"A fine mess" in Chicago schools. Rahm's pick for education CEO not making many happy.

[madfloridian]

An education blogger refers to it as "a fine mess". He may be right.

A fine mess you've got us into, Rahm

Emanuel isn't even officially mayor yet and he's already got the city and its schools in a fine mess. His appointment of the embattled J.C. Brizard as our new schools CEO rivals only Bloomberg's pick of Cathie Black in N.Y. as most embarrassing. Anyone paying attention should have seen this coming.

Back in 2008, Gary Stager, a senior editor at District Administration Magazine described Brizard as being reality-impaired and driven by ideology. His condemnation, by 95% of Rochester teachers should have been a clue, even to the most clueless. His inability to find any common ground with Adam Urbanski, probably the most reform-minded union leader in the country, not only is a tip-off to Brizard's style of work, it also tips the new mayor's hand, showing that with union negotiations on the near horizon, he too has little or no interest in bargaining in good faith.

By picking Brizard, without any consultation or input from the school community, Rahm has somehow managed to mire himself, his new school board, and the city in a major scandal. Brizard's violation of his three-year contract in Rochester, which began Jan. 1, reveals not only a lack of commitment or integrity, but also has that district's board president threatening litigation.

It's only taken the Chicago media (with some help from local bloggers and Rochester journalists like Rachel Barnhart) about a week to expose Brizard's phony test-score and graduation-rate gains. A Rochester "miracle"? The honeymoon is therefore declared over before it's even begun.

Interesting to see that the Chicago Tribune spares no words on this subject.

New CPS chief leaves old district mired in questions, controversy

ROCHESTER, N.Y. ——
When Rochester City Schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard departs to take charge of Chicago's public school system, he'll leave behind a largely broken school district with dismal test scores, shaky finances and a fractured relationship with teachers.

Though Brizard touts improvements in graduation rates and test scores among his accomplishments in his 3 1/2 years, opinion is sharply divided on whether he has made a significant difference in the performance of the district's largely low-income black and Latino students.

Thirty of the city's schools, about half, failed federal academic standards, based on last year's testing, according to the New York education agency. Twelve high schools and junior-senior highs are so troubled that they made the government's list of worst-of-the-worst schools, state records show. The district also faces deficits and dwindling reserves, as well as an impasse with teachers in contract negotiations.

The blog of another educator activist also has some strong words.

In Education, Nothing Succeeds Quite Like Failure

That would be the failure of the elite administrators and reformers. Teachers dare not fail.

I just read with horror that Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emmanuel has appointed Rochester, NY schools superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard to be the new Cathie Black of the Chicago Public Schools (the nation’s 2nd largest school district). This continues FOO’s (friends of Obama) full-scale assault on public education and teacher unions begun months before President Obama was even elected.

Apparently, large city schools superintendent is the only job for which references are not checked.

Jean-Claude Brizard is an Eli Broad disciple whose singular genius was creating in-school suspensions where kids waste time doing nothing in school, rather than outside of school. That’s some reform!

Since coming to Rochester in January 2008, Brizard has pushed for his own brand of reform: instituting a contentious in-school suspension policy, and moving problematic teachers out of classrooms into what some New York City teachers call “rubber rooms.” (Rochester City Newspaper – March 17, 2010)

The Seattle Education blog has an interesting post about being infected with the Broad virus...and how to know if you have been.

How to tell if your school district is infected.

Those of us who have experienced the “leadership” of L.A. billionaire Eli Broad’s corporate-trained superintendents send Chicago our condolences. We have been there, done that, with scars to show for it, and nothing in the way of real academic or positive gains for our schools and kids.

In fact, the Broad brand has been seriously tarnished lately, to the point where it really should be considered a liability rather than an asset. Here are just a few examples of Broad supts who have been ousted or left their districts in a cloud of controversy: LaVonne Sheffield (Broad Superintendents Academy “Class of 2002? – resigned), Rockford, Ill.; Maria Goodloe-Johnson (Broad “Class of 2003? - fired), Seattle, Wa.; Matthew H. Malone (Broad “Class of 2003? – resigned) former superintendent of Swampscott, MA; Deborah Sims (Broad “Class of 2005?- resigned), Antioch, CA.

The blog also mentions Robert Bobb in Detroit, and Brizard going to Chicago. Then it gets into the symptoms.

