John Q. Porter, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2006

NOTE: John Q. Porter is omitted from the alumni pages of the Broad Superintendents Academy Web site.

As John Q. Porter was completing the 10-month long Broad Superintendents Academy training in November 2006, he was working as a deputy superintendent for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland (MCPS). In April 2007, he was hired to be the superintendent for Oklahoma City Public Schools. As he arrived in July to begin his work, he was quoted as saying, "You are really running a business," and "There are things that can be taken from business to run the school system."

Just seven months later, Porter was suspended amid accusations of financial mismanagement and poor job performance. He resigned from his OCPS position in March. This scandal resulted in MCPS discovering that Porter had engaged in questionable spending and financial practices (esp. conflict of interest) while he had been working there.

Porter now works for the for-profit EMO Mosaica Education, Inc., an Atlanta-based company recently described as running “…a global empire like a corporate giant from chic offices in Lenox Towers, overseeing classrooms from Atlanta to Abu Dhabi.” He is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Mosaica Turnaround Partners, “a new division that works with school districts across the country to improve underperforming schools.”

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NEW CONCERN OVER EX-OFFICIAL'S SPENDING, March 11, 2008, The Washington Post

In 2006, while he was a deputy superintendent of Montgomery County schools, John Q. Porter spent $11,722 on travel, dining, gifts for co-workers and other items he submitted as business expenses, according to a review of his corporate American Express card for the calendar year.

That's almost twice as much as the $6,932 that his boss, Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, submitted in the fiscal year that ended in June…

A successful entrepreneur, Porter was hired in 2000 as chief information officer and rose to deputy superintendent. In a June 2006 interview with District Administration, a magazine for school administrators, Porter confessed a weakness for fine dining -- "I try to find the top 10 in new cities I travel to" -- and fine things: "I like expensive clothes, expensive cars. I collect pens. I collect Rolex watches."…

A review of receipts from Porter and his staff employees in Montgomery reveals some large travel and dining expenses, although few have been challenged by education leaders here.

On June 5, 2006, Porter dined with his second-in-command, Executive Director Sherwin Collette, at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Bethesda for $597.08. The receipt, filed by Collette, does not indicate how many people were at the table or what was served. On May 8, the two men dined at Le Boeuf Angus, a steakhouse in Montreal. The tab: $300.99. Both were listed as business meals…

School system leaders maintain that Porter's service was unblemished when he left Maryland last year as a newly minted superintendent. Some of his activities have now come into question, however, by some school board members and community activists.

Most notable is Porter's involvement in Spectrum International, the document management company he founded in 1993. Porter remained owner of Spectrum after coming to work for Montgomery schools. He is still listed as its sole agent in state corporate records. Lately, community activists, parents and a weekly newspaper columnist have pressed for an investigation of Spectrum.

School system leaders say Porter assured them that he properly divested from active duty in the company, whose customers included school systems, when he went to work for Montgomery. But Porter was listed as the contact for the company as late as 2004 in a directory of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce. Porter said yesterday that his name remained in some directories long after he gave up an active role in the company.

"That was completely inappropriate," Edwards said when asked about the listing. "Had we known about that, we would have taken appropriate action."

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D.A., POLICE LOOKING INTO ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FORMER SUPT.: BOARD AGREES TO SETTLEMENT WORTH MORE THAN $325,000, January 23, 2008, KOCO.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An investigation into former Oklahoma City Superintendent John Q. Porter is not over, authorities confirmed.

The Oklahoma County District Attorney and police are looking into the 21 allegations against Porter. School board members called a special meeting on Wednesday and voted 6-1 to accept Porter's resignation.

The criminal investigation centers on allegations that Porter misused school district funds.

The board agreed to pay Porter more than $325,000. Officials said Porter will be paid more than $71,000 for his time through June 2008 as well as more than $255,000 from an Oklahoma City Public Schools foundation account…

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OKLAHOMA CITY PANEL CONSIDERS DISMISSAL OF SUPERINTENDENT: JOHN PORTER VOWS TO FIGHT, SEVEN MONTHS AFTER STARTING HIS JOB, January 18, 2008, Education Week

After just seven months under a new superintendent, the Oklahoma City schools have been tossed into turmoil as school board members weigh whether to fire John Q. Porter, whom they hired unanimously for the post last spring.

Mr. Porter, a former deputy superintendent in charge of technology for the Montgomery County, Md., schools, is facing allegations that include improper billing of the Oklahoma district for some expenses, as well as complaints that he treated some district employees brusquely…

But within the first month of his arrival, three high-level administrators who had come from Memphis, Tenn., to work with Mr. Porter had resigned, signaling to some people that trouble was already brewing…

One of the complaints, listed as the first allegation in Mr. McCampbell’s report, is that Mr. Porter failed to use an open-bidding process before recommending that the school board approve a $365,000 contract with Wireless Generation to provide electronic reading assessments across the district. The devices were already in use in 11 Oklahoma City schools that are part of the federal Reading First program. The board approved the contract Sept. 4…

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FORMER SCHOOL OFFICIAL TARGET OF INVESTIGATION; OKLAHOMA BOARD ALLEGES IMPROPRIETIES, January 17, 2008, The Washington Post

Montgomery County school officials, school board members and parent activists have been asking questions about John Q. Porter, a former deputy superintendent in Montgomery who is fighting for his job as superintendent in Oklahoma City.

