Reflecting on Green Dot’s Disastrous Locke Takeover

“Green Dot came and made it into more of a jail.” — Chris

My history of opposing the Green Dot Charter School Corporation back when I was an activist is well known. On Schools Matter alone there’s over a dozen pieces I wrote on them.

These days, as an educational rights attorney, I’ve successfully litigated against the corporate charter chain on a few occasions. Today I had a legal research assignment that involved looking up information on them and I came across this academic paper:

Taken Over: The Story of the Locke High School Takeover Through a Qualitative Study of Student Voice

by Loyola Marymount University’s Joshua Michael Beardall.

I only had a few minutes to skim through the paper, but it features some excellent feedback on how the students felt about the hostile take-over of a once public school by the corporate charter chain. Written through a Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) lens, the paper takes a student-centric view of what Green Dot did. It also exposes the intrinsic racism of Green Dot and its carceral, white supremacist campuses. Passage like this confirm what activists have said for years:

“The students also believed that the community and school did not interact and that the school was in opposition to the community surrounding it…”

I recommend people check the paper out.

Reflecting back on the hostile Locke takeover, a couple of things come to mind. First, the takeover was, and still is, a disaster. The Green Dot Corporation had to restructure Locke a number of times as their failed management and policies played out. Second, Green Dot, which boasted it would dramatically improve student scores on racist and classist standardized tests, actually set records for having so many schools at the very bottom — including four Locke HS branches in the bottom 25 SAT scores in 2015.

Ironically, the well-healed, white executives running Green Dot at the time of the take-over boasted that they would “turn the school around” and make it a “great school” in short order. Boastful Marco Petruzzi claimed they’d do it in three years. Braggart Steve Barr said they’d do it in one. Neither prediction by the two non-educators came true. Green Dot has run Locke for more than a decade now. Where’s all the compliant press parroting bromides of how Green Dot “cracked the code”?

Petruzzi was a hedge fund manager prior to running the corporate charter school behemoth Green Dot. His lack of background in pedagogy showed in everything he did. Today he’s a furniture salesman. Truth is, Petruzzi’s always been a furniture salesman. This passage by one of his vendors sums up the real essense of the “education reformer,” Marco Petruzzi:

“…Marco Petruzzi, is an ex-Bain partner who joined Dovetail in 2018 to increase sales and profitability and overhaul their physical and technology infrastructure. Marco appreciates working with analysts that can make short work of thorny Excel problems, as well as going beyond spreadsheets to assist in the technical complexities of an ERP database migration.”

KPCC did a piece on how the Green Dot Charter Corporation did not meet its promises with Locke. This passage is instructive:

“Yet for all these improvements, Green Dot has also found out just how difficult it is to act on its initial promises. Locke High School's graduation rate — at 55.9 percent — is one of the lowest of any comprehensive high school in L.A. Unified, charter or otherwise.”

Caught this during further search: ‘The Myth of Charter Schools’ Marco Petruzzi, reply by Diane Ravitch.

WikiLeaks reveals: Hillary Clinton plotted corporate charter school colonialism for Haiti

“Worse, Clinton’s “boarding school” socialization and structure idea sounds more like assimilation than education. Shocking and scarily reminiscent of other U.S. ventures in segregating classes of “other” people. Native Americans were also thought to be in need of “education” to work differently in groups and to be in need of structure.”— Daun Kauffman

WikiLeaks released the Hillary Clinton Email Archive mid-March 2016. Many users were searching for terms like hedge fund manager, Goldman Sachs, or, as the example in the WikiLeaks boolean tutorial: "syria libya will show results…" I decided to search for familiar phases of the neoliberal corporate education reform camp. I struck pay-dirt on my first try with "charter schools." Note my excitement on the day of discovery

Imperialist #HillaryClinton schemed to inflict a colonial charter school regime on the people of Haiti https://t.co/G6pT7fAG4C #WhichHillary

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) March 31, 2016

In one thread Clinton and her cabal talk about a colonial project to remake earthquake stricken Haiti's education system using disaster capitalism, much in the way author Naomi Klein describes what happened in New Orleans:

In sharp contrast to the glacial pace with which the levees were repaired and the electricity grid brought back online, the auctioning-off of New Orleans' school system took place with military speed and precision. Within 19 months, with most of the city's poor residents still in exile, New Orleans' public school system had been almost completely replaced by privately run charter schools.

Before getting to the content of the email, it's important to contextualize the Clinton's relationship with the island nation. When not facilitating the orchestration of coups in Latin America, bombing the Near East and Africa into the stone age, or providing full-throated support for apartheid states, Clinton is meddling in Haiti. Lots of good pieces on the Clintons and Haiti in publications like Counterpunch and Black Agenda Report, but this excerpt from an essay by Shadowproof's Roqayah Chamseddine is an excellent summary:

In 2010, Hillary Clinton visited Haiti as part of a public relations stunt that allowed her to see firsthand the devastation wrought by the earthquake that killed at least 100,000. This performance was primarily meant to demonstrate solidarity and show the international community that the United States would be there to help in reconstruction efforts. Yet, her visit came less than a year after the U.S. State Department, then led by Clinton, had pressured the government of Haiti into denying laborers a wage increase of $0.62.

