One-time Democratic playmaker Jonathan Pelto’s journey to the outer limits continues, with an accusation that Malloy or his aides lied about the purpose of a recent speechmaking trip to New York. It’s part of a rambling blog post that suggests that Malloy, charter school proponents and wealthy investors are part of a vast conspiracy to destroy public education. I’m not going to get into Pelto’s narrative, but one point, involving a Malloy speech before the National Executive Service Corps, deserves a little attention:
… what is now clear is that unbeknownst to Connecticut’s media and reporters, there was no National Executive Service Corps “Annual Meeting” in New York City that night. Someone decided that misleading the press was worth it – and in my experience that type of decision could only be made by the Governor, the Governor’s Chief of Staff or, in this case, the Governor’s Chief Adviser who also happens to by his speech writer.
Had reporters been told the truth, someone would have undoubtedly gone to the event and discovered that Malloy’s participation had nothing to do with the state’s troubled economy.
Dan Malloy was there for one purpose, and one purpose only and that was to attend the NESC’s 7th annual Gala Dinner. His role was to introduce the guest of honor, Greenwich Millionaire and charter school champion Jonathan Sackler.
I told you it was a sinister conspiracy. Here is a response from Malloy aide Roy Occhiogrosso:
As is often the case, Jonathan is wrong. Governor Malloy was invited by the NESC to be the keynote speaker at their event – which in fact is an annual event. They specifically asked him to speak about his economic development initiatives — in particular, entrepreneurial programs. Which is exactly what he did. Following his remarks, the Governor left the event. He didn’t stay for an awards ceremony, nor did he introduce anybody. If our office didn’t want the media to attend, why would we put the event on his public schedule? That schedule is distributed to thousands of people and is posted on our website. Jonathan’s screeds have become increasingly delusional as time has gone on. He’s an unstable individual, who’s bitter that he didn’t land a job in the Administration. Although I’m hard pressed to see why anyone would hire him to do anything, he does describe himself as a ‘consultant.’ Is someone paying him to peddle information that’s not true?
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49 Responses to Jonathan Pelto And The Great Charter School Conspiracy
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It’s honestly scary the lengths Jon has gone to attack Gov. Malloy. But ya know what, I’ll quote something he recently said to me (online): “Onbe (One) of my next two posts will be 100% positive. I promise and then we can compare how many hits positive blog gets vs the critical ones
.”
Its all about going negative as politically possible since the day the budget was revealed (and Malloy asked for more than a dime from unions to eliminate the deficit). Whether or not that argument is meant to be feasible or just attractive is perhaps a question to ask. Though sometimes I’m reminded of the South Park episode ‘Mystery of the Urinal Deuce’.
Yea, its a pretty crude title, but it goes deeper into a side-plot. In the end, the 9/11 conspiracy theory is itself a conspiracy meant to instill fear in the minds of far left activists that the establishment was really that powerful and the intelligent enough to stage such an attack. In reality though, its a paper tiger. And Jon’s been building one from his blog for over a year now.
I like Jon Pelto’s contributions to many discussions.
Jon Pelto positions himself as a union and state worker champion (or apologist). He’s a more vocal SEBAC advocate than Matt O’Connor and often defends the indefensible.
Where Pelto adds value is in research and mines a few gems in noting Pryor’s past relationships with Charter School private companies. Malloy’s support for Charter schools means there will be winners and losers in funding. It’s a given the teachers unions are losers in the decertification movement of failing schools. Jon is a bit of the usual broken record on that score. But who are the winners? Local Charters? National companies? This year’s Education Alternatives, Inc? You can be sure Jon will be both on top and over-the-top of the issue.
I’m sure you remember EAI
http://tinyurl.com/7479jqk
And Hartford had the Patricia Daniels fiasco: back in the good old days when the school board used to leave meetings with armed escorts and decided to hire an unqualified Black woman because …well….she was an unqualified Black Woman and it was the politically correct Affirmative Action thing to do when under armed guard.
See? Things get do get better!