Porter, 56, was suspended last week by the Oklahoma City school board. Board members there alleged a number of improprieties: that Porter arranged a $365,594 contract with a technology company without the customary competitive bid; that he had improperly sought reimbursement from the school system for personal, first-class airplane tickets to Washington; that he had been reimbursed for apparent alcohol purchases at pricey restaurants; and that he had asked employees to perform personal tasks at his home…

The questions begin with the company Porter came from when he joined the Montgomery school system as chief information officer in summer 2000.

Porter started a document management company, Spectrum International, in the county in 1993, according to state corporate records. Spectrum did work with several school systems, including Montgomery, in the 1990s, Porter said in a 2002 interview with The Gazette, a community newspaper.

It was through that relationship that Porter came to the county school system, Porter said, first as a consultant, then as chief information officer and, later, deputy superintendent.

The question now, with Porter under scrutiny, was whether he adequately divested himself from that company when he started his school system job…

Two other aspects of Porter's work in Montgomery also are being questioned as a result of the Oklahoma City investigation.

One is his relationship with a New York high-tech firm. Oklahoma City school board members alleged Porter last year arranged a contract with Wireless Generation that "was not, but should have been, open to competitive bidding." The contract provided diagnostic reading software to Oklahoma City schools.

Porter told the Oklahoman newspaper last week that the program was in the school system before he arrived. He and his attorney did not respond to interview requests from The Washington Post.

Porter had a relationship with Wireless Generation in Montgomery, where, in 2005, the school system and the company announced a partnership to develop software that allowed teachers to assess the reading skills of primary-grade students on hand-held computers. Montgomery schools paid some of the costs to develop the software and collected royalties when the product was sold elsewhere.

County Council member Marilyn Praisner (D-Eastern County), a former school board member, wrote two memos critical of the deal in 2005, focusing on the school system's failure to use a competitive bid…

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NEW OKC SUPERINTENDENT FOCUSING ON SCHOOLS AS BUSINESSES, July 23, 2007, The Journal Record (Oklahoma City)

Becoming an educator was not among John Q. Porter's goals after graduating from Catholic University of America in 1973 and receiving a law degree from Ohio State University.

"My goal out of law school was to go into business," said Porter.

He joined a Washington, D.C., law firm and took a job with Control Data in Minneapolis.

Porter later founded and was president and CEO of Spectrum International, an information services provider based in Maryland.

While serving as chairman of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce in Maryland, Porter became acquainted with the local school system superintendent. Through that relationship, Porter's company was offered a contract to help the district develop a strategic plan and Porter became chief information officer for Montgomery County Public Schools, a district in Rockville, Md…

Porter plans to use his business experience to operate the school system.

"You are really running a business," he said. "There are things that can be taken from business to run the school system."

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As is the modus operandi of the “Broad Effect” (see description in left-hand bar), another Broad-trained leader was installed in the Oklahoma City public school district with John Q. Porter. This was John Scanlan (Class of 2007) who only stayed in OCPS for that one year, then headed north to join Jean-Claude Brizard in Rochester.

Arnold “Woody” Carter, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2002

NOTE: Arnold "Woody" Carter is not included on the alumni pages of the Broad Superintendents Academy Web site.

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JUDGE DISMISSES EX-CAPO CHIEF'S $5.5 MILLION LAWSUIT, January 26, 2010, The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge has dismissed a $5.5 million breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by fired schools chief A. Woodrow Carter against the Capistrano Unified School District, his second such ruling since Carter's termination more than a year ago.

Superior Court Judge Steven Perk in Santa Ana said Friday that Carter had "no facts" to support the argument that he was wrongfully terminated under state labor laws, and no right to have been notified of performance-related issues before he was fired…

Carter, a retired Army colonel, was fired March 9, 2009, after a tumultuous, 18-month tenure at the helm of Orange County's second-largest school district.

Capistrano's school board released a scathing, 54-page termination report that painted Carter as an insubordinate, scheming administrator who tried to sway school board elections and double bill the district for travel expenses.

In the termination report, Carter also was accused of showing "disturbing disregard" for student confidentiality matters, violating school board policies and state laws, and deliberately working to undermine and embarrass the school board…

Carter sued the school district in May 2009, asking for 18 months' severance pay that he said he was legally entitled to receive under the terms of his contract.

After the judge tossed out the lawsuit in December, Carter re-filed his lawsuit, this time seeking $5.5 million for future lost pay and benefits, including vacation pay, sick leave, health insurance and retirement pay…

Most of the damages Carter was seeking in his wrongful-termination lawsuit stemmed from the future earnings he purports to have lost, although he also demanded to be compensated for lost pay and benefits under his contract.

