Wait, What?

Update: Connecticut Charter Schools outperform public schools…in suspending kindergarten students!

May 20

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Charter Schools, Malloy, Stefan Pryor Achievement First, Charter Schools, Malloy, Stefan Pryor, suspensions 35 Comments

Evidence reveals that it is a common practice for Achievement First Schools in Connecticut to suspend children 6 and under.

Well, we’ve finally found proof that charter schools do outperform their public school counterparts…In the percentage of children 6 and under who get suspended from school.

When Achievement First Hartford’s “suspension rate” for children 6 and under is 63.7% it is time for an investigation [Compare that to 6.8% in the Hartford School System].

When Achievement First Bridgeport’s “suspension rate” for children 6 and under is 55.6% it is time for an investigation [Compare that to  7.9% in the Bridgeport School System].

When Achievement First New Haven’s “suspension rate” for children 6 and under is 29.3% it is time for an investigation [Compare that to 2.7% in the New Haven School System].

Why schools would suspend children 6 and under on a regular basis is bad enough, but a new report reveals that suspension of 6 year olds is an extremely common practice in the kindergarten and first grades at Achievement First schools in Connecticut.

In a stunning story that was posted on the CT Mirror website Friday, the CT Mirror’s Jacqueline Rabe examines a new report that revealed that, “at least 1,967 students age 6 and under were suspended last school year – almost all of them black or Hispanic.”

Rabe writes, “According to a report from the Connecticut Department of Education, the number of students suspended is actually higher, but privacy issues restrict the state agency from releasing information that could identify unique student information.”

The CT Mirror goes on to write that after unearthing the data, Connecticut’s new Child Advocate explained, ’That’s a lot of kids… I do not think that [suspension] is an appropriate response’ to students behaving poorly at school.”

Jamey Bell added that, “Excluding such young children from the classroom ‘seems to me a non-educational, non-therapeutic response for those who are way too young to be culpable.”

Most disturbing of all is where the suspensions were taking place.  Not only were nearly all the suspensions targeted to low income, minority children, but there was an extraordinary difference between how district schools handle the behavioral problems of little children and how charter schools handle those problems.

While the CT Mirror included a chart listing the total number of suspensions by town, for purposes of comparison, I’ve added the total number of students in the grade range for 6 year olds (kindergarten and first grade), which allows for a more appropriate apples to apples comparison to be made.   The percentages are actually higher since some 1st graders are 7 years old.

While data does not reveal whether it is the same children being suspended multiple times, what is clear is that suspension is used far more often in Connecticut’s charter schools.

Readers will recall that Achievement First, Inc. is the charter school management company that was co-founded by Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor.

The CT Mirror story is an absolute must read.

The story includes quotes from Joette Katz, the Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families and Governor Malloy’s criminal justice policy advisory, Michael Lawlor.

Katz tells the CT Mirror, “I was shocked…Clearly when children are being suspended, something else is not being attended to.”

Lawlor said, “These high suspension rates are an indicator of weak leadership…It has to do with the culture in a school…It’s not about the kids at that school. It’s about the policies in those schools.”

The most important conclusion is that something is very, very wrong with the way discipline is being handled at Connecticut’s charter schools.

The Department of Children and Families, the State’s Child Advocate and the State Department of Education must begin an immediate investigation into these practices and they would do well to bring in Connecticut’s Attorney General to determine whether Connecticut laws are being violated.

You can read the full CT Mirror Story here:  http://www.ctmirror.org/story/hundreds-kindergarten-students-suspended-school

Corporate Education Reform Industry spends nearly $4.7 million on Connecticut lobbying, little of it telling the truth.

May 19

jonpeltoA Better Connecticut Education Reform Lobbying Group, Achievement First/ConnCAN, Charter Schools, Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER), Ethics, Excel Bridgeport Inc., Malloy, Michelle Rhee, Stefan Pryor, StudentsFirst, Teach for America, Wendy Lecker A Better Connecticut, Achievement First, ConnCAN, Ethics, Malloy, Michelle Rhee, Stefan Pryor, StudentsFirst, Wendy Lecker 6 Comments

Pro-public education commentator Wendy Lecker has written another “must read” piece, this time pointing out the fact that corporate education reformers are either unwilling or unable to tell the truth as the spin their political stories to try and convince elected officials and the public to support their “education reform” agenda.

Lecker, like many of us, has heard the latest round of ads that side-step the truth in a politically self-righteous attempt to convince us that we can improve out public education system by handing it over to private corporations and charter schools.

This new $1.5 million advertising campaign by a front organization called, ironically enough, A Better Connecticut, is just one more step in the most expensive lobbying effort in Connecticut history.

Here are the latest numbers;

To date, since Governor Malloy took office, the corporate education reform industry has spent at least $4,650,721.54 on lobbying, breaking all Connecticut records for the most expensive effort in history to buy up Connecticut Public Policy.

