom aides, Ben sought to help at-risk students achieve academic success as well as develop the individual life skills needed for success outside the classroom. Though not always an easy assignment, the day to day development of many students proved to be very rewarding. 

Wow. I am still trying to slow my breathing folks. Is this cat dynamite or what? And among his other accomplishments Ben is also a former member of the Michigan Education Association. Now why would I go after a fine fellow like Mr. V. when it's obvious that he loves his country as well as "The Children?" Good question, but I think I can answer it without reservation. Maybe I take exception to some schmuck who obviously couldn't hack life in the classroom and runs away to join the privatization circus where they make him comb the bearded lady's back and hang around the breakroom telling both of his classroom tales to give them teacher "cred".  One small problem with Ben's C.V. appears to be that the school district he claims to have taught in a 7th and 8th grade alternative ed program has no such program. They do have a high school alternative school called Summit with a total of 2 teachers, a social worker and 2 paraprofessionals but there is no such junior high alternative class listed on the website. (A follow up call to Summit confirms they did have a 7th and 8th grade class there about 10 years ago.) So Big Ben's whopping 2 years in the classroom has been eclipsed somewhat by the past ten years of him NOT being in a classroom while most of us WERE.  To the shock and surprise of Nobody, this is the entire company's only staffer who has ever, I repeat ever, taught in a classroom. Period. 

This would include the rest of their staff as well as their Board of Directors which includes Fox News sellout Juan Williams (?!!).  To swell their progress, (apologies to Prufrock and Polonius) they include Ben V. in their staff photo along with someone who has the same last name as their CEO but in typical disingenuous privatizer style they fail to say if it's his wife, daughter, sister or cousin. And when you cruise through the rest of this shite spreading crew you learn that one of their heavy hitters is an Andrew Breitbart acolyte and apparently served as his stooge for a spell and made a documentary about the experience. The rest of the site is jammed with slanted "news" articles, many of which they've manufactured from their own manifest grievances against unions, teachers, white chalk and God knows what all else.  Props to Channel Two who followed up on the specious claims made by these hacks and found the following : 2 On Your Side examined 5 of EAG's recent reports on school spending in different districts. Of the 5, Buffalo actually had the 4th lowest per-pupil cost for hotels. Richmond, Va.'s school district actually spent more than 5 times what Buffalo spent, when adjusted for the number of students. 

Funny how easy it is when someone on your staff actually challenges bullshit handed to it by a bunch of crackpots. It's all any of us ever needs to do with anything put out by the privatizers. All it took to bring down the Wicked Witch of the West was a good splash of water and in the case of the privatizers, a good fact check always reduces them to a warbling puddle of  gooey prevarication. Peace, friends.