Since this may well be my Labor Day post judging by the schedule around here I am eager to thank and congratulate my union president Phil Rumore for his tireless efforts against a host of humans who seem convinced it's Buffalo Teachers who are to blame for all that ails education in The City of No Illusions. Phil has battled The Rookie, aka politically appointed charter schooler and NYSED Commissioner John King on the land and on the airwaves. James Carpetbag Williams stumbled around mumbling to reporters AFTER Phil left the room how he'd kick his ass. Ghetto slapstick for the crowd -- who's still standing and who's trying to lie his way into a job in Florida? -- to no avail I might add. Phil felt sorry for Sam Radford's bunch of sad sacks and invited them in out of the rain when they followed orders from the club who pays for their field trips (Deform Ed and their Highly effective leader Hannya with her Art History degree) and paraded up and down the sidewalk in drizzle outside BTF H.Q. Nobody is exactly sure what they were protesting and they all looked kinda dumb standing there in the BTF office all damp and dribbly trying soooo hard to look mad and put out when they were really relieved to get out of the weather. Phil also worked collaboratively with our best chance for Superintendent when he and Amber Dixon were able to agree on a performance review. Sadly though the powers that be have determined that Ms. Dixon was not the right color and have replaced her with someone who is. Recently, Phil hired an outside attorney when the slugs at NYSUT who apparently have more ass to kiss at the Democratic Conference than lips to put out there have better things to do that represent the teachers in Buffalo when they need it. Dick, and I thank his parents for naming him correctly, Ianuzzi couldn't care less about teacher's problems. He was fatheaded enough to invite King to Buffalo to give a speech a while back which is about as clueless as inviting John King to Buffalo to give a speech if you gather my drift. Thank your leadership for standing up to stupidity and bullying from Albany and City Hall. And seriously folks we need to talk more about this incredibly ballsy bunch of Dumbocrats in Washington and elsewhere who are taking union votes for granted while selling us out to privatizers, shitheads, phonies, crooks and thieves, aka "Educational Reformers."
Here's a glimpse into a group calling itself Democrats for Ed Reform
The black guy and the woman are the only 2 on their board who AREN'T Hedge Fund managers. Tokenism? Naaah. If you like your schools reformed by people who wouldn't be caught dead sending THEIR kids to the schools they think they are reforming then these are your kind of Millionaires. If you're more like the rest of us you don't want these scumbag Vulture Philanthropists one foot closer to a school building than your neighborhood pedophile on Familywatchdog.gov.
Happy Labor Day to All My Union Brothers and Sisters and Thanks Again Phil and BTF. Solidarity and Sanity.
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| Soggy Ed Reform Stooge Protesters Try to Maintain 'Tude (Note the crossed arms and sourpuss on the Gortex jacket) while freely accepting Phil's hospitality in getting them out of the rain. A fave pic of mine. |
Board of Directors
The DFER Board
Kevin P. Chavous (chair) - Former Washington, DC, City Council member and chair of the Education Committee; Board Chair of Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO).
Boykin Curry - Eagle Capital; Co-Founder of Public Prep.
Tony Davis - Co-founder and President of Anchorage Capital Group, LLC; Board Trusteer forAchievement First Brooklyn charter schools.
Charles Ledley - Highfields Capital Management; Board Member of the Tobin Project.
Sara Mead - Bellwether Education Partners, Associate Partner; Former Director of Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation.
John Petry - Columbus Hill Capital Management; Co-founder of Harlem Success Academy Charter School in NYC.
Whitney Tilson - Managing Partner, T2 Partners LLC and Tilson Mutual Funds; Board member of KIPP-NYC, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and Council of Urban Professionals; Co-Founder of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and Rewarding Achievement (REACH).
(Note - Organizations listed here are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement or affiliation.)
The black guy and the woman are the only 2 on their board who AREN'T Hedge Fund managers. Tokenism? Naaah. If you like your schools reformed by people who wouldn't be caught dead sending THEIR kids to the schools they think they are reforming then these are your kind of Millionaires. If you're more like the rest of us you don't want these scumbag Vulture Philanthropists one foot closer to a school building than your neighborhood pedophile on Familywatchdog.gov.
Happy Labor Day to All My Union Brothers and Sisters and Thanks Again Phil and BTF. Solidarity and Sanity.
Hedgefund managers are Democrats. No way. Not buying that one.
ReplyDeletehttp://edreform.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcome-to-my-blog.html Here's Whitney Tilson's blog, it couldn't reek of Rheeform any worse. And here's his hedge fund info : http://www.tilsonfunds.com/
ReplyDeletei advise you red these sitting down with an emesis basin nearby. Maybe a few shots of grain alcohol and a xanax beforehand wouldn't hurt either.
Happy Labor Day and THANK YOU for keeping us informed. Proud to be a BTF member for 25+ years. Hope once this school year starts that more people will be made aware the bleak future of Public Education.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the information, Sean Keep doing what you do so well!
ReplyDeleteAlso a "shout out to Phil" for his unwavering support of the teachers and the children in the Buffalo Schools. and... thanks for heading up the most effective union in the state supporting the most"stand-up" teachers in the state. :)
I have just recently started doing research on charter school initiatives and I have been surprised (almost shocked) by the level of resentment, mainly expressed through website message boards such a this one, felt by teachers towards the people leading these initiatives. Where is the source of this fundamental difference in opinion? I am considering putting together a paper on the subject and any thoughts would be really helpful.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Researcher:
ReplyDeleteI too am a researcher. I have spent years researching the shameful "undermining" of public schools by for-profit charter groups. I read daily about the privatization of public education by greedy groups who seek to personally profit from education funds that rightfully belong to children.