The following chart reveals the players in this scheme.

Following the chart is a link to Wendy Lecker’s latest piece in the Stamford Advocate, Bridgeport Post and other Hearst media outlets.

Wendy Lecker: Imagining where all that money could have gone

“Proponents of corporate-driven education reforms seem to believe that the notion of telling the truth is a low priority. Take for example the false claims being made by charter school advocates about the size of waiting lists for charter schools.

In as diverse locations as Massachusetts and Chicago, charter lobbyists having been pushing charter school expansion by claiming lengthy waiting lists. In both locations, investigations by journalists at the Boston Globe and WBEZ revealed that the waiting list numbers were grossly exaggerated, often counting the same students multiple times. As a Massachusetts legislator noted, raising the charter cap based on artificial numbers “doesn’t make sense.” Unless, of course, your main goal is charter expansion rather than sound educational policy

Another common theme promoted by charter schools is the questionable claim of amazing success. Recently, Geoffrey Canada of the famed Harlem Children’s Zone gave an online seminar in which he boasted a 100 percent graduation rate at his schools. However, if one looks at HCZ’s attrition rate, the true graduation rate is 64 percent. Many have also noted that Canada kicked out two entire grades of children because of sub-par test scores.

Here in Connecticut, ConnCAN, the charter school lobby, is the prominent peddler of shaky claims and half-truths about charter schools.

Recently, in an effort to promote the expansion of charter schools in Bridgeport, Jennifer Alexander, the CEO of ConnCAN, Inc. declared that nearly 80 percent of charters outperform their host districts. However, data from the State Department of Education reveals that about 90 percent of Connecticut’s charters serve a less needy population than their host districts: fewer poor children, fewer English Language Learners or fewer students with disabilities, with most having a combination of two or three of these categories.

Considering poverty, language barriers and special education needs are the prominent factors influencing standardized test scores, it is not much a feat to have higher test scores with a less challenging population. ConnCAN’s claim is hardly an indication of success or innovation.”

Read the rest of Lecker’s commentary piece here: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wendy-Lecker-Imagining-where-all-that-money-4526450.php#ixzz2TlStOU64

The consistently wrong path to better schools by Wendy Lecker

May 05

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Christina Kishimoto, Hartford, Malloy, Stefan Pryor, Steven Adamowski, Wendy Lecker Achievement First, Christina Kishimoto, Hartford, Malloy, Paul Vallas, Stefan Pryor, Steven Adamowski, Wendy Lecker 26 Comments

Wendy Lecker, the pro-public education advocate and fellow columnist hits it out of the park; again, with a new commentary piece in Stamford Advocate entitled “The consistently wrong path to better Schools.

Improving education achievement in our major cities must be a top priority for all of Connecticut’s citizens.  Access to higher quality public schools is a fundamental American right, and is even guaranteed by Connecticut’s Constitution.  In addition, in the near future, 40% of Connecticut’s entire workforce will be coming from our state’s poorer, urban, Priority School Districts.  Our state’s economic future depends on providing all of our young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed.  Finally, the price tag for creating quality schools is not cheap.  Connecticut’s schools are already underfunded and yet Connecticut taxpayers are paying about 80% of the entire educational expenses in cities like Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven.

Education is both the economic and civil rights issue of our time.

Governor Malloy, Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor, Bridgeport “Superintendent of Schools,” Paul Vallas, “Special Master,” Steven Adamowski and the corporate education reformers claim to have the solution – simply hand our public schools over to private corporations.

The approach being perpetrated by these corporate reformers couldn’t be more wrong and Wendy Lecker’s latest column dives that point home.

Wendy Lecker writes;

“Most people who board the wrong train headed to the wrong destination get off and look for the right train.

But not the educational leadership of Hartford.

Superintendent Christina Kishimoto, a protégé of the controversial “reformer” Steven Adamowski, has climbed on the wrong train despite the obvious signs that it will take Hartford in the wrong direction.

In her state of the schools address, Kishimoto highlighted a study conducted for her by University of Connecticut researchers. The study measured, by neighborhood, factors that inhibit the ability to learn, such as child poverty, the percentage of adults without high school or college degrees, crime, health, housing and neighborhood stability, and community assets such as preschool and after-school programs.

Fifty years of research have established that these out-of-school influences account for the majority of differences in student achievement.

In a recent New York Times article, Stanford University’s Sean Reardon summarized his research demonstrating that income inequality is the prime factor in educational disparities. As Professor Reardon noted, schools do not “produce much of the disparity in test scores between high- and low-income students.”

Reardon’s research revealed that the achievement gap between high-income and low-income students has widened in the past three decades largely because income inequality has increased, affluent students arrive to kindergarten better prepared than poor students, and affluent parents spend more on enrichment and tutoring.

Our best chance to reduce academic disparities, then, is to work to reduce economic inequities.