“Private companies”? I believe every CT charter is run by a nonprofit–not really the same as some of the other for-profit companies running schools in other states. Please don’t perpetuate the myth that charters are not public schools. It’s false, and it doesn’t help kids when charter operators have to waste a bunch of time explaining to those spreading misinformation that charter must adhere to laws like certification etc. just like other public schools.
More from the Courant on the Patricia Daniels fiasco.
http://tinyurl.com/7qa3kga
Is this where I push schoo; vouchers indexed to 50% of per capita student spending in the district? That’s where Milwaukee blazed a trail. Cutting the costs of commodity education in half, increasing parental satisfaction in school choices, and creating a model that allows for local, regional, national charter, parochial, private and other schools models to compete and innovate alognside a public school system.
OTOH Milwaukee doesn’t use the savings to expand educational services which is a bit of a disappointment.
Malloy’s plan to pay Charters nearly the same per capita as city schools isn’t as cost effective. I’m still waiting to see those final figures.
Rick,
Do you actually write anything anymore or do you just cut and paste other people’s works? Sorry, you don’t see the relationship between Achievement First, ConnCan and the education secretary that Malloy has complete ignored. I guess you’re not much for researching or reporting anymore either.
Rick,
Not exactly sure what you mean when you say that my “journey to the outer limits continues” but rest assured I would not have raised a question about Malloy’s trip to the Sackler Gala event without appropriate back up evidence.
The press release announcing the Governor’s schedule said;
“Governor Malloy will deliver the keynote address at the National Executive Services Corps (NESC) annual meeting in New York City, where he will speak about his efforts to reinvent Connecticut and jumpstart the state’s economy to create new jobs for the 21st century.”
The NESC Annual Gala is the organization’s annual fundraiser and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for the organization.
This year’s”Mistress of Ceremonies” was Kelly Wallace of CBS, CNN and Fox fame. Previous emcees included Lynn Redgrave and Tony Award-winning Broadway singer Brian Stokes Mitchell.
According to the organization, this year’s program included a performance by the “Young People’s Chorus of New York City.” Performances by youth groups have been a tradition. One year the highlight was “a unique twenty-five-minute-spectacular” by the Russian American Kids Circus on Stage.”
The NECS also wrote that Governor Malloy “has graciously offered to introduce Jon Sackler, our distinguished honoree and fellow Connecticut resident.”
You quote Malloy’s aide as saying the Governor did speak about economic development and that “following his remarks, the Governor left the event. He didn’t stay for an awards ceremony, nor did he introduce anybody.”
I have no doubt that the Governor gave a great speech, but considering Sackler, who is a friend of the Governor was being honored that night don’t you think it is rather strange that we are now told that “the Governor didn’t stay for the event nor did he introduce anybody” when in fact the primary purpose of his trip was to introduce the night’s honoree.
So, Malloy reaches out to a millionaire. Shocking. Have you looked at Obama and Super PAC money lately? I’m interested in Achievement First because the schools succeed. If rich people like them I’ve got no problem. Here’s another one for you — Michelle Rhee worked at an EAI school in Baltimore. EAI worked and failed in Hartford. She’s now interested in Connecticut. Yawn.
Whenever Rick or his position is exposed he inserts the word “yawn” or “wake me when you done.” Instead of taking on the point, he writes the above and calls it a day. He’s a one-armed taco maker or a toothless watchdog. He’s lost his fastball, not that he ever really one to begin with.
He lacks the cojones or onions…he’ll protect his liberal views rather than to see CT and our country succeed. Once a liberal, always a liberal.
Rick, this whole charter school issue is very much like our election this November.
As we head into some crucial GOP primaries — Arizona and Michigan on February 28, then Super Tuesday one week later — grassroots Republicans remain sharply divided over which presidential candidate to support. A lot of us would vote for None of the Above, if we had that choice. But we’re united in the belief that if our country continues on its present course for another four years, the damage to our economy and our national security will be catastrophic and irreversible.
And we’re perplexed by the obstinate refusal of so many Americans who aren’t Republicans to acknowledge the acute danger we’re in, and to at least consider voting in November for whichever candidate the GOP finally chooses to run against President Obama.
