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Experimenting on poor kids

4/1/2015

 
A "Petri Dish."  That is what Chris Barbic, Superintendent of the TN Achievement School District, compared the Achievement School District to during an interview with Nashville Public Radio where he pleaded for more time. He said,

"There's [sic] 22 bills that have been filed right now to either try to kill this thing or pull it apart, and this thing hasn't even gotten out of the Petri dish."
Picture
Just last week, the YES Prep Charter Chain abandoned the TN ASDbecause things weren't looking as profitable as they'd planned.  YES Prep (which is a charter chain conceived and birthed by Chris Barbic himself in Texas), at the last minute, pulled out of the Memphis ASD, leaving the local school district scrambling to accommodate students.

YES Prep was quoted as saying to the Commercial Appeal,


“We are not going to experiment at the risk of Memphis students. That is not fair to them,” said Bill Durbin, superintendent of Yes Prep Memphis. After hiring staff for the coming year and spending the better part of two years laying groundwork in Memphis, Yes Prep is leaving. It has no intention of returning."

Even more interesting was Chris Barbic's response to YES Prep abandoning the ASD, 

 "ASD Supt. Chris Barbic minced few words in reaction to the charter firm’s decision, saying Yes Prep apparently was not serious about the difficulty of the work in Memphis and that it was a significant hardship to deal with a pullout this late in the game.  "This is the big leagues. If you want to play in the big leagues, the work is difficult, in the public and there is lots of scrutiny and pressure. Some organizations will hear that and say, ‘We want to step up to that challenge and make it happen.’ If you want to play single- and double-league ball, maybe Memphis is not for you,” he said.

So this is a GAME???  


The University of Memphis has plans to "experiment" and profit from poor kids, too.  Rich white philanthropists like Pitt Hyde gave a whole lot of money to start the RELAY program at the University of Memphis.  This will create a supply of fast-tracked, temporary teachers for the ASD and charter schools in the poorest areas of Memphis.  They claim it is to fill the teacher shortage, but the truth is there is no teacher shortage.  In fact, hundreds of excellent teachers last year were "excessed" in that district.  (Excessed means "not rehired.")  

The leaders and philanthropists naively think that these young, fast-tracked RELAY teachers will increase test scores of students.  In truth, these temps will lower costs of labor and replace experienced, lifelong educators like Meghan Vaziri, who was a level 5 teacher in a school that the ASD took over. (Level 5 is the top score you can get as a teacher in Tennessee). According to the former Memphis City Schools, level 5 is considered an "irreplaceable" teacher, yet Vaziri has been replaced by a temporary Teach For America teacher who only had 5 weeks of training over the summer.  Meghan Vaziri is now self-employed as a freelance artist and web developer, but she would love to teach in public schools again.  Since witnessing firsthand the ASD's failure with the students and the school she once worked in, she has been an advocate fighting against the ASD's future takeover of public schools.  She attends every public meeting she can, and she bravely speaks up.  She knows that the ASD is not working, that the average test scores of the ASD after 2 years are still not as high as they were when the schools were public schools.  About losing her job, she says she is okay, that "really the only people who were truly hurt were the children who already have too much chaos in their lives to have lost their long time teachers."  

When asked for proof that this new RELAY program would work, President Rudd of the University of Memphis could give no proof and honestly admitted in a public meeting this RELAY program is "an experiment."  The faculty at University of Memphis is outraged that this Relay program arrangement was brought to their public University in secret, and is proceeding despite their arguments and logic, despite the fact that the University of Memphis already has an outstanding teacher training college that this RELAY program will undoubtedly harm, and despite the fact that President Rudd keeps cancelling public meetings and rescheduling them at inconvenient times for people to attend.  President Rudd has now formed a "task force," to "study" the issue, but we've heard his wife has been appointed to serve on it.  Everyone knows what the "task force" is intended to do.  They are not dumb.  

Why don't these leaders and philanthropists "experiment" on their own children in private schools?  African American leaders and parents should be outraged, especially the pastors in their communities who one would think would be fighting for justice and equality for the children in their neighborhoods... but, oddly, many are not.  Why is this?  African American pastors are targeted by reformers and hailed as "visionaries" to promote vouchers for the children in their communities.  Don't be surprised when branches of private schools suddenly find building space in those African American pastor's churches and provide a lucrative rent income to their struggling congregations with your public tax dollars.  Money speaks. Like charter schools, the private schools are not equipped to handle students with special needs, disabilities, or handicaps.  They are not prepared to handle the needs of high-poverty students.  Schools will be segregated even more with vouchers.  This has happened in other states, and Tennessee will be no exception.