To the extent schools can help, we must give them the capacity to counteract the forces that hinder learning. That means a sufficient number of social workers, school psychologists, health centers, extra academic help and support for children and families, as well as a rich and varied curriculum.

However, rather than address the factors that prevent Hartford’s neediest children from learning, Hartford Superintendent Kishimoto seems intent on taking us in completely the wrong direction, ignoring the evidence she herself requested.

First on Kishimoto’s agenda is expanding the Achievement First charter franchise in Hartford. Achievement First, Inc., already operates a charter school in Hartford and is notorious for failing to serve Hartford’s neediest children. In a city where 43 percent of students come from non-English-speaking homes, only 4.8 percent of Achievement First’s students come from non-English-speaking homes. In Hartford, 18 percent of students are not fluent in English; at Achievement First, 4.8 percent. Thirteen percent of Hartford’s students have disabilities compared with 7.5 percent at Achievement First. Moreover, Achievement First has a 25 percent attrition rate.

Achievement First, a state charter school, is funded directly by the state and is not part of Hartford’s school district. However, Hartford Public Schools must pay for special education services and transportation for Hartford children attending the school. On top of this requirement, Hartford public schools paid $1.5 million dollars for capital improvements on Achievement First’s school building, which the charter uses for free. Additionally, Hartford and Achievement First entered into an agreement whereby the district pays more money to the charter company. This coming year, the district is scheduled to pay Achievement First over $3.2 million.”

Wendy’s assessment the approach being implemented by Hartford Superintendent Christina Kishimoto is harsh but 100% accurate.

Take the time to read the whole column at the Stamford Advocate at: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wendy-Lecker-The-consistently-wrong-path-to-4487142.php#ixzz2SQUbtfw3

Defending Public Education: “You may know a person by the company they keep.”

May 02

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Education Reform, Malloy, Stefan Pryor, Wait What? ConnCAN, Education Reform, Malloy, Stefan Pryor, Wait What? 9 Comments

“You may know a person by the company they keep.”

The quote’s profoundness is right up there with an Arabian proverb that goes, “Judge a person by the reputation of their enemies.”

In either case, the phrases prove that much can be said with just a few choice words.

This past weekend, I had the honor of providing the “key-note” address at a conference that took place at Central Connecticut State University entitled “Defending Public Education.”

The conference explored the corporate education reform movement.  As readers of Wait, What? know – there was a lot to discuss!

I’ve been meaning to post a blog about the conference, but a reader sent me a review of the conference published on the pro-corporate education reform blog, CTEducation180.

In this case, I think that reposting their assessment probably gives Wait, What? readers a better and more accurate review of the conference than I could ever write;

Following their post, I’ve copied some background about the CTEducation180 blog which appears to be a blog that is used by ConnCAN, the charter school advocacy group.

Anti-reformer gathering puts Pelto in spotlight

This weekend, a teachers union funded and convened an anti-education reform conference, featuring who else but Jonathan Pelto on the list of speakers.

The event was hosted by the Central Connecticut State University Youth for Socialist Action, which describes itself on its Facebook page as “a group of revolutionary minded students and young workers.”

Really. You can’t make this stuff up.

Conference organizers make exactly zero attempts to be evenhanded, academic or honest. The flyer for the event goes off on a paranoia-laced rant about legislators “influenced by the profit motive” and “demonized” public workers.

Who is ponying up the dough for this nonsense? The Hartford Federation of Teachers, among others.

Called “Defending Public Education,” the conference appears to be little more than an anti-education reform rally. It features such panels as “Teachers Are Not the Enemy” and “Organizing Action in Your Community.”

And Jon Pelto headlined.

You might remember Pelto from his continuing series of blog posts attacking the state’s education commissioner, the governor, the schools chiefs from Windham, Hartford and Bridgeport, and many, many other folks who have made improving Connecticut’s schools their life’s work.

It would be nice if people could engage in a real discussion about how to better help Connecticut’s failing schools, and how to better support Connecticut’s students. But with gatherings like these which only engender fear, skew the facts, and prop up hacks like Jon Pelto — funded by our teacher unions — that remains a dream, rather than a reality.

So who is CTEducation180?

CTEducation180 is a blog that was created by public relations consultant Pat Scully, whose own blog is called the “hanging shad.”  It now appears that CTEducation180 has become a communication vehicle for ConnCAN, the charter school advocacy organization created by members of Achievement First, Inc’s Board of Directors.  Achievement First, Inc. being the charter school management company co-founded by Connecticut Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor.

The “about” section of the blog reads, “The education reform bill passed last year by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Dannel P. Malloy raises standards for educators, allows immediate action to improve failing schools, increases access to high-quality public school choices, and improves how education dollars are spent.

Unfortunately, bold steps forward on education reform have spawned a vocal chorus of opponents that are willing to say and do anything in order to maintain the status quo and prevent children from attending the high-quality public schools they deserve.”

