Comments on: Shameless Boosterism http://gothamschools.org/2009/04/02/shameless-boosterism/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:54:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: skoolboy http://gothamschools.org/2009/04/02/shameless-boosterism/comment-page-1/#comment-88248 skoolboy Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:53:34 +0000 http://gothamschools.org/?p=12264#comment-88248 Gary, My apologies for not being more explicit about the nature of the incest. Last summer, on the eduwonkette blog, I wrote: Long-time followers of New York City public schooling are aware that the NYC Leadership Academy was created by the DOE in 2003, and Chancellor Joel Klein serves as a Director of the organization. (At least according to the organization’s IRS filings – its website doesn’t list him as a director.) The Leadership Academy website describes the Leadership Academy as “the centerpiece of the NYC Department of Education’s transformational strategy,” a phrase that also appears in DOE press releases, and the staff have e-mail addresses provided to employees of the DOE. The April press release announcing this extraordinary competitive procurement spent more time crowing about the Leadership Academy’s accomplishments than describing the request for proposals. So: The DOE had a competitive bidding process to award a contract to an organization that Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein had created and publicly supported over the past five years. Remarkably, the report of the award indicated that there were three other bidders. I can only imagine who would seriously think they had a shot at this. As for private money: my recurring concern is about the lack of accountability of private donors. I wrote about this on the old eduwonkette blog as well: We are witnessing a consolidation of power and influence that is rooted in new alliances among philanthropies, school leaders, and the business community. School leaders, starved for public resources, have allowed philanthropies such as the Gates Foundation to dictate school reform strategies in exchange for new private monies. Some new initiatives are worthy of support and experimentation; others are downright goofy, and school leaders should know better. But here’s the real problem, in my view: the rich, and the people they hire to administer their foundations, are different from you and me. The elite social circles in which they travel are increasingly removed from the day-to-day concerns of public school parents and students, and the educators who serve them. School districts that hire senior executives on the grounds that they know how to talk to these elites and loosen their pocketbooks are creating a divide that is increasingly difficult to cross. Gary,

My apologies for not being more explicit about the nature of the incest. Last summer, on the eduwonkette blog, I wrote:

Long-time followers of New York City public schooling are aware that the NYC Leadership Academy was created by the DOE in 2003, and Chancellor Joel Klein serves as a Director of the organization. (At least according to the organization’s IRS filings – its website doesn’t list him as a director.) The Leadership Academy website describes the Leadership Academy as “the centerpiece of the NYC Department of Education’s transformational strategy,” a phrase that also appears in DOE press releases, and the staff have e-mail addresses provided to employees of the DOE. The April press release announcing this extraordinary competitive procurement spent more time crowing about the Leadership Academy’s accomplishments than describing the request for proposals.

So: The DOE had a competitive bidding process to award a contract to an organization that Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein had created and publicly supported over the past five years. Remarkably, the report of the award indicated that there were three other bidders. I can only imagine who would seriously think they had a shot at this.

As for private money: my recurring concern is about the lack of accountability of private donors. I wrote about this on the old eduwonkette blog as well:

We are witnessing a consolidation of power and influence that is rooted in new alliances among philanthropies, school leaders, and the business community. School leaders, starved for public resources, have allowed philanthropies such as the Gates Foundation to dictate school reform strategies in exchange for new private monies. Some new initiatives are worthy of support and experimentation; others are downright goofy, and school leaders should know better. But here’s the real problem, in my view: the rich, and the people they hire to administer their foundations, are different from you and me. The elite social circles in which they travel are increasingly removed from the day-to-day concerns of public school parents and students, and the educators who serve them. School districts that hire senior executives on the grounds that they know how to talk to these elites and loosen their pocketbooks are creating a divide that is increasingly difficult to cross.

]]> By: Gary Harris http://gothamschools.org/2009/04/02/shameless-boosterism/comment-page-1/#comment-88216 Gary Harris Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:10:36 +0000 http://gothamschools.org/?p=12264#comment-88216 Private money gets involved in education and it’s bad? I recognize it as admirable and hopefully trend setting. The City School System tries to integrate in the best practices and this is called incestuous? I call it heads up management. Watching enviously from Chicago Private money gets involved in education and it’s bad? I recognize it as admirable and hopefully trend setting. The City School System tries to integrate in the best practices and this is called incestuous? I call it heads up management.

Watching enviously from Chicago

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