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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

TDOE says only 100 students are "perfect"

3/18/2015

 
Have you heard of a student in your district that was one of the 100 students who scored a perfect score on the 2013-14 TCAP Writing Assessment?  Local papers have covered the feel-good stories of these perfect-scoring children.  Click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE to see some of the publicity.

Not to discredit the 100 students, but why are there only 100?

Why not 99? or 101?  or 297?  or 5,999?

Out of the thousands and thousands of students across the state that took this test, only 100 were rated "perfect."

Only 100.  That number is just too "perfect" to be an accident.

There is a rubric for scoring these tests (which are scored by people found on Craigslist, which is a whole different problem that needs to be addressed).  Nowhere in this document does it say there will only be 100 perfect scores. 

By thinking critically, one might think the TDOE intentionally manipulated the scores on the TCAP Writing Test so that a nice, round 100 would receive the top rating.  Could it be?

At any rate, the TDOE is using these 100 "perfect" students as their living advertisements to convince the public that these tests are worthwhile.  Each "perfect" student receives a special certificate signed by Governor Haslam and Commissioner Candice McQueen (who was not Commissioner when these children actually took the test in February 2014).  

It is brilliant marketing... Creating an elite 100 encourages local newspapers and school districts to proudly show their "perfect" student they produced.  It gives power to this test, too.   

Not only that, those 100 students are now using their perfect writing skills to write essays for TDOE to be used on the TDOE Classroom Chronicles blog (Click HERE and HERE to read some of those perfect students' blogs.)

This manipulation is wrong on many levels.

First, if there are only to be 100 perfect scores, then it really doesn't matter if every student in the state writes an essay worthy of a Nobel Laureate award because only 100 will get the top score. 

Second, is it acceptable for the state to use children to promote a test created by a private company?


The TDOE website says, "The rubrics used to score the 2015 test will remain the same as the 2014 TCAP Writing Assessment."  Does that mean there will be 100 perfect scores next year, too?

How can we possibly be "fastest improving state in the nation" if only 100 can make it to the top?

Teachers and parents are realizing this TCAP writing test has major problems, including:
  • technology glitches, slow internet, lost essays, etc.
  • a confusing MIST platform students must use to write an essay in a tiny little text box the size of a cell phone screen while tabbing between two different articles they must read
  • a significant amount of time must be spent training students on how to use this cumbersome MIST format that they will never use for any other purpose.  It is not like Microsoft Word for PCs, Pages for Apple, or Open Office word processing.
  • the amount of money wasted on this test that could be spent on other needed things for schools.
  • Last year, this test was called the "PARCC Writing Assessment".  This year it is called the "TCAP Writing Assessment".  Very little has changed except for the name.  Wait, didn't the TN Legislature vote to get out of PARCC last year?  Then why are our children still taking this test?
  • This test was administered over the entire month of February.  This tied up computer labs that should be used for technology classes, as well as disrupted class schedules for students.
  • Children are required to type to complete the test.  There is little, if any, formal typing instruction in elementary or middle school.  How are test results not going to be skewed based on typing skills?  How is it really a measure of academic ability?
  • Kids in homes without internet access or computers do not get the exposure to technology to be able to practice typing.  How does this writing (typing) test not add to the performance gap due to lack of access to technology for those students in poverty?

TN Parents question the validity of this test and all state tests.  We wonder if the scores are intentionally manipulated like this for the other tests, too?  Since last year's TCAP results were delayed because the TDOE manipulated the cut scores and aligned test questions, we have reason to believe that the scores set up a predetermined number of students to be advanced, proficient, and failures. 

We may not have millions of dollars like the Chamber of Commerce to issue a fancy report from a biased think tank, but TN Parents give the TDOE a 
big fat F for "Truth in Advertising." 

The Achievement School District Farce: Don't believe the lies

9/17/2014

 
Legislators and school leaders need to know these facts so that they are not fooled by slick-talkers who twist the bad data to make themselves look good.  These are CHILDREN's lives and their neighborhood's schools that are impacted.  Please read and make sure your legislators know the truth:

Frayser 9GA, the miracle school of the Achievement School District
by Gary Rubenstein, originally posted on September 11, 2014 at Gary Rubenstein's blog
The Achievement School District of Tennessee, or ASD, was modeled after the Louisiana Recovery School District, or RSD.  The superintendent of the ASD is a friend of mine from my days as a TFAer in Houston, Chris Barbic.  The goal of the ASD is to take over the schools in the bottom 5% in terms of test scores in the state and within five years get the scores up so those same schools are in the top 25%.  The schools, as I originally understood it, would have the same zoned students after the were taken over by (they use the euphemism ‘matched with’) the usual suspects of TFA charter chains, like KIPP and Rocketship.  The first cohort of the ASD was 6 schools started in the 2012-2013 school year.  This grew to 17 schools in 2013-2014, and now 23 schools for 2014-2015.  I was skeptical of this plan from the beginning.  As I wrote to Chris in one of my open letters, still unanswered, I felt like this was a goal that can only be achieved by some sort of cheating or lying.  One cheat that is happening is that many of the charter schools did not take over existing schools but became new schools which phased in one grade at a time.  This makes it pretty hard to say that a school that never existed was originally in the bottom 5% of schools.

