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Nashville's 4 P's : Politics, Power, Public Schools, #Pfffft

12/28/2015

 
Grab the popcorn, Nashville is on.  Oh, not the TV show. This is real life drama in Tennessee's capitol city.  And it involves public schools so you know Momma Bears are watching with keen interest.  And it all starts with a defunct newspaper that is not so defunct. Pfffft….
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If you missed it last week, the Nashville Banner released its “Power Poll” on education in Nashville. “Wait...” you say, "I thought the Nashville Banner went out of business???"  You're right, it did.  But the URL remarkably lives on to capture the hearts of old 'Banner' readers. 

The website domain was cheaply snapped up by former Banner reporter and power suck-up, Bruce Dobie. He owns the website and the old newspaper logo. He is using those tools to convince the gullible public what he thinks Nashville needs. His latest pet project is convincing the Nashville public that they want an appointed school board so he can have more charter schools for himself and his friends to profit from.
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To do this, Dobie created a “Power Poll.”  Ooooohhh, sounds impressive and incredibly powerful, doesn't it?  Ha ha, no.  It is really just a list of the people you'd expect to find on Dobie's Christmas Card list of people he wants to suck up to like the 1%, business owners, doctors, lawyers, lobbyists, country music singers, elected officials, the Belle Meade set who have never set foot in a public school, etc.

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It is an interesting list of people. You can see the whole list below. Hey, it looks like the whole family gets invited to the Power Poll club if you are important enough. Strangely, there are duplicate names on the list like Bill Frist (founder of the self-serving SCORE organization that pushes charters and common core).  Who knows why on earth certain people got their names on the list twice, or even three times, but they did.
It makes you wonder if those lucky duplicate people got to vote more than once in his "power poll?"  Who knows, but online polls are easy to manipulate and we've heard there are ways people can vote multiple times, so we wouldn't call his poll accurate at all.  Dobie also claims his list has 819 power poll members, but with the duplicate names, there certainly aren't 819 live humans in his friend club.  Here are some of Dobie's duplicate friends we noticed, and we may not have caught them all:
Momma Bears sees some friendly public education fans on this contrived list.  It looks like they got power sucked into this sham.  "Sucked" being the key word.  And looky there.  It's Tim McGraw's name!  He's on the list too???? Nice.

So, Nashville... W
ho the heck is Bruce Dobie to make a list?  Just who does he think he is….Santa Claus???

Why does he get to decide which persons' opinions are significant enough for the "power" list? 

Anyway, Dobie and his ed-reformy friends would love to see the public school system controlled for their special interests (aka their own pocket-books).  Did you know that Bruce Dobie has even tried to sell some of his property to an ASD charter school?  And while trying to broker the deal, he just couldn't resist taking a jab at the MNPS elected board.  You can see that in his email below where he cited a recently learned quotation attributed to Mark Twain: "God made the idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board."

Well, Twain may have thought school boards were beyond idiotic but that's nothing compared to what he thought about those who published newspapers: "A publisher is by nature so low and vile that he -- that he -- well from the bottom of my heart I wish all publishers were in hell."  
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So, back to this "Power Poll" of Dobie's...  Here is what Dobie wrote about the people polled: 
ABOUT THE SURVEY:
This survey of 819 Power Poll members was taken Dec. 9 through Dec. 13. 283 members responded, for a response rate of 35%. The Power Poll is not a scientific measure of the broad electorate. It is, instead, a measure of how influential and powerful Nashvillians view issues facing the city. Responses are anonymous. Power Poll members come from non-profits, politics, government, Music Row, law firms, neighborhood groups, labor unions, and many other avenues of life here. Members share an ability to shape the narrative of the city and influence the discussion. 
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So, Bruce Dobie called on his education reformy friends to vote?  

The press knows they walk a line.  If they smear the public school system too much, it will drive growth to Williamson, Wilson, and Sumner Counties.  So, the press is sure to never have anything positive to say about MNPS unless it is a magnet or charter school.  We are also pointing out that the whisper campaign only goes on with Nashville insiders, political operatives, and the cocktail conversations that move the cogs of politics behind the scenes in Nashville. We guess these who's-who lists are fodder for influence.  Totally outside the mainstream press, void of the what parents and the community want.

Smart people will take their back-room conversations, opinions, and power polls with a grain of salt.  Smart people, and even poll members, will see past the Dobie smoke & mirrors.  Smart people will see how the elite are trying to convince the public we don't need to vote to elect our school board.  Smart people will see that the reformers desperately need an appointed school board (appointed by them and the politicians they fund) in order to get privatization and charter schools opened in Nashville.   Smart people will not fall for that, and won't give up their rights for elected representation.

Dang it, Nashville can’t seem to keep enough of the bottom 5% of schools in the state for the ASD to legally take-over public schools and give them away to charter entrepreneurs.  So they have to rely on MNPS board approval to expand the charter school business model.  And the MNPS board isn't being very nice to charters lately... wanting proof and accountability and all that, and then those pesky board members see firsthand how the charter schools are draining money from existing public schools.   Gosh, what a hassle to get tax-payer funds!  What was once an easy sale is becoming more difficult now that the public is educated, questioning motives, and following the money trail that leads back to the reformers' wallets.​

Eggnog and prep for the new political year
The Nashville newbies coming to the “It City” don’t know this.  The clear public message from reformers is to “blame the school board” because the vision for public education to model New Orleans and Chicago is not being implemented fast enough.  So Dobie must convince the general public that the power broker reformers are not causing this problem (even though they really are), but a school board who disagrees with the political power is the problem (nope, they are not).

