PA: The CRT Flap Continues To Metastasize

It's worth remembering that they told us what they intended to do. From back in March...

Just up the road from me, you can see this in action.

Clarion County, despite containing a state university, is a mighty conservative place. Back in March, the County Commissioners, for no particular reason, declared themselves a "Second Amendment County." Now, one of the county's school districts has let itself get played by the "critical race theory" flap.

Parents showed up to complain about the possibility of that race stuff sneaking into schools, supporting the board's newly-minted policy. The policy follows the usual template, borrowing language that is being used in these policies all across the country, such as 

The teaching concepts which impute fault, blame, a tendency to oppress others, or the need to feel guilt or anguish for persons solely because of their skin color, race, sex, or religion are prohibited in the district as such concepts violate the principles of individual rights, equal opportunity, and individual merit underpinning our constitutional republic and therefore have no place in training for administrators, teachers, or other employees of the district.

That same language was adopted by the Mars School District, located just a bit north of Pittsburgh (and in California, and Alabama, and so on...). While the basic policy seems to be getting copied and pasted all across the US, folks feel free to add some details as well. In Mars, there was an addition of patriotic patriotism ("We will teach our children to honor America..."

Because these policies also come with a built-in "This is totally not saying that teachers can't teach controversial stuff, but only, you know, factual stuff and only all sides presented," there's also a list of Stuff That Can't Be Taught. 

Further, this policy shall ensure that Social Justice and unsubstantiated theories of any kind, including but not limited to Holocaust Denial Theory, 9/11 Theory, The 1610 Project, and Critical Race Theory, are not advocated or presented to students as part of any curriculum unless approved in advance by the board.

Holocaust Denial and 9/11 Theory (which is...what? They presumably mean Trutherism) give the list some illusion of balance, but we're balancing a couple of loony conspiracy theories with the work of actual scholars. The list can be augmented with anything that current board members don't like--one board member in Clarion wants to add "gender theory" to the list. 

Even in the rural areas of a state that has, so far, avoided this nonsense on the state level, the usual talking points have penetrated. CRT is really racist. It's indoctrination. This doesn't take any freedom away from teachers. 

Well, of course it does. It creates a chilling atmosphere, where virtually anything could turn out to be somebody's idea of indoctrination and teachers, who are already busy navigating a pandemic in which folks think being asked to wear a damn mask is both indoctrination and oppression, must either brace themselves for the possibility of an attack at any time, or avoid anything at all that might offend someone (good luck, history teachers). 

And as backdrop to all of this, we have an actual anti-mask political candidate declaring, in public, on purpose, that people should take "twenty strong men" into board meetings and give the board the choice of leaving or being thrown out. 

 

PA GOP Gov candidate Steve Lynch today: “Forget going into these school boards with freaking data. You go in to these school boards to remove them. I’m going in with 20 strong men and I’m gonna give them an option - they can leave or they can be removed.” pic.twitter.com/A0M6SsOldI

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 30, 2021

(More about this guy here.) This is dangerous stuff. The real conversation that spreads this looks something like this.

Small Number of Parents: We don't want any Yetis in our school.

School: Great. We don't have 'em. Never have.

SNOP: Well, they have fuzzy hair, and we see that some of your teachers have pictures of fuzzy animals in their room. What about that?

School: Um...

SNOP:  Also, I never liked the way schools play dodgeball with a really big soccer ball.

School: What?

SNOP: Indoctrination! Get 'em!!

This is going to get worse--and scarier-- before it gets better.

ICYMI: Pre Pre School Edition (8/29)

The board of directors is off to pre-school tomorrow, but mostly they're excited about using their new lunch boxes. Meanwhile, local schools open up to students on Tuesday. So we'll just see what hits the fan around here. In the meantime, a lot of things are happening in a lot of places. Here's some reading.

Covid mask issues in school sparking violence

Anne Lutz Fernandez looks at some troubling trends in the pushback against masking rules in school.

New Mexico's discriminatory charter schools

Jessica Pollard in the Santa Fe New Mexican reports on a study discovering that some charters aren't even being subtle about keeping out students with special needs.

Bill would require school board representation at charters

Well, this proposed Pennsylvania bill will go nowhere, but it's a cool idea. 