What’s striking is the similarity of the reigns of terror and error of these Broad ‘graduates.’ Disturbingly so, in fact. Many of the above earned No Confidence votes from their district’s teachers, and from parents too. All meted out a top-down dictatorial approach. Most alienated parents. Many closed schools. A number had questionable audits on their watch. More than one had false or questionable data to support their reforms. All commanded large salaries with perqs, while at the same time slashing services for kids and closing schools in the name of financial scarcity. A number of them avoided informing the elected school board of their plans or actively withheld information from them, effectively bypassing democracy.

Scandal, controversy, animosity followed them all, inevitably out the door.

And yet the huge amount of money Eli Broad and others like him, Bill Gates and the Waltons in particular have donated to school districts....has given them a power. Educators who know how to run schools and understand real in-depth learning processes don't have a voice much anymore.

There are "fine messes" in many public schools now, and I worry that no one is taking them seriously.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. There is also some inner turmoil in the CTU

Teachers are unhappy with some recent decisions by Karen Lewis.

Very sad situation and this new guy isn't going to be any better at solving the problems.

[madfloridian]

2. It seemed like they finally had a union head who would be a fighter. ?

What the heck happened?

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Even the fighters have to compromise once in awhile

It's bound to be hard to know when to compromise and when to fight.

I've never wanted to hold that top post in a union. So I hesitate to put myself in her place. But I know our local prez has to make many tough decisions.

[madfloridian]

4. I fear too many union leaders have given too much away.

In the name of compromise. I don't think they realized, and I don't think the teachers realized they were doing it. I think it snuck up on everyone. After all, we did not expect to have to fight Democrats for public education.

[bobbolink]

5. "we did not expect to have to fight Democrats for public education. "

The signs have all been there for a long time, sadly.

[msongs]

6. it's called "Race to the top" nt

[madfloridian]

7. And it's more like a race to Nowhere.

Paying districts to convert to charters, fire principals, things that really won't work at all.

[theaocp]

9. NO ONE expects the Democratic Inquisition!

Seriously, I'm O.V.A.H. the "art" of compromise. Obama-style compromising is not working. Tell people what you think and make your case. Otherwise, the Golden Rule is, "He who has the gold makes the rules." :puke:

[DCKit]

13. Jeebus, you really cut to the chase. And I agree with you.

Your lack of wordiness in making the point is stunning.

I sit in awe.

[Divernan]

8. Excellent, detailed, documented OP, revealing just what I expected from Rahm

Really destroying public education is necessary to open the way for profiteering privatization of the nation's schools, and the concommitant dumbing down of the nation's young, whose low-income parents cannot afford the supplemental costs of charter schools. Keep all those plebes undereducated and unemployable - they'll damn well be grateful to enlist in the military to provide cannon fodder for MIC's endless wars.

No one more motivated or better qualified to lead the race to the bottom of public education than Rahm.

[katnapped]

10. Yea baby

Change we can believe in! We Win(ning) The Future!

[indepat]

30. You betcha!

[madfloridian]

34. It is a race to the bottom...

and thanks for the nice words. Rahm is driven by the corporate world, I fear.

[madfloridian]

11. "produce system change by "investing in a disruptive force."

From Huff Post's Julie Woestehoff...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-woestehoff/is-supt-brizards-chicago-_b_851832.html

"Brizard's a "Broadie"

Those "toxic philosophies" are not unique to Brizard. They are the hallmark of the Broad Superintendents' Academy, where Brizard was trained in 2008. The Academy was created by Eli Broad, an insurance company billionaire.

According to the newly-published "Parents' Guide to the Broad Foundation's Education Programs and Policies," prepared by Parents Across America,

"A hallmark of the Broad-style leadership is closing existing schools rather than attempting to improve them, increasing class size, opening charter schools, imposing high-stakes test-based accountability systems on teachers and students, and implementing of pay for performance schemes. The brusque and often punitive management style of Broad-trained leaders has frequently alienated parents and teachers and sparked protests."

"Broad and his foundation believe that public schools should be run like a business. One of the tenets of his philosophy is to produce system change by "investing in a disruptive force." Continual reorganizations, firings of staff, and experimentation to create chaos or "churn" is believed to be productive and beneficial, as it weakens the ability of communities to resist change."