As reformers are all about accountability and data, the ASD, of course, issues yearly reports about the progress that it is making toward the goal of moving the schools in the bottom 5% to the top 25% in five years.  This year Tennessee has been very slow in releasing their state test scores.  In early July they first released data for the State.  On these, the average scores in the state were not very good.  On average, as I wrote about here, 3-8 math scores went up by a percent while 3-8 reading scores went down by a percent.  At the end of July they released the data for the individual districts.  In that release, we learned that the ASD scores increased more than the state averages.  I wrote here, about how that really wasn’t saying very much, particularly since the 4% the ASD reading scores had gone up by still meant that the 2013-2014 reading scores were lower than the 2011-2012 ASD reading scores.  Then, in August, they finally released the final part of their data, the ‘growth’ scores of the districts and the test scores and growth scores for the individual schools.

A year ago the ASD, despite the fact that their reading scores dropped by almost 5%, somehow scored the highest possible score, a 5 out of 5 on the Tennessee ‘growth’ metric.  This was, they said, a sign that things were moving in the right direction.  This year, however, despite the fact that at the end of July we learned that the ASD ‘grew’ better than the state did in general, the final report in mid-August revealed that the ASD didn’t get another 5 in ‘growth.’  For the 2013-2014 school year, they got the lowest possible growth score, a 1.

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You’d think that this would damper their spirits, but as they’ve got to show that they’re still on track to reach the goal of moving the schools from the bottom 5% to the top 25%, they released a report highlighting some of their successes.  It turns out that some of the schools are doing quite well while others are bringing down the growth average.

They even produced this nifty scatter plot showing how some of the schools are well on their way to cracking the top 25%.

Picture
So, according to this graph, there are four schools that are really moving up the charts, and one of them, oh my! Frayser 9GA is way up there, having moved from the bottom 5%, apparently, to nearly the top 50%!  Most of of the other schools haven’t made much movement, however.  In the ASD report, there were some graphs showing how different schools ‘grew’ from last year to this year.
Picture
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So there are schools getting it done, like Frayser 9GA, and other schools that are still failing, like, say, Westside Achievement Middle School, with its declining scores in both categories.

So I did what no Tennessee education reporters have the ingenuity to do, I did some research and analysis.  The first thing I noticed was the fine print at the bottom of the scatter plot showing the movement of some of the schools.

Notes:  1-yr success rates; 2014 percentile calculations based on 2013 data;  Carver and Frayser HS used for historical data for GRAD and F9GA, respectively.

Hmmmmm.  What does that mean?  So I investigated further.  What I learned is that Frayser 9GA isn’t, technically, a school for which it is possible to calculate the growth between 2013 and 2014.  Also, it is debatable, if it can be counted as a school at all.  Here’s why:

Westside Achievement Middle school, the one that had the dropping scores in the bar graphs above, serves students in grades 6-8.  They were one of the original 6 ASD schools in 2012-2013.  Rather than send their eighth graders to Frayser High School in 2013-2014, they decided to expand Westside Achievement Middle school to have a 9th grade in their building.  They enrolled 99 students and called the ‘school’ Frayser 9GA for ‘9th Grade Academy.’  2013-2014 was the first year that this school existed, which is why comparing their scores for their 99 9th graders to the scores of already existing Frayser high school is not a fair comparison.  This article from the local Memphis newspaper explains that 85% of the 8th grade class at Westside Achievement Achievement Middle School wanted to continue at that school for the new 9th grade program.

Now in the 2013-2014 school year, Westside Achievement Middle School dropped from a 5 on their ‘growth’ to the lowest possible 1.

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But the ASD decided to call the 9th grader program at Westside Achievement Middle School, all 99 students there, its own ‘school’ rather than what it actually is, a grade in the school.  It is not playing by the rules to pick a grade out of a school, call it its own school and then plot it on a graph as if it was an actual school that was once in the bottom 5% of schools and that with the help of the ASD catapulted to the top 50%.  So the question is, how is it that this school is failing to grow their 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in 2013-2014, yet they are getting miraculous results with their 9th graders?  And what would the score for this school be if they counted the four grades as one school rather than pulling out the 9th grade class and calling that its own school? Arne Duncan was in Tennessee today and spent time with Chris Barbic and even took a selfie with him.  Tennessee and the ASD are favorites of Duncan to tout his success.
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It is fortunate for Duncan that he will be out of office when the house of cards that is the ASD comes tumbling down, three years from now.  I’ve noticed that many reformers have been going into hiding lately:  Wendy Kopp stepped down from being CEO of TFA.  Michelle Rhee stepped down from being CEO of StudentsFirst.  Others will surely follow into the safety of their underground bunkers.  Duncan will leave office and will surely find a safe place to hide from all the questions as the reform movement continues to collapse.  What will happen to my old friend Chris Barbic when this all goes down?  He’s always been a decent guy.  I worry he might be the only one with enough principle to go down with the ship while the others cowardly abandon it.