-$4 million in future lost salary, fringe benefits and annuity payments
-$887,250 in lost salary under his contract, which was terminated prematurely
-$250,000 in lost fringe benefits
-$125,000 in annuity payments
-$107,000 in lost vacation and sick leave
-$4,700 in moving costs to relocate to Orange County
-$1,400 to seek comparable employment elsewhere

Carter also was seeking 10 percent interest on the $5.5 million, plus attorney fees.

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FIRED SCHOOLS CHIEF SUES CAPISTRANO UNIFIED FOR $5.5 MILLION, January 26, 2010, The Orange County Register

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Fired Capistrano Unified schools chief A. Woodrow Carter has filed a $5.5 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against the school district alleging his termination has resulted in "future lost salary" and benefits, his second such attempt to be compensated since he was let go nearly a year ago.

Carter says Capistrano's school board violated the terms of his employment contract when he was fired in March 2009, according to a filing last week in Orange County Superior Court…

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JUDGE DISMISSES EX-CAPO DISTRICT CHIEF'S $487,425 LAWSUIT, December 18, 2009, The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge today tossed out a $487,425 breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by fired Capistrano Unified Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter asking to be paid for 18 months remaining on his three-year employment contract.

Superior Court Judge Steven Perk in Santa Ana said the former school district chief was not entitled to money under the terms of his contract. Carter was terminated in March in a unanimous school board vote…

In spring 2008, shortly after the school board approved a permanent contract for him, Carter was accused of attempting to alter the contract by inserting a lucrative termination clause guaranteeing him 18 months' severance if fired.

The school board was forced to rescind the contract and approve a new one – without the clause. (Even so, Carter went on to claim in his lawsuit he was owed this 18 months of compensation.)

Later, after he was fired, the school district released a memo from Carter explaining how the contract was altered…

Carter, a retired Army colonel, was fired March 9 after a tumultuous, 18-month tenure at the helm of Orange County's second-largest school district.

Capistrano's school board released a scathing 54-page termination report that painted Carter as an insubordinate, scheming administrator who tried to sway school board elections and double-bill the district for travel expenses.

Carter also was accused of showing "disturbing disregard" for student confidentiality matters, violating school board policies and state laws and deliberately working to undermine and embarrass the school board.

Carter denied the allegations in a 23-page rebuttal.

The district, meanwhile, spent $66,758 in legal fees from December 2008 to February 2009 to fire Carter on March 9, according to invoices from the school board's law firm.

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NEW FAIRFIELD-SUISUN CHIEF SETTLES IN, June 30, 2005, TheReporter.Com

Three and a half months after the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District [FSUSD] board appointed Arnold Woodrow Carter as superintendent, the administrator and retired Army colonel arrived Monday, eager to get started…

Carter, 56, has served as deputy superintendent for the Oakland Unified School District for the past two years.

The Floyd County, Kentucky, native, who goes by A. Woodrow Carter, spent 27 years in the Army, serving as a battalion commander with the 101st Airborne Division during the 1991 Gulf War. Carter retired from the military in 1998 to become the state administrator of the Floyd County school district and returned to school to study education and public administration.

From July 2001 to December 2002 Carter served as superintendent of Bourbon County school district, and was nominated to attend the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems…

Carter said his interest in education began when he served as a school board member in Killeen, Texas, while still in the Army…

[In August 2007, Carter left Carter left FSUSD for the position with the Capistrano Unified School District]

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EXECUTIVES TRAINED BY TURNAROUND NONPROFIT, August 11, 2003, The Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND -- The school district's new chief of staff is among a crop of administrators produced by an increasingly influential education nonprofit that trains executives to turn around urban school systems.

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Arnold "Woody" Carter graduated last year from an academy created by the politically-connected Broad Foundation to train urban superintendents. Oakland schools chief Randolph Ward also is participating in the foundation's training program, called the Broad Center for Superintendents…

[The Broad] Center was called in by Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell to recommend an administrator to run the Oakland schools following a state takeover.

Brown and Broad are longtime allies, and O'Connell is a major recipient of Broad campaign contributions.

"When we learned about the problems in Oakland, we wanted to be helpful," Broad said…

According to Broad, Chaconas' admitted lack of financial expertise was partly to blame for Oakland's fiscal crisis.

"The problem that Dennis (Chaconas) and others like him have is they start as teachers, and then 30 years later they become superintendents with no training in finance, labor relations, etc., and they surround themselves with people like them," Broad said. "I think people need the kind of training we give them. There's no other place I know of where they can get it."

The Broad Center for Superintendents accepts only about 1 in 10 applicants, all top executives in business, the military, nonprofits, government or education.

"I think we're going to see more and more of what we call non- traditional superintendents," Broad said, citing New York City and Chicago as examples of major cities where non-educators were put in charge of schools.