Always, always, this is a brawl over money.  Even the power brokers know that!  The second hottest issue in Dobie's power poll is the “lack of funding”.  But he is quick to blame the state and the underfunded BEP for that problem.  The ability for the reform agenda in Nashville to distract from the issues of over-testing, teacher turnover, and the selection of a new director of schools works well with the press to push political misdirection to keep the charter school argument front and center so the elected school board looks incompetent.  Nice try, "Nashville Banner," but we are not falling for it.
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To summarize the argument from the Momma Bear’s side: 
The disagreement within the MNPS school board is around the management of charter school entry into the district.  Nobody is getting rid of charter schools unless it is the charter schools themselves.  Performance, financial struggles, and business-model decisions have triggered closure of charter schools, not the MNPS school board. The disagreement centers around some great board-led questions that need answers, not blind implementation.  How many new charter schools does Nashville need? Where should they be located? And how will Nashville pay for them? Because it is impossible to build an unregulated, parallel school system without tax payer cost.  Gee, that sounds like responsible school board questioning and what you'd want of those elected to represent the public's best interest!

And behind these elected school board members are Nashville public school parents who don’t want schools closed and neighborhoods divided.  Parents want the churn of policy to stop, a commitment to their neighborhood schools, and the instability caused by school choice to be better managed.  And they certainly do not want funding reduced.

We do not want our children affected by “market disruption.”  Our children are not for sale.  They are not pawns in a political game.  Momma Bears worry about the children most affected by education reform: children in poverty, of color, immigrants, the disabled, and families who can't navigate school choice.  These groups of kids need stable, reliable school communities to support them and give them a path to a productive, valued future.  Parents want their children’s success to come before profits and political budgets or filling employment niches.  They want a school system that serves the community and engages learning, not a school system that serves the reformers through business ventures for charters and test prep.
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The oligarchy does not want you to be an engaged voter
Which brings us the the “next big thing.”  Watch how the superintendent selection goes down in Nashville.  To read the press you would think this decision will be made by the Mayor and the Chamber of Commerce.  Nope.  By law, this is the biggest job Nashville's elected school board will take on in 2016.  The Chamber and the Mayor can spew all the PR they want, but in the end the vote will come down to the MNPS elected board to select Nashville’s next public school leader.  Democracy will be in charge representing the neighborhoods of Nashville, not the mayor’s office or the Dobie power poll.  Yay for democracy!

Nashville struggles to serve their diverse and international population.  A public school population that is increasingly diverse and impoverished and judged solely by test scores.  Public schools are a public service. Public education is not welfare, not a charity case. It is an investment in our future as a city and a country.  Families struggling to adjust to new opportunities in a new country or trying escape generational poverty need more than “basic services.”  Meanwhile the “Power Poll” spends their time criticizing the school board for inaction.  Maybe the inaction lies elsewhere?  We Momma Bears would love to see those of power and influence (including the MNPS board and a new director of schools), fighting for what our kids really need: funding for ELL, smaller classes for kids who are behind grade level, less standardized testing and more teaching, more opportunities to read and be curious and less scripted micromanagement of teachers, preserving the arts and physical education, and increasing social-emotional services for children trying to find their place in an urban school system.  Nashville's school board is united behind these issues. They really are. Charter entry pushed by the Nashville business community is the distraction.

Behavior is another "Banner" criticism of MNPS board members.  Why do twitter arguments erupt?  Because the press is not writing balanced reporting anymore.  Heck, Momma Bears blog exists because some moms were frustrated that the public school parent perspective is not represented in the press nor in political decision-making.  Momma Bears thinks the press needs to take some blame for the dysfunction because they helped create the mess.  And, honestly, the press spreading dirt about the elected school board members to discredit them and push the reformers' agenda is only harming the education system and the students it serves.

WARNING:  If public school parents don't vote in school board elections, Bruce Dobie really will shape public education in Nashville.

In the meantime, the search for a district director of schools that is "reformy-enough" for those trying to shift public education power will apply pressure on the MNPS board scrambling to keep governance and a reputation held together.  And what director candidate wants to step into that fire pit?  The press, chamber, and mayor’s office need to provide the financial resources (and demand them from the State), be supportive, back off, and let the MNPS board do the job it was elected to do which is to provide policy and governance that serves ALL MNPS students and helps teachers be the best they can be for our kids.

​We need leadership from all corners of Nashville to commit to making ALL public schools as great as the Nashville Symphony, Hall of Fame, and Convention Center.  Time is what is valued in education... time to teach, time to tutor, time to slow down and give kids the attention they need to learn.  There is not one answer.  