This is not the first time that TN Parents has reported major problems with the ASD.  Read much more about the failures of the ASD by clicking HERE.  

Be sure to click HERE to see an enlightening video of how the ASD recruited teachers at Bardog Tavern in Memphis.  Yes, at a bar with free alcohol, appetizers, and a photobooth.  And now Chris Barbic is throwing those same young teachers he recruited under the bus by saying that the problem with the ASD is the teachers (that HE hired).  

Guaranteed student success:  Return the ASD schools to the districts and communities they were stolen from.  Give those students real, experienced, honest-to-God teachers with much smaller teacher:student ratios.  Put support staff in their schools including counselors and classes for music, art, and sports.  Yes, it will cost more, but this ASD system is clearly not working.  Give students what they need to suceed, not what lobbyists and out-of-touch politicians think they should have. 

It's a Dog Eat Dog World: Charter school attacks Huffman & Barbic with a multi-million dollar vengeance

9/9/2014

 
A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CIVIL LAWSUIT HAS BEEN FILED AGAINST KEVIN HUFFMAN, CHRIS BARBIC, TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, TENNESSEE ACHIEVEMENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHARTER SCHOOL AUTHORIZERS AND YES PREPARATORY ACADEMY

Rodney O. Ursery, J.D. and Clara D. West, Ph.D. are the Plaintiffs Who Filed the Lawsuit In Pro Se

Memphis, TN (September 8, 2014) – Rodney O. Ursery and Clara D. West, two former applicants for a charter operator’s authorization for the 2014/2015 school year, have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Kevin Huffman, Commissioner of Tennessee Department of Education (“TDOE”); Chris Barbic, Superintendent of the Tennessee Achievement School District (“TASD”); as well as the TDOE and TASD; along with two other defendants: the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (“NACSA”) and YES Preparatory Academy (“YES Prep”).

Among the thirteen causes of action, the complaint alleges unfair business practices, violations of Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, civil conspiracy, and violations of constitutionally protected rights. The lawsuit seeks a court order prohibiting YES Prep, a charter school enterprise headquartered in Texas, from opening schools that it illegally obtained in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil action, which also requests a jury trial, was filed in the 30th Judicial District Chancery Court, Shelby County, Tennessee.

Ursery states, “For far too long, it has been recognized and stated in the court of public opinion that Huffman and Barbic have utterly abused the power of their positions when it comes to regulating the Tennessee's school system. Now, I’m confident that their reign of terror, which has been plagued with conspiracies among crooks and cronies, will finally be revealed in a court of law, that is, if justice prevails.” West added, “It's as if we have to fight Brown v. Topeka Board of Education again. Our proposal offered equity in education through student-centered learning using individualized learning plans and iPads, just like the countries that consistently outrank the U.S. in education. We were unfairly denied the opportunity to help educate the lowest-performing students, who the system has already left behind and identified as the future prison population. It's all about leveling the playing field.”

According to the complaint, the defendants deliberately designed and implemented discriminatory selection and approval practices, customs and procedures to deny Plaintiffs’ application. The lawsuit further alleges that during the time when TASD solicited Requests for Qualification to apply for a charter operator’s authorization for the 2014/2015 school year, Barbic, TASD and NACSA conspired to approve charter operator’s authorization(s) for the 2015/2016 school year, an opportunity, which was made available only to YES Prep. It is alleged that Barbic, founder and former Chief Executive Officer of YES Prep, illegally authorized YES Prep to seize nearly 6,000 elementary school students in Memphis, TN.

Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that NACSA, who “partnered with” TASD to provide support and management services for the application process, is not a “professional” organization. NACSA does not have any government-approved, professional standards of operations; nor state licensing or certification; and it is not subject to any government agency, review board or code of ethics to govern its acts. Finally, the lawsuit states that Huffman and TDOE enacted a regulation which granted Barbic and TASD carte blanche to deny due process to applicants who are denied charter operator’s authorizations as there is absolutely no redress, grievance or appeal process to review any of the defendants’ actions.

For more information, contact the plaintiffs at: ru4justice@facebook.com or 901.300.0162.

This lawsuit is brought by two individuals claiming $10 million in damages because they were denied charter operator authorization by the ASD. $10 million dollars!!!  Those damages are a clear-cut case for how profitable a charter operator authorization can be.

Interesting how a potential charter school is suing some big guns in TN over unfair business practices, isn't it?


We've heard for years how there is a severe case of the good ol' boys club, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine," nepotism within the TN DOE between other self-serving high-dollar organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and SCORE.  