Is school voucher system in Los Angeles a done deal?

While we've been worrying about covid, the LAUSD board has been going full voucher. Carl J. Petersen has the story.

Bill Gates funding happy news at NYT

Public ed advocate Leonie Haimson lays out how Gates funds his own news pipeline.

What we know about masks, students, and covid spread.

Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat is one of the journalists I trust to do a good job of covering the facts with fairness and accuracy. Here's his piece looking at what we really know about masking.

Battles on the school board front

NPR/All Things Considered uses a board member in Indiana as a focus for a piece about how school boards are under siege right now.

What if...thoughts on education

Akil Bello, testing expert, offers a post about some dreams for education.

Pennridge schools pause diversity initiatives

In Pennsylvania, a state that doesn't even have a "CRT" gag law yet, a school board demonstrates its lack of guts.

Teaching is a woman

This has been all over the place, but icymi, here's Ari Christine's entry that elevates the genre of "why I quit" teacher essays.

The Real Reason Kids Don't Like School

Arthur C Brooks in The Atlantic, arguing that hard work is not nearly as daunting as loneliness.

A school board will pay $1.3 million over trans student bathroom ban

Via the Associated Press, a Virginia district pays big for its trans student policy.

The War in Afghanistan is what happens when McKinsey types run everything

On his substack, Matt Stoller writes about something other than education, except, of course, McKinsey types also want to run education.

To protect democracy, defend public education

A Jacobin interview with Derek Black, author of Schoolhouse Burning

The effect of HBCU-trained teachers on students

A great episode of Have You Heard looks at the secret sauce of HBCU teacher training

Local control of schools--good or bad?

Nancy Flanagan contemplates a question that has new relevance right now.

NC: Public School Teacher Witch Hunt Report Released

Searching for something to add momentum for their proposed teacher gag law, North Carolina Republicans rallied behind Lt. Governor Mark Robinson last March when he announced the Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students (FACTS--get it?) task force, with the stated purposes of 

* assist holding local and county-level education officials accountable for what occurs in their schools

* provide a safe and secure method for right wing teachers to tattle on their co-workers (I'm paraphrasing a bit)

* provide a state-wider pipeline for any parents who also want to report subversive activity in schools

* provide "underrepresented parents and students"--by which they appear to mean put-upon conservatives--a chance to turn in subversives

* assist parents in navigating bureaucracy of school system

There was a form to submit any damn thing that burnt your toast. And at least 580 people did. I know that because the task force released a report earlier this week, and it includes all of the reported items. Let me tell you about it.

The short answer is that it is just as awful as you think. For one thing, the 580 items have the reporter identity and contact information redacted. Names of teachers in the items? Those are still there. We'll get into it ion greater detail in a second.

The Task Force

So who was on this witch hunting panel, this unironic tribute to McCarthyism?

We've got a couple of public school board members. Melissa Oakley (philanthropist, independent child advocate, Onslow County BOE). Melissa Merrell (Union County BOE chair, with history of harassing teachers). Plus a county commissioner- Rick Watkins (also an assistant professor and educational consultant). We've got a couple of teachers. Jennifer Rosa (Wake County, and not much of an online footprint) and Jennifer Adcock (Brunswick County schools, 16 years teacher, also not very on line).

We've got Judy Henlon, president of Classroom Teachers Association of North Carolina, one of those "alternative" professional groups. There's Olivia Oxendine, who's listed as an Associate Professor at UNC Pembroke and a member of the state Board of Education; the FACTS report doesn't mention that she's also with North Carolina's very conservative John Locke Foundation and failed political candidate. 

Two politicians. Senator Kevin Corbin, who sits on the Education Committee, and whose sponsored bills from this year include one to make sure that students and their parents could enjoy live high school sports and the state's Punish Third Graders For Failing the Reading Test law. Also, Representative David Willis, who has sponsored a bill to use COVID relief funds for vouchers, and who owns a Kiddie Academy franchise.

If you think you've guessed which way the wind is blowing here, meet our last three members.

We've got Terry Stoops, director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Center where, among other things, he has argued that North Carolina should not pay teachers for having masters degrees because it doesn't raise test scores. Yes, that makes two reps of the Lockers, who are part of SPN, tied to ALEC and all the usual suspects.