Tennessee Parents have an important message that needs to be heard:

Poor children are NOT an experiment.  
Poor children are NOT a game.
Poor children are NOT a petri dish.
They deserve quality public schools in their communities.  
Stop screwing around with their education!
Stop listening to overpriced consultants!
Stop listening to overpaid lobbyists!
Stop giving away our public education dollars to private entities to profit from!


Lest you think, "well, those schools deserve to be taken over by the state because they were in the bottom 5%,"  think about this: There will ALWAYS be a bottom 5%.  Even if every student in the state bubbles every single question on the TCAPs correctly this spring, there will still be a bottom 5% of schools.  Cut scores on high-stakes tests are intentionally set to have a failing percentage of students.  Middle and upper class students have a clear advantage when it comes to testing.  Tennessee Education Report rightly calls TCAP the "Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment of Poverty," for that is the data that TCAP truly shows.  This system is rigged!

Can public schools do better?  Absolutely, with support they need, they certainly can!  Have they been starved of funding and resources?  Yes!!!  The BEP has not been fully funded by the State in our children's lifetimes, so local school boards have struggled for yearswith inadequate funding to pay for never-ending mandates from the state such as expensive testing, computer requirements, and RTI2.  Across the state, and especially in poorer areas, class sizes have increased, extra-curricular programs have been slashed, and corners have been cut to make dollars stretch.  

Schools in the bottom 5% especially need additional support that they aren't getting.  They take children where they are, and they do their best to make them better.  Give them smaller class sizes and guidance counselors and watch the children flourish!  Make sure that every student's face and name is known and cherished by a staff member in their school building.  Don't let those children slip through the cracks!  Yes, this takes an investment of money.  But we can either pay for it now when the children are young and it will make a positive difference in their lives, or we will be forced to pay doubly for it in the future if those children enter the school to prison pipeline and taxpayers are forced to fund the high cost of incarceration.

Rich people and politicians often say that we "shouldn't keep throwing money at schools" and that "local districts need to better manage their money."  Ironically, their own children are in private schools with millions of dollars in endowments where they pay $30,000+ per year tuition without blinking.  Our districts in TN are educating children with a third of that or less, while PTAs and PTOs diligently try to fill in the difference through bake sales and car washes.  Before those rich people and politicians cast a stone and dismiss public education as wasteful, they should take a look at the boulder in their own eye.  What is good for their own precious upper class children is no less than what middle-class and poor children also need...  small class sizes, enrichment through the Arts and sports, safe school facilities, no common core, and no excessive standardized testing.

Show us a failing school in a middle or upper class neighborhood.  You can't.  They don't exist.  They are all in the poorest neighborhoods in the state.  Poverty is the common factor in failing schools.  Fix it, and the precious test scores will rise in Tennessee.  Treat children with respect, and not as a commodities.  Children need stability and real teachers, not charter vultures, not more testing, not common core, not temporary untrained teachers, and certainly not vouchers to mediocre private schools.  

Tennessee, we can do this!!!  

Open Your Eyes

3/31/2015

 
The article below was originally posted at DianeRavitch.net.  Even though it is another state, you will see there are striking similarities to people, organizations, departments, and politicians in Tennessee.  These ideas in Tennessee are not original, and they are not working in other states.  (Emphasis below added by TNParents)

MUST READ: Revelations of a Disillusioned Reformer
By Diane Ravitch - March 28, 2015
WOW.

This is a
 remarkable and candid story
 of Jorge Cabrera, who joined the reform movement as a believer. He wanted to help the children of Bridgeport, where he grew up. He wanted better schools. He was a community organizer for Excel Schools.