Dan Caughlin and Kim Ives of Haïti Liberté reported the U.S. Embassy in Haiti aggressively pressured “factory owners [in Haiti] contracted by Levi’s, Hanes, and Fruit of the Loom to block a paltry minimum wage increase for Haitian assembly zone workers, the lowest paid in the hemisphere.” In statements reminiscent of the Clinton campaign’s recent charges against Sanders, Deputy Chief of Mission David E. Lindwall called the proposed $5 minimum wage for Haitian assembly zone workers one which “did not take economic reality into account” but that was meant to appeal to the “unemployed and underpaid masses.”

Haiti has long been a kind of pet project for the Clintons, and they’ve often spoken of “falling in love with Haiti” during their honeymoon. But the love isn’t mutual by any means, and Haitians across the U.S. have made this increasingly clear by way of protests spotlighting the catastrophe the Clintons have left behind. Dahoud Andre, a radio host who has organized protests in New York, is quoted by the New York Times as saying that “a vote for Hillary Clinton means further corruption, further death and destruction for our people.”

Since the email I'll be discussing is accessible here, and is somewhat long, I will not reproduce it in its entirety. Rather, I'll draw excerpts from sections and discuss them. Secretary Clinton forwarded the email in question to one of her assistants, Lauren Jiloty. It was written by neoliberal corporate education reform cheerleader David Domenici in response to Clinton's wanting suggestions on how to capitalize on the Haitian disaster. Charter school profiteer Domenici has no background in pedagogy, has never worked at a public school, "worked in finance", and is a Senior Fellow for the right-wing think-tank Center for American Progress. His biography reads like those of most of his ilk: "He felt that an understanding of the law coupled with his understanding of the financial world would help frame his sense of how best to generate positive social change." It is with this profound ignorance of education and pedagogy that Domenici crafted the Clinton Colonial Education Corps plan. That former Secretary Clinton relied on a venture capitalist for education policy advice speaks volumes, and foreshadows some very frightening prospects should she capture the Presidency.

---

From: Hillary Clinton
To: Lauren Jiloty
Date: 2010-01-18 19:23
Subject: HOPE YOU ARE WELL, WHERE EVER YOU GET THIS - - BELOW ARE IDEAS RE: EDUCATION CORPS FOR HAITI THAT YOU ASKED FOR

UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05772910 Date: 08/31/2015
RELEASE IN PART B6

From: H hrod17@clintonemail.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:23 AM
To: 'JilotyLC@state.gov'
Subject: Fw: Hope you are well, where ever you get this-- below are ideas re: education corps for Haiti that you asked for

From: David Domenici
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 7:55 PM
To: 'Mills, Cheryl D'; 'Cheryl Mills'
Subject: Hope you are well, where ever you get this-- below are ideas re: education corps for Haiti that you asked for

UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05772910 Date: 08/31/2015
Hey Cheryl,

It's important to establish who was sending what to who.

Here are some quick thoughts on re-building school infrastructure in Port-au-Prince. Feel free to share with whomever you'd like.

I have little idea of the larger context here — how many schools/kids are we looking at, but one thing we've learned in the US in the last 5 years is that good teachers are the #1 lever of change in education. If we got 1,000 really great teachers into Port-au-Prince (w/ even a modicum of support and materials), they'd make a big difference and touch the lives of 30,000-60,000 kids.

Here Domenici perpetuates the most common falsehood from the reformers' talking point list, that good/great teachers are the number one factor affecting students. He's dead wrong, and this misrepresentation of fact needs correction.

It's not that teaching isn't important—quite the contrary, but teaching is a minority factor in group of factors impacting students. Even more so in the abject conditions of post-earthquake Haiti, which was already an impoverished nation due to U.S. economic imperialism. It's doubtful that Domenici or Clinton have actually read about this outside their small insular world of edreform, where policy papers are passed off as research. However, depending on which study we rely on, teachers at most comprise 10 to 20 percent of factors for achievement outcomes. The distinguished Dr. Paul L. Thomas has written on this, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has funded major studies, edreform darling Eric A. Hanushek has documented it, as have many others. Some selected sources:

Di Carlo: But in the big picture, roughly 60 percent of achievement outcomes is explained by student and family background characteristics (most are unobserved, but likely pertain to income/poverty). Observable and unobservable schooling factors explain roughly 20 percent, most of this (10-15 percent) being teacher effects. The rest of the variation (about 20 percent) is unexplained (error). In other words, though precise estimates vary, the preponderance of evidence shows that achievement differences between students are overwhelmingly attributable to factors outside of schools and classrooms (see Hanushek et al. 1998; Rockoff 2003; Goldhaber et al. 1999; Rowan et al. 2002; Nye et al. 2004).

Rothstein: The 2/3 — 1/3 breakdown between family background and school influences  was the core finding of the 1966 federal study, the “Coleman Report.”  But this interpretation of the report overstates its finding about the  influence of schools, because Coleman and his colleagues considered the  influence of a child’s schoolmates (“peer effects”) to be a school  factor, not an out-of-school factor. (Coleman, James S., and Ernest Q.  Campbell, Carol J. Hobson, James McPartland, Alexander M. Mood, Frederic  D. Weinfeld, and Rober L. York, Equality of Educational Opportunity,  Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,  Government Printing Office, 1966.) Yet the only way to affect the  composition of peers in the neighborhood schools he studied would be to  change the composition of neighborhoods, with housing integration  policies, for example. Of