There's Lindalyn Kakadelis, executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools and also tied to the John Locke Foundation. She believes that competition and the free market will fix education.

And finally, Baker Mitchell. Mitchell has been a leader in charter school profiteering with his conservative "classical education" charters.

So if I were a betting man, I'd suspect that this GOP-laden commission is maybe partly about weeding out evil indoctrinators and maybe part about finding one more way to kneecap public schools in North Carolina. But let's look at the report itself.

The Tattle Items

The report says that they've attached all the submitted reports, and I'm inclined to believe them (Submission #578: "Gehehsidhdbdud"). It's an interesting cross-section of grievance, despite its unfortunate resemblance to the comments on any heavily-trolled online article. Here are just a few highlights.

The one time I got on the phone with the Vice principal she made me feel like she thought she knew better for my son and when I asked her if she personally has look at the CDC website to see they published this so called virus is no more then the common cold she told me the info has not been passed to them. How hard is it to look for yourself? These kids need schools open an no mask. Wearing a mask when not necessary will do more harm to your body then this virus will. 

My grandson has to watch CNN NEWS every morning in his class. (There are multiple complaints about watching CNN.)

There are several teachers at east chapel hill high school who lecture daily a curriculum that pushes a very “progressive” liberal agenda.

At Ligon Middle School, my 6th grader (last year) was asked to complete an assignment where she was supposed to "Create Your Own Religion."

Teacher wearing BLM shirt on her bitmoji the entire year in her virtual classroom. Also talking about her wife at home etc. (And then the teacher is named.)

My 8th grade son is in the AIG program at his school. The AIG teacher chose the book "Stamped" by Jason Reynolds and Ibram Kendi. If you are familiar with the authors, they are strong supporters of CRT and the anti-racism movement. The book is very one sided and is rooted in neo Marxist ideology. I opted my son out of reading it because it is divisive, one sided, and honestly, I think it will have a negative impact on relationships with out fellow Americans and to the foundation of our country.

Teaching children gender identity, lgbt (shoving it in those kids faces that don't believe in it and KNOW that it's sinful), and teaching Black Lives Matter movement (it is like telling all other ethnic groups that they DON'T matter). Blm group is also a terrorist, satanic group...

Some responders pushed back.

NC schools are required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day at school. This fits the criteria of "Examples of students being subjected to indoctrination according to a political agenda or ideology, whether through assigned work, teacher comments, or a hostile classroom environment" since it has "God" in it and it also forced patriotism. Not all students are from the Christian faith and should not be forced to learn, recite, or even hear the Pledge of Allegiance. There are also students who are from other countries. They should not be forced into patriotism.

The school calendar only revolves around Christian holidays.

Some pushed back really hard. I'll skip those because the language will upset my mom.

And some just don't sound real. I know, I know-- never underestimate the weird out there, but still...

My son wanted to give a speech about all the good things Germany did early in the 20th century, but his teacher wouldn't let him and just kept talking about Jews, I mean what's a Jew? Sounds like the liberal media.

My nephew came home yesterday from school and informed me that his teacher laughed in his face when he said George Washington was the best president. The teacher laughed and embarrassed him and then  told the class that the only right answer was Obama.

So how did they get a report out of this?

The task force--doesn't that sound cool? like they were wearing sharp uniforms and scaling walls and cool shit--not like, say, a central committee or the loyalty oversight commission or the unAmerican activities committee sitting in a room deciding which people are not pure enough of heart-- anyway, the task force sorted through the tattles and decided which ones "needed to be examined further" and then if the report was "deemed relevant to the efforts of the Task Force" and then contacted the tattler. Then the twelve "education professionals" listed above decided if the reported naughtiness was "appropriate" or perhaps "attempted indoctrination, coercive teaching methods, or inappropriate lesson content"-- and then declare whether or not the North Carolina education system has a problem.

And that resulted in a 254 page report. Hey. Witch hunting is hard work.

There are some data-ish breakdowns, like breakdown by county (Orange and Wake Counties had the biggest share of reports) which show that "reports of indoctrination in every region" of the state. 

The Lt. Governor's office "found" six major themes/problems in the state.

