Forrest Claypool, Liar

Forrest Claypool -- Rahm's new appointed CEO of CPS and former President of the CTA (during the diastrous 2013 Ventra rollout) -- sent CPS teachers and staff a recent email.  As teachers, we feel compelled to make a few corrections:

Claypool writes: "We are honored and humbled to lead this tremendous team as we work together to make sure every child from every community in Chicago gets the opportunity for a great education."

• Should read:  We are gratified to have the opportunity to work with Rahm's appointed business-people to make sure that every racketeer from every ed tran$formation project in Chicago gets the opportunity to generate profit and to vilify the CTU while remaining free from the meddling of actual public educators.

Claypool writes: "CPS students have made enormous progress in the classroom over the last four years, and our students are improving because you have dedicated your professional life to ensuring that they reach their full potential."

• Should read: CPS students have remained the same in the classroom over the last four years, and yet are able to provide the illusion of enormous progress because of effective grade and attendance manipulation.

Claypool writes:  "Our current fiscal crisis is the direct result of an unfair state pension system."

• Should read:  Our current fiscal crisis is the direct result of the theft of teachers' pension funds -- funds which teachers themselves dutifully generated for over 20 years -- and of intentionally creating lucrative debt to benefit our cronies.

Forrest, you and Rahm go together like peas and carrots.

 

Reminder: Its All About the Children.

Although ed reformers haven't yet figured out how to revise the lifeless language that their brand of orthodoxy requires, they have mastered one integral part of their message:  It's All About the Children.

Let's have a look at the yearly salaries of some well-known charter operators in their $ervice of children:

• NYC Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz:  $567,000.00
• Washington D.C. Friendship Charters CEO Donald Hense: $356,478.00
• New Orleans Lusher Charters CEO Kathy Reidlinger: $316,306.00
• Detroit Cornerstone Schools CEO Clark Durant: $450,000.000

As a basis of comparison, nurses in Chicago Public Schools make, on average,  $49,000.00 per year, or 24 dollars per hour, which is 9 more dollars per hour than the 15 dollar per hour minimum wage that many fast-food workers are currently advocating for.

In Chicago, the most politically corrupt city in the U.S., it easier for charter operators to keep their profits private.  In fact, reporters at the Chicago Reader sent FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) requests to 34 of the biggest Chicago charter operators.  Unlike Trib reporters, Reader reporters were curious about Chicago charter salary and payroll information.  Not surprisingly, the Reader's request for information yielded zero results.

This is very reassuring to all Chicago ed profiteers, including One Chance Illinois, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and uber-profiteer Ken Griffin.  Because, as we know, their efforts are All About the Children.

CPS Waste, Exhibit B: The Networks

While the Trib continues to make dark suggestions about 1. declaring bankruptcy in CPS and 2. teacher lay-offs, we again humbly suggest that reporters take a look into the CPS Networks, of which there are 13.

13 Chiefs of Schools; combined salaries:  $1,964,703.00
9 Deputy Chiefs of Schools; combined salaries:  $1,080,000.00
80 Instructional Support Leaders; combined salaries: $8,656,080.00
9 Data Strategists; combined salaries: $975,051.00
1 CEO Administration of School Transformation; salary: $132,036.00

Combined salaries (not including administrative assistants making less than 50K): $12, 808, 758.00

Let's take a closer look at the 80 Instructional Support Leaders collectively pulling in $8.6 million.

Amount of times that CPS teachers have received instructional support from an Instructional Support Leader: 0

Amount of times that CPS students have received instructional support from an Instructional Support Leader: 0

The Language of Ed Reform: Vague, Vacuous, Insipid and Boring

From George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language, written in 1946:

• Political writing is bad writing.
• Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style.
• Political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.  Thus, political language has to consist of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness.
• The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

The future is now:

Perspectives Charter Schools' Mi$$ion:  All Perspectives Charter Schools will provide students with a rigorous and relevant education based on the principles of a disciplined life, preparing them for life in a changing world and helping them to become intellectually reflective, caring and ethical people engaged in a meaningful life.