And then he learned the truth.  
It’s an incredible story that confirms your darkest suspicions:
A Repentant Reformer's Reflections
For nearly three years, I had been involved in what has often been referred to by some as the “education reform movement” in Bridgeport.  In 2012, I was presented with a unique opportunity to work for a new local organization that would work “with the community” to reform the public schools.  The mission was to work towards helping Bridgeport students increase their academic performance and by extension, I thought, lower the dropout rate, increase the rate of college attendance and teach parents how to effectively advocate for the resources and supports their children needed to succeed in school.  As a Bridgeport public school graduate and the first person in my family to attend and graduate from an institution of higher learning, I knew, first hand, how the trajectory of one’s life could be dramatically changed with the attainment of that often coveted credential…a college degree.  Further, as a native Bridgeporter I was sold on the prospect of working with the community I grew up in and loved to help improve educational outcomes for thousands of Bridgeport students.  However, what I did not fully appreciate at the time, but soon found out, was that I was smack in the middle of a simmering firestorm that would divide the community I cared for so dearly and force me to question my own assumptions about “education reform” and the people in front and behind this “movement.”

Though I did not fully know it at the time, a series of manipulative and deceitful political moves were made before I began my work in the “movement” that would be revealed to me in over 200 conversations with many Bridgeport leaders and friends.  These “moves” would severely taint the work I would embark on and proved to be a major stumbling block to organizing the community.

Despite these challenges, I began my work full of hope and excited to put my skills and experience toward the noble goal of improving the Bridgeport school system. Unfortunately, what I learned in the coming years was the 
incredible lengths some people with access to great wealth and political power would go to in order to privatize an already overburdened and underfunded school district and the ideology that undergirded it.

This is my story. 
The Best and the Brightest
As I began my work in the “education reform movement” in Bridgeport, I noticed a plethora of ivy league educated “consultants” and “transformation leaders” that littered the often loose coalition of funders, new organizations and executive directors. From the beginning, it was clear that many of these new “leaders” that were emerging were well credentialed. They had graduated from prestigious universities and, it was presumed (though not by me), that alone qualified them to lead. Many were very young (recent graduates), energetic, unmarried with no children and little life experience. They often exhibited a cultish commitment to “the movement.” Their zeal for “education reform” and “saving the children” often resulted in a bizarre abdication of critical thinking that made a mockery of their high priced “education.” 

For instance, in many meetings I attended, many of these acolytes extolled the virtues of charter schools as the only solution to closing the achievement gap in Bridgeport but never once did anyone bother to discuss the ample research (i.e. “Teaching with Poverty in Mind”) available regarding the negative impact of poverty on academic achievement or that Bridgeport had several public magnet schools that outperformed (as measured by standardized test scores) many charter schools. These magnet schools had long track records (20 plus years) of success and I assumed we should advocate for what we know, firmly, works. Despite this evidence, there was never any serious discussion regarding expanding magnet school options or advocating for high quality, universal preschool programs (research shows the achievement gap begins at this level).

The entire approach to “education reform” lacked any serious understanding of the many variables (i.e., social-emotional issues, poverty, funding, English language learners) that clearly effect a child’s ability to learn. Anytime a more dynamic and multifaceted approach to closing the achievement gap was raised it was quickly dismissed as “making excuses.” The atmosphere vacillated between a callous indifference to the real challenges Bridgeport children faced and arrogant dismissiveness. Permeated throughout these various organizations that formed a loose network of power was 
a culture that prized blind dedication to the “mission” and socially affirmed and promoted those who obeyed and exhibited “urgency” in “reforming” the “failing schools.” 

The people in “the movement” made it clear that it was up to the “best and brightest” of minds to “transform” the “system” as “outside influencers.” By “best and brightest” they almost exclusively meant people who would do their bidding without question and certainly not anyone that would exhibit any degree of independent or critical thought. On more than one occasion, when the argument was made that the solutions to the multilayered challenge of public education needed to come from the people and required an authentic, engaging process with the Bridgeport community the response was often glib at best. I recall in one strategic planning meeting when I advocated for authentic engagement and patience to allow parents the time to become informed on the various issues and was told to, “just use language to convince” the parents and impress upon them a sense of “urgency.” Another person told me, “It’s all about how you say it…..”