    1. Fear of retaliation

    2. The Sexualization of Kids

    3. Critical Race Theory

    4. White Shaming

    5. Biased News Media and/or Lesson Plans

    6. Shaming of Certain Political Beliefs

You'll note that "People Accusing Us of Witch Hunts and Conservative Indoctrination" as well as "People Yanking Our Chain" did not make the cut.

Each of these is supported by ten or a dozen examples from the indoctrination reports. They dug hard to find all the teachers who reported fear of backlash for reporting their colleagues indoctrination. This point matters because this explains why you might not be hearing more--there's so much more indoctrination going on, but people are afraid to speak up. For "sexualization," by which they mean exposing students to info about LGBTQ stuff, there are five complaints, including one about a teaching tolerance magazine.

CRT is broadly defined so that "social justice lessons" and PD about microaggressions and equity qualify. One complaint says that the child was being taught CRT "buzz words" such as bias, discrimination, equity and racist, and that he had to use these words to pain white folks as bad. White shaming involves anything that makes white students feel bad.

Bias examples bring up the Dr. Seuss flap, and, again, the classrooms where students watch CNN. One argues that teachers shouldn't be openly vocal about personal beliefs because "Students are instructed that their teachers are the authority and speakers of truth." Don't worry, Ma'm-- folks are working on changing that. There are tons of bias examples. Shaming of certain beliefs was just leftovers that didn't fit elsewhere.

Side note. While some tattlers did turn in charter schools, I did not see any of those submissions make it into the final report. Go figure.

There's a glossary of terms (not bad, actually) and a statement about Robinson's plan of action, which is vague. Pressure needs to be put on certain districts, and that includes forcing them to cough up all the details. Then a couple hundred pages of odds and ends the task force dug up. District policies, board agendas, employee codes of conduct, materials cribbed from in-services, a whole lot of stuff from Durham County which is apparently a hotbed of naughtiness. Some selected submissions along with the follow-up information, like worksheets. A special case study of the Governor's School, a five and a half week summer school that was a treasure trove of naughty papers for the task force. 

Then. For crying out loud. A collection of tweets and facebook posts culled from various teachers and other educators, catching them being all biased and indoctrinatey (nobody asks the question-- can you indoctrinate students on social media that they don't use? Should indoctrinators be on snapchat and the gram?) This includes incriminating evidence like NC Public Schools Twitter account tweeting a promo for the joint CNN/Sesame Street town hall on "Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism." Also, they are offended by materials that draw parallels between "CRT" opponents and 1960s white integration protestors as well as KKK members. 

Basically, the task force and its deputies have been creeping on schools and school districts all over the state.

Good Lord In Heaven

This would be a hilarious piece of irony-laden baloney if it weren't such a serious attempt to crush teachers, schools, and any attempt to deal with serious issues. Joe McCarthy and the Chinese Cultural Revolution look like bad satire from a distance, I suppose, but up close, they ruined peoples' lives and damaged the fabric of society. Every member of this task force should be deeply ashamed of themselves, and that goes double for Mark Robinson. This is indefensible witch hunting, cynically unAmerican, and just plain evil. What a shame that North Carolina's teachers, who have suffered so much crap at the hands of their states' leaders, have to add this to the pile.

Everyone else? Keep an eye on your own state government.

Teaching Machines: Read This Book

 Over at Forbes.com today I've posted a responsible grown-up look at the new Audrey Watters book Teaching Machines. But here at the blog, I can just go ahead and go full fanboy on this work, a book I was so looking forward too that I pre-ordered it twice.

Watters opens with Sal Khan selling the same old chestnut-- factory-model school was invented a hundred years ago and it hasn't changed a hair on its head since, until I rolled out my awesome ed tech innovation. And then, in a compact, readable 263 pages, she sets the record straight.

If you follow the education debates, ed tech division, virtually everything in this book will sound familiar, because it turns out that for the last 100 years, ed tech's pitch has stayed pretty much the same. They have promised game-changing innovation, aimed for behavioral engineering, and delivered almost none of what they've promised. It still matters though, as she points out:

Their ongoing influence can be found in the push for both personalized technologies and behavioral engineering. But teaching machines’ most significant legacy may be, quite broadly, in the technocratic culture that they helped engender in education.