Maybe Momma Bears needs to assemble its own list of “powerful public school parents and teachers” and survey them?  Missing is the insider view of the inability to capitalize on changes that have actually been great for public ed mostly due to lack of funding, thin implementation, political arguing, grant money that dries up, unfunded mandates, teacher turnover, and a shell game to recruit the best students with school choice to mask the struggle to serve all kids at all levels of ability.  Economic class and ethnic-based education services are not the answer either.  We are slipping dangerously to 'haves' in magnets, charters, and private schools and the 'have-nots' in "government schools."  Some might say Nashville is there already.  Take a trip in the Momma Bear "way-back time machine" to 2012 and think about what has come to pass in Nashville.  This power struggle is not new or built on the shoulders of the current school board.  Also take note that Mr. Dobie is mentioned in our way-back linked "Nashville Scene" article, along with education name drops that match right up to education reform members of the power poll today.

So, at the risk of Momma Bears being targeted by these money-hungry reformers, we will keep on blogging and educating those who will read and share.  And because of that, we're sure none of us Momma Bears will ever make it on Dobie's Christmas card list or on his sloppy "power poll friend list."   Darn.  Join the club with us!
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MNPS Board Member, Will Pinkston says it best:  "Bruce Dobie is a known charter zealot with a history of ridiculing the Nashville School Board. It doesn’t surprise me that he would stoop to a push poll. Whatever the ‘results’ turn out to be, I’m focused on representing South Nashville — not Dobie's chattering class at Belle Meade Country Club. People who actually care about public education spend their time trying to support the board and our schools, not tearing them down."
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Urban Dictionary #pfffft

Once a Rat, Always a Rat

12/28/2014

 
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Last year, the ASD used Happy Hour invitations to encourage Teach for America corp members to sign contracts obligating them to teach some of America's poorest and neediest children in Memphis. 

So where did this crazy idea of mixing education reform efforts with cocktails come from? Maybe it came from Houston, Texas when Chris Barbic and his wife, Natasha Kamrani co-starred in the My Houston 2040 Happy Hour circuit touting education reforms. 

In those days, Kamrani was running for school board in Houston and had to do some fast talking to convince her constituents that she actually supported public schools. As the wife of YES Prep Charter School founder, she faced heavy criticism that she would favor charter schools over her district's schools. One Houston constituent point blank asked:

Is Kamrani really interested in making Hogg, Marshall, Burbank and Hamilton better? Will the upper middle class Heights residents send their kids to the neighborhood schools? Or is she going to vote to divert more money to places like KIPP, further starving the neighborhood schools and not making them better at all?
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Photo Credit: Gabriel Suárez/Houston Chronicle
"I do not support charter schools that mismanage funds and fail to provide children with the opportunity to attain an excellent education."  --Natasha Kamrani

Well, that is what ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic's wife said back in 2005 when she was running for school board in Houston, Texas. She further responded to critics by promising, "[L]et me first say that I would never support any effort that would lead to 'starving the neighborhood schools and not making them better at all.'" 

Years later in Nashville, when no longer answering to constituents, Kamani seems to have changed her tune. 

In 2013 when Tennessee was considering a bill that would create a nine-member appeals panel to vote on charter applicants denied by local boards, MNPS Budget and Finance Committee chairman, Will Pinkston raised concerns that such a bill could have serious fiscal impacts on local school districts. “We need some sort of guardrail in place to prevent the charter appeals process from inadvertently running us off the fiscal cliff.”

Kamrani, now the state director for the Tennessee branch of Democrats for Education Reform, dismissed Pinkston's concern and calling it nothing more than a "scare tactic for political purposes." “I don’t buy it,” Kamrani said. “It sounds like folks aren’t ready to roll up their sleeves and work to solve a kid attrition issue of their own creation due to consistent low-performing schools." 

But when the shoe was on the other foot and Kamrani was responsible for the fiscal well-being of her school district, she was soundly criticized in Houston for putting greed ahead of the needs of children:
Natasha Kamrani, the executive director of the Arnold Family Foundation, was a leading backer of linking teacher employment to student test scores, and an opponent of just about anything the Houston Federation of Teachers favored, while she served on the school board.  It was the victory of two candidates backed by Ms. Kamrani, Laura Arnold and John Arnold that produced the policy where teachers can be fired based on student standardized test scores. After linking teacher evaluations with student test scores, the next area for reform is school lunches: charging more for them, cutting costs by eliminating “fresh fruit” and other quality ingredients, and firing or reducing the work hours of underpaid cafeteria workers.

Once a Rat, Always a Rat

Cost cutting in the cafeteria? Sound familiar???? 

It should, we blogged earlier about the ASD in Tennessee coming under fire for molded hot dog buns and rodent droppings in one of their school cafeterias in Memphis. Click the picture below to read our blog about it. 
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Gulen & Gun in Memphis Charter School

12/4/2014

 
Muhammet Turkay, the Executive Director/Principal of the Memphis School of Excellence charter school informed parents that one of their students was caught on campus with a handgun.  Earlier reports from WREG, the CBS affiliate in Memphis indicated the student was attempting to smuggle the gun into the school using a sock.
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But WREG has updated their story and is now reporting, charter school staff members saw the 15 year old boy showing off the gun to other students in the cafeteria. Police confiscated the gun and the student left campus. 
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Memphis School of Excellence is a controversial charter school that opened in 2010 and was later criticized by County Commissioner Terry Roland for having ties to a U.S. Islamic network. The school brochure says, "teachers are recruited from around the world." And they have the green cards to prove it according to this 2012 Commercial Appeal article.