Shocker: Hartford Superintendent proposes another Achievement First Inc. Charter School

Apr 24

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Charter Schools, Christina Kishimoto, Hartford, Malloy, Stefan Pryor Achievement First, Charter Schools, Christina, Hartford, Malloy, Stefan Pryor 12 Comments

Joined by the Chairman of the Hartford Board of Education, Hartford Superintendent of Schools and “education reformer protégé,” Christiana Kishimoto, began her annual “State of the Schools” speech by presenting Governor Malloy with the Hartford State of the Schools Award “to thank him for education reform and its impact on Hartford.”

Then, Kishimoto announced that she was throwing her support behind the creation of yet another Achievement First charter school for Hartford.

What a surprise!  The company co-founded by Stefan Pryor, Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, has the support of Hartford’s superintendent, despite the fact that Achievement First, Inc. has completely failed to educate its fair share of non-English speaking students, students who go home to households where English is not the primary language or students who require special education services.

Take at a look at the data

Hartford vs. Achievement First – Hartford:  Servicing students who are not fluent in the English language (ESL):

Hartford vs. Achievement First – Hartford:  Servicing students who go home to households where English in not the primary language:

Hartford vs. Achievement First – Hartford:  Servicing students who have disabilities that require special education services:

Imagine, a city where one out of five students are fluent in English, a city in which more than 6 in 10 students go home to households where English is not the primary language and where more than 1 in 10 students need special education services…and that city’s superintendent of schools supports the expansion of a charter school management company that fails to provide appropriate services to those students!

Instead of working to ensure that all of Hartford’s students are serviced, Hartford’s “education reform” superintendent is pushing for even more seats and more funding for Achievement First, Inc.

Sadly, this insulting action doesn’t come as a surprise.

When Governor Malloy nominated Stefan Pryor for the position of Commissioner of Education, Wait, What? readers had the opportunity to learn all about Steven Pryor and Achievement First, Inc.

Readers may even recall the post that read:

In 2010, Achievement First’s Board of Directors adopted an aggressive strategic plan to grow Achievement First.  The plan, which is outlined in their 2010 Annual Report, is designed to increase the number of Achievement First charter schools from 20 schools to 35 schools in the next few years.  Instead of serving 5,400 students, Achievement First plans to serve more than 12,000 students.

If they utilized the present “Management Fee” system, Achievement First, Inc. would be collecting nearly $10 million a year in taxpayer funds.

Recall that Achievement First Inc. noted in their plan that when that strategic plan is implemented, Achievement First “will serve more students than 95 percent of school districts in the United States.”

Meanwhile, Achievement First has also been working to successfully change Connecticut law to allow the company’s existing schools to expand over their statutory limits.

A 2010 law eliminated the grade limit of 85 students per grade and REQUIRED that the State Department of Education  “waive the overall enrollment limits,” if these particular charter schools wanted to expand.

Instead of requiring the Connecticut State Board of Education to weigh the costs and benefits of allowing these charter schools to expand, the new law required them to allow the expansions.

The net effect was that Achievement First, already the largest charter school company in Connecticut, has an automatic green light to expand.

Achievement First Hartford, which had 593 students in 2010-2011, will reach 797 by 2012-2013 and will still expand even further in subsequent years.  Achievement First Bridgeport will go from 410 in 2010-2011 to 672 in 2012-2013, and smaller expansions will be taking place at Achievement First Amistad Academy and at Achievement First’s Elm City College Preparatory school.

So let’s put Christiana Kishimoto’s proposal in perspective.  At the very moment that Hartford is undermining its existing schools, Hartford’s superintendent is supporting a proposal to divert even more funds to a company that fails to provide educational services to a significant portion of Hartford’s children.

It is what a normal person would call an outrage!

House sticks it to the 99% of public school students who attend public district schools by confirming charter school executive to the State Board of Education

Apr 10

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE), Jumoke Academy, Malloy, Stefan Pryor Andrea Comer, Fuse, Jumoke Academy, Malloy, State Board of Education, Stefan Pryor 19 Comments

Earlier today, BY A VOICE VOTE SO THAT NO ONE WOULD NEED TO BE ON RECORD, the Connecticut House of Representatives confirmed Governor Malloy’s nomination of Andrea Comer to serve a four-year term on the State Board of Education.

Comer, who works as the Chief Operations Officer for the FUSE/Jumoke Academy charter school management company, and previously worked for Commissioner Stefan Pryor’s Achievement First, Inc, one of the nation’s largest charter school management companies, will be filling the State Board of Education seat that was most recently held by an official from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

Late word from some Democratic legislators was that the Malloy administration promised that the next two State Board of Education nominations would be of pro-public education supporters if Democratic legislators looked the other way and voted for the appointment of the charter school executive.