It is hard to ignore the evidence of that nepotism when you read how:

  • TN pays more than any other state for Teach for America temporary teachers through a $6+million NO-BID contract signed by Kevin Huffman, who formerly had a cushy job at Teach For America.  
  • Our public schools are strangled, teachers and administrators are cut, and then the students, buildings, and tax dollars are handed over on silver platters along with generous grant dollars and tax incentives to their buddies' charter chains (like YES Prep, where ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic has very close ties and has richly profited from).
  • The ASD schools have worse results than the public schools they killed ever did, but the ASD schools aren't feeling the wrath of the TNDOE's micromanaging and bullying like the public schools.
  • Charter schools are making some people very, very rich. 
  • Charter schools get preferential treatment within districts and the state:
    • charters are exempt and/or given waivers from TCAP score accountability (especially if they are friends and/or donors to politicians)
    • charters are exempt from giving the expensive and time-consuming benchmark RTI2 assessment tests that public schools are now being forced to do by the TNDOE.

When we allow corporate greed to infect public education, it is to be expected that profiteers will attack each other over business practices. We hope that this lawsuit will shine a light on these shady practices.

Perhaps this isn't "dog eat dog" but more like a pack of dogs attacking public schools.  If the plaintiffs win, where will that $10 million come from?  Public school funding???
Winners = lawyers + charter operators
Losers = students
Interesting legal tidbit:  This suit has been filed in Shelby County in the 30th Judicial District Chancery Court. Jim Kyle, former TN Senator, is a new chancellor in that court.  A new chancellor will be appointed to fill in for Kenny Armstrong, so there is quite a bit of turnover in that court right now.   

Scapegoat sacrifices her job for TNDOE?

9/5/2014

 
This morning, the Tennesseean newspaper reported that Erin O'Hara has resigned from the TN Department of Education.  As Assistant Commissioner for Data and Research, she was paid a yearly salary of $121,000. 

Her resignation is not surprising news to some, especially after last week's alarming article in the Greenville Sun about the embarrassing error by the TNDOE of mislabeling schools on their failing lists.  Poor Erin O'Hara was left speechless when a local school leader pointed out a major error with their lists.

Chatter is abuzz this morning from the common folks (who weren't invited to Haslam's Exclusive Education Publicity Summit Stunt):
  • Some are wondering if O'Hara already has a cushy job lined up at a "non-profit" in exchange for her silence?  
  • Some think this is a part of the grand scheme launched by the new PR firm to "rebrand" the image of the TN DOE, Huffman, and Haslam?  
  • Some wonder if she's the scapegoat taking the blame for Huffman's ineptness?
  • Some are saying it is a shame she is leaving because she was one of the few "good" people working at the TN DOE.

Time will tell...

Parents aren't fooled

8/27/2014

 
These are 2 recent articles, shared with permission, from the Momma Bears of Tennessee about TN's Department of Education makeover:

Rebranding the TN Department of Education
08/18/2014

Remember the bid for a PR firm that that TN Parents wrote about in the spring?  The TN Department of Education desperately sought the help of marketing professionals to fix their dreadful image.  Well, obviously, a firm was hired and is working their makeover magic because there's a monumental difference in the propaganda coming out of the TN DOE lately.  

First, check out the TN DOE website makeover:
BEFORE:
(website screenshot from March 2014)
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The old website had an overcast, almost foreboding, grayish blah color scheme.  Kevin Huffman's name and Governor Haslam's picture were both prominently displayed at the top of every page.  Photos on the page included important people posing with other important people.  Like the other government pages, the watermark at the top and bottom of the webpage showed mountains, which could imply the federal Race to the Top program that everyone hates, or it could be interpreted to mean that East Tennessee is more important than the flat land in the western part of the state.  Take your pick.
AFTER: 
(screenshot from August 2014)
Picture
As you can see, the new website has lots of changes.  There are large pops of happy colors and candid pictures of cute kids.  There's a tab for "community".  Gone are the banners with Kevin Huffman's name and Governor Haslam's smirk on every single subpage because maybe that expensive PR firm realized that people's blood pressure skyrocketed every time they saw it. Or maybe, just maybe, this is a foreshadowing that Kevin Huffman may not be around much longer?  Momma Bears can only hope!  Also missing from the new webpage are the smoggy mountain images.  We guess we are not racing to the top anymore now that the entire $500 million prize we won is spent?  

It is kinda funny how the new website says, "We've redesigned and reorganized our site from the ground up with you in mind."  Gee, thanks, for keeping me in mind, when in all honesty, we are sure that the only thing on your mind was: "How On Earth Do We QUICK Fix This Awful Image Problem That Governor Haslam and His Appointed Commissioner of Education, Kevin Huffman, Have Created Before Election Time in November So That The Governor Gets Re-elected And We All Keep Our Jobs?"

And, of course, this dishonest image is still on both websites: 
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Because that is the ONLY thing that the Governor has to cling to.  TCAP scores this year were flatter than a puddle of water on Tennessee asphalt in August.  There is no miracle, not from Common Core, not from this new RTI2 mandate, not from the awful teacher evaluation rubrics or TVAAS system, and most certainly not from giving a chunk of our poorest public schools to charters through the ASD because those schools are lower than ever.  

TCAP scores weren't even released in time for student's final report cards in the spring because they had to adjust the cut scores, take out the non-common core questions to boost scores, and figure out a way for this new PR firm to triage the massive outrage and somehow put a positive spin on the dismal results.