Is the problem that these people cannot see we’re heading toward a cliff? Or can they see it just as clearly as we do, but they hate the GOP so much that they would rather go over that cliff with a Democrat at the wheel than be saved by a Republican driver who’s made a last-minute U-turn?
My guess is that they do see we’re heading toward a cliff. After all, it’s obvious — and these people aren’t stupid. But they don’t believe we’re in immediate danger. More precisely, they cannot bring themselves to believe that. Which means they may acknowledge to themselves — but never aloud, to us, or to some pollster — that at some point they’ll need to vote for a U-turn. But not now, or any time soon, because they believe the cliff is still a long way down the road.
If this perception is accurate, it suggests a wholly new approach to the 2012 election — not just for whoever emerges as the GOP’s challenger to President Obama, but for Republican candidates at all levels of government. We should talk to voters the way a physician would talk to a patient who’s got some serious health problems: calmly and professionally, but bluntly:
I’ve been going over your test results, and I’m sorry to tell you we’ve found some serious problems. You’re overweight, your blood pressure is high, and I don’t like what I’m seeing on your x-rays. In short, you’re unhealthy. But rest assured that none of these problems need be fatal. We can restore your health with a combination of better diet, exercise, medication, and, perhaps, some surgery. The regimen I want to put you on won’t be pleasant, or easy, but I’m confident that if we work together you can look forward to a long and healthy life.
You’re probably thinking that I’m trying to scare you. Well, I am. You may feel okay right now, and be reluctant to face up to what I’m telling you and what needs to be done. You may believe I’m exaggerating, and that you can wait for the results of next year’s annual physical, or the one after that, before coming to grips with your health problems.
And you may be right. I’ve had patients in worse shape than you’re in survive for years without making any changes in the way they live. And I’ve had patients just like you thank me politely for my time and my advice, then walk out my door and drop dead waiting for the elevator.
My point is, with serious health problems like yours, anything can happen, at any time. It’s impossible to predict just when. I can tell you only that if you don’t start to change, now, you’re playing Russian roulette with your life. So we can get to work on this new regimen, or you can go home and we’ll meet again, either next year in this office or late one night in the emergency room — or perhaps in the morgue. It’s entirely up to you….
Enough already with the usual kind of politics — the parades, the slogans, those carefully planned “spontaneous” demonstrations, those ghastly television ads with adoring spouses, cute children, and lovable dogs. No more pandering for votes by flipping pancakes at county fairs or showing up and demeaning ourselves on those idiotic late-night television talk shows. Let’s stop playing the Democrats’ game of pretending that we feel the voters’ pain, when what we really feel is disgust with the poor political decisions so many voters have made, for so long, that have gotten our country into its present jam. Let’s stop talking to voters as though they were children who need to be cajoled into eating their vegetables. Let’s change the political culture itself by talking to voters as adults responsible for dealing with their problems — or not dealing with their problems, if that’s their choice:
My fellow Americans, we’re in trouble. The national debt is staggering, government spending at all levels is out of control, and we’ve been passing laws that make it harder than ever for business owners to grow their companies and create new jobs. Congress has enacted a health care law that will devastate our country’s health care system and reduce the services we depend upon, literally, for our lives. We’re on the verge of turning our country’s free-market economy — the most productive, most innovative, most powerful economy the world has ever known — into a socialist economy that will lead to decades of stagnation.
And our nation’s security is at risk. At a time when radical Islam threatens to destroy Western civilization, and when Iran is on the brink of having nuclear bombs, we are slashing the Pentagon’s budget. By pulling our troops out of Iraq too soon, we are now in danger of snatching defeat from the extraordinary victory our troops had won. We are about to give up in Afghanistan, precisely at that moment when our troops on the ground there are making real progress. And rather than taking steps to make our country energy-independent and no longer in need of Mideast oil, we are throwing every legal obstacle we can under the feet of our domestic energy production companies.