Noble Charter Network Mi$$ion:  Noble prepares low-income students with the scholarship, discipline and honor necessary to succeed in college and lead exemplary lives, and serves as a catalyst for educational reform in Chicago.

KIPP Charter Foundation Vi$ion:  Our vision is that, one day, all public schools will help children develop the knowledge, skills, character and habits necessary to achieve their dreams and make the world a better place.

One Chance Illinois Mi$$ion:  OCI believes that children only get one chance at a high quality education. [Our] mission is to advance public policy that expands quality educational options for Illinois' middle and low-income families.

Corporate Police Reform: Cha-ching?

We at WCT like to wonder "what if?"  The "what if?" question for today is:

What if education reformers applied the same ideas to police departments?

Corporate Reform Efforts	Public Schools	Police Departments
Examine data	Student performance: low test scores reveal failure in inner-city schools.	Crime: high crime reveals failure in inner-city neighborhoods
Determine parties responsible for failure	teachers, schools	police officers, police departments
Initial action regarding failure	Offer corporate-sponsored charter school replacements for failing inner-city public schools	Offer corporate-sponsored alternate police squads for failing inner-city neighborhoods
Policies regarding older, tenured staff	Replace with young grads of selective universities with no teaching experience	Replace with young grads of selective universities with no policing experience
Policies regarding leadership	Train corporate-style administrators who have no educational experience in fast-track programs	Train corporate-style leaders who have no police experience in fast-track programs
Policies regarding standards	Assume that all American children -- regardless of location, background, socio-economic status, and English language proficiency -- will learn the same skills at the same time, given proper instruction	Assume that all American people -- regardless of location, background, and socio-economic status -- will behave in a cooperative, compliant and law-abiding manner, given proper police supervision
Policies regarding accountability	1. Schools that serve students with low test scores are threatened with punitive measures 2. Teachers’ salary increases tied to improvement in students’ test scores.	1. Police departments that serve communities with high crime rates are threatened with punitive measures. 2. Police officers’ salary increases tied to reduction in crime rates.

Maybe some Chicago ed reformers or thought partners could contact CPS to make a pitch!  Maybe they could go for a ride-along and offer advice on how to lean into discomfort, how to socialize all shareholders into the informational experience, and how to promote excellence and rigor?

Chicago Educational Profiteer Spotlight: Myles Mendoza!

Move aside minor plutocrats, a big hog from Denver has moved to Chicago:  Myles Mendoza!

Unlike what the corporate tran$formers would have the public believe, we teachers are not opposed to examining data,  so we examined the data on Myles Mendoza. We found the following:

• Myles scored big with a recent op-ed published in the Trib, which dishes out the usual corporate educational tran$formation horseshit, including references to "empowering [parents] with real choices," and "inadequate traditional schools."  
• He runs with an elite crew, which includes educational profiteers such as John Schoenig (Notre Dame Law School grad wearing the Catholic schools cloak), Kevin Chavous (partner in swanky Washington D.C. law firm), and Jack Buck (Notre Dame grad and scion of John Buck Co., a real-estate firm founded by his dad and engaged in winning public-sector projects) 
• His Ed Choice Illinois website is top quality, featuring cool graphics and heart-warming photos of minority kids
• On his Twitter page, Myles identifies himself soundly as bohemian bourgeois (remember readers, Bobos are rich folks who love to identify with the common man):
• "Chicagoan" (for the past four months)
• "Devoted dad and husband"
• "CPS parent" (for the past four months -- at a magnet school)
• "Indie rock fan of yore" (We're assuming Nirvana and Pearl Jam.)
• His look is kewl: tall, sorta dark, nice name, horn-rims

Based on this data alone, Myles seems very similar, if not more well-funded,  to many of the other educational profiteers sniffing around CPS.  However, a close reading of his op-ed reveals two very alarming claims:

1. "[Chicago] neighborhoods have become either rich or poor."

• This is alarming because it indicates a basic unfamiliarity with Chicago.  We realize that Myles has only been living in the city for a few months, but couldn't someone in his crew have suggested better research?  Hadn't anyone heard of middle-class neighborhoods like Beverly, Jefferson Park, Mt. Greenwood, Norwood Park, Edison Park, Wildwood, Garfield Ridge, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, or Hyde Park, just to name a few? 