“I began to sense that someone or something I was not fully aware of was calling the shots behind the scenes and many of these young ivy leaguers were the mercenaries on the front lines tasked with implementing the agenda. This whole enterprise was quickly becoming astroturfing and I was in the middle of it. Worse, I was starting to feel like I was hired to put lipstick on a pig and it was beginning to burn me on the inside. Nevertheless, through it all, I never gave up hope and tried to create spaces for honest, authentic and fact based discussions inside “the movement” with limited success.”
The Night in Shining Armor
My first meeting with Paul Vallas was like a whirlwind.  He barely came up for air! He spoke in a rapid fire cadence and despite my best efforts I could not engage him in any substantive conversations.  He rode into the city as the new superintendent of schools like a knight in shining armor.  Immediately and repeatedly, I was told by many in the “reform community” that Vallas was a “godsend,” a “transformational leader” with an international reputation of turning school systems around, increasing academic outcomes and changing the lives of, literally, thousands of students. The praise heaped on him was ubiquitous. He often spoke in soundbites and we were told that we were to be a “critical friend” to the new superintendent.  We would support him when he was right and criticize him when he was wrong.  Our main constituents, I was told, were the families and students.  Good enough, I thought at the time.  In reality, we were dispatched to drum up support in the community for virtually every policy change or initiative proposed by Vallas.  Any thoughtful questioning of the efficacy of his proposals was met with stone silence or the injection of the “urgency” argument which was intended to and had the effect of silencing any meaningful discussion.  If one pushed too hard to open up an authentic discussion regarding Vallas’s proposals “the movement” would send strong signals that the questioner was being disloyal and that such questioning was deemed heresy.  It was as if a “bunker mentality” had descended on many in “the movement.” You were either with them or against them.  Despite this hostile environment, on one occasion, I was able to engage Vallas in a rare moment of reflection and candor.  We were discussing different school models and supports for students and I casually asked Vallas if he thought traditional neighborhood public schools could succeed if they were given adequate funding and supports for students, teachers and families.  His response was very revealing. He stated, “Yes! Of course they can, but my charter (school) friends don’t like it when I say that.”  It was a rare, candid moment that spoke volumes and provided a rare glimpse into the mindset of the “reformers.”  The veil was starting to be lifted.  As I continued to have extensive conversations with many community leaders I began to appreciate the deceitful and manipulative manner in which Vallas was hired to lead the Bridgeport school system.  It was all unfolding before me and the truth was emerging.
Power to the People?
The crown jewel of the “education reform movement” in Bridgeport was the 2012 charter revision ballot question that would of given the Mayor the authority to appoint the entire board of education, among other powers.  The “movement” was in a frenzy to win this election.  We were told that “the people woud decide” and “they (the people) have the power.”  All of the work we were engaged in to build relationships, trust and educate parents regarding the school system and education policy was abruptly halted to focus on winning this ballot question election.  It was a pressure cooker!  When I tried to actually read the proposed language changes to the city’s charter and have discussions with parents so that both I and they were fully informed on what we were asking people to vote on, I was quickly pushed aside in favor of a group of highly compensated New York City media consultants who came in and began directing instead of facilitating the “discussions.”  Immediately, the focus was on marketing and sloganeering.  Worse, we were trying to build the plane while it was in the air! The whole thing was rushed and disorganized. We were told to make sure we communicated to the public that voting in favor of the city charter change was good for parents, students and would lead to better academic outcomes.  The insinuation was that anyone who was against the charter revision changes was anti-child or anti-education. When parents or community leaders asked questions that required more substantive, fact based responses we were coached to respond to everything in soundbites and with shallow arguments that lacked any grounding in reality.  It was the worse kind of insult to the community’s intelligence and pandered to the worse aspects of human natureand—it almost worked.
Revelation and the Shock Doctrine
My nearly three years in the “movement” in Bridgeport revealed to me the incredible lengths that private, often unseen and unaccountable power will go to in order to create and capitalize on a crisis.  In Bridgeport, that crisis in our public education system was created by powerful forces at the local and state level who systematically starved the school system by withholding necessary school funding (Shock #1) which then created a crisis that set the stage for a takeover (Shock #2) of the Bridgeport board of education on the eve of the fourth of July in 2011.  Essentially, these forces were engaged in a form of social engineering under the guise of “urgency” and “reform.” 