Watters gives ample attention to B. F. Skinner and the focus on behavioral engineering. "If behavior was controlled and controllable by the environment, then what better way to make adjustments to individuals--and, as Skinner imagined, to all of society--than by machine."

She's located so many great quotes, some of which are truly astonishing.

"The only thing that matters is the future," one entrepreneur commented. "I don't even know why we study history. It's entertaining I guess--the dinosaurs and the Neanderthals and the Industrial Revolution, and stuff like that. But what already happened doesn't really matter. You don't need to know that history to build on what they made. In technology, all that matters is tomorrow."

But we ignore history at our peril. And the history that Watters lays out shows that we're living in the echoes of earlier days. 

Testing had quickly become a thriving industry, and vendors were "circling the world with psychological supplies."

That's from 1927.

But he insisted that the machine would actually free the teacher "from the mechanical tasks of her profession--the burden of paperwork and routine drill--so that she may be a real teacher, not largely a clerical worker."

That's from 1925.

Or the Ohio State students pointing out that the teaching machine would in no way alleviate the dullness and drudgery of test taking. In the 1920s.

This is the story of how teaching machines began and grew and failed and failed and failed, but still managed to promote a view of education as an engineering project. It's about a long-standing belief in programmed learning, in way to standardize teaching. And it is, ironically, a story about how ed tech has stayed just as stuck for 100 years as the education system that it accuses of being unchanged. 

This is a great book, as easily readable as Watters; hugely popular blog Hack Education. Watters is smart, funny, and hugely knowledgeable in a way that makes it possible for her to connect many dots and see both the forest and the trees. Her blog was one of the first I read regularly when I first fell down the edubloggosphere rabbit hole, and one of the biggest treats of my ed commentary career was a few years back when I appeared on a panel with her at a Network for Public Education conference. She's the real deal, a scholar anchored in the real world, as well as a sharp, insightful writer. There have been so many great education books to come out in the past two years; this belongs on your shelf beside them. 

Jeb Bush Gets It Wrong

 Earlier this month, Jeb Bush released an op-ed to argue against "cuts" (more on that in a moment) to federal spending on charter schools. It's loaded with specious arguments. Let's tick off the items

First, Bush argues that our current education is designed as

a one-size-fits-all factory model of education, created in the 1890s to build a workforce for a factory-model economy.

The "factory model" rhetoric has been debunked many times, but Bush's variation is particularly silly. At the dawn on the 20th century, the enrollment rate for 5 through 19 year olds was around 30% for Blacks and 60% for Whites. Nobody was in school to "build a workforce," because the workforce was composed primarily of people who had not finished school; child labor was everywhere, and it took several decades in the 20th century to pass federal child labor laws. In short, factories were not depending on or even much looking for high school graduates.

public charter school

Bush still wants to push the industry's continued insistence that charter schools are public schools. They aren't. They aren't even interested in saying so when it doesn't suit their purposes. And the courts often agree. A public school operates transparently and is run by elected taxpayers. It has to account for every dollar it spends. And the public owns the building and the materials in it. Also, it doesn't operate as a shell for a massive for-profit business. A school that does meet all those requirements is not a truly public school. A school that doesn't meet any of those requirements is absolutely not a public school.

Unfortunately, there are special interests — and those wedded to the past — who cling to an outdated system. Rather than creating a modern education system that adapts to students and gives them the freedom and flexibility to find their right school and learning environment, they wrongly force each to conform to a standardized and obsolete approach.

The irony of this complaint, coming from Mr. Let's Make Everyone Use The One Size Fits All Common Core, is thick. Back when Bush was pushing that failed monstrosity, millions of teachers complained that the Core would restrict them and keep them from doing their job--which capable teachers understand is to meet each student where she is and get her what she needs to grow and learn. I would point out that schools are different from when Jeb was attending in the late sixties/early seventies, but of course he went to Ivy Preptastic Philips Andover.

But in the Jeb world, teachers are a naughty special interest that, for some reason. Maybe teachers are for some reason opposed to finding newer and better ways to do the work they've devoted their lives to/ Or maybe Bush is just full of it on this point.

But he needs a villain somewhere, because naughty forces are Up To Something.