2. "Key to solving Chicago's challenges is first understanding that our broken school system is not on a par with the others -- neighborhood deterioration, rising crime and unfunded liabilities -- but rather, the chief cause of them."

• The first alarming thing is Myles' use of the pronoun "our." Ideally, Myles should have put in a few years teaching in a regular CPS school before using this pronoun, as the CPS magnet school he pulled strings to get his kids into clearly isn't broken.  But we realize that actually teaching the children whose lives one purports to tran$form is not de rigueur for educational profiteers.

• The second alarming thing is the implicit claim that poverty is caused by traditional CPS schools. If we remember our history correctly, poverty has existed for a lot longer than schools have.  Even Jesus Christ worried about poverty, and He didn't have any schools nearby.  Unlike Christ, however, Myles Mendoza claims to have hit on the solution to poverty.

Based on the overall data, we at WCT conclude that Myles Mendoza is indeed an educational plutocrat, a hog-with-the big-nuts.  It would be more honorable if the new plutocrats like Myles had chutzpah in old-school Bill Beavers-style.  As it is, though, you'll have to look for Myles Mendoza in the society pages of the Chicago Tribune Magazine. 

Put Your Money Where Arne's Mouth Is

Readers! It looks like Arne Duncan wants to do a little hob-nobbing--but not too much--with the regular people this holiday season. His itinerary shows he will be at neighborhood public school Benito Juarez High School. He'll then dine with TFA founder Wendy Kopp in what's being billed as a fireside chat at the Hilton Hotel. If it's not the Gilded Age we're living in, then it must be Depression-era America when fireside chats were en vogue. Still, we're certain TFA (cha-ching!) will foot the bill thanks to the ad campaign they're running soliciting donations (cha-ching!). 

On the one hand, he's visiting a neighborhood public school, but on the other he's dining with TFA founder Wendy Kopp whose organization looks to put public school educators out of business. No matter, we're sure they'll have a lovely time dining with the Economic Club of Chicago talking about the benefits of a plutocracy and an underpaid workforce.

We're part of the, ahem, underpaid workforce and we can't run an ad campaign soliciting donations, but we'll happily take any bets on whether or not Duncan drops the following phrases at his appearances Monday:

• Achievement gap
• 21st century skills
• School of choice
• High standards
• Globally competitive
• Tran$formative education
• White suburban moms

Leave a comment to add the buzzword you think Arne is most likely to drop, or send an email to wct.tips@gmail.com.

Who are Educational Profiteers, really?

Here at WCT we like to use the term "educational profiteer" to describe people and organizations who become wealthy and powerful through public education.  Lots of principals and superintendents could be considered wealthy and powerful.  Educational profiteers, however, do nothing that actually benefits the reason why schools exist:  students.

Chicago's educational profiteers come in a few categories:

1. Charter school profiteers.  For example, it is suggested that the closures of 53 CPS schools were designed to create profit-opportunities for charter profiteers, who, incidentally, don't the have inconvenience of  having to accommodate the needs of low-performing students who might have been displaced.  Cha-ching!

2. Educational coach profiteers.  These business-savvy folks make big bucks advising.  Last year, Hancock High School paid one partner $740,264.00.  Amongst other duties defined with the usual mumbo-jumbo, these profiteers:

"Provide principals with assistance and support to implement data-informed instruction, utilizing interim assessments, learning first and local assessments, to inform pedagogy."

The confusing commas and word order are part of their plan to dazzle us with words.  Additionally, these profiteers further conceal themselves with their plutocrat cloaks:  the cloak of the irreproachable do-gooder. Many educational coach profiteers wisely align themselves with  exemplary institutions like the Neighborhood Schools Program at the University of Chicago. UChicago + "serving low-income students" + corporate salary?  Cha-ching!

3. Vendor profiteers selling consulting services.  This one is complicated, so we'll break down the dubious CPS spending, as detailed on their Department of Procurement page

     A. 50 million dollars to 65 vendors for "Consulting Services." A quick inspection of one of the 65, "Brain Hurricane" tells us that:

• They didn't splurge on their web design
• They don't offer any ideas that a normal teacher can't think up themselves
• They get paid a cool $2604 per student, with a guarantee of 4000 students  -- Cha-ching!