As a member of the State Board of Education, Comer will be in a unique position to directly and indirectly help her employer and the charter school industry continue their ongoing privatization efforts.

FUSE/Jumoke Inc. already collects millions of dollars in state funds distributed by the State Department of Education and has major expansion plans.  Just last year, Commissioner Pryor and the State Board of Education directed that Hartford’s Milner elementary school be handed over to Jumoke to manage.

The decision to give one of Hartford’s public schools to the Jumoke Academy was not only lucrative for the Jumoke Academy but was even more noteworthy because the Milner elementary school has been one in which half the students come from households that didn’t speak English and fully one in four students weren’t fluent in English.  The Jumoke Academy, by comparison, has never had a single bi-lingual student during its many years of existence and has consistently failed to provide educational services to its fair share of special education students.

The decision to nominate and confirm a high-ranking charter school executive to Connecticut’s education policy board is seen as yet another attack on Connecticut’s school teachers, the teacher unions and the 99% of student who attend public district schools.

Will the Connecticut House vote tomorrow to confirm a Charter School Executive to the State Board of Education?

Apr 09

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE), Jumoke Academy, Malloy, State Board of Education, Stefan Pryor Andrea Comer, Conflict of Interest, Fuse, Jumoke Academy, Malloy, State Board of Education, Stefan Pryor 2 Comments

The Connecticut House of Representatives convenes tomorrow at 10 a.m.

On the calendar is House Joint Resolution No. 75. , the resolution confirming the nomination of Andrea Comer of Hartford to be a member of the State Board of Education.

If the General Assembly confirms Governor Malloy’s nomination of Andrea Comer, the COO of the FUSE/Jumoke, Inc. charter school management company, she would be a member of the State Board of Education through February 2017.

While there has been extensive coverage of Comer’s nomination here at Wait, What? there has been limited coverage in the general media.

The entire situation is a sad commentary about what some people perceive to be a conflict of interest and the general acceptance of the corporatization and privatization of public education.

The Jumoke Academy Inc. collects millions of dollars in public funds for its school in Hartford.

In addition, Commissioner Stefan Pryor gave Hartford’s Milner elementary school to the Jumoke Academy to manage.  The new Jumoke Academy at Milner immediately dismissed the vast majority of Milner’s dedicated teachers and instituted their own special “operating approach.”

As Wait, What? readers know that Jumoke “operating approach” is based on a strategy of not providing education services to non-English speaking students, students who go home to households where English is not the primary language or to their fair share of students who require special education services.

Instead of taking responsibility for providing a true public education, FUSE/Jumoke Academy responds by claiming that they deserve accolades and additional funds for producing better results on Connecticut’s standardized tests.

But of course, since poverty, language barriers and special education needs are the three greatest influences on standardized test scores, it comes as no surprise that a school that accepts fewer poor students, NO bi-lingual or ESL students and far fewer special education students than its fair share would end up with a population that would have higher test scores.

But the reason that Andrea Comer’s nomination is suspect goes well beyond the discriminatory and anti-Latino policies of FUSE/Jumoke Inc.

Connecticut law frowns on conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest, or at least it is supposed to.  Those who have contracts and benefit from state resources aren’t supposed to be in a position to reward themselves or their friends.

If Andrea Comer, the Chief Operating Officer of FUSE/Jumoke Inc., finds herself on the State Board of Education, she will certainly be in a “unique” position to directly and indirectly impact her job, her employer and the industry she has worked so hard to represent.  Prior to working for FUSE/Jumoke, Inc. she worked for Achievement First, Inc., the even larger charter school management company co-founded by Stefan Pryor.

In fact, together, Achievement First and FUSE/Jumoke control more than half of the $55 -$60 million plus in taxpayer funds that flow to charter schools each year.

Finally, as we now know, Andrea Comer also has extensive experience with the so-called crime of ‘stealing” public education when she decided to keep her child in one district despite the fact that she moved to another.  Comer complains that raising this point was a personal attack and that she was just looking out of the best interests of her child.  While Comer, and all parents, should do whatever they legally can to look out for their children, we now know that Comer’s case was treated very, very differently than more recent Connecticut case where a woman was arrested and convicted of “stealing” education.

Sometimes it’s the “little” votes that provide voters with the best snapshot of their elected officials.

The vote on Comer’s nomination is just such a vote.

Any legislator who votes to put the COO of FUSE/Jumoke Inc. on the State Board of Education is sending a very loud and very clear message to their communities about their definition of conflict of interest and their attitudes toward protecting public resources.