In 30,000 square feet in a former IRS building on Mendenhall, Ali Gumus and Muhammet Turkay run a charter school that likely has more Turkish employees than any school in the city.
Although the school denied allegations of connections to Islamic networks, it admits to paying a significant amount of tax payer funding to the Cosmos Foundation. The New York Times exposes the Cosmos Foundation as a "close-knit network of businesses and organizations run by Turkish immigrants" many of whom follow Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic Turkish preacher whose Islamic "devotees have built a worldwide religious, social and nationalistic movement in his name." 

So, was this just another case of a Memphis teenager bringing a gun to school or something more sinister? 

A Charter School Watchdog group found pictures online from a Gulen teacher's Facebook page. The teacher, Ali Oksuzer is posing with a gun in one picture then alongside another teacher, Alisher Matkulov, who is pointing a gun at Ali's head. There are also pictures of students brandishing guns. 
The Zaman School may be on the other side of the world from Memphis but since these pictures were published, the Facebook page was taken down and the teachers are rumored to now be in the U.S. According to the Watchdog group, Ali is supposedly involved with GENIUS Olympiad and the Terra Science and Education Foundation in America. 

Charter School Corruption Series #3--Emerald Charters in Knoxville, Oh My!

11/7/2014

 
After a number of failed attempts, Knoxville may be opening its first charter school in the Fall of 2015. Previously, Knox County Schools rejected several charter school applicants including Beta Theta Foundation who proposed a residential charter school on the campus of Knoxville College; Genesis Rock, the perennial applicant for Dream Academy; the IRIS Foundation with its alleged ties to Turkish Islamic scholar, Fetullah Gulen; and SMART Schools, Inc., an outfit out of Memphis headed up by Tommie Henderson. 

SMART Schools is the same operator that shoved its charter school down Shelby County's throat in 2011 before the merger with Memphis City Schools. Interestingly, also in 2011, both Knox County and Hamilton County rejected applications from SMART Schools. Hamilton County suffered the same fate as Shelby County with the state reversing its decision; however, Knox County's decision was affirmed and the application denied. The TN BOE cited SMART Schools' lack of familiarity with Knoxville's demographics and its lack of local support to find that SMART Schools was not in the best of interest of Knoxville's students, school district, or community. 

It would seem that SMART Schools is good enough for Memphis and Chattanooga but not good enough for the Governor's hometown of Knoxville. Or maybe the Governor has his own charter school in mind and doesn't want any competition?

Oh Joy!! Rapture... An Emerald Charter School

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It's always best to start at the beginning. So put on your emerald glasses and take a look at all the Emerald entities needed to form Haslam's shiny new charter school. 

First, there is Emerald Youth Foundation, an urban ministry that has been serving inner city children in Knoxville for a number of years. Christian ministries are not allowed by law to operate charter schools, so Emerald Youth Foundation formed a secular 501c3 non-profit organization called Emerald Charter Schools. This second entity will be the actual charter school applicant and operator. Then finally, there is the school itself named Emerald Academy. Confused? Here is the Emerald shell game players -- 
  • Emerald Youth Foundation (Ministry Program)                 
  • Emerald Charter Schools (Charter School Applicant)
  • Emerald Academy (School)

Brian Hornback's blog reveals that Knox County School Board member, Doug Harris and former school board member, Sam Anderson, who is currently employed by KCS both serve on the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation. And that's not all....the Governor, his sister-in-law, and others close to him are also on the Board of Trustees. The Metro Pulse's article names "some longtime friends and supporters of the Haslam family, like Larry Martin, Haslam's former mayoral chief of staff and current head of the state Department of Finance and Administration, and Rick Johnson, the head of the newly-created Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness" who serve on the Foundation's board. 

Not only does Gov. Haslam have personal ties to the Emerald Youth Foundation but he has also given them plenty of money. Every year but 2008, the Governor's non-profit foundation, Charis, has annually donated to Emerald Youth Foundation. The yearly gift in 2002, 2003, 2004 was $30,000. Then around 2007, the donations began to increase dramatically and almost tripled by 2012. You can see the actual amounts listed below and can click on the year to see the tax return. 
  • $33,333 in 2005
  • $33,334 in 2006
  • $70,000 in 2007
  • $76,000 in 2009 
  • $75,000 in 2010
  • $75,000 in 2011
  • $85,000 in 2012
School Matters blogged on the potential conflicts of interest and included a handy list of who's who on the Emerald boards. Take a look below, the picture on the left is the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation and the one on the right is the board for Emerald Charter Schools. Steve Diggs the Executive Director of Emerald Youth Foundation is also the Board President for Emerald Charter Schools. 
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Some People without Brains do an Awful lot of Talking

The concern over conflicts was quickly dismissed by Indya Kincannon who served on the school board at the time. And school board chair, Lynn Fugate called it "a bunch of B.S." for people to think there’s some hoodoo behind-the-scenes actions regarding the Emerald Academy application and its approval. So, there you have it. The great and powerful Haslam has spoken and charter schools are on the horizon for Knoxville.

Only you might get the feeling you are not in Knoxville anymore. That's because Emerald Academy will be based on Cleveland Ohio's Breakthrough Schools Preparatory Model. These things happen when Dee Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns, sits on your board. Like most other charter schools, the Cleveland model calls for a super rigid environment and Teach For America. 