To be clear, in this “movement” there are people who have good intentions and sincerely want to improve the conditions of Bridgeport’s public schools but they do not sit at the tables of power when strategic decisions are made and their voices are often silenced. Their talents, skills and knowledge are often used to serve a larger, opaque agenda that is dictated by a radical ideology of deregulation and privatization.  Shot throughout most, if not all, of the education reform “movement” you will find the radical ideology of economist Milton Friedman.  Looking back, there were moments when this mindset (disaster capitalism) was revealed to me in meetings.  On one occasion, a very influential operator in the “education reform” community was discussing the “amazing opportunity” that revealed itself after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans decimated the population and led to the “charterization” of the public school system. He expounded that sometimes you have to, “…burn the village to save it…” and that what we (the “reform community”) are essentially involved in is, “creative destruction.”  Worse, he argued that we needed a “clean slate” in order for real “change” to happen in the school system in Bridgeport.  But this was my home.  This was the city I grew up in and where most of my family lived and worked.  You want to burn down their city!? You want to destroy it so you can be creative!?  For whom?  It was all surreal.  I was done.

In Naomi Klein’s book and, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” she outlines how powerful economic and political forces harness terrible shocks to implement radical policies to privatize and profit from public resources.  In Bridgeport, this ideology played itself out on our public school system and, for a season at least, seemed to be the dominant ideology on the verge of assuming complete power over the public school system.  We almost succeeded.  Thanks to the people of the City of Bridgeport—we did not and that’s a good thing.

Jorge Cabrera was employed by the “education reform” organization Excel Bridgeport from 2012-2015–the organization on the front lines of the “movement” in Bridgeport.

If this reminds you of someone, you might consider forwarding this blog to them.  Or leave a copy on their desk.  Or mail it to them.
Your eyes have been opened to the private money and corruption that shapes the politics of education in Tennessee and across the nation.  You agree that education should be about educating children, not about money and power.  Public education must be strengthened and sustained for future generations.  Don't believe the lies of the reformers.  Be smart.  When in doubt, follow the money and you'll inevitably find their true motive. 
Charters, Vouchers, Common Core, standardized testing = money for those at the top

Dig a little deeper...

1/5/2014

 
A judge in Douglas County, Colorado, recently ruled that their school board violated the state fair campaign practices law by hiring two "scholars" to write 2 papers praising the district’s privatization agenda.  One biased paper was produced by Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute.  Hess was paid $30,000 for his paper.  

Hess' name should sound very familiar to Tennesseans.  One of Hess' reports has been the single-most popular report for reformers to gloat about in our state since 2007.  Hess, (with a nice paycheck from the Chamber of Commerce) wrote a report that gave our fair state a big, fat "F" for Truth in Advertising.  (Ironic, isn't it?).  But how many people have actually read that report and the fine print?  These Moms did, and they saw some huge red-flags:

"The F sounds really bad, doesn't it???  But check out the actual report and you'll see a few things that SCORE doesn't want you to know about... 

1.  This disclaimer regarding the Truth in Advertising category:  "This category does not evaluate state tests nor does it grade states on the performance of their students. Instead, the evaluation looks at how truthfully a state reports student proficiency."  Get it?  This was a problem with the STATE not reporting accurately, not with our students.  Of course, SCORE doesn't publicize that Tennessee fared better in other categories of this report, they only point out that big, fat F and use it to further their agenda.  
 
2.  This fine-print disclaimer buried in the report:  "The authors acknowledge that this is an imperfect measure of state transparency because there is some debate about using NAEP alone to benchmark state tests. However, this method is currently the only one available when comparing the transparency of reporting from one state to the next."
 
3.  Manipulated letter grades:  The results were rated on a pre-determined, weighted curve, so the differences between state scores are not as major as one thinks... This method of grading means there would be a pre-determined # of grades.  (Only 5 states "earned" A's, 5 got B's, 20 received D's or F's, and the rest got C's).
 
It is true what our high school statistics teachers taught us, you really CAN manipulate data to show whatever you want.  Momma Bears gives that report a big fat F minus for Truth in Advertising!"

(click HERE to read their entire article)

Tennessee Parents are questioning...  Who is this Rick Hess, and why are people trusting his opinion?  We found this description from a teacher:

"Rick Hess’ classroom experience? A grand total of two years as a social studies teacher in Louisiana, about 21 years ago, according to his official website. It must have been pretty tough, if he quit teaching so soon. I’m sure he’s making much, much more money now as a spokesman for the billionaires who have taken over our educational system, and he doesn't have to worry about teaching 150 students every single day and grading papers and filling out useless forms and memos until he can’t see straight at night, with no administrative support at all… Life’s pretty cool if you are a 40-something with a million-dollar portfolio schmoozing at conferences all over the place instead of actually teaching in the classroom any more…  All it takes is the ability to show those with deep pockets that you are on their side and are an effective mouthpiece for them. You can be very rich and very powerful, very soon in your career."