If we continue on our present course, more and more of you will lose your jobs, your homes, and even the pensions you’ve worked so hard, and for so long, to earn. The quality of our health care will decline. We will leave our children’s generation crippled by debt and with no hope of prosperity or even economic stability. And we will leave our country vulnerable to another 9-11 attack — this time, perhaps, with nuclear weapons.
You may believe we’re exaggerating, and that you don’t need to think about all this, at least not yet. Perhaps. There’s just no way to predict whether our economy will hit the wall next year, or in the coming decade — or two weeks from Wednesday because of a market crash triggered by the collapse of some obscure bank in Europe, or in China. Your own job may be safe, your pension well protected. You may not notice a drop in the quality of our country’s health care system for quite a while, if you’re one of the lucky ones who stays healthy. And while no intelligence service can prevent every terrorist attack on our homeland, perhaps ours will succeed in stopping the the next one, so we won’t suffer another 9-11 for years to come.
All we can tell you is that if we remain on our present course, we’re heading straight for that proverbial cliff.
We still have time to turn around. Changing course won’t be easy or pleasant, but together we can do it. We can bring down the national debt to a manageable level, we can bring government spending under control, and we can restore the free-market incentives that will encourage business owners to invest in new products and services, and by doing so create new jobs. We can undo the health care laws that Congress has passed. We can make ourselves energy-independent. We can leave our children’s generation with a robust economy that will enable them to live at least as well as we’ve lived, perhaps even to live in greater prosperity than we have known. And we can keep our country safe from the world’s genocidal lunatics.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re driving down the road and you realize you’re going in the wrong direction, changing speed or changing lanes doesn’t solve the problem. You have to get off at the next exit and make a U-turn. In politics, that “next exit” is called an election. Please, take this next exit and vote for us. Don’t bet your money — and perhaps your lives — that there’s no cliff up ahead, or that if there is a cliff ahead we’re nowhere near it.
Reader, I know the question you’re asking right now — I can hear you shouting at me through cyberspace — and the answer is: no. I cannot guarantee that this approach will win the 2012 elections for the GOP. The majority of voters may well conclude they’re not in the danger we believe they’re in. Or, they may accept our diagnoses but lack the fortitude to deal with it. If so, then so be it. I’d rather go over that cliff with a Democrat at the wheel than a Republican. At least they won’t be able to blame us for the results of their fecklessness. And maybe, just maybe, the survivors will turn to Republican candidates to pull them out of the wreckage and get our country back on the road to a secure, prosperous future.
Actually, there’s another possibility. If we start talking to voters the way I’m suggesting we talk to them, we might begin to change the political culture itself, from one that’s become infected by soft thinking and emotion to a healthier political culture, based on hard thinking and analysis. If this new political culture takes hold, it might open the door for younger, less ideological Democrats who grasp the danger we’re in and who have the communications skills and the body language to connect with voters in a way that we Republicans cannot. And if these Democrats can get themselves elected with a mandate to execute the U-turn that we Republicans know is necessary — that’s okay. Let them do it and take the credit, and they can count on us for all the help and political support they may require.
After all, we’re Republicans, which means that unlike today’s Democrats, our objective isn’t to win the next election at all costs. Our objective is to rescue the United States.
Rick, I read your commentaries because you are as suspicious of the left as you are of the right. As suspicious of Big Business as you are of unions. A healthy approach.
So you are virtually the last person I’d imagine who would simply say – Achievement First Succeeds. Period, end of story.
Certainly Achievement First is getting some improved standardized test scores but they are “succeeding” with a choice group of students while leaving behind those who face the greatest challenges.
For example;
Hartford School system 52% Latino
Achievement First Hartford Academy 10% Latino
Hartford School system 17% ELL (Not English proficient)
Achievement First – Hartford Acadeny 5%
Hartford School system 43% are from homes where English is not the primary language
Achievement First – Hartford Academy 5%
The numbers are similar at most of Achievement First’s other schools
And Achievement First schools continue to show up on the dreaded list of “Schools Not Making Annual Yearly Progress” as measured by the No Child Left Un-bothered Law.
