Seattle ed superintendent, featured Eli Broad graduate, fired for failing to address rampant fraud.

[madfloridian]

The alumni of Eli Broad's Superintendent Academy are spreading out across the country. They tend to make extreme changes very quickly, and they show no respect for teachers and unions. In fact Rahm just hired one of them for CEO of Chicago schools in spite of the fact that he was given a no-confidence vote in Rochester by 2,713 votes to 140.

Here's the link to 3 pages of Broad Superintendent's Academy featured alumni. See if your schools' CEO is listed.

Broad Academy featured alumni

Do you know the most amazing thing of all. Eli Broad himself once issued a statement saying "“We don’t know anything about how to teach or reading curriculum or any of that."

He really did that.

Broad, a Los Angeles-based billionaire who made his fortune in insurance and real estate, has been at the forefront of the school restructuring movement over the past decade. Using the foundation that bears his name, he has pushed aggressively for schools to be run more like businesses. The Broad (pronounced like “road”) Foundation has seeded charter schools across the country, including in New York. It has also developed a number of programs to train school administrators, including the Broad Superintendent Academy, which instructs business, nonprofit, military, government and education leaders in how to manage urban school districts. A number of top officials at the New York City’s Department of Education have received Broad training. Speaking at the 92nd Street Y in New York City last year, Broad summarized his approach: “We don’t know anything about how to teach or reading curriculum or any of that. But what we do know about is management and governance.”

Eli Broad: “We don’t know anything about how to teach or reading curriculum or any of that."

Doesn't sound like they are very good at management either.

From the Parents Across America blog, here is more about Maria Goodloe-Johnson.

The True Legacy of Seattle’s Fired (Broad Academy) Superintendent

It looks like the Broad Foundation is actively trying to whitewash the history of their Superintendent Academy graduate, Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who was fired by the Seattle School Board earlier this month along with her handpicked CFO, Don Kennedy, for her failure to address a rampant case of fraud happening within the district’s central office.

...."Goodloe-Johnson herself has also been doing her part, from afar (she went to South Carolina before the scandal broke a month ago and has never returned), belatedly phoning in interviews, a late, tepid apology and her own spin on what went on in the Pottergate scandal.

She claims no guilt in the matter and unblinkingly claimed all $264,000 plus benefits of her severance package, knowing full well that meanwhile the district is cutting counselors and overcrowding schools because of a financial crisis here. “I have a contract,” she blandly told King-5 TV in an interview. This may be true, but she also had a responsibility to our district to deliver ethical and constructive leadership in exchange for that salary. And to stick around during one of the biggest crises the district has faced in years.

So the reformers claim they are the only ones who care about the children..that the teachers and unions only care about themselves.

That doesn't seem so true.

Here are some of the highlights of her time there...more details on each at the link.

Damning state audit. On Goodloe-Johnson’s watch, the Seattle School District was cited with multiple violations by state auditors for gross mismanagement of district resources. The board was also cited for failure to manage the superintendent.

There was also the MAP® test Boondoggle & Ethics Violation/Conflict of Interest, the Overwhelmingly Vote “No Confidence” in Goodloe-Johnson by the teachers.

That's only the beginning of things listed at the article.

An editorial from the Seattle Times in February called for her to resign.

Seattle school Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson should resign


Pic from the Seattle Times. Goodloe-Johnson

She was brought here from South Carolina in 2007 to fix several problems, the first of which was the district's lax control of its money. The latest mess shows the task has not been done.

The gist of the story is that several years ago the district was having trouble getting enough bids on its smaller construction jobs. It set up a program using capital funds to qualify minority- and women-owned contractors to bid. To run the program, the district hired Silas Potter Jr.

He was a poor choice. Potter was, according to the School Board's investigator, a "marginal employee" who had left a string of unpaid bills, including his child support and federal taxes. Without permission, he changed the program from qualifying bidders to training people in small businesses, which is not the mission of a public school district.

When the state auditor ruled that capital funds could not be used for such a purpose, the district had to repay the capital fund with $2 million in money that should have gone to the classroom.

Sometimes I wonder at just how quickly we got on this course of hiring education leaders not for their competence, but for their connections to billionaires.

[Hannah Bell]

1. kr. the broad superintendants have been a destructive thieving bunch.

