You seem to be taking this matter quite seriously, spending quite a bit of time on what you call partisan noise and its reverberations.

The thing about Bloomy is he backs up his disgusting rhetoric with equally repugnant action. So, not taking it seriously, and ignoring the fact that it does reverberate on both sides, is not really much of an option.

Going on and on about this one thing, yes we’ve reached that end of diminishing and even negative returns.

I’ll assume you misread my comment, rather than intended to misrepresent it.

First, I nowhere mentioned teachers, as the topic of discussion was school leaders, so you can take that red herring away from the podium.

Second, I was was clearly not referring to all charter school principals, but rather those who are identified, plucked and advanced for their “leadership skills,” as narrowly defined by the oligarchs who have purchased education policy in recent years. After all, there’s no continuity, loyalty or commitment to teaching in the business model of education, so it’s to be expected that while all teachers and most principals are fungible, a few are to chosen and groomed to climb the administrative ladder of privatization and public school devolution. It’s of a piece with Wendy Kopp saying she’s more interested in developing leadership cadre, rather than teachers, something she’s very open about.

Finally, the term “sociopath.” Wikipedia links it to Anti-Social Personality Disorder (APSD), which is characterized by “… A pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others.”

It is also characterized by ” … callous unconcern for the feelings of others… low tolerance of frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression… irritability…aggressiveness… lack of remorse…” Dishonesty and narcissism are also typical qualities.

For Exhibit A, see Rhee, Michelle.

According to this definition, it is not hyperbole to describe the entire corporate ed reform project as sociopathic, and one that would give ample incentives and opportunities for the advancement of people with these traits, whether in charter or public schools. Indeed, Bloomberg’s Leadership Academy apparently makes them a requirement for admission.

Our entire society is dominated by people like this, and they’ve set their sights on the schools for years now: is it really so shocking that they are too often the ones who advance?

It’s certainly intentionally incendiary, and, I think, in keeping with the “bully pulpit” style of speech in general.   I don’t know what you mean by “misdirecting,” but quite obviously the analogy is stretched and overstated, even if you read it narrowly as a comparison of the effects of a “bad education” and sexual abuse on students, rather than a comparison of  ”bad teachers” and sexual abusers.  

I’m not close enough to the situations in these 24 schools to really weigh in on the merits.  But as far as the Mayor’s words are concerned, it’s rhetoric, so you can’t take it seriously.  Like when Fiorillo says that charter school teachers are “sociopaths.”  It’s just partisan noise.

The judge and arbitrator are tangential; teachers are the target.

[ "Well you can change programs, you can change the management in some cases, you can do things like that. And you know, we're going to really focus on them," the mayor said on his Friday radio show. "We've got to do everything we can for those 30,000 kids to try to ameliorate the damage."

Mayor Bloomberg also said the ruling is as bad for the school system as protecting teachers who abuse children. ]

Bloomberg should be held accountable in some real way for his continual unethical methods and sewage-spewing utterances. I’d like to know the exact quote, but according to NY1 he is likening the judge and arbitrator’s rulings (merely following the rule of law!) to protecting teachers who abuse children! Contempt of court! Contempt of law! Contempt of all he sees as standing against his will! And this is a mayor, the Mayor of NYC, not a shock jock! What brilliant idea for this fetid tongue to have a radio show!

Some of these people leave because of burn-out and the impossible demands of the job, while the real sociopaths/mercenaries/go-getters are encouraged to leave and seek their fortune amid the ruins of public education.

The dirty little not-so-secret is that charter schools consciously mirror the labor relations behavior of the companies and interests that are pushing for them so hard, at the expense of the public schools: overwork, low pay and poor benefits, at-will employment, and an authoritarian workplace based on high stress, surveillance and total management control of the labor process.

Don’t believe a word Merriman or other charter touts say: high turnover, whether among students, teachers or administrators, is not some incidental problem to be remedied, but a baked-in feature demanded by charter funders. It’s one of the essential features of charters, and one of the main reasons they are being imposed so aggressively by the billionaires who are behind the curtain of so-called education reform.

It would seem that Merriman would like for school leaders to stay longer in their positions.  Yet, he has never seemed concerned about the short-lived teaching career of many TFA teachers who eventually leave the classroom for positions in administration.  He can’t expect principals, who came through the TFA program, to establish roots in a charter school or any type of school when many are accustomed to short-lived teaching careers.  In fact, I have read where they prefer to move up to the superintendent level, which seems to be their modus operandi of not having to put roots in those schools.  You cannot expect “well-equipped and trained” principals to have longevity in schools if their training in the field of education is as short as their stay in that position.  It would be interesting to see how many of those former principals had less than 10 years in the classroom and how many came from the TFA program.  Longevity as a principal in a school will be based on the number of years as an assistant principal and as a classroom teacher.