[fascisthunter]

12. Rahm is a piece of Corporate Crap

[chervilant]

14. Consider

that the majority of people who have "graduated' from our system of public education in the last twenty years have been suckered into believing that at least three quarters of us have average or below average intellects (granted, a corporatist-driven deceit). Consider that we've been trained AWAY from critical thinking skills and towards rote memorization, so that we can perform like trained monkeys on ridiculously expensive and pedantic standardized tests. Consider that almost half of our adult population is functionally illiterate (perhaps we can READ the words on this page, but many of us would be hard pressed to explain the gist of what we've read). Cosider that our nation ranks in the fourth quartile with regards to our high school students' ability to demonstrate competitive academic skills in math and science.

And, yet, the vast majority of us are completely focused ('oh, look, it's a sparkly!') on red state/blue state, democrat/republican, conservative/liberal, either/or dichotomies that distract us from the destructive and stultifying radical income inequity within this nation--and the concentration of wealth GLOBALLY in the hands of less than four hundred people.

The revolution, WHEN not IF it comes, promises to refocus our species. We're so deep in the abyss of self-immolation, our efforts will of necessity be solely about sheer survival. Selfishly, I'm glad I'm in the twilight of my years...

(P. S. I STILL cannot get even an INTERVIEW for a teaching position!)

[Divernan]

17. I think your erudite intelligence threatens the hell out of Texas school administrators.

I looked at your website and was very impressed. Wish you lived next door instead of many states away. But I don't have much hope for your finding a teaching job in your part of Texas. If they hired a very well-educated, politically aware person who researches facts, analyzes issues and comes to logical, well-reasoned conclusions, including pointing out where their educational system is failing, that person could pass this intellectually independent attitude on to her students. Politicians wouldn't be able to buy their votes with oft-repeated and simple minded 5 second ads, i.e., "Read my lips! No new taxes!" That's the last thing the school administration wants. Plus, you probably threaten the hell out of them because they are barely bright enough to realize how much smarter you are than them.

I've taught undergrad and law students - loved the students and won a national teaching award for my trial advocacy class - but was disgusted by the administrations. I was "let go" by a dean because I wouldn't play his game of curving grades to flunk out 1/4 of the first year law students. His goal was to keep the school's bar exam/pass rate high, so he filled every available seat of the first year class, took their tuition & then demanded professors fail a set percentage regardless of test performance.

If Americans traveled to other countries, first world AND third world, they would have a much more realistic understanding of how we are getting ripped off by big businesses and bought-and-paid-for politicians. The US has, on the whole, turned greed into a virtue and kindness into a weakness.

By travel, I don't mean an insulated, guided tour with a bunch of other Americansi.e., "Ten Days! Twelve Countries!" I mean staying a few weeks in a neighborhood/community - shopping at the local grocery/bakery/butcher shop/pharmacy/post office; hanging out at the local tavern/pub; talking to local people about their beliefs & values. The best thing I did as a parent was make sure my then college age kids spent anywhere from one semester to their entire undergrad degree program in a foreign country. They were enrolled directly in the foreign universities and living with local families, taking classes in foreign languages - not in one of these party-crazy, drink till you drop, semester abroad programs sponsored by American colleges, where the American schools send their own professors over to teach and the US students room with other US students.

If I had not lost most of my retirement savings in Bush's farewell stock market debacle, I'd love to be living in Ireland or Germany. Yes, the EU struggles with problems, but by god the people I've met from and in those two countries have their eyes open to reality and are effective at calling their govt. to heel.

[madfloridian]

20. Thanks for mentioning her website. I had missed it.

You are right, a very intelligent read.

I often forget to check profiles, and a lot of good links are missed.

[chervilant]

21. Wow.

Step away from the puter just long enough to scrub a toilet, and look what happens! lol

Thank you so very much for your response hereinabove. I've wanted to be a writer since I was a wee thing, but my parents implanted adamantly negative messages about my life goals that I've only just recently eradicated from my psyche. I write now, but I find myself wishing I could reach a broader audience. I wish I could effectively advocate for consensus-driven, collective activism that would derail the vile hedonists who've usurped our media, our politics and our global economy. What is it they say about 'if wishes were horses'?

I suppose I can steadfastly appreciate that our species' evolutionary adolescence has not made me a misanthrope. Hope I hear from you again.

Warm regards.

[madfloridian]

25. You should link to your blog in your sig line.

I was very impressed.

[bvar22]

15. Rahm is a cold blooded Reptile.

That is all.