For more on Comer’s nomination here are some of the Wait, What? posts on the topic:

Malloy nominates charter school corporate officer to Connecticut State Board of Education

One Adam-12, One Adam-12, we have a COI in progress

Stamford Advocate joins effort to warn about conflict of interest on State Board of Education

The complex issue of stealing public education…Just ask Malloy’s nominee for the State Board of Education

Courant focuses attention on Malloy’s nominee for State Board of Education

Oops, Malloy’s nominee to the State Board of Education didn’t quite tell the whole story

ConnCAN dropped $35,800 on opinion poll to make Malloy and education reform appear popular

Apr 04

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Ben Barnes (OPM Secretary), Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Malloy, Prosperity for Connecticut PAC, State Budget, Stefan Pryor Ben Barnes, Charter Schools, ConnCAN, Education Reform, Malloy, State Budget, Stefan Pryor 4 Comments

On February 6, 2013 Governor Dannel Malloy gave his Bi-annual budget address to a joint session of the Connecticut General Assembly.    On the issue of public education he said, “We’re turning around struggling schools by growing our Commissioner’s Network, with funding for 17 more schools…We’re continuing to broaden the range of educational opportunities by maintaining our support for magnet schools, agricultural-science schools, and other high-quality options, including funding for additional state charter schools.”

It was just two weeks earlier that ConnCAN, the charter school advocacy group, conducted a public opinion survey designed to show broad-based public support for Malloy and Malloy’s education reform initiatives.

Interestingly, although the poll was conducted from January 23 until January 27, ConnCAN didn’t report their $35,800 expenditure on the survey until their March State Ethics Filing. By waiting a month to report the cost of their persuasion survey, they ensured that media coverage of the survey was confined to results and not the excessive amount of money ConnCAN spent to create the impression that Malloy’s actions were politically popular.

The strategy played itself out on February 13, 2013.  While Malloy’s controversial budget proposals floated out there, a week after he delivered them, the Global Strategies Group, a political and public relations company released a “polling memo” declaring that the public was strongly behind the Governor and his education proposals.

Global Strategies Group is the company that Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy’s former chief advisor, rejoined after leaving the Governor’s side on the first of this year.

The Global Strategies Group memo claimed that, “There is broad support for continuing education reforms. Connecticut voters are overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the education reforms passed last year… Support for reform crosses party lines… and demographic groups… Men and women… parents and non-parents… younger and older voters… and white and non-white voters… all support continuing reforms.”  The memo also claimed that “86 percent say improving the quality of public education is a high priority, including 49 percent who say it is a top priority that needs to be addressed by the governor and the state legislature.”

Perhaps the most interesting part of this entire story is the pattern of communications that was taking place behind the scenes.

According to materials released as a result of a Freedom of Information request, in late December 2012, ConnCAN’s acting CEO, Jennifer Alexander, wrote to Malloy’s budget chief, Ben Barnes, asking for a meeting to discuss the state budget.  Twenty minutes later Barnes wrote back accepting the request.

The meeting was originally scheduled for January 11, two weeks before the ConnCAN public opinion survey began, but had to be postponed due to the special deficit mitigation session.

When the meeting was postponed until after the date of the Governor’s budget address, ConnCAN’s CEO wrote on January 10, 2013:

“Dear Ben,

I saw that our scheduled meeting for tomorrow was cancelled…I really do need to meet with you before the end of next week… Is there any chance we can meet sooner?

All the best,

Jen”

On January 16, 2013 Alexander followed-up with a letter that included a statement that read, “I’m writing, therefore, to ask that your team come out as strongly as possible in the budget on the key pillars of the Governor’s reforms, most notably charter schools, the Commissioner’s Network, and educator evaluation.  Specifically, we ask that you hold firm to fully fund: the charter per-pupil increases currently set in statute: 10 new state charter schools; all 25 of the legally allowed commissioner’s Network Schools; and the full statewide rollout of the educator evaluation program”

The ConnCAN CEO ended with, “To summarize, we know that some members of the General Assembly are not where the Governor and you are on reform.  ConnCAN and others are here to help, and it will be easier for us to rally strong support if the administration comes out strong in your proposed budget on the key pillars of the Governor’s reforms, including charters, the Commissioner’s Network, and talent development.”

As we now know, Governor Malloy did “come out strong” in his budget address for the charter schools and the ConnCAN/OPM meeting was held on February 20 at 3 p.m., a week after ConnCAN released their poll backing the Governor and his reform proposals.

A sure indicator of the access ConnCAN has into Governor Malloy and the Office of Policy and Management was that when the meeting was held, it not only included OPM Secretary Ben Barnes, but the other participants appear to have been Paul Potamianos, OPM’s Executive Budget Officer; John Noonan, OPM’s Section Director for Education; Leah Grenier, the OPM budget analyst for education and Liz Donohue, Governor Malloy’s Policy Director.

The level of staff attention granted ConnCAN is impressive.  ConnCAN had the top four education budget officials at the Office of Policy and Management and the Governor’s policy director?  Most Connecticut advocacy groups would be happy to get one fifth of that group to hear them out.

Then again, we are talking about ConnCAN.