[madfloridian]

2. Over and over.

And for Rahm to hire a guy with a record like that with teachers to run the Chicago schools....it's a slap in the face to educators who care about kids.

[madfloridian]

3. Timeline of her hiring and firing....

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Maria-Goodloe-Johnson-timeline-1039361.php

[Snoutport]

4. kr important stuff!

[n2doc]

5. Another grifter n/t

[BallardWA]

6. She was hired in a panic

The ideal and most desired candidate was suddenly given a better offer by his district after they got wind that he was going to receive an offer from Seattle. Our district panicked and hired number two, Goodloe-Johnson, because so much money had been spent on the search. We, the parents, begged them to keep searching, as our initial impression of her was quite negative. They hired her anyway, so once again our kids are the ones who pay.

[madfloridian]

7. Yes, the kids are the ones who will suffer the most.

It's about the greed of billionaires.

And the heartbreaking part is that no one in our party in a leadership role even cares.

[upi402]

11. Zero money should be spent

Seems like that's a good gig. Make them compete for it! They could find people more competent than her within eyesight if they just looked around.

[suffragette]

8. Now, after all this, she's a finalist for Newark, NJ superintendent

Unbelievable

NJ DU'ers, you do not want her in that position.

edited to add link:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/120539429.html
Former Seattle schools chief is finalist for N.J. post

[Generic Other]

9. Who the hell would hire her? Nothing but problems in Seattle

And she left town like a criminal on the run. Did she even pack her things? OMG.

Watch your back, Newark.

[suffragette]

13. As madfloridian noted, she sure collected her money

Hefty bonus for an incredibly bad job.

And it speaks volumes that Seattle was so eager to send her packing that they, even in the midst of this horrific budget situation that was made worse by her, chose to pay up so ties could be quickly and completely cut.

But yeah, apparently she's one of the top two finalists in NJ:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/120539429.html
Story Published: Apr 23, 2011 at 8:41 AM PDT Story Updated: Apr 23, 2011 at 8:42 AM PDT

NEWARK, N.J. - Former Seattle schools superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who was fired last month after a financial scandal, is one of two finalists for the top position in the troubled Newark, N.J., school system.

The development was reported Friday by the New Jersey Star Ledger and the Wall Street Journal.




Mind boggling, isn't it?

[madfloridian]

12. That is stunning. Hard to believe NJ will hire her.

But look at who Rahm hired for CPS after he failed in Rochester.

There is some behind the scenes big money power stuff going on, methinks.

[suffragette]

14. Something sure is going on. Looked up other candidate - TFA trained

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/22/newarks-underperforming-schools-new-leader_n_852733.html

The New Jersey Star Ledger reported Friday that Newark, N.J. has narrowed a slew of superintendent candidates down to two finalists: Cami Anderson, a senior superintendent who leads New York City's alternative high school programs, and Maria Goodloe-Johnson, the former superintendent of Seattle schools who was terminated by the school board a month ago.

The emergence of Anderson, a product of Teach for America, and Goodloe-Johnson, who completed the Broad Foundation's superintendent training, comes as America's urban school districts face rapid leadership turnover; in the last few weeks alone, Chicago, New York City and New Orleans' Recovery School District have hired new superintendents.

Those cities have snatched up coveted candidates -- in fact, Newark considered Chicago's newly hired superintendent, Jean-Claude Brizard, to be in the running to lead its schools until Monday -- while Atlanta, Montgomery, MD, Broward County, FL, and Detroit continue their searches for education leaders

And Arne's visiting the area (from same article):

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Newark to talk up teacher recruitment. Duncan said he was sure that education could remedy "the poorest kid, from the toughest community from the most dysfunctional family." Cities with high dropout rates, he said, are "perpetuating poverty. We're perpetuating failure."


Hmm, "perpetuating failure." Since Goodloe-Johnson was fired, wouldn't even considering her for such a position (or allowing her to be considered) be doing just that?

[upi402]

10. Silas Potter Jr was hired first? Why can't competent people be found?

Public sector hiring is not a 2-day decision process. WTF?

Seattle tried to get more women & minority contractors so they hire someone to do that instead of relaxing stupid hurdles to those contractors?
Not sure that was wise.