Friday, September 22, 2017

Ethics Shmethics and the Charter School Biz

Over at reformy Chalkbeat, it's all Moskowitz, all the time. So when Moskowitz Academy leaders claim they aren't accountable for the offensive comments of their funders, you find out about it right away. Charters love to refer to themselves as "public charter schools" even though they aren't subject to, you know, public accountability or rules or laws. When Eva faced an agreement to license pre-K, rather than sign it, she fought it until she didn't have to follow it.

Actually, the only time charters are public is when it comes time to pay for them. If you or I were to test-prep kids until they peed their pants, we'd likely be subject to chancellor's regulations over corporal punishment. If it were your kid or mine, maybe we'd be at the school complaining. The teacher who let it happen at a public school would face a letter to file or 3020a. Over at Eva's place, maybe the teacher would get a promotion and the kid would make the "got to go" list.

Hey, if Moskowitz Academies want people who make offensive racial statements to run the company, that's their prerogative. The mayor can complain all he wants, but they're answerable to no one. Racism? Give me a break. We're a private company and we do any goshdarn thing we please.

Over in Massachusetts there's even more fun brewing. Ever wonder where so-called Families for Excellent Schools gets all that money to pay people to trash us in the media? It's a mystery, right? Well, the Boston Globe has a little piece of the story:

When Paul Sagan, chairman of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, faced calls for his resignation last September after it was revealed that he had donated $100,000 to a ballot campaign pushing the expansion of charter schools, Governor Charlie Baker leapt to his defense, calling it a “nothing burger.”
But at the time, Sagan was keeping a secret from the public: A month earlier he had donated nearly $500,000 to the nonprofit Families for Excellent Schools — Advocacy, which was quietly soliciting donations and then funneling them to the ballot campaign.

You see how that works? You're ostensibly a public servant, but since you're also a gazillionaire, you back privatizing public schools. After all, where's the profit in public schools? Can you open up a public school and pay the likes of Eva Moskowitz a half million a year? Can Betsy DeVos and her BFFs make money off of public schools? Nah.

So what if Sagan hid a half a million bucks. It was for charter schools, and rules don't apply to charter schools. Rules are for public schools. Except, of course, when it comes to rules about taking money. Then, charter schools are public schools with their hand out. Also, when they're criticized for anything whatsoever, they're public schools. You see how that works?

Wonder what's gonna happen to Sagan. I expect what will happen is less than what would happen to you or me if we took a $25 gift from one of our students.
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