But hey, isn't that what inner city kids need to straighten up and fly right? No, those happy endings are only found in the movies. In reality, militaristic discipline administered by inexperienced TFA corp members leads to kids dropping out or being kicked out of school. And when your truancy rate goes up, watch out!! Memphis saw gangs of teenagers terrorize the city with random acts of violence.

What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .

This is the last of our three-part series on charter school corruption in Tennessee. 
Be sure to also read parts one & two. Click on the links below:
  • #1 - Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer in Nashville
  • #2 - Secrets in the Suburbs in Germantown 

CHARTER SCHOOL CORRUPTION SERIES #2 - Secrets in the Suburbs

10/24/2014

 
Momma Bears is sniffing out privatization in the suburbs. We know parents like those in Williamson County are very concerned about privatization threatening their high achieving public schools. Now, we are hearing concerns over possible privatization in the Memphis suburb of Germantown, another high achieving school district.

Something peculiar is going on in the Germantown mayor’s race. 

When Germantown formed their new school system, Shelby County Schools transferred all but three schools to the new municipal district. Three schools that ironically bear the name of Germantown (known collectively as the three G schools) continue to be operated by the unified Shelby County School system even though they are located within the heart of Germantown city limits. 

This has been a big source of angst for the community. Not having all the Germantown schools has also forced the issue of new school construction on a city that is still reeling over the loss of three perfectly good school buildings and struggling to finance their brand new school system. Then, along comes a mayoral candidate promising to get those schools back. Take a look at the promises made on George Brogdon's website. 
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Momma Bears is smelling privatization in those campaign promises from a candidate who is endorsed by a former Shelby County School Board member who favored converting the three Gs into charter schools. 
Not to mention, Brogdon has connections to charter schools through his son who is a Teach for America corp member that works for Success Academy, a charter school in New York City.

We know parents are proud of their adult children who try to help inner city children succeed in academics. But take it from us, Teach for America corp members are just cheap labor for those looking to profit off education. Momma Bears are not fooled by their slick propaganda. We know they are all about the profits. 

We hate to break it to the Brogdons but their son's employer, Success Academy, is anything but successful and they cheat on their enrollment numbers according to one of Momma Bear’s favorite bloggers, Diane Ravitch. 
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But back to Brogdon’s “innovative solutions.” Well, we all know privatization means appointing friends instead of electing officials. So the fur on the back of our necks stands up when we see this wannabe mayor with plans to appoint a team of leaders in education. Who needs a mayorally appointed education team when Germantown already has an elected school board?

Well, you won’t need a school board's permission to form a charter school because state law allows the Tennessee Department of Education to overturn the school board decisions to reject charter school applications. So it’s a good thing Brogdon’s team will include some “state-wide leaders” who “have intimate knowledge of the school issue.” Those always come in handy when trying to win state approval. 

So what do you need to form charter schools? According to the handy dandy charter school formation flow chart below, you need a founding group and some investors. Interestingly, Brogdon has lined up team members who have “already pledged their support if George is elected.” Hmmm....support as in money? 
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You also need a facilities plan. This must be the part where Mr. Brogdon will “wipe the slate clean” and begin negotiations with the cash strapped Shelby County Schools who sold Lanier Middle to the highest bidder. 

And this is the part where Momma Bears lets you know that privatization no matter how well intended, is never an acceptable solution because every dollar that goes into charter schools comes from public schools. So Mr. Brogdon, let's catch you up on education reform:

1. Teach for America doesn't really teach
2. Success Academy isn't really a success

3. Charter schools aren't really public

This is the second in our three-part series on charter school corruption in Tennessee. 
Be sure to also read parts one & three. Click on the links below:
  • #1 - Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer in Nashville
  • #3 - Emerald Charter Schools in Knoxville, Oh My! 

CHARTER SCHOOL CORRUPTION SERIES #1 - Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer

10/20/2014

 
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Your tax dollars... given to unqualified, inexperienced people who have no oversight and pay themselves huge salaries and give lucrative contracts to their friends & family...  to teach the most precious, priceless things in our world... children.

When they screw up, politicians and the government turn a blind eye.

Why do these charter schools get away with this?  Because they are smart and sneaky and rich.  They deliberately donate money to politicians who pass laws to benefit them and protect them.

So, what's a Momma Bear to do?  Yep, we blog about it.  And let the Legislators know that the voters are on to them.  So, this is #1 in a series of exposing Charter School Corruption, courtesy of www.tennessee-education-matters.net, who generously gave us permission to share all the dirt they dug up on Rocketship.  We know you think this stuff can't happen to your schools.  But, it is here and coming to a school system near you.  Read this clever and insightful blog, share it, and tell your elected officials you're not fooled.  You want excellent public schools for every child in TN.  You want community schools that are governed by the community; schools that are not there just to make a buck on the backs of kids with your tax dollars; schools that will not flip the school into a real estate deal and skip town when it doesn't work out.  Who loses?  Well, it is not going to be Rocketship. It will be the kids and the taxpayers.  

Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer

A 1950's type horror movie is playing out in Nashville...
Tennessee Parents is reporting that "ANY family that went to an info session about the new Rocketship Charter Schools had their records pulled [and] their children were registered at Rocketship without their permission."  Read the full details here.