Meanwhile Achievement First plays the numbers like Madison Avenue pros. They say that the senior classes at the Amistad Academy and Elm City Preparatory school achieved a 100-percent college acceptance rate.
What they don’t say is the from 9th grade to 12th grade 51% of the class of simply left the school.
Nor do they say you can’t actually graduate from one of their schools unless you are accepted to college.
I do take issue with you painting ALL charter schools with the same broad brush, giving the impression they all have similar numbers. You are good at research, so if you’ve dug beyond Achievement First, you know there are vast differences. It hurts other charters who don’t have the deep pockets and clout of AA when you make them seem the same, and THAT hurts students. The word on the street is that AA counsels kids out–anyone with behavior issues goes, and the poverty levels at some of their schools? Gimme a break–not even serving really poor children!
Great points Jon!
Ask Rick to juxtapose your above data with say a school he cares about…West Hartford where he pays taxes.
Ding! Ding, Ding, DING! Pelto beats Green in the second round with body blows…the ref stops the fight 21 seconds into the second round.
“Jonathan’s [Pelto] screeds have become increasingly delusional as time has gone on. He’s an unstable individual, who’s bitter that he didn’t land a job in the Administration. Although I’m hard pressed to see why anyone would hire him to do anything, he does describe himself as a ‘consultant.’ Is someone paying him to peddle information that’s not true?” — Roy (Ax-Man)Occhiogrosso
“Delusional… unstable… bitter…” Now, THAT”S a screed. I’ve known Jon for about 20 years. If during all that time he had exhibited signs of instability, delusion and bitterness, someone other than Mr. Occhiogrosso would have noticed and perhaps had him committed, as Mr. Occhiogrosso evidently is, to the Malloy administration.
Unfortunately for him, Mr. Occhiogrosso has become the ax-man of the Malloyalists, Connecticut’s counterpart to David Axelrod or Rahm Emanuel, the guy in the Obama administration who sends dead fish through the mail to his political critics. This burst of venom on Mr. Occhiogrosso’s part perhaps charitably could be put down to too much caffeine. He should try decaf.
Looks like you’ve got lots of new friends Jon.
Rick –
I find it astonishing that you would give Roy Occhiogrosso room to demean someone so thoroughly. Personal attacks by a political operative only occur when that operative cannot win on substance. Roy has shown himself to be a bully and a coward with his diatribe questioning a critic’s mental health and motives. Me, I’m just waiting for Roy to call the state police and governor’s security detail to complain that Jonathan is a threat to the governor yet and he should be on a watch list.
It is clear to me Gov. Malloy and his operatives are increasingly frustrated with Pelto’s spot-on attacks. I cannot fathom, Rick, that you would allow Roy to attack Pelto so viciously like that without asking him for facts to back up accusations.
I know Pelto is a public figure, but those words hurled by Roy are kind of defamatory and certainly hurled with malicious intent (possibly libelous). I think as a journalist, Rick, you would want to be more responsible and even handed in allowing your column to be used as a vessel for such spitfire and venom from a governor.
Regards,
Ken Krayeske
Ken your biggest mistake is using the word journalist and Rick Green in the same sentence.
Roy Occhiogrosso has become increasingly delusional as time has gone on. He’s an unstable individual, who did land a job in the Administration, although I’m hard pressed to see why anyone would hire him to do anything. But someone(CT Taxpayers!) IS paying him to peddle information that’s not true.
If Roy is as delusional as you claim Jonathan…why is he wasting his “talents” in the Nutmeg State? Roy should step up to the big leagues and work for Obama!
I’m looking at some of Rick’s “columns” and comments and thinking “Is this the best he could do?” Wow, someone has been out of the trenches and behind the desk for too long. Hmmm, just like some of the education reformers – to be fair to reformers, most were never in the trenches in the first place.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how long the Courant puts up with Rick’s minimal work.
Thanks for all the kind words. Now, how about we all try to keep the comments to the topic at hand. Fair?
Rick, you haven’t earned kind words. You constantly rag on teachers. I’ve challenged you before and here it is again. Go substitute in some of the Hartford Schools, the real ones like Bulkeley, HPHS, and their feeders. Do that, and then write about school reform. As of now your ramblings are coming from a place of ignorance.