Whether that trend will prove successful in such cities as New York and Los Angeles remains to be seen.

Broad played a key role in former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein's appointment as New York schools chancellor…

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Arnold W. Carter is listed as a graduate of the inaugural class of the Broad Superintendents Academy in the Broad Foundation’s November 2002 news release.

More about the Capistrano Unified situation here @ http://www.cusdrecall.com/page26/files/tag-woodrow-carter.html

Robert Bobb, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2005

JUDGE INDICATES PRIVATE SUPPLEMENT TO ROBERT BOBB'S SALARY IS OK, May 21, 2010, The Detroit News

Wayne Circuit Court Judge Susan Borman indicated today Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb is entitled to receive part of his pay from private foundations.

The issue -- challenged by the district's school board, a civil rights group and a coalition of teachers who oppose charter schools -- was whether Bobb was in conflict of interest for accepting $89,000 of his salary from a foundation that supports private and charter schools. Bobb receives $280,000 in salary and $145,000 in supplemental income from foundations for fixing the school district's finances…

Arguing on behalf of the Board of Education was attorney George Washington, who said the constitution trumps the statute allowing Bobb to collect pay from foundations.

"The precedent would be the same as if you had the British Petroleum Foundation paying one-third the salary of oil inspectors," Washington said. "One-third of that salary is being paid by people who want to deconstruct the schools. They believe charter schools and private schools can do better. It's OK to believe that, but it's not OK to pay Bobb's salary…

Under his one-year contract extension approved in March by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Bobb receives $56,000 from the Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation. The Broad Foundation paid Bobb $28,000 last year. The sources of the remaining $89,000 in this year's contract were not identified. But the W.K. Kellogg Foundation said this week it's chipping in $39,000 to retain Bobb in Detroit, compared to $56,000 it gave him last year. It is unclear who else is paying the remaining $50,000. The governor's office has yet to release the names of the other donors…

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ELI BROAD'S ROBERT BOBB PLEADS IN COURT TO HOLD ON TO BONUSES, May 22, 2010, Schools Matter

Wherever big privatization moves are happening in America's urban schools, you will find the hand, or the underhand, of the BBC (Billionaire Boys' Club). Case in point, Detroit, and the Broad Foundation, which runs its own superintendents' indoctrination academy that teaches the corporate junk yard dog style of ed leadership.

In Detroit, the puppet in charge is Robert Bobb (Broad Class of '09), who continues defending his case in court to hold on to the $145,000 in sweetener that he collects from Broad and the infamous Kellogg Foundation, whose eugenicist namesake, John Harvey Kellogg, was co-founder of the Race Betterment Foundation and an early proponent of clitoral mutilation using carbolic acid. One other oligarch providing Bobb's bag bonus money remains unnamed.

Surely Bobb was not to be influenced to follow the wishes of his patrons when he came up with Detroit's segregation/containment/cognitive sterilization school plan to increase class sizes in Detroit by shutting down 55 schools and to shoving out all the experienced teachers and cutting the pay and benefits of those remaining. Nah, no judge would make that connection…

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ROBERT BOBB V. DETROIT BOARD OF EDUCATION: LAWSUIT ADDS TO EMERGENCY MANAGER'S DAUNTING TASK, June 20, 2010, The Associated Press

Each passing day brings emergency financial manager Robert Bobb closer to the end of his contract leading Detroit's public schools from near-financial collapse toward fiscal responsibility and respectability.

Given the urgency of the job, spending Friday afternoons in a cramped Detroit courtroom is the last thing he expected or wants.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Wendy Baxter has ordered Bobb and members of the Detroit Board of Education to attend hearings in a civil suit filed against him by the school board.

Backed by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and attorney general and Republican Gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox, Bobb is defending himself in the legal battle to determine academic control in the troubled district…

The state Appeals Court last month tossed out Baxter's order stopping Bobb from proceeding with the academic restructuring plan and closing school buildings.

Bobb has testified that his academic changes all are part of his plan to wipe out a deficit of more than $300 million.

Granholm agreed, saying finances touch all aspect of the district.

But that's more than what Bobb was hired to do, school board member Tyrone Winfrey said.

"The financial manager was put here by the governor to handle the finances, to make sure the district is solvent and the budget is balanced," Winfrey said. "The board still has a role — it was elected by the people. We should be able to have our marbles. We should be able to play together. I hate to see that we're in court, that we have this discord."…

Bobb has sharply decreased administration staff and the ranks of school principals, sent layoff notices to 2,000 teachers, and worked to renegotiate vendor contracts in his quest to reduce the budget deficit. And 30 schools in Detroit are closing their doors for good as part of Bobb's plan…

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DETROIT SCHOOL'S EMERGENCY FINANCIAL MANAGER ROBERT BOBB FACES FIREWORKS AT BUDGET MEETING, July 1, 2010, WXYZ

Fireworks surrounded Detroit Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb as he presented his budget for the 2011 school year Wednesday night.