This outdated mentality has led the U.S. House to pass a federal budget that cuts education funding to millions of public school students who choose to attend public charter schools.

This is wrong on several important points.

First, the "cuts." He's talking about the Charter Schools Fund, a federal stack of money set up to fund the launch and expansion of charter schools. First established in 1994, the CSF has doled out roughly $4 billion dollars, and according to the Network for Public Education, at least $1 billion of that has gone to waste and fraud, including charters that didn't even open. The CSF was supposed to get a $40 million bump this year; instead the House decided to leave the CSF standing at $40. So talking about cuts is the same old dodge used by many advocates of one cause or another-- nothing was actually cut, but they didn't get the raise they were looking.

Next, note that Bush is claiming that this will take funding from millions of students, as if they're going to be tossed out of their current charter because the feds cut off the money tap. But CSF monies are used to launch or expand charters, not sustain them. 

However, there is a problem for charters in the part of the budget that Bush quotes. It's this:

SEC. 314. None of the funds made available by this Act or any other Act may be awarded to a charter school that contracts with a for-profit entity to operate, oversee or manage the activities of the school.

Charters have long slid by on the distinction-without-a-difference between for profit charters and nonprofit charters owned and/or operated by for profit businesses. This would slam that door shut on some profiteers.

This all makes Bush sad, because, you know, it's all For The Children (though at no point does he suggest that the charter operators simply forego their profits so that they can keep taking care of the kids, because For The Children has limits). This is the most disingenuous part of the charter argument--why, exactly, does a system of robust charters have to rest on companies making a load of profit at public expense. The answer, of course, is that it doesn't (and there are plenty of charters that stand as proof of this). 

In short, anyone arguing that the "no for-profit" clause is bad for children is slinging baloney, because the real explanation they need toi provide is one that shows why charter schools can only exist if someone is profiting from them. 

Bush tries to float some tired, vague and unsubstantiated claims that according to one test (NAEP) some charters sometimes get better results (i.e. test scores) for some students. "Education choice helps all students succeed," Bush says, except that after a couple of decades of choiciness, there's still no compelling body of evidence to suggest that it's true. 

Also, now that there's pandemic stuff going on, choice is even more popular. Especially in Bush's old state of Florida, where the governor's declaration says that public schools may not mandate masks--but charters and private can do as they wish. It is the most blatant version of the policy that Bush spearheaded back in his gubernatorial days--just keep undercutting the public schools and make the charters and privates look better and better by comparison.

He's sure that all this is politics, which makes sense, because federal support for charters was born of politics, and Bush has used politicking to further the charter industry and to push Common Core, and also hoped that his education politics would give him a signature issue to help propel him further in politics. And of course, where there's politics, there are evil unions:

Teachers’ unions and their allies in Congress see students who choose public charter schools as a threat to the education model that they control. And unions fear that choice will lead to fewer students attending schools that fund their private coffers.

The subtext is that same old narrative. Teachers unions control the school system (although, when they were on his side for pushing the Core, that didn't do any good), and the school system itself is just a giant scheme to collect money for the union. Is every teacher in on it (even the ones who vote GOP), or are they all just dupes? And is Bush aware that charter schools can be unionized as well, and that the unions actually tread lightly around charters because they have charter teaching members?

Bush throws in a few more whoppers. Cutting charter funding will hurt students, "especially special- needs students" except that charters are notorious for squeezing out IEP students or just exercising the clause that says a charter school is an exercise of parental choice and therefor voids any rights to an IEP. 

But "students over systems," declares Bush as he demands that Congress put back money that funds a charter system and not students. Plenty of charter fans will keep beating these same drums, but in the end, this House budget proposal slows growth on a fund that is rife with fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, and closes the door for profiteers to hoover up taxpayer dollars for their own private profit.

ICYMI: Stone Skipping Edition (8/22)

 This is the weekend on which, every year, I judge a stone skipping competition in my small town. It's a fun time.

Ethics Complaint Filed in North Carolina  

Lately it's been one damn thing after another in NC. Now it turns out one of the heads of the legislature's education committee forgot to mention that his wife is connected to a chartter school.

Has school ventilation improved as schools open?