Who will STAND UP and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
"By their WORKS you will know them."

[Jakes Progress]

16. It's responsibility corporation style.

Like American Airlines chief getting million dollars bonus even though AA was the only major airline to lose money.

Break one school system and get promoted to wreck another.

That rahm and his friend in the white house are doing this in the name of democrats is really bad. But the most nauseating is that the new fan-based Democratic party just lets them. We are as bad as the fiscal republicans of the 50's who let their party be taken over by the neocons just so they could say they won. Now the NeoDems are commandering our party with the support and huzzahs of the smitten.

[suffragette]

18. "Emanuel's pick to head CPS faces civil rights lawsuit"

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8087382


April 21, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team has found new legal troubles for Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel's designated school superintendent.

In this Intelligence Report: Within the past year, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in New York determined that Jean-Claude Brizard violated the federal Civil Rights Act.

This case occurred when Brizard was school superintendent in Rochester, New York. The U.S. EEOC found that Brizard had fired a high-ranking school district official because she was too old and because she was a black woman. Now she is suing Brizard and the Rochester schools in a case that seems to have touched a nerve inside Emanuel's transition office.



Much more at link.



Truly appalling, but sadly not surprised Rahm would pick him.

[madfloridian]

19. Wow, thanks for that link.

"The U.S. EEOC found that Brizard had fired a high-ranking school district official because she was too old and because she was a black woman. Now she is suing Brizard and the Rochester schools in a case that seems to have touched a nerve inside Emanuel's transition office."

I feel for Chicago teachers.

[suffragette]

23. From the article, sounds like he was creating a culture of bias

there.

I feel for them too and for the students who will be denied their expertise.

[madfloridian]

27. Yes, it sounds that way.

[Hannah Bell]

22. ed deform is decimating older black educators. they are the backbone of

the inner-city schools ed deform is targeting. they're being replaced by white teach for awhile hires.

what a fucking travesty.

[suffragette]

24. Sure looks that way

And they have become so emboldened, they aren't even hiding it.

Truly rotten.

[madfloridian]

26. "I am not a serial superintendent,” Brizard said." WTH does that mean?

What is a serial superintendent?

New CPS CEO Can't Seem to Leave Rochester Fast Enough

"Jean-Claude Brizard, Mayor-elect Emanuel's choice to head Chicago Public Schools, fielded questions in Rochester, NY yesterday about his decision to leave that city's school district for the challenges of handling the nation's third-largest public school system. Brizard tried to downplay the perception in Rochester that he's an opportunist and said he's leaving because he became a "lightning rod" for criticism.

“I'm not going to say I'm not ambitious. Everyone wants to be ambitious. I work hard. For me, it is about the work, not about money and certainly not about seeing what is next. I am not a serial superintendent,” Brizard said.

Nice to know.

Brizard signed a three-year contract with the Rochester Public School District with a $235,000 annual salary in January. After some media reports that indicated Brizard's leaving for another job may have been subject to a mutual agreement, Rochester's school board seems to be saying, "good riddance." School Board Member Van White told the Sun-Times he believes Brizard should cover the costs of searching for his successor instead of taxpayers. With Brizard leaving for Chicago on a fast train, details are now coming out regarding his handling of the Rochester schools that seem to conflict with the "reformer" message he and Emanuel are touting to the press."

[snagglepuss]

28. He's also facing 2 federal lawsuits for age and sex discrimination.

[pangaia]

29. I live near Rochester...

The school board and teachers think this guy is a piece of corporate shit and are glad he is leaving. The Rochester school system, in spite of many, many really fine teachers, is a disaster. It was bad before this moron got here, not helped by "no child left behind.'(Ha!, that's a riot), but he just made it infinitely worse. Glad to see him go but.. ooohh poor Chicago.. You're doomed....

[madfloridian]

31. Makes one wonder if Rahm is even aware....

or if he is being pressured by power players. :shrug:

[libmom74]

32. I really hate the term education CEO,

not everything in this country should be run like a big corporation, most things shouldn't.

[madfloridian]

33. So do I. It just doesn't fit.

:hi:

There's a cold heartlessness to corporations that doesn't belong in schools.

[LWolf]

35. Especially public education.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[madrchsod]

36. the unions are going to fight tooth and nail...

and the communities are not going to bow down to rahm and his lackies.

daley is gone and it`s a whole new ball game in chicago.