Here is why that claim of "Largest Growth on 2013 NAEP" is not truthful:  
The Governor and Huffman keep saying it everywhere they go, and probably even mutter it in their sleep, but they neglect to mention one ginormous fact:   TN passed a new law the year before the 2013 NAEP test which drastically changed the pool of students eligible to be tested for NAEP.  This new law prohibited 3rd graders in Tennessee from being promoted to 4th grade if they were not proficient.  So, for the first time in TN history, 3rd graders were not socially promoted to 4th grade.  The low-scoring students were left behind in 3rd grade!  Voila!  Don't let the non-proficient kids in to 4th grade to take the test and you magically lift the whole state's average score compared to other states in the nation!  
(A note about NAEP tests in case you don't know:  the NAEP is given every 2 years to randomly selected 4th and 8th graders in every state in the nation.  It is required by the Federal Government to get our federal tax dollars for our schools.  Click HERE and HERE to read more about the NAEP and how is manipulated to suit politicians).


Next, NEW Emails from TNDOE: 
          I Heart You soooooooo much!!!

Subscribers to the TNDOE weekly emails noticed a big difference in the weekly emails, too.  Prior emails were cold, factual, and condescending.  The paragraphs were blocky and had the attitude of "Do This New Policy Or Else".

The new email sent to subscribers last week had hearts, smiles, friendships, relationships, unicorns, and rainbows.  (Okay, so not the last 2, but we're not exaggerating about the difference being night and day.)  Here's an excerpt from the new email:
Picture
See? They are not meany-pants dictator bullies...  They are a "team" wearing cute matching shirts and holding signs of love!  (Bonus points to those who can pick out the former Teach For America overpaid staff).

Another big change to the emails is that they are now being sent through Mailchimp, which is an email service that allows the sender to track opens, clicks on links, reports, etc.  The TNDOE loves, loves, loves data so they are probably in data heaven.  
Save the best for last, a special LETTER: 

U R MY BFF 4EVR! 
<3, Bill   XOXOXO

Tennessee teachers were shocked - SHOCKED, I tell you! -  last week to receive personalized emails from the Governor himself.  These letters were addressed to their first names, which left some wondering if they are now considered friends with the Governor.  Bill (we can call him by his first name now, right?) wrote about the way he traveled across the state and had 12 secret meetings with pre-screened teachers and how he listened, oh how he listened, and he just loves teachers and wishes he could pay them more but he has to take care of corporations first.  Okay, so Bill didn't blatantly say that in the letter, but if you read between the lines and know the recent news, it is what our friend, Bill, really meant. 

We bet someone from that fancy new PR firm wrote the letter anyway.  Bill doesn't write letters.  He certainly won't respond to any of ours.  Of course, he has staff that sends out blanket responses because Bill does not have the time to correspond with commoners unless you are pre-screened and agree with Bill's views.  

Not all teachers were fooled by the use of mail-merge fields or by the use of their school email address to try to gain their vote for Bill in November. Other candidates for Governor certainly don't have the luxury, ability, or staffpower to send personalized blanket emails to teachers using their school email addresses, but Bill does.  (Click HERE if you want to see one of those blanket letters Bill sent to a TN teacher)

So, what has changed within the TNDOE?  
        Nothing.  Zip.  Zero.
The same people are still doing the same jobs at the TNDOE and they have the same intentions of forcing Common Core on our children, requiring high-stakes tests on our children, punishing and firing our children's teachers based on our children's test results, and crushing our children's public schools to expand more charter schools in TN so their friends can make big bucks.

The difference is that our tax dollars are now being spent on the best Public Relations Firm our tax money can buy with the goal of fixing the horrible image of the TNDOE, Commissioner Kevin Huffman (for as long as Bill keeps him around as a puppet), and the person who just happens to be up for re-election in November: Bill.  
Picture
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Hide & Seek:  TNDOE hides Common Core
08/19/2014

Our last Momma Bear blog focused on the external makeover of the TNDOE: website, email, and Bill's staff's letter to teachers. However, there was one huge difference that deserved its own blog.  Did you catch it? Take a look at their new website, again, in the previous blog and see if you can tell what is missing:
Picture
Do you notice anything "common"? 
Bingo!!!  All references to Common Core have been removed!   

You'll see plenty of the word, "CORE," because of TNCORE.  They can't really eliminate "TNCORE" because they have a whole different website devoted to it with its own logo and all.  Obviously, the TNCORE website hasn't gotten a makeover yet because Bill's picture is still at the top along with Kevin Huffman's name just like on the old website: 
Picture
But notice that even this TNCORE website doesn't even mention the word, "common," on its main page. You have to play hide & seek with your mouse to find the actual words, "Common Core," anywhere at all on the subpages.  There is also no ketchup-mustard-onion-swirl Common Core logo: 
Picture
Does that mean we aren't doing Common Core in Tennessee??? 
Oh, don't we wish!  Unfortunately, there are lots of people making lots of money on this Common Core gravy train, so it is still chugging along the tracks full-steam ahead whether parents and teachers like the direction the train is heading or not. 