Is Rocketship snatching children from their public schools then enrolling them in blended learning environments where they become mindless robotic test-takers?
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Can They Be Stopped???
Rocketship is a California based charter school chain with plans to expand across the United States. It is known for its blended learning approach to education. As many as 50 rocketeers (otherwise known as students) are piled into a learning lab where they spend much of their time in front of a computer screen. Rocketship curriculum relies heavily on on-line lessons reducing the role of a classroom teacher. It has its fair share of critics. A Forum article reveals that education experts are less than impressed with Rocketship's methods. The charter school chain has experienced plummeting test scores and legal setbacks. Another problem for them is the angry parents who created a website devoted to stopping Rocketship. As a result, Rocketship seems to be re-thinking its approach and reducing its class size as it rolls into Tennessee. More about that here. 

In 2012, Rocketship was expected to join Tennessee's Achievement School District (ASD) and open charter schools in Memphis and Nashville for the 2013-2014 school year. But things did not go as planned. Katy Venskus, vice president of policy at Rocketship, says that it was challenges with growing the CMO [charter management organization] in new regions that have slowed new schools. “Moving into new regions as a national network was more complex than we expected,” she says.
By the way, the spokesperson for Rocketship that was just quoted above... Well, she's a felon
Katy Venskus also known as Katherine Heringlake "was charged with felony theft and forgery in April 2002 in Dane County Circuit Court and pleaded no contest to the theft charge in August of that year, with prosecutors dropping the forgery charge." At the time, Venskus was the board president of NARAL-Wisconsin. Years later as a lobbyist for Education Reform Now, a group that favored mayoral takeover of the Milwaukee Public Schools, Venskus once again faced theft charges. This time she was accused of felony theft and felony identity theft related to prior employment with the lobbying firm, Public Affairs Company. Now, she is employed as a VP at Rocketship.
A year later than anticipated, Rocketship opened its school in Nashville with the help of Andre Aggasi and his buddy, Bobby Turner who operate the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund. Their company locates and purchases real estate to build a new charter school. Turner-Agassi also fronts the construction costs and acts as general contractor. After the school is built, they execute a long term lease with the charter school operator and assist them with securing long term financing. 
He's a Playah
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For those who don't know, Andre Agassi was a famous tennis player in the 1990's. Since then, he has become an author, Las Vegas Hotel Casino investor, sports themed restaurant owner, luxury resort developer, furniture designer, nightclub owner, cable network investor, charter school operator, and involved in a multitude of litigation over his business dealings. You can read about those lawsuits and failed business dealings here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. But that's not all. He has also been sued over his charter school causing him to be the subject of Hollywood gossip. Perez Hilton chastized Agassi as "not good" because a biology teacher at Agassi's Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas launched allegations of racial discrimination against the school. 

Agassi is married to fellow tennis player, Steffi Graf, who has also suffered her share of controversies. The owner of real estate around the world, a supermarket chain, and a multitude of investments known as the Steffi Empire; she and her father were investigated for millions of dollars in tax fraud. Her father served time in a German prison and Steffi was investigated for US tax evasion and other wrong-doings. When Agassi broke ties with his long time business partner and childhood friend, Perry Rogers, a lawsuit resulted where Rogers sued Graf for fees owed. This prompted speculation that Graf's empire was crumbling due to bad investments.
Here's how the deal works:
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The Turner-Agassi or The Canyon Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund provides the investment capital to purchase property for the site of a future charter school. After buying the real estate, the Agassi group designs and constructs the school building. Upon its completion, the Agassi group will retain ownership of the property but the charter school operator will receive a long term lease with an option to purchase. Agassi's group helps the charter school operator obtain a loan and will even provide bridge financing if necessary. The loans are paid with tax dollars earmarked for public schools. So, basically, Agassi's land investment company is enticing charter school operators into a rent-to-own deal with the tax payers footing the bill.

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Andre Agassi makes no apologies for "his market-driven approach toward helping schools despite criticism that comes with it." In fact, he told USA Today that he embraces the concept of profit with a mission. But what exactly is his mission? 

In Palm Beach County, Florida, Agassi purchased a ten acre tract in Boynton Beach to build Franklin Academy, a K-8 charter school located within 2 tenths of a mile (a three minute walk) from Hidden Oaks Elementary School, a PK-5 public school built in 2005. Hidden Oaks serves a large population of special needs students having 4 classrooms for students with Autism, 1 Pre-Kindergarten classroom for students with Autism, and 3 classrooms serving students with Intellectual Disabilities. But Franklin Academy's website is devoid of any mention of special education, bragging instead on its enrichment programs and academic enhancements. So, what's the mission? To segregate special education student from those who are gifted? Or could it be something more basic? Like making money?

According to the Palm Beach County property records, the Florida Charter Foundation has a 29 year lease on Franklin Academy. The lease contains a provision for two 10 year extensions. At the end of the lease, the Florida Charter Foundation has an option to purchase and a right of first refusal. The leased property is valued by the tax assessor for over $9.2 million. But this multi-million dollar property is exempt from taxes. Even though, the property is owned by a private investor, it is considered a public school. This means Agassi's investment group gets to collect money from its lease without having the expense of paying property taxes.

Property records also show two deeds (see here and here) recorded in 2013 where Agassi took ownership of the property. The total purchase price for the land was $1.97 million. On December 26, 2013, Agassi investor group recorded a mortgage on the property in the amount of $11.4 million.

