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