Nancy Bailey looks at one of the most basic protections against Covid spread in schools. 

What would it rake to do what's right for kids

Nancy Flanagan speaks to the importance of leadership during these chaotic times.

South Florida bus drivers quit.

Along with everything else, bus drivers are an issue. In Pittsburgh, school's opening was pushed back because of a bus driver shortage. And in Florida, they're quitting.

Critical Race Theory and the New Massive Resistance

Mark Keierleber at the 74 has a great piece connecting the current CRT flap to Virginia's fight against desegregation.

Classrooms taken over by rats

From the 'so you think you've got troubles" file. In California, a school has a big rat problem.

LAUSD teachers share why they quit

You already know this story, but here it is in black and white.

Louisiana BESE abruptly adjourns due to unruly public response to masking

The indispensable Mercedes Schneider has the story of a state board shut down by more of the anti-maskers.

 

PA: Charter Operators Find Another Way To Take Over A District

 Chester Upland School District is located in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania. It has been through the wringer. More specifically, it has been through just about every wringer a school district can go through, from segregation through financial crises through an attack by charter interests. The full background can be found here, with following chapters here, here, and here.

Short version. The district's financial woes put it in receivership with the state. The local charter operator (a huge money-maker for a businessman named Vahan Gureghian) pushed the courts to open the district up to charter school takeover. 

For a brief moment this summer, it looked like the district had won a reprieve. The newest court-appointed receiver (and previous CUSD superintendent) Juan Baughn considered three proposals to take over CUSD elementary schools (throughout all of this, no charters have expressed interest in taking over the high school, which creates its own set of issues) and then rejected all of them, citing, in part, the strong voices of public opposition to the takeover.

And then Baughn resigned.

Chester Community Charter School (Gureghian's business) sent a letter to the court announcing that it intended to appeal the decision. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Education petitioned the court (Judge Barry Dozor) to appoint Dr. Michael Pladus to the post. Pladus has thirty years of experience as an educator as well as working as Chief Recovery Officer of CUSD. He had the support of the state and the district. However, as laid out in a press release from the Education Law Center, the night before the hearing in which Pladus was to be considered, the Friends of CCCS filed a motion proposing an alternative-- Nafis Nichols. Nichols had put his hat in the ring via private letter the week before.

Nafis Nichols is currently the Chief Financial Officer of the City of Chester. He's done some drug free counseling and community outreach work. He attended college but never graduated. The court heard testimony in his support from Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland and Senator John I. Kane, which is not super-unusual. But Judge Dozor also listened to the Friends of Chester Community Charter, Chester Charter School for the Arts, and Chester Community Charter Schools. That's nuts--to give the charter schools a major say in the selection of the person who will fashion the fate of the public, and make a decision the next time a charter takeover proposal appears, is a mind-boggling conflict of interest, like letting McDonalds have a major say to a zoning board hearing about whether a Burger King can open up.

The court order (dated August 13) notes that Nichols is a graduate of Chester High, that he meets the statutory requirements, that his "public and private sector experiences identifies [sic] strengths in management, book keeping, human resources, public relations, grant applications, contract negotiations, collective bargaining agreements..." Even the court is unable to pretend that Nichols knows anything at all about education and schools. But, of course, as you've already realized, the court passed over the state-approved education veteran in favor of the charter-supported receiver for the public school system.

The court also notes that the community is "very much engaged" and that community support is "crucial." Well, that's a problem.

CUSD is a district where trust has been trampled. Teachers have been asked to work without pay. Money just kind of disappears. City leaders honor the charter leaders, and school board members show up to celebrate charter school openings. Vahan Gureghian was the top contributor to Thaddeus Kirkland's election campaign (Kirkland, who used to be a state representative, has worked with Gureghian before). Judge Dozor reportedly said during the August 5 hearing that charter's are an integral part of the district "and it's going to remain that way." If CUSD has a champion anywhere in the local power structure, it's hard to see where.

The story of the charter attempted takeover has been a story of hidden back-room deals and a distinct lack of transparency, eventually revealing that the agendas being served are not the agenda of Chester's student or the Chester Upland public school system. The reprieve is over and it appears that charter operators have figured out more than one way to grab the profitable pieces of a dismantled, beleagured school district.