Parents angry with Bobb for the way he is handling the situation lashed out, with some saying the best thing he could do for the children is to leave.

The comments were in reaction to Bobb's budget, which calls for drastic cuts next school year. Detroit Schools are facing a $363 million dollar deficit. In order to deal with that, Bobb's budget calls for a 25% across the board cut to spending, increased class sizes and cuts to some special education programs…

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WITHOUT AID, DPS MAY CLOSE HALF OF ITS SCHOOLS: CLASS SIZES ALSO WOULD SWELL UNDER PROPOSAL FILED WITH THE STATE; February 22, 2011; The Detroit News (MI) 

Detroit Public Schools would close nearly half of its schools in the next two years, and increase high school class sizes to 62 by the following year, under a deficit-reduction plan filed with the state.

The plan, part of a monthly update Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb gives the Department of Education, was filed late Monday to provide insight into Bobb's progress in his attempt to slash a $327 million deficit in the district to zero over the next several years. Under it, the district would slim down from 142 schools now to 72 during 2012-13…

DPS spokesman Steve Wasko said the district has laid out the path it must take to eliminate the deficit, and Bobb remains focused on working with lawmakers to pass one of three plans to restructure DPS' finances.

…A third plan would look at new systems and agencies used in New Orleans, which has converted more than half of its public schools into charter schools in the past several years…

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ROBERT BOBB'S NEW PLAN FOR DPS: TURN 41 STRUGGLING SCHOOLS INTO CHARTERS; March 12, 2011; Detroit Free Press

Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb announced a radical restructuring plan for the struggling school system Saturday that he says would save the district millions of dollars by converting 41 poorly performing schools into DPS-authorized charter schools.

Based on a similar plan in post-Katrina New Orleans, the Renaissance Plan 2012 would lease the buildings and equipment to charter operators, who would run the buildings as public school academies in the fall…

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FOR DETROIT SCHOOLS, MIXED PICTURE ON REFORMS; March 13, 2011, NY Times 

In 2009, Detroit public schools had the lowest scores ever recorded in the 21-year history of the national math proficiency test.

The district had a budget deficit of $200 million.

About 8,000 students were leaving Detroit schools each year.

Political leaders had to do something, so they rounded up the usual whipping boys:

Wasteful bureaucrats. In 2009, the governor appointed an emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb, a former president of the Washington school board, to run the Detroit district. Mr. Bobb is known nationally for his work in school finance, and recruiting him took a big salary, $425,000 a year. He has spent millions more on financial consultants to clean up the fiscal mess left by previous superintendents.

Greedy unions. Though Detroit teachers make considerably less than nearby suburban teachers (a $73,700 maximum versus $97,700 in Troy), Mr. Bobb pressed for concessions. He got teachers to defer $5,000 a year in pay and contribute more for their health insurance. Last week, the Republican-controlled Legislature approved a bill to give emergency managers power to void public workers’ contracts. If signed by the governor, Mr. Bobb could terminate the Detroit teachers’ union contract.

Traditional public schools full of incompetent veteran teachers. Michigan was one of the first states to embrace charter schools, 15 years ago. Currently there are as many Detroit children in charters — 71,000 — as in district schools. Now there is talk of converting the entire Detroit district (which is 95 percent African-American) to charters. Supporters say this could generate significant savings, since charters are typically nonunion and can hire young teachers, pay them less and give them no pensions.

Since Mr. Bobb arrived, the $200 million deficit has risen to $327 million…

Nor have charters been the answer. Charter school students score about the same on state tests as Detroit district students, even though charters have fewer special education students (8 percent versus 17 percent in the district) and fewer poor children (65 percent get subsidized lunches versus 82 percent at district schools)…

Last spring, Mr. Bobb had planned to close 50 schools with dwindling enrollment. But his list was reduced to 30 after several public meetings at which parents and staff members pleaded their school’s case before the all-powerful Mr. Bobb…

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Jean-Claude Brizard, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2007

TEACHERS VOTE "NO CONFIDENCE" IN SUPERINTENDENT JEAN-CLAUDE BRIZARD; February 10, 2010; WHEC-TV (Rochester, NY) 

An overwhelming number of Rochester teachers take a stand against their superintendent.

In a lopsided vote, some educators are telling Jean-Claude Brizard change your ways or change your job.

Nearly 82-percent of eligible teachers took part in today's vote.  The ballot was simple: “Yes, I have confidence in Superintendent Brizard" or "No, I don’t.”

It took hours to sort through boxes of ballots.  Here are the results:  just 140 teachers said they do have confidence in Brizard, compared to the more than 2713 who said they don't.  A vote like this has never happened in the history of the Rochester City School District…

The vote is a symbolic one, not a legal one.  It has no bearing on Brizard's contract or his employment.  But some parents are already saying Brizard should look for a new job.