The same ConnCAN that spearheaded the multi-million dollar lobbying campaign on behalf of Malloy’s “education reform” bill.

The same ConnCAN that helped raise more than $40,000 for Prosperity for Connecticut PAC, the political action committee associated with Governor Malloy that held a fundraiser at the home of Jonathan Sackler, last year, with national and state education reform leaders.

And the same ConnCAN that was founded by members of the Achievement First, Inc. Board of Directors; Achievement First being the charter school management company co-founded by Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor and where Pryor served as a Director until he resigned to take on the role of Malloy’s Education Commissioner.

What’s that quote about it’s not what you know, but who you know that matters?

Oops, Malloy’s nominee to the State Board of Education didn’t quite tell the whole story

Apr 01

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Charter Schools, Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE), Jumoke Academy, Malloy, Stefan Pryor Fuse, Jumoke Academy, Malloy, State Board of Education, Stefan Pryor 10 Comments

Andrea Comer skipped a few important facts when telling “her side” of the story about when her child was attending school in a district in which she did not live…

In a Wait, What? post last week, entitled The complex issue of stealing public education…Just ask Malloy’s nominee for the State Board of Education, readers learned that ten years ago, Governor Malloy’s nominee to the State Board of Education kept her child in the Windsor School System even though she had moved to Hartford.

The purpose of the Wait, What? post was not to personally attack Ms. Comer but to explore the fact that in addition to the conflict of interest Ms. Comer has by serving as the Chief Operations Officer for the FUSE/Jumoke Inc. charter school management company, the way in which her case of “stealing public education” was handled was very differently than the situation of the woman in Norwalk who was arrested and convicted of first-degree larceny for enrolling her child in the Norwalk School System when she purportedly lived in Bridgeport.

Although Comer did not reveal or explain her case when she went before the General Assembly’s Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee, the story came to light after the review of a December 2002 article in the Hartford Courant.

At the time, Windsor sent a tuition bill for $5,120, Comer told the Courant that, “she doesn’t intend to pay the tuition bill.” The story went on to note that “Comer did appeal to the Windsor Board of Education for a waiver from the residency requirement. The board denied the waiver, but said her daughter could stay in the school system if Comer paid tuition. Her appeal to the hearing division of the state department of education was also denied.”

Following the posting of the story on Wait, What? Ms. Comer took the time to post a comment to the site.  In addition to challenging what she felt was a personal attack; she explained her side of the story by writing,

“With regard to my experience in Windsor, my daughter was in the 8th grade when I took the job with the Mayor’s office. It was midway through the school year when I relocated to Hartford, and I actually informed the school we were moving so they had our up-to-date contact information. To be honest, as a NY native and this being my only child, I was unaware of the residency rules, and ignorance of the law is now excuse. But I did know this: 8th grade was difficult enough for her, and I did not want her to have to attend three schools in one year. So I kept her at the middle school she was attending. I also felt it was unfair that a child’s case-by-case circumstance was not being considered in this situation, so I fought the tuition. I ultimately made payment, and it was worth every penny to provide educational stability for my daughter.”

My response then, as now, is that the report was most certainly not meant as a personal attack but that as a nominee for the State Board of Education, the entity responsible for setting education policy in the state, her job as COO for FUSE/Jumoke, Inc. and her experience with keeping her child in a school district in which she did not live were both valid issues to be raised.

This is NOT about whether Comer is a good mother.

This is about appointing the best possible candidates to the State Board of Education.

Since the original Wait, What? article was posted, additional information has become available.

When Ms. Comer wrote, “…I also felt it was unfair that a child’s case-by-case circumstance was not being considered in this situation, so I fought the tuition. I ultimately made payment…”

What she failed to explain was that in February 2002, ten months before the Hartford Courant wrote that story about Windsor’s move to get payment, the Windsor Board of Education held a special meeting to deal with Residency Case No. 02-02. (Also known as the Comer case).

At that February 27, 2002 meeting, a motion was made and seconded “that the Board of Education move to deny the appeal for Case No. 02-02.” 

However, as the official minutes go on to explain, the same board member who moved to deny Ms. Comer’s appeal, “further moved that the Board of Education allow the student to attend Sage Park Middle School for the remainder of the school year at a reduced rate of tuition in recognition of the family’s circumstances.  The motion was approved by a 4-0-0 vote.”

The minutes also reflect that, “Assistant Superintendent Leo Salvatore clarified the Board’s decision saying that the Board wanted to accommodate the parent’s wish for the student to stay the remainder of the year, but also had to maintain the town’s residency regulations.  The conclusion was that in order for the student to finish the school year in Windsor, tuition would have to be paid for the months of March and April and the tuition for May and June would be waived.”

So the truth is that Andrea Comer did receive a bill for $5,120 after she moved to Hartford to become a spokeswoman for Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez, but kept her daughter enrolled in Sage Park Middle School.