Here is what the TNDOE has sneakily done, they have renamed the Common Core standards to: 

          "Tennessee State Standards"

Teachers told us that this renaming quietly happened over the past year. Teachers and Common Core coaches have been told to call it by the new name from now on and not to use the words, "Common Core" to avoid controversy or conflict.  The name is toxic.

Wait, can they do that???
Now, everyone knows that Tennessee didn't write these standards.  Even so, our state is branding them as their very own, which any English teacher can tell you is plagarism.  Some would even consider it "stealing," "theft," or "lying" to take someone else's property and put your name on something you didn't write.  Whatever you call it, it is undeniably sneaky and underhanded.  If the owners of the Common Core don't object to it, (and why would they? they just want the standards implemented no matter what it takes) Tennessee can do it.  

The TNDOE thinks that by not using the toxic name people won't be so upset.  Think again.  It is even more infuriating to know they are blatantly trying to trick us, isn't it?
 

"No, thank you, Mr. Haslam" - TN teachers aren't fooled

8/26/2014

 
The following was originally published at www.tnedreport.com.  Reprinted and shared with the kind permission of its author.  

NO THANK YOU, MR. HASLAM
by Andy Spears

On August 14th, Governor Bill Haslam sent a “Welcome Back” letter to teachers across the state. In the letter, he thanked teachers for their hard work in helping Tennessee improve its student achievement scores. He said he appreciated what they did for Tennessee students every day.

Apparently, some teachers haven’t forgotten that this is the same Bill Haslam who promised to make Tennessee the fastest improving state in the nation in teacher pay in October of 2013 and included a teacher pay raise in his 2014 budget address … only to break that promise in April.

Some teachers sent responses directly back to Haslam. And some of those same teachers sent their responses to TN Ed Report under the condition we keep their names anonymous.  Here are some of the responses we received:

Teacher Response #1:

I appreciate your attempt to understand the inner workings of a classroom and appreciate your words of appreciation for those of us who chose to serve others through teaching. However, I am highly disappointed at the turn of events in which you announced that teachers would not receive pay raises. We already make much less than other TN State employees and much less than teachers of other states.

It is easy to make promises and to break them:
http://tnreport.com/2013/10/04/raising-teacher-pay-a-top-budget-concern-for-haslam-administration/   

I am personally insulted in your lack of support for the teaching profession. My colleagues and I work hard for the families we serve. A normal day for most of us is  7:45 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Though we are only paid to work 8:00 until 3:15, our jobs cannot be completed in those hours. Many times we take student work home with us and are constantly looking for ways to improve our teaching on our own time.

Teachers are generally told “no one teaches for the money”. TRUE, but teachers never expected to be put on the “budget cutting” chopping block each time raises are considered. We feel betrayed with popular campaign promises and rhetoric.

In closing, make no mistake that our hard work is not completed for you or any elected official. Our hard work is for the children we PROMISED to educate when we accepted our jobs. Your letter of appreciation proves that WE have not failed those who have put their trust
in us, including you.



Teacher Response #2

Please tell the PR firm that suggested you send these letters that we teachers are well educated and therefore insulted that they would believe a letter full of empty words could ever make up for what you and your administration have done and are doing to ensure the destruction of public education in Tennessee.

Teaching is more than a job to me. Teaching is my calling. I sincerely love all of my students and work tirelessly for them. I most often work six full days a week to ensure that they have exactly what they need to succeed. I spend hundreds sometimes more than a thousand dollars of my own limited income every year to make sure that their needs are met. I was always proud to be a teacher but, not so much these days. Mostly these days my heart aches for my children. I spend many hours crying for them. Your administration has stripped our classrooms of all joy. Teacher morale is low because we are working in hostile conditions.

Finally, please keep your empty words. This letter is too little, too late.



Teacher Response #3

I am in receipt of your letter of August 14, 2014.
 
I appreciate the welcome back to school. And it is nice to hear the words “thank you.”
 
In your letter, you note that Tennessee is the fastest improving state in the nation in terms of student achievement. You attribute this success directly to teachers.
 
I seem to remember that in October of 2013, you also promised to make Tennessee the fastest improving state in teacher pay — an acknowledgement of the hard work so many Tennessee teachers are doing every single day.
 
Your budget, proposed in early 2014, also indicated at least a nominal raise for teachers was forthcoming.
 
Then, in April, you abandoned that promise.  When the state revenue picture changed, the budget was balanced on the backs of teachers. Not only did your new budget take away promised raises for teachers, but it also reduced BEP funding coming to school districts. Now, teachers are being asked to do more with less.  And students suffer.
 
Your words ring hollow when your actions make it clear that teachers don’t matter. That our schools can wait just one more year for the resources students need to succeed.
 
As for your “thank you” for the work I do, I’d note that I can’t send it to the bank to pay my mortgage. A thank you isn’t going to fix my car when it needs repair. When the price of groceries goes up, I can’t simply use your thank you letter to cover the increase. And when my health insurance premium inevitably rises in January, your letter won’t put money back in my paycheck to cover the cost.
 