“He's making it clear that he does not value parents and community members as partners in terms of developing a solution to this crisis,” said RCSD parent Howard Eagle…

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PROPOSED ROCHESTER CHARTER SCHOOL HAS TIES TO JEAN-CLAUDE BRIZARD; November 12, 2010; Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY) 

Organizers of a new all-girls charter school aiming to open in 2012 have been busy amassing supporters in the city of Rochester.

But they already have one high-profile local education leader behind their effort — City School District Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard, who also happens to be married to one of the new school's would-be founders.

Brizard makes no secret of his support for charter schools, saying that he wants to help more of the privately run programs open in the city school district. Now, K. Brooke Stafford-Brizard could lead one such school, drawing students and state money away from city schools and raising questions about a potential conflict of interest. "We have the vision and the passion and we're working on the application," said Laura Rebell Gross, who is partnering with Stafford-Brizard.

Stafford-Brizard and Gross have been working with the Young Women's Leadership Network, known nationally for opening the first single-sex charter school in the country. Gross also serves on the network's Board of Directors…

Both Jean-Claude Brizard and Gross said they were trying to keep the proposal quiet until the women submitted the application. But word of the proposed school started circulating in the community after they hosted an informational meeting with a number of high-profile community leaders to try to win support for their effort several weeks ago…

The meeting occurred at the Brizards' house after the group went to see Waiting for Superman, a new documentary about the public school system that has been criticized for glorifying charter schools…

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EEOC FINDS BIAS IN OUSTER OF ROCHESTER SCHOOLS OFFICIAL, July 7, 2010, Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY)

A federal commission has determined that the Rochester School District discriminated against its former highest-ranking instructional official when it forced her out of her job earlier this year.

Acting on a complaint filed in January by the official, Marilynn Patterson-Grant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the district discharged her “because of her sex, her race and her age,” according to a letter issued by the commission last week.

The findings, which are nonbinding, are the basis for a federal discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday by Patterson-Grant against the district and its superintendent, Jean-Claude Brizard.

Patterson-Grant, a 35-year veteran of the city school system, is of African-American descent and was 57 years old when she was ousted from her position as deputy superintendent by Brizard, who is a black Haitian immigrant. He has said he discharged her because of poor performance...

The EEOC complaint charged that Brizard told Patterson-Grant and other veteran district educators, “You are all old” and “in teaching, age matters,” and implied that Brizard saw veterans as a threat to his authority under a mayoral-controled system.

“You remember that one of the charges made against me was keeping too many of the old guard,” the complaint alleged Brizard said. “(The) people most affected (by mayoral control) will be central office people. The effort will be to get rid of a lot of R.I.P.’s. You know what R.I.P.’s are? Retired in place.”

Brizard has said he does not recall making such statements.

The lawsuit is seeking punitive damages, although Patterson-Grant’s attorney, Christina Agola, said there was no reason her client could not continue working.

“When you have such a high-ranking administrator making statements that are so plainly, on-their-face discriminatory, it has to be brought to task,” Agola said.

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THE CORPORATE AGENDA FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS: IS BRIZARD ON BOARD? July 24, 2009, DragonFlyEye.Net (Rochester, N.Y.)

My daughter came home from Wilson High School one afternoon and told me the new Superintendant, Jean Claude Brizard, had recommended that the students read The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman’s anecdotal tribute to the global expansion of the corporate world. The book is notorious for completely ignoring the structural and geopolitical causes of increasing global poverty. That was the first red flag. The next red flag was at a Parent Council meeting where the superintendent read a passage of a book. The book, written by a former military officer, offered us the advice that schools should be run more like businesses. I thought to myself, “Does he mean AIG, GM or the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?”

On the American Association of School Administrators website Brizard recommends a third book, a business management guide entitled Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. The book was recommended to him by NYC Superintendent Joel Klein who currently is enjoying a 22% approval rating among parents. Brizard comments that the current teacher contract negotiation model is out of line with sound business management.

With Brizard eliminating over 200 teaching positions in the Rochester City Schools it is fair to start asking what his agenda is. We know that Brizard is a Broad Institute Fellow. He has talked publicly about consulting with other Broad (rhymes with “road”) Fellows. What is this Broad Institute and who is Eli Broad?

Billionaire Eli Broad is one of the wealthiest men on the planet. With Bill Gates Broad he funded and launched the Strong American Schools initiative, seeking to move Presidential candidates in the ’08 election to embrace national education standards (enforced with high stakes testing), merit pay and longer school days and years. Sure enough, these issues have been embraced by the Obama administration. The billionaires have put the public schools in their sights and they are pulling the trigger.

In The Corporate Surge Against Public Schools Steven Miller and Jack Gerson outline the corporate agenda for schools and identify the players.

According to Miller and Gerson, “The Broad Institute trains school superintendents, school boards and even union leaders in what they consider ‘appropriate corporate approaches.’ A central problem for corporate privatizers is the issue of governance, i.e. who has legal authority over the schools. Broad favors state take-overs (New Orleans, Washington DC, Oakland, Ca, St. Louis) or mayoral takeovers (Chicago, Pittsburg, attempted last year by Villaregosa in LA) to eliminate messy interference from the public.”