I have formally challenged Rick Green to substitute teach for me for one week as a research method. My specific challenge was for him to simply try to get the students to complete assigned work and turn it in. He refused my challenge several times, then resumed his rantings against teachers in his column. He’s a hack.
As an addendum, Mr. Green claims that he fully understands the problems teachers face every day because he has walked the halls in some schools a few times. He only sees what the administrators choose to show him. It’s a shame.
Back to the topic?? You posted that Jon Pelto was crazy and quoted a political hack who questioned his instability.
Other people here…who have no idea if Pelto is crazy or not…actually agree with him and do believe the current charter push is detrimental to education.
Those of us who have worked with kids and parents know that these reforms are only going to increase the minority achievement gap. There are sooooo many things that need to be done to bring up performance of low income children. Ending tenure is not even close to one of them. Scapegoating the teachers isn’t only detrimental, it’s irresponsible and divisive.
Shame on you for being too lazy to ask the questions Pelto and many others have. Come out from behind the desk, get into a classroom for a week or so and see how silly these reformers’ assumptions are. There are plenty of people here that can arrange that for you.
Political hack:a negative term ascribed to a person who is part of the political party apparatus.
Since the administration is not a political party, Ochiogrosso’s position thus cannot be an ‘apparatus of the political party’. Its a fun word to use, but like Rick stated, context is always enjoyable/important.
But I can assure you there as as many people that claim the efforts of this education reform on many levels is good as there are people who think it is bad. Just check out Terry Cowgill, a former teacher and essentially a moderate write on political issues. http://ctdevilsadvocate.com/2012/02/23/locking-horns-over-tenure/
I saw that Steve and am dismayed that Terry knows what the issues are but still finds it easiest to go along with these reforms. Honestly, I have seen teachers fired. It comes down to the administrator. Actually a good administrator simply doesn’t renew a contract of a bad teacher before the four year pre-tenure period is over.
It does need to be comprehensive. And perhaps that will change over the course of this 163 page legislation. I would honestly hope though the Pelto (getting him back into the conversation) has, or plans to attend any discussions of the bill during the public hearing process. He puts forward strong opinions online, but would be the ultimate shame if he did not express them to the legislature.
To compare Roy Occhiogrosso to Axelrod or Mayor Rahm would give him WAY too much credit. He is more like Lisa Moody.
The teacher’s union nationally have had ample time to create a working model in at least one city to be used as an example of how things should be done in failing inner cities.
In the absense of any such model it can be assumed they are clueless.
Until then, when it comes to education reform teachers should do what they always do: sit in their seats and be quiet and wait to be called on. Maybe they should attend a few meetings and raise their hands and ask questions. They might learn something.
Then again they might want to circumvent their own unions and realize they are poorly represented.
Are the unions competing with their own Charter school offer? Union run schools that don’t answer to the Superintendents? Schools where they have some skin in the game?
Unions don’t make policy, administrations do. When they fail, they blame teachers and make more policy that puts more burden on teachers. They make policy based on the idea that all kids come to learn, sit nicely in their seats, and make a legitimate attempt to participate in their own education. This may be true in some cases, but it is not the norm. For policy to work it must be based on reality. Some of the reality is politically incorrect.
Actually, the charge of “failing schools” is spurious at best. Those who make that charge rely on faulty data such as CAPT scores which take only one data point, then compare it to one data point from a completely different population group. They demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge about research methods that any first year statistics student knows.
This is really disappointing. I don’t agree with Jonathan 100% of the time either, but I do appreciate the research he does and the time he takes to add his point of view on important issues in CT. Jonathan has positioned himself as a watchdog. He is often very critical and skeptical of the Malloy administration’s motives in matters of public policy. Judging from Occhiogrosso’s inappropriate tirades perhaps he has good reason to be. I really don’t think it’s right or fair for either you or the Governor’s spokesperson to accuse Jonathan of being a paranoid has been simply because he doesn’t share your point of view.