The raise you promised but failed to deliver would have helped with all of these things. But your letter does nothing but remind me that you say nice words and shortchange our schools.
 
In my classroom, I place a high value on integrity. That means doing what you say you’re going to do. On that scale, sir, you rate an F.



We received copies of other responses that mentioned the poor communication style of Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman and the loss of collective bargaining rights. While teachers may not have a viable alternative to Haslam on the ballot in November, those sending us copies of their responses made it clear they won’t be supporting Haslam.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow@TNEdReport

TN Parents thought legislators, Superintendents, School Board members, parents, and the Governor should read these important letters.  We are grateful to TN Education Report for allowing us to share it with our followers.

Teachers' working conditions are children's learning conditions. We want happy, respected, and fairly compensated teachers for our children. Teachers deserve better than this.  


TN DOE messes up. Again. 

8/21/2014

 
The TN Department of Education notified schools last week that were placed on one of 3 of their lists:
  • Priority: bottom 5% of schools in TN (TN DOE gives these to the Achievement School District to turn around)
  • Focus: 10% of schools with largest achievement gaps (regardless of overall performance)
  • Reward: schools with highest growth

But this week, some of these schools were told there had been a big mistake.  Apparently, the TN DOE was going against what was written in the NCLB waiver and ended up having to take about 40 schools off the focus list and add some that were originally reward schools. 

From an anonymous teacher in Washington County:
We were on the cusp of reward after the 2012-13 school year. We were told at the beginning of last year that we probably would make it and then my principal said we missed it by a minor tenth of a point.  We are definitely on the focus list this year. That I know for sure. 

Our school had such good growth and achievement!  Our sped kids - bless them - can't compete and keep up - too much of a gap. A resource/sped teacher is next door to me. She came to me yesterday in tears about this.  

Our sped students are being double punished by our DOE. 1st- they are being strapped with the unfair burden of our school's failure. It doesn't matter how the TN DOE spins it.... If your school makes the priority or focus list, the local newspaper tells everyone that your school is a failure!    2nd- some of our sped kids made AMAZING gains from one year to the next. These students were ranked in the below basic category and moved all the way to the top of the basic category - one as much as 87 points. But their gains and hard work are not valued by state department.  These students are still in the basic category and deemed a failure. Gaps are measured by where students fit in the 4 categories: below basic, basic, proficient and advanced. They are not measured on growth, true ability, and effort. This is shameful and WRONG!

My sped/inclusion kids last year worked like beasts. They totally out worked my reg ed students hands down. They deserve medals not labels!

Errors such as this one, the awful TCAP delay in the spring, and the questionable waivers granted by Commissioner Huffman to cover their problem make everyone question and doubt the current leadership. 

From their ivory tower in Nashville, the TN DOE wields a heavy hand of accountability over teachers and our local school districts, but its motto seems to be:
 “Accountability for thee, but not for me.”



Why did Commissioner Huffman embargo TCAP results? 

7/17/2014

 
TCAP scores in TN have been embargoed by order of Commissioner Kevin Huffman. Superintendents, principals, and administrators are forbidden to release or discuss this information with the public or the media.
 Why?  
Could it be:
  • The results show that their reforms and Common Core aren't working?
  • The results show that charter schools are performing worse than public schools?
  • The results show that the Achievement School District won't be moving test scores from the bottom 5% to the top 25% of the state, as they promised to do?
  • They need more time for their fancy new PR firm (that the TNDOE just hired with our public tax dollars) to put a polished, positive spin on the bad scores?
  • They don't want parents upset that their children's report cards were negatively impacted from the TCAP delay and Huffman's illegal waivers?
  • They don't want local school boards to see the real results of charter schools in their district to be able to vote on their futures before the new school year starts?
  • They are protecting certain charter schools that have ties to politicians and their friends? (like Tony Bennett did in Indiana)
  • It is an election year for Governor Haslam and he's already had so much negative publicity?
  • They didn't want the negative news to be announced when all the Governors met in Nashville last week?
  • They don't want the negative news to cloud the big Koch brothers reform party next week in Nashville?
  • They're waiting for Huffman to get back from Las Vegas, NV where is is currently at the Teach For America Conference and the extravagant TFA Awards ceremony.  Huffman is being honored for the lucrative $6.7 million no-bid contract he signed for TN with Teach For America using our tax dollars. (By the way, Tennessee spends more money per Teach for America recruit than any other state, but we cannot even afford to give our qualified, experienced teachers a 2% raise as Governor Haslam promised was his top budget priority last fall.)
       

Tennessee deserves testing TRANSPARENCY.

   We, as parents, should be able to see the test questions our children are forced to answer.

   Teachers should be able to see the questions that their evaluations and jobs are so heavily based upon.

   The public is entitled to know the results of these tests that we paid for.

Commissioner Huffman is hiding something.  What is it?  Will anyone find out?  or will the test results be quietly released the Friday before the next holiday weekend?

One thing is for certain: This secrecy undermines public trust.
 