Here are my suggestions to you:
1. Start by reading the blogs that are listed in the blog list on this page.
2. Read them every day, including Saturday and Sunday.
3. Find more blogs to read on your own and then come to your own conclusion about what is happening with public education in this country.
4. Make connections between what you read in these blogs and with what is printed in newspapers and with what politicians are saying.
5. Fact check everything that you read.
6. Do follow up research on all of the names that are mentioned.
7. Follow the money at all times.
8. Question the motives of everyone involved.
9. Write back with some concrete questions. Asking people on this blog to respond to your vague question "Where is the source of this fundamental difference in opinion" indicates that you are essentially naive about the scope of your topic.
10. Any teacher on this blog would tell you to "narrow your topic" and strengthen the rigor of your questions.
11. After you finish "CONSIDERING putting together a paper on the subject" and when you actually start to do some background work (READING), THEN you will have some pertinent questions.
12. You say that our thought would be really helpful? Well, every word on this blog is from someone's "thoughts". We've already put them out there for you. You HAVE our thoughts. READ them! Hope they are helpful! You're very welcome to "use" our thoughts in your research! Now, don't forget to properly "cite" your sources!
13. I'll be happy to grade your paper for you. Better yet, publish it right here on this blog and you will get constructive feedback from lots of educators. Just look at the number of people who have visited!
I wanted to add to the list Anonymouse has given, but Anonymouse has covered everything. I would reiterate for Anonymous (the one starting charter school research, not the mouse) read Sean's blog regularly (for what's going on here in Buffalo), but also be sure to read the blogs he links to (for a state and national scope). Also, it might behoove you to visit a few public schools (real public schools, not charter) if possible and see what is going on--what teachers and students deal with every day.
ReplyDeleteSo you're almost "shocked" huh anonymous? You mean the way Claude Rains is "Shocked" to learn that there is gambling at Rick's? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1DEG6BWgp0
ReplyDeleteTruthfully I find that to be a bit disingenuous. In fact I am going to cast aside the diplomacy and professionalism my colleagues have all ready shown you and simply declare you to be full of shit.
If you have actually paid the slightest bit of attention to any of these blog posts, (btw this is a blog not an internet message board that is something entirely different) you would have more answers by now that questions about public educator's antipathy towards corporate reformers and their for profit agenda. I think you are being ever so passive aggressive in your silly little way saying you are almost shocked and you think you might write a paper. I think you might be a "reformer" and you might just be trolling to see what nonsense you can stir up. Please respond as I am considering writing a paper about passive aggressive behavior and your insights would be most helpful. Ninja Please.
Anonymouse - Thanks for the reply. I am not a researcher. I am a student at a public university (not in Buffalo or the state of new york for that matter).
ReplyDeleteAll (especially Sean) - I am not a reformer. In fact I dont have a dog in this fight. Sorry to come off passive agressively. Not my intention. I am shocked by the "thoughts" i've read so far on these blogs*. I put thoughts in quotations because they honestly come off more like opinions. Even worse, opinions not backed up by facts of any kind. In fact, all of the blogs, whether they be in Buffalo or DC or San Francisco, are almost exactly the same - a long ranting diatribe about, as Anonymouse so graciously put it, "the shameful 'undermining' of public schools by for-profit charter groups " and "the privatization of public education by greedy groups who seek to personally profit from education funds that rightfully belong to children." In fact, they are so similar that I became convinced that they were all created by the same special interest group and, therefore, are not even opinions, definitely not thoughts, and would be more adequately labeled as propaganda. And propaganda can be dangerous, especially when it is read by lazy people that dont check their facts. So, i have taken it on myself to check the facts for them and write a paper that offers an objective opinion on the matter.
Which leads me to the questions that none of the opinions/blogs i've read ever actually answer.
1) How are for-profit charter groups "undermining" public schools?
2) By public schools, do you really mean public school teachers? I know this is clearly a hot button question for the people on this blog. I promise I'm not asking it to get a rise out of anyone. I'm just trying to understand whether teachers are against charter schools because they could potentially put them out of a job (which, for the record, is a perfectly legitimate reason for not liking charter schools). Or whether charter schools actually undermine public school students. With the exception of public school students feeling disenfranchised because they dont go to a charter school (a legitimate issue that could affect academic engagement and performance), its not clear to me how charter schools could undermine public school students.
3)How do these "greedy groups" personally profit from education funds? I am looking for names and numbers backed up by primary research. Anything else is opinion or worse, propaganda.
*Sean - Thanks for correcting me on the fact that this is a blog not a message board. Are you related to Mark Zuckerberg or something?
Good lord. You may not be a "reformer" but you are doubtless a wienie. You are a troll and you honestly expect any urban teachers who've been watching this little kabuki play out over the past decade or so to sit still and be lectured by you? Your sensibilities are far too delicate for the rough and tumble world of public urban education and I suggest you align yourself with TFA and the reformers ASAP except I am sure you all ready have in spite of your opening blather. Honestly I couldn't spare the minute I'd lose to eternity reading your nonsense but then again I don't really need to read it. Let me offer the words of British Romantic William Blake of the charter crowd you are in such a lather to defend : As the air to a bird and the sea to a fish so is contempt to the contemptible. And again let me quote Blake to send you on your righteous little path " That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care." Nor is your manifesto nor are you. Good day sirnonymous. If you write again use your name you have mine and I expect an even playing field. If you don't your comment will be sent to charter school heaven. Fair is fair but I am not necessarily so.
ReplyDelete