Um…will someone explain why it is of any consequence whether the Governor introduced someone at a conference? What, exactly, does it show – that he knows a rich guy? That he supports charter schools?
Why would his office hide that? It’s not anything anyone would care about at all.
The latest post by “Richard” makes an important point about the docility of teacher’s unions and the meekness of teachers.
Teacher-led schools just might be the most efficient and rational solution to this mess.
I was curious about Rick Green’s column so I just read it.
Not much to it but mud-slinging. I did not miss much.
Jon clearly had a story but just a blog. The Courant has a platform,but few resources to cover possible news stories.They are missing the boat a lot these days but that is probably more a function of the decline of printed media.
One wonders what Rick’s motivations are but the blog had good information,was hardly delusional,and pushed the right buttons with Malloy’s posse.
There are MANY more questions that need to be addressed about the current administration and bloggers like Jon seem to be fighting the good fight.
Rick will probably continue to pound out comments that make me…yawn.
It has more to do with them being associated with Fox “news” than anything else. The Courant has become a propaganda rag.
Remember when a journalist’s job was to reveal truth, particularly in the political arena? No more! Now we can count on people like Rick Green to toe the Hartford line (regardless of the part in power). Great work Ricky my boy! Keep fighting the…oh i forgot, we don’t do that anymore…
A local news story about the BoE and meetings exempt from FOIA (as they yap about renting space from the Catholic church!)makes bloggers like Jon Pelto more important than ever. Rick has what is left of a bully pulpit at a dying newpaper and should not be casting aspersions on someone revealing details that might be of interest to the public.It seems that other members of The Courant staff are doing the same (listen up,Colin).
Mr. Pelto is finding out the real nature of the current administration while Mr. Green seems to be ingratiating himself with them.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/School-board-s-closed-door-meetings-raise-3361395.php
Our tax dollars should go to public schools, not the millionaires who run charter schools. Sign the petition and pass it on!
http://www.change.org/petitions/keep-private-companies-out-of-public-education
Matt Bracksieck is misguiding people by claiming charter schools in CT are for-profit entities. This smacks of “protect my job” instead of “improve education.” It’s simply untrue. (I’m not saying nonprofits are perfect, just that they are not allowed, by federal law, to “make” money.)
Some non-profits avoid making money by paying big salaries to their executives. They are really for-profit operations in disguise.
I understand some nonprofits do that. When 99% of commenters here and elsewhere (whether on purpose or due to ignorance) assert charters are private, which is inaccurate by every measure, it makes it easy to completely dismiss them as viable educational options for some children. But let’s not pretend nonprofits aren’t subject to some level regulation and oversight, some provisions of which shine the light on dubious practices.
Why not trust the parents to make the decision? Give them vouchers, allow them to choose public, private, parochial or homeschooling. Allow them to do the best for their kids.
Why restrict the choice? Oh. Silly me.
Captured funding and monopolistic conditions are the only way some of these schools stay in business. In a an open competition they would fold like a cheap suit.
Indiana was the latest state to allow parents to vote with their feet.
http://tinyurl.com/84uqxl9
Parents want more vouchers! They like choice!
The Courant is not “associated” with Fox News. It is a Fox affiliate, which isn’t Fox News.
af·fil·i·ate?
1. to bring into close association or connection: The research center is affiliated with the university.
2. to attach or unite on terms of fellowship; associate (usually followed by with in U.S. usage, by to in Brit. usage): to affiliate with the church.
What’s your point? Is it the same idea that says charter schools are public and private entites won’t make a killing off of replacing them with charter schools? Sounds like Fox logic to me. You still haven’t substituted in Hartford. You still spread propaganda that is undermining what is left of the education systems in our poorest cities. Sounds like the same agenda that Fox has.
–Nothin better than a good catfight.
Malloy can’t seem to get along with a good deal of his own foot soldiers. I wonder why that is.
This specific posting, “Jonathan Pelto And The Great Charter School Conspiracy |
Rick Green” illustrates the fact that you really understand what u
r writing about! I really thoroughly agree with your
post. Thanks ,Dena