Click the pictures below to go to the links to view them on line.  

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Green Cards for $ale
From the Washington Post: Wealthy Americans [like Andre Agassi] have been funding U.S. charter schools for years now through their hedge funds, private foundations or personal fortunes, but it turns out that super-rich foreigners are forking over big money to American charters too.

Do you think it’s for the kids?

Guess again.

There is a "federal program known as EB-5, [where] wealthy foreigners can in effect buy U.S. immigration visas for themselves and their families by investing at least $500,000 in certain development projects." In particular, foreign nationals are buying up American charter schools. Their investments are rewarded with an immigration visa. Much of the foreign investments are finding their way to Florida charter schools through Chinese investors who have already put in at least $30 million as of 2012 with promises to invest even more in the future.

Promotional materials for Agassi's Franklin Academy project explains how the EB-5 program works: "Foreign investors seeking a direct route to a U.S. Green Card via the EB-5 immigrant investor program are offered the unique opportunity to invest as little as US$500,000* in a first-rate American Charter School project. The investment will take the form of a loan made to an experienced developer, which is a partnership between Discovery Schools, Inc. (a Florida based Charter Management Organization) and Turner-Agassi, a leading charter school development company, founded by the tennis champion, Andre Agassi." 
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Charter school projects are only one of many different types of investments eligible for the EB-5 program. As the program has grown, many foreign investors have become leary of bad deals. Fortune Magazine reported in July, 2014: "Because the EB-5 industry is virtually unregulated, it has become a magnet for amateurs, pipe-dreamers, and charlatans, who see it as an easy way to score funding for ventures that banks would never touch. They’ve been encouraged and enabled by an array of dodgy middlemen, eager to cash in on the gold rush. Meanwhile, perhaps because wealthy foreigners are the main potential victims, U.S. authorities have seemed inattentive to abuses."

However, Agassi is able to lure foreign investors to put their money into Franklin Academy 
by promising a safe investment where government funding provides a steady source of income to the charter schools and that the government will remain responsible for overseeing the school’s financial and academic performance.
They're Here Already---The Nashville Deal
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In Nashville, Agassi purchased property at 2526 Dickerson Pike for $375,000 then invested another $7 Million in construction costs to build the new Rocketship charter school. “We’ve been looking at Nashville for a while and really respect the local players there,” said Glenn Pierce, CEO of Los Angeles-based Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund.
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It's interesting that the Rocketship charter chain felt the need to purchase property and build a new school when there were plenty of vacant school facilities in Nashville available to charter school operators. In fact, Tennessee law requires that school districts provide a list of vacant and underutilized properties to the state for use as potential charter schools. See below for latest MNPS list of properties.
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“We just thought that was a good site and a neighborhood we wanted to serve, and it made sense to build ‘ground-up,” said Laura Kozel, Rocketship’s vice president of facilities. “The next time we open a school there, it very well could be a renovation.” But notice that Rocketship didn't go forward with its planned school in Memphis.... 

Could there be a reason for Nashville getting a newly constructed Rocketship school while the Memphis project was put on hold? Hmmmm....could it have something to do with Nashville being more attractive to real estate investors? According to The Tennessean, "in the past four years, while Nashville was adding almost 17,000 people, Memphis lost more than 8,000."

Critics of the Nashville Rocketship construction project say, it's all about the rich getting richer instead of helping children. Gary Miron, an education professor at Western Michigan University and a member of the National Education Policy Center in Colorado who studies and monitors charter schools says, “It’s really a scam.” To really follow the money, you would have to really understand the facilities companies.” He goes on to explain, Rocketship will pay a facility fee to Agassi's investor group. For the company’s California schools, the fee is about 18 percent. He anticipates a facilities fee in the high teens for the new Nashville school. In the end, Rocketship will own the building and “the taxpayer’s interest is not protected,” Miron says. If the charter school closes, the building is still owned by the company, even though it was paid for with tax dollars via facilities fees.

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Exit Strategy...
Rich people usually have a back-up plan called an exit strategy. For real estate investments, the exit strategy is an alternative use for the property. Take a look at the locations below for Turner-Agassi charter school real estate investments. Notice anything? They all seem to be in cities with hot real estate markets: Philly, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Palm Beach County FL, Dallas, Michigan, San Antonio, Detroit, Nashville. St. Petersburg, Newark, New York, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. 
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Albany, New York is an example of how investors get richer and charter school operators struggle to keep up with the rent payments. Jonathan Turley explains:
"The result is, you can put in ten million dollars and in seven years double your money. The problem is, that the charter schools end up paying in rents, the debt service on these loans and so now, a lot of the charter schools in Albany are straining paying their debt service–their rent has gone up from $170,000 to $500,000 in a year or–huge increases in their rents as they strain to pay off these loans, these construction loans. The rents are eating-up huge portions of their total cost. And, of course, the money is coming from the state."
So what happens when charter schools go out of business or default on the lease? What are the exit strategies for these multi-million dollar properties? 

