Monday, March 14, 2011

John Deasy, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2006

The troubled school district of Prince George's County (Md.) thought it was finally going to get a long-term superintendent when they hired John Deasy (BSA 2006) in May 2006, but by September 2008 he was being investigated for having improperly received his doctorate. Deasy resigned three weeks later and went to work for the Gates Foundation.

Deasy conveniently landed in LAUSD in June 2010 after his term at the GF. Questions about his PhD and inconsistencies in his resume still linger. But that proved to be no problem, because in January 2011, Deasy was promoted to superintendent of LAUSD, "without so much as a job interview." (6-0, one abstention).

The abstaining board member said:
"We didn't have a process -- internal or external -- for the most important job in public education in the United States right now," he tells the Weekly. "It has nothing to do with John Deasy. I'm a big fan. ... But I can't be sure that I got the best person for the job if I didn't get to even talk to anybody else."

Zimmer says that in 2008, when Superintendent Cortinas selected Deasy to be his deputy, he and the board "never, ever" got the impression that "Deasy would be superintendent-in-waiting."

However, that's exactly what went down yesterday. An inside source told the Weekly on Monday that Mayor Villaraigosa was "making all the moves behind the scenes to make [Deasy's promotion] happen."...
  Think things are pre-arranged behind the scenes by the plutocrats? You betcha.

Back to Maryland...

As is the modus operandi in so many cases, the Prince George's County Public School district was targeted and then infiltrated by a Broad team all those years ago. Deasy's replacement was William R. Hite Jr. (BSA 2006) who appointed Bonita Coleman-Potter (BSA 2008) as his deputy superintendent.

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PRINCE GEORGE'S SUPERINTENDENT RESIGNS; September 30, 2008; ABC 7 News, WJLA
For the fifth time in ten years, Prince George's County schools face a change in leadership at the top.
Superintendent John Deasy officially announced Tuesday that he will be leaving in February to take a job as the deputy director of education division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a position for which he says he was recruited…

Deasy replaced former schools CEO Andrew Hornsby, who resigned after he was indicted on corruption charges. Hornsby was later convicted of wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

Deasy has found himself embroiled in controversy in the past month, when his PhD from the University of Louisville came under scrutiny. He spent just one semester there and transferred in other credits. An investigation is underway.

"I won't comment on internal review of the University of Louisville's own procedures," said Deasy Tuesday. "My accomplishment record stands by itself, but I thank you for asking."

In July, the school board gave Deasy a raise to $273,000.

A Prince George's County School spokesman says Deasy will not receive a severance package. His last day of pay will coincide with his last day of work on Jan. 31…

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"The Prince George's County school board is assigning legal counsel to work as a liaison with University of Louisville officials investigating allegations that Superintendent John E. Deasy may have improperly received a doctorate from the school in 2004."…

The university investigation stems from reports in Kentucky news media that Deasy was awarded a doctorate of philosophy even though he only completed nine credit hours in one semester at the school. According to the university's policies, there is no set number of credits that doctor of philosophy candidates are required to obtain, however, it has been "customary to consider the equivalent of three years of full-time graduate study as minimal."…

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5 comments:

  1. It is utterly amazing that someone like John Deasy could lie, cheat and steal his way out of PGC, into the Gates' Foundation and then into the top job at LAUSD. Or is it? Maybe all this proves is that people who are connected can do no wrong and when they do, they still land on their feet.

    Deasy will not last in LAUSD either, as his past and/or "quick fix" mentality will eventually catch-up to him. But by then he'll be ready to be the US Secretary of Education. That's what he's being groomed for anyway.

    No doctorate required.

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  2. Within one week of the story on his illegitimate PHD breaking he quits his Prince Georges County superintendents job. One week after that the Gates Foundation hires him. What does this say about the lack of ethics of Gates and Broad? Ask anyone, you do not get a PHD with 9 units and 3 months. You do not write your dissertation before you join the program, if he really did write it. And the person who gave him the PHD had a previous financial situation with Deasy when Deasy was at Santa Monica-Malibu. Not only that the person who gave him the degree is now in a federal penintentary for 6 years for stealing $6 million from 2 universities. Now we have some real ethics.

    I personally, before they voted Deasy in as superintendent, called every board members office. Not one of them had even put his name into Google. All you have to enter is John Deasy, University of Louisville. I had one chief of staff on the phone and asked if they knew about Deasy's phony PHD. They said "I have heard the rumors." I then asked "Are you on a computer?" They said "Yes." I said "Enter John Deasy, University of Louisville." After about a minute they said "I see." This means they knew before they voted. At that Tuesdays Board Meeting I went down and spoke to the issue and obviously they did not care. This is the criminal world we now live in.

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  3. The Los Angeles Unified School District Board Members need to be fired for voting on John Deasy as Superintendent of Schools, all the while knowing that Deasy had a "fake" PhD.

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  4. The Los Angeles Unified School District Board Members should step down from their positions. They were aware of John Deasy's "fake" PhD, but they voted to hire him anyway. Why? Were there reasons financial?

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  5. To quote education writer Susan Ohanian, Deasy’s record “reads like the tombstone inscription for the death of childhood.”

    http://k12newsnetwork.com/blog/2012/04/02/lausd-superintendent-of-schools-john-deasy-must-go/

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