Perhaps it is not a coincidence that Mayor Duffy only started to make noises about mayoral control after Brizard came to town…

So far Brizard has followed the Broad management playbook, breaking up Franklin, decentralizing budgets to individual schools, laying off teachers and advocating for a longer school year and mayoral control. How far will Brizard follow Broad’s corporate lead?

Getting to know the Schwarzenegger-appointed, Broad-connected, pro-charter-dominated State Board of Education

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been working overtime to expand charter schools in California. Since 2004 on their behalf, he has secured federal funding, removed school district approval obstacles, supported state bond funding, signed legislation to provide charters with tax exempt and low cost facility financing for school facilities, and removed roadblocks so charters can access millions in construction project funds (12/07/2009 press release). In addition, Schwarzenegger has insured that the California State Board of Education (SBE) is continually loaded with pro-charter members.

I suggest you take a moment to contrast Schwarzenegger’s intense, and near single-minded focus on fostering the expansion of charter schools (which serve less than 4.6% of the children or 285,617 kids) with his extreme neglect of the schools attended by the remaining 95.4% (5,966,394 kids) of California’s children. EdData figures here.

The SBE sets K-12 education policy in the areas of standards, curriculum, instructional materials, assessment, and accountability. It also authorizes charter schools and has been involved with developing charter school legislation. There are 11 members on the SBE, ten of whom are appointed by the Governor, one of which is a student. The eleventh member is the State Superintendent of Public Instruction who serves as the SBE's executive officer and secretary. SBE members are unpaid. Appointments are subject to confirmation by the state Senate.

Ending their State Board of Education terms just recently are Rae Belisle and Jorge Lopez.

RAE BELISLE, the recently-stepped-down CEO of EdVoice, had been appointed by Schwarzenegger in February 2009. She was a full SBE participant for one year until March 2010 when the Senate refused to give her a confirmation hearing. They had received staunch opposition to Belisle. For instance, this was the first time in its 39-year history that the Association of California School Administrators had taken an active stance against a state board appointee, according to Corey Johnson, K-12 Education Reporter of California Watch (a reporting initiative of the Center for Investigative Reporting). Belisle is a strong charter school advocate, who had previously given controversial legal advice to the SBE.

JORGE LOPEZ, the executive director of the Oakland Charter Academy, had been appointed in March 2009 and fully participated on the SBE until February 2010 when he abruptly withdrew his name. His withdrawal coincided with the point in the senate confirmation process when his financial documents and business arrangements were being reviewed and concerns were arising about complicated business and real estate arrangements with his partner Ben Chavis (of American Indian Public Charter School fame).

Three new Swarzenegger appointments are awaiting confirmation.

ALAN ARKATOV who, among other activities, sits on the board for Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, a charter management organization which has opened 16 charter schools in the Los Angeles area. Source here. Alliance received a total of $2,525,000 from the Broad Foundation between 2006 and 2008. Alliance has received $4,635,100 from the NewSchools Venture Fund since 2003.

BEN AUSTIN is an assistant city attorney for Los Angeles and the executive director of the Los Angeles Parents Union (formerly the Small Schools Alliance, aka the Parent Revolution). He used to work for Green Dot Public Schools and also served as a Deputy Mayor under Richard Riordan. Austin was involved with the “Parent Trigger,” an initiative where if enough parents can be convinced, pressured, and tricked to sign a petition, a school will be closed down and replaced with a charter. Eli Broad contributed nearly 50% of the funding for the launch of the LAPU and gave a total of $4,469,040 to Green Dot from 2005-2008. Read my 2/21/2010 entry The "Parent Trigger" and its connections to the phony LA Parents Union, Green Dot, Steve Barr, and Eli Broad

(Update: Caroline Grannan writes, "At one school where Ben Austin's Parent Revolution has succeeded in getting enough signatures to take action against the school, the community member who's the lead spokesperson for the successful effort is an alumni parent, not a current parent at the school." Also, follow Robert Skeels' valuable research about Ben Austin by starting here.)

JEANNIE OROPEZA, program budget manager for the California Department of Finance, was also nominated, but on April 28 the Senate Rules Committee recommended rejecting her nomination because her job at the Department of Finance presented a conflict of interest.

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The confirmed members sitting on the SBE with strong ties to charter schools and/or Eli Broad are:

TED MITCHELL (SBE President) is the President and CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund, an organization which supplies charter management organizations with extra funding. He has been a member of the CSE since 2007 and was reappointed in February 2010. Mitchell has multiple strong connections to billionaire Eli Broad.

Mitchell's NSVF salary was $480,000 in 2007 (Form 990). NSVF received a total of $9,115,000 from the Broad Foundation (EIN 954686318) from 2002 to 2008.