However, to say “I also felt it was unfair that a child’s case-by-case circumstance was not being considered in this situation,” is totally and completely false and unfair.  The Windsor Board of Education went above and beyond the call of duty to provide the child with options, but Malloy’s nominee refused to take those options and ten months later was still saying she had no intention of paying the tuition bill.

As it turns out, paying $100 a month, Ms. Comer did eventually pay the bill but to write, as she did, that “I ultimately made payment” is more than a bit disingenuous.

Comer knew she could not keep her child in the local school when she didn’t live in the district.

The district even made special provisions to address Comer’s situation.

And still she failed to fulfill her legal and moral obligation.

Put simply, considering how profound the residency issue is, it would inappropriate to put Comer on the State Board of Education.

As importantly, Comer’s position as the COO of a major charter school management company surrounds her with what can only be called a perceived conflict of interest.

In this day and age, the students, parents, teachers and taxpayers are facing enough challenges without having to deal with elected or appointed officials whose judgement is potentially contaminated by a real or perceived conflict.

If Governor Malloy does not withdrawn this nomination, the Connecticut House of Representatives has the unfortunate obligation to reject it.

You can find the initial Wait, What? post and the various comments here:  http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/03/25/the-complex-issue-of-stealing-public-educationjust-ask-malloys-nominee-for-the-state-board-of-education/

“I have chosen to observe most of the dialogue regarding my appointment, because I realize people have philosophical differences with regard to education. However, since this has now become personal, I feel compelled to comment.

Let me start by saying that I have spent 20 years working in the interests of my community and the children who live there. The fact that it appears that the last three I have spent working for charters seems to be all that matters is disappointing. Working with young people in Hartford, I am painfully aware of what happens when education fails children. To the extent that I can support policies that change that dynamic, I will.

With regard to my experience in Windsor, my daughter was in the 8th grade when I took the job with the Mayor’s office. It was midway through the school year when I relocated to Hartford, and I actually informed the school we were moving so they had our up-to-date contact information. To be honest, as a NY native and this being my only child, I was unaware of the residency rules, and ignorance of the law is now excuse. But I did know this: 8th grade was difficult enough for her, and I did not want her to have to attend three schools in one year. So I kept her at the middle school she was attending. I also felt it was unfair that a child’s case-by-case circumstance was not being considered in this situation, so I fought the tuition. I ultimately made payment, and it was worth every penny to provide educational stability for my daughter.

My daughter is the single most important thing in the world to me – she has made me a better person, and I try to make her proud every day. I’m fine with folks opposing my job choices and my political ideals. But the choices I make as a mother in the best interests of my child should not be fodder for debate.

One final note: We all have opinions and our experiences inform those opinions. It’s disheartening that we have come to a place where public discourse cannot be respectful and in order to support our point we have to resort to personal attacks.”

Courant focuses attention on Malloy’s nominee for State Board of Education

Mar 27

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Children's Health, Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE), Jumoke Academy, Malloy, Michael Sharpe, Stefan Pryor Charter Schools, Fuse, Jumoke Academy, Malloy, State Board of Education, Stefan Pryor 15 Comments

The Hartford Courant increased media attention on Andrea Comer, Governor Malloy’s nominee for the Connecticut State Board of Education yesterday with a story entitled, “Teachers Union Opposes Nomination Of Charter School Executive To State Board Of Education.”

Comer, who serves as the Chief Operations Officer of FUSE/Jumoke Inc., the charter school management company that owns the Jumoke Academy and the Jumoke Academy at Milner was nominated by Malloy to fill a spot on the State Board that oversees and approves Connecticut’s charter schools, along with setting policy for Connecticut’s public education system.

Prior to working for FUSE/Jumoke, Inc., Comer worked for more than two years for Achievement First, Inc., the large charter school management company that was co-founded by Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor.

According to the Courant’s education reporter, Kathy Megan;

“Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s nomination of a charter school executive to the state Board of Education has met with a brushfire of opposition from a teachers union.

Earlier this month, Malloy nominated Andrea Comer, 47, chief operating officer for the charter school group FUSE (Family Urban Schools of Excellence), the Hartford organization that manages Jumoke Academy.

“It is extremely disappointing that the governor would appoint a person so into charter schools as she is,” said Andrea Johnson, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers. “It’s just a slap in the face of every public school teacher. It’s terrible.’

“Once again, it’s the governor acting like the reformer that he’s not. It’s the governor and [State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor] wanting to get more reform people into the public sector.”

Eric Bailey, spokesman for the Connecticut chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said: “We don’t believe that her appointment to the state Board of Education represents the balanced approach necessary to ensure that the children of Connecticut are getting the kind of education they need.”

The best quote in the entire article comes from Governor Malloy’s spokesperson who sent an email to the Courant saying, “We believe the State Board of Education should reflect a diversity of opinion, and Andrea’s experience will add to the board’s diversity…” More