In California, Rocketship attempted to by-pass local ordinances and locate its new school without regard to the zoning code but was defeated in a ruling by a California Superior Court. Critics contend this is too much power for a private investor with no public accountability to have over land use decisions. In the event of default by the charter school, real estate investors such as Agassi would have valuable "get out of zoning free card" and the upper hand against competing investors. In states with hot real estate markets, we can only imagine the unlimited profit-making potential exit strategies. As for Agassi, well, in a USA Today article, he "declined to discuss profits of his organization."
From Rocketeer to Racketeer...
"In short, education reform is a good cause. Experimentation is good — and some of the best charter schools today have experimented in what could be valuable ways. But the push, coming from Wall Street and the extremely wealthy, for this specific form of charter schools, for this specific way of funding them, is part of both short-term and long-term drives for profit that will accrue to the wealthiest while weakening the middle class. The question is not whether we should back away from the cause of education, or the cause of education reform. The question is in whose interests it should be done and who should most strongly influence the outcomes."--Jonathan Turley
Thank you to Tennessee Education Matters for their Contribution
This is the first of our three-part series on charter school corruption in Tennessee. 
Be sure to also read parts two & three. Click on the links below:
  • #2 - Secrets in the Suburbs in Germantown
  • #3 - Emerald Charter Schools in Knoxville, Oh My!

Beware: Another reformer coming to TN

8/12/2014

 
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The hair on the back of my Momma Bear neck stood up when I saw that a reformer is coming to a suburb of Memphis, TN to speak.  One of the biggest shams of the reformer-world, Geoffrey Canada, will be at a mega-church to talk about himself.  He is President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone Charter Schools.  He’s been invited as part of a fundraiser for a non-profit organization called Agape, that actually does some great things for the poor of Memphis.  Whether the Agape Organization leaders know the truth about Mr. Canada, or if they merely were flattered by his star-power and hoped he could raise a lot of money for their organization, is unknown.  The church where this fundraising event is being held, Hope Presbyterian Church, claims no affiliation to the event.  It is allowing use of its building and also selling tickets to the event through its box-office and website.  

These are some facts about Mr. Geoffrey Canada:
  • Salary:  at least $400,000 per year, plus bonuses
  • Kicks students out of his charter schools to make his schools look better:  Twice, he kicked out entire grade levels of students for poor performance and low test scores.  
  • Lies:  He claims to have 100% graduation rates at his charter school, but this is completely untrue.  He kicks students out of his school if they aren’t going to graduate so he can boast 100%.  He also makes the same claims about college acceptance being 90% for his schools, but when you factor in all the students he kicked out, the rate is nowhere close.  
  • His "miracle" schools aren't miraculous at all.  The test results of his school are unimpressive and comparable to nearby public schools.  Some scores are higher, some are worse.  Clearly, his charters are not a miracle cure.
  • He starred in a documentary called "Waiting for Superman" that was created to convince people that public schools are failing, that teachers are to blame for its failure, and that charter schools are the solution to fix the crisis.  The lies and claims in the documentary are numerous and false. The documentary was financed by hedge fund investors who stand to profit from charter school income through the public's consistent tax dollars and children.

To be fair, his charter schools do provide a lot for students including a higher student to teacher ratio and free healthcare for children.  But also to be fair, more money is spent on the students in his charter schools than the children in public schools.  If public schools had that sort of money to spend, they, too, could provide the same perks as Mr. Canada’s charter schools.  Instead, his charter schools leech money, students, and involved parents from the remaining public schools.  This leaves underfunded, underutilized public schools struggling to stay afloat and educate the remaining students who have disabilities, students who don't speak English, and students who were kicked out of charter schools.

Public schools educate EVERY child, charters do not.  Public schools are accountable to the public, charter schools are not (hence the exorbitant salaries of those at the top of the charter chains like Geoffrey Canada).

Geoffrey Canada says, “Enough is enough about our failing schools!” He evokes emotion from the audience and pulls at their heartstrings with stories of poor students he claims to save through his charter schools.  He compares himself to Superman.  He bashes public schools and calls them “lousy”.  While public schools may not be perfect, and there is always room for improvement, totally destroying the public school system in favor of a privately owned and operated education system with the public's tax dollars is not the answer.  We should strengthen public schools, adequately fund them, and provide rich educational opportunities for every student in every neighborhood including Art, Music, Sports, languages, etc.  School should not exist to produce test scores and data.  And, by no means, should school exist to make entrepreneurs even richer.


Diane Ravitch, author of Reign of Error and prolific blogger, writes, "I just wish that Canada would use his celebrity and media access to advocate that all public schools should have the resources he has, instead of castigating them for not being as good as the school he runs, with such munificent provisions."  Wouldn't that be nice?  This Momma Bear doesn't think he's coming to Tennessee to do that at all.  He is here to bash public schools.  With Memphis schools ripe for the pickin and profiting, Geoffrey Canada hears opportunity knocking.

Mercedes Schneider, who is author of A Chronicle of Echoes: Who's Who in the Implosion of American Public Education, a high school teacher, and a respected blogger, hits the nail on the head with her comment that, "Even with those “munificent provisions,” Canada cannot “make” students score high on standardized tests. So, he sends “his failing kids” back to the public schools, then insults the public schools for accepting them. And all to please those with money.  By Canada’s “firing” an entire class, as far as his schools go, it is not his schools that are failing the students – it’s the students failing “his” schools – and “his” investors.  Kinda blows a hole through the reformy logic of “no failing kids, just failing schools,” eh?"


Momma Bear's motto:  “Follow the money and the motives”


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