Also, 2002 news reports revealed that Eli Broad had offered to donate $10 million to Occidental College in an attempt to persuade Mitchell (then O.C. President) to run against a L.A. school board trustee. Furthermore, Mitchell revealed to his trustees that that former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan had also offered to donate money to cover a top-level executive position at the college if Mitchell ran for the seat. Mitchell did not run. Read here to learn about the close relationship between Broad and Riordan as longtime friends and allies in ed deform.

YVONNE CHAN is the principal of a conversion charter school in LA, the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center. Chan was appointed in 2005 and reappointed in 2008. Her term ends in 2012. Vaughn International Studies Academy, the high school at Chan’s “learning center,” is in the International Studies Schools Network (ISSN or Global Studies Schools), a charter management organization started by the Asia Society in 2003. Both Chan and Eli Broad have been speakers for the Asia Society. Broad donated $12,500 to the Asia Society in 2007 and $2,500 in 2008.

Schwarzenegger has been generous to Chan. From a May 2008 press release:

Today at one of the nation’s leading charter schools, the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, Governor Schwarzenegger announced the allocation of $463 million in Proposition 1D funds for new construction and modernization projects for 29 charter schools statewide. The Vaughn Next Century Learning Center will receive $6 million of the $463 million to build seven new classrooms for 189 students at the center’s high school, Vaughn International Studies Academy…

…“This funding is exactly what our kids need to continuing excelling at Vaughn,” said Vaughn Next Century Learning Center Principal Dr. Yvonne Chan. “I will now be able to move forward with the new classrooms my students need and make improvements to our campus so we can continue to make a difference in this community.”

JOHNATHAN XAVIER WILLIAMS is a charter management organization founder and co-director (The Accelerated School network in South Central Los Angeles). He was appointed in 2004, and reappointed in March 2007. His term ends in January 2011. Williams is a member of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS), the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) and the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). (Update: See article from 1/2007 "Charter School [The Accelerated School] is in default on $9.9 million LAUSD Loan", h/t Caroline Grannan)

DAVID P. LOPEZ, President of The National Hispanic University in East San Jose, was appointed to the SBE in July 2006, and reappointed in March 2010. He is awaiting reconfirmation. The National Hispanic University is a small, private non-profit institution which also runs the Latino College Preparatory Academy, a charter high school, adjacent to its campus.

RUTH BLOOM (SBE Vice President) was appointed in 2004 and reappointed in February 2007. Her term ends in January 2011. Bloom is a partner in a jewelry company (AR Designs), and is heavily involved with collecting art, art education, and art museums, both in Southern California and Sun Valley, Idaho.

From the 1990s until February 2009, Bloom served with Eli Broad on the board of trustees for the LA The Museum of Contemporary Art. Broad is LACMA’s Founding Chairman and Life Trustee.

And here's something interesting. In September 2007, Ruth Bloom (listed as Arts Educator from Marina Del Rey), a stated Democrat, gave $20,000 to Schwarzenegger, according to ElectionTrack.

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Only two SBE members appear to not have allegiances to the promotion of charter schools or direct connections to Eli Broad or the Broad Foundation.

JIM ASCHWANDEN was appointed in October 2006, and reappointed in February 2008. Aschwanden is executive director of the California Agricultural Teachers’ Association, and serves on advisory councils for Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo and Chico State University. In addition, he has served as Vice-Chair of the Vocational Alliance, a consortium of educational organizations supporting Career and Technical Education, for the past several years.

GREGORY W. JONES was appointed in March 2008. His term ends January 2012. Jones is a State Farm insurance executive. In addition, he is chair of the California Business Roundtable and chair of California Business for Education Excellence.


Read comments to the same posting here.

Broad defends pal facing 20 felony charges

If you read “The Broad Effect”: Part Two, you’ll already know about the connections between some of these characters.

Broad’s friend faced 20 felony charges of securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements in securities filings.

UPDATE ON APRIL 22, 2010: - Bruce Karatz found guilty on stock option backdating charges

“Eli Broad is latest character witness for ex-KB Home chief Bruce Karatz.” LA Times, 03 Apr 2010

The billionaire philanthropist, who co-founded the home-building firm, follows former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan in vouching for Karatz at his stock-options backdating trial.

The celebrity endorsements of former KB Home Chief Executive Bruce Karatz resumed Friday morning when billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad took the witness stand to defend the character of the man federal prosecutors say made millions of dollars in illegal profits by secretly backdating stock options.

Broad, who co-founded the company that became KB Home in 1957 and later operated SunAmerica insurance company, told jurors that he had known Karatz for 38 years and considered him to be a man of impeccable integrity.

"I know of no instance in those 38 years where he's done anything unlawful or improper," Broad said under questioning from defense attorney John Keker…

During his brief testimony, Broad said he and Karatz were longtime friends who met regularly for dinner…

Before Broad took the witness stand, U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II said he was concerned to learn that a juror had a brief conversation with former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan after he testified Thursday as a character witness for Karatz…

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Special features on Karatz's KB Home:

• KB Home built houses on former military bombing ranges without bothering to clear unexploded ordinances.
• KB Home built houses with poisonous drywall from China.