Tennessee Parents hope our elected officials are not so gullible.  We hope they dig deeper and question these reports for themselves.

If you'd like to put a picture with Hess' face, here is a very... um, interesting... video of him with Mike Petrilli (you have probably heard of Petrilli, too.  He spoke in TN at the Senate Common Core hearings in September 2013 in favor of Common Core).
Description of video:  Petrilli pretends to kidnap Hess to give him a "makeover" before an exclusive awards gala for education reformers.  Apparently, Hess' wardrobe was not up to snuff for Petrilli and his friends, so Petrilli kidnaps Hess and takes him, via chauffeur by a fellow reformer, to Brooks Brothers where he tries on an assortment of outlandish clothing choices before finding an appropriate outfit to wear to the fancy event.
Tennessee parents can't help but notice that the wide gap between Brooks Brothers clothing store (which is un-affordable for most Tennesseans) and the students that Petrilli and Hess claim to advocate for.
Also worth noting: Petrilli's comments at 2:03 stating he has a 2:30 conference call with Gates that he doesn't want to miss.  "Big money on the line, baby, big money!"
 

Grants with $tring$ attached

12/2/2013

 
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded Knox County Schools a one-year grant of $840,000, which Knox County Schools will match with taxpayer dollars in the amount of $360,000 for a grand total of $1.2 million. According to Knox County Schools, this money will be used to strengthen its ability to ensure “resources stay aligned to priorities.”

So where will all this money go- directly to the schools? No, not one penny of the $1.2 million will make it to classrooms. $950,000 of it will go to The Parthenon Group. (Knox County Schools will funnel grant monies to Parthenon in monthly amounts ranging from $140k to $168k over the next year.) The remaining $250,000 will go to Education Resource Strategies (ERS).

The Parthenon Group, a Boston-based (and international) organization, will be paid to “assist with data collection, and resource and return on investment analysis.” Parthenon helped sponsor a conference on January 15, 2013 to teach investors how to make money from public education. The conference was entitled “Private Equity Investing in For-Profit Education Companies– How Breakdowns in Traditional Models & Applications of New Technologies Are Driving Change.” The standard fee to attend this event was $1395. Here is a brochure description: “Private equity investing in for-profit education is soaring, and for good reason — the public and non-profit models are profoundly broken. This is why for-profit education is one of the largest U.S. investment markets, currently topping $1.3 trillion in value.” (This conference was co-sponsored by the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath and chaired by Harold Levy, former Chancellor of the NYC public schools and now a partner in the Connecticut venture capital firm Palm Ventures that invests in for-profit education.)

According to its website, Education Resource Strategies is a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization “dedicated to transforming how urban school systems organize resources." Although ERS operates as a non-profit organization, its 2011 Form 990 lists six full-time (40 hour/week) employees who are paid salaries ranging from $117,000 to $172,398. It also lists a seventh employee who worked 16 hours per week in 2011 and made $61,400.

Parthenon and ERS support such things as larger class sizes, moving away from class size mandates, and “revamped teacher evaluations” (which I gather would include TN’s current flawed model). These organizations are manned not by education or education policy experts, as one might expect, but by business people, including MBAs, economists, and lawyers.

So in summary, Knox County Schools will receive a one-year grant to analyze “return on investment" that will ultimately cost them $360,000. Although $1.2 million will be generated for this purpose, none of this money will go toward classrooms. The money will go to business consultants (with no particular training in education or education policy) making six-figure-plus salaries and to companies that train “investors” on how to turn a profit from public education. These people will fly in, rake up their money, and then disappear. Meanwhile, our teachers will continue to earn only $46,000 per year on average, and our schools will continue to struggle financially for such necessities as computers for the new state-mandated online testing. 

And that is how you turn a profit off public schools.

(This was written by a smart school board member in Tennessee)

Tennessee parents aren't fooled... and neither are smart legislators and smart school board members.


 

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