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…

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COUNSEL TO MONITOR INVESTIGATION INTO DEASY'S DEGREE: QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT WHETHER PRINCE GEORGE'S SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT EARNED DOCTORATE; September 11, 2008; Gazette.Net (Maryland) 

"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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Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2006

EDUCATION OFFICIAL STIRS REAL TEARS WITH FICTIONAL TALE; September 6, 2010; The Virginian-Pilot

At a gathering of teachers in an Oregon school district last week, a high-level official told a story that might sound familiar.

It's about Teddy Stoddard, the boy who got off to a bad start in Miss Thompson's fifth-grade class with his dirty clothes and listless academic performance.

At Christmas, he brought his teacher a rhinestone bracelet with missing stones and a half-used bottle of cheap perfume wrapped in a grocery bag. They had belonged to his dead mother.

Horrified that she misjudged the boy, Miss Thompson stayed with Teddy after school every day until he caught up. Over the years, he kept his teacher informed of his progress with three letters. In the final one, Teddy is a doctor and asks Miss Thompson to take his mother's place at his upcoming wedding.

Teachers in Eugene, Ore., sniffled and gave a standing ovation to Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, the assistant to the U.S. secretary of education, when she finished the story.

But former Virginia Beach resident Elizabeth Ungar wrote "Three Letters from Teddy" nearly 40 years ago about a boy she called Teddy Stallard.

Reached last week at her new home in Rockingham, N.C., she was dismayed to hear it's still being passed off as truth. "I think it's absolutely wrong to do that."…