Rich people sign petition to keep their sugar-daddy

7/9/2014

 
In a desperate attempt to save Kevin Huffman's credibility and job, a petition was started by rich people.  The signatures on the petition are an elite "who's-who" list of people who get generous paychecks from the reformy charter gravy-train.  There are quite a few "name not displayed" entries on the petition, but from doing internet searches of the people who did sign their name, it is easy to see that these people are enemies of public schools. For example:
  • Rebecca Lieberman (managing director of school and sector initiatives for the Charter School Center) was quoted in the Tennesseean's article about the petition.  Lieberman has a nice, cushy job at the Charter Incubator.  According to the 2012 990 tax filing, she made a nice salary of $102,673. (their 2013 990 isn't available, but we bet she made even more last year).  Her organization hit the jackpot financially under Huffman's leadership.  The CEO's salary at the Charter Incubatorincreased a whopping $73,586 in one year! (from $120,750 in 2011 to$176,336 in 2012).  2012 was obviously a boom year for their organization, because they also added a COO position for Justin Testerman with a sweet salary of $127,015.  Nope, you certainly can't make that kind of salary as a public school teacher!
  • Teach for America corps members, Derik Ohanian, who taught as a temporary teacher through Teach for America, was then super-launched into an internship with the White House for 4 months over the summer, and then landed a sweet job with the TN Department of Education (working under his boss, Kevin Huffman) as a "Leadership Coaching Consultant" for the past 5 months.  His signature surely bought some brownie points from his boss.
  • Achievement School District staffers also signed the petition, of course, like Margo Roen and Alex Little.  Their jobs depend on Huffman, so it makes sense they'd sign it.
  • Elissa Kim is a no-brainer signing her name since she works as Executive Vice President for Recruitment and Admissions for Teach For America.   Kevin Huffman was her former co-worker at TFA.  Huffman signing that big $6 million no-bid contract for Tennessee with TFA meant job security for her. Her salary is more than Kevin Huffman's at $224,000 plus benefits. Yes, it is a huge conflict of interest between her job at TFA and the fact that she is on the Metro Nashville Board of Education, but who cares when there is money to be made?  
  • John Eason, identified in the Tennesseean article as a “philanthropist,” is really an investor in for-profit management of charter schools (reformers really, really want for-profit charters to be legal in TN and need Huffman to make it happen).  Eason co-founded Beacon Education Management which merged with another firmand now operates under another name in other states.
  • The Tennesseean also writes: "Among names on the petition are several founders of publicly financed, privately operated charter schools in Nashville, including Ravi Gupta of RePublic Schools and Todd Dickson of Valor Collegiate Academy. It also includes charter philanthropists such as Townes Duncan and John Eason as well as leaders of the Tennessee Charter School Center."  Quick internet searches show that Valor Collegiate Academy is opening in Nashville, with hopes to open a whole cluster of schools in Nashville.  Cha-ching.  
  • Townes Duncan, who fought to remove power from local elected school boards and give control to an un-elected state board allowing charters even more freedom to open in communities where they are not wanted.
  • Representative Mark White, devoted water boy for Governor Haslam, signed it and left a touching comment, too.  There's no question of his loyalty and intentions.  We hope the rumor isn't true that Mark White is on the list as a replacement for Huffman's job.  White's contempt for public education and unwillingness to listen to parents & teachers would make him a horrible leader over Tennessee's public schools.
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It is very interesting and damning that the signatures belong to the very people who have a vested financial interest in the failure of public schools.  These people have prospered greatly under Huffman's reign, even when the students in their charter schools have failed and communities surrounding their charter schools have suffered.

It is also very interesting to read the comments under the signatures on the Save Huffman petition.  The most popular reason to keep Huffman around is the 2013 NAEP test.  Either these people are very gullible or they didn't read the real truth about the NAEP growth for TN.
Click HERE to read the real "miracle" of
why TN's NAEP scores jumped so drastically in 2013
and why it won't happen again on the next NAEP.

A quote from a public school Dad:

"It kills me that Charter proponents have so little respect for the public's intelligence that they think they can create something like this and not have it be recognized as a charade starring the normal cast of characters. I also think its worth noting that there are current and aspiring school board members who have signed this petition. Voters need to ask themselves if people who are willing to support the divisive policies of Commissioner Huffman are really the best people to represent them."

Check out a Tennessee Dad's take on the petition.  He's no fool.  He recognizes a few names and injects humor into the subject:
Click HERE to read his article

If you want real public school supporters, involved in the real life of students as parents and teachers, check out this petition to remove Kevin Huffman.  There are over 2,000 signatures and some serious comments that should be addressed by the Governor.  Trust us, nobody on this petition is getting rich from Huffman's reforms.
Click HERE to see the petition to remove Huffman

This Facebook page to Remove Kevin Huffman is impossible to ignore with over 6,000 followers.  Their posts regularly get more likes and shares than are on the desperate Save Huffman petition. 
Click HERE to see the Facebook page

Do not be fooled. Follow the money.
See who is really benefiting from Huffman's reforms.

 
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