     B. 50 million dollars to 2 vendors for additional "Consulting Services."  The two vendors are "Academic Solutions" and Sylvan.  Basic internet research yields that:

• Sylvan is a massive, nation-wide, pure-profit-based private enterprise -- Cha-ching!
• "Academic Solutions" appears to be a conglomerate of various vendors selling tutoring, headed by CEO Jermaine Young.  Linked In helpfully notes that we should "Contact Jermaine for career opportunities, consulting offers and business deals."  Cha-ching!

To sum up A and B,  if we've done our math correctly, CPS spends ONE BILLION dollars on consulting services.  Could that be right? Granted, No Child Left Behind "requires that supplemental educational services be provided to certain low-income, low-performing students."  But we wonder -- how come they're not working?

One thing is for certain, though.  Educational profiteers everywhere have their fingers crossed for many, many more years to come of low-income, low-performing students to $erve.

SUPES Academy: Making Dupes of Us All

Is SUPES short for super-duper?

If the vision and mission statement of SUPES Academy, a Wilmette-based puppy superintendent mill CPS gave $20 million dollars to, is any indicator of educational know-how, it's time to worry:

"...to identify, develop and support a new generation of outstanding leaders for America's school systems who will provide our children with the skills they need to live as successful adults, in a world of competition.

SUPES Academy graduates will be highly sought after for their capacity to transform the culture of systems and school, to dramatically improve student achievement, and to close the achievement gaps."

After navigating the corporate jibber-jabber, the empty promises are evident. One is led to believe these super-humans, after just five convenient weekend sessions, will be able to: transform the culture of systems (whatever that might mean); impart adult-level, global competition skills to children; and close student achievement gaps. Wow! Solving society's ills only takes 10 days!

A quick look at the bios of this year's self-appointed "master teachers," and it's more mind numbing nonsense:

• "...Matthews served as the educator in residence for NewSchools Venture Fund a venture philanthropy firm working to transform public education through powerful ideas and passionate entrepreneurs."

• "...Wise continues as Managing Director for Atlantic Research Partners, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting high potential leaders in important organizations. 

Transform, powerful ideas, passionate entrepreneurs, high potential leaders, important organizations. Each of these terms are as vague as the next and do nothing to actually show how this organization can manufacture superintendents who can alter the entrenched and systemic problems an urban school system faces. Even Captain Underpants, whose motto is, "truth, justice, and all that is pre-shrunk and cottony" has a more attainable goal than SUPES and its master teachers.

The speed with which the Board approved this with virtually no discussion is impressive. After the $20 million dollars is spent, and with no real accounting of identifiable results, we'll all be graduates of the DUPES Academy instead.

New school year, new horseshit initiatives

Hey entrepreneurs! Get rich advising teachers how to teach better!

Last year, at least three CPS high schools "partnered" with outside organizations in the hopes of completely transforming their schools. Hancock High School paid one partner $740,264.00. This year, the city is going down the same road, partnering more schools with these organizations and once again lining the pockets of enterprising do-gooders with corporate agendas.

Research shows partner organizations to have limited classroom experience, yet copious knowledge of New Age corporate mumbo-jumbo.

Twenty days into the school year, the following has been heard from a "partner":

• "We need a way to codify, contextualize, and normalize the protocols which we wish to use."

• "It's all of our responsibility to socialize this information to create a longer shelf-life. Socialize refers to getting people familiar with what's happening. All of the stakeholders need to be socialized to this shared informational experience."

• "Don't be afraid to lean into discomfort. To be vulnerable in a public space. This is when true growth occurs."

(In an attempt to appear friendly):

• "Do you like being healthy?" 

Codify? Contextualize? Normalize? Last time WCT checked, English was the primary language spoken in public schools. And the verb socialize? The definition of this word is,  "to place under government or group ownership or control." Partners must not realize that most teachers did indeed read 1984 in high school.

As for the final question, the obvious answer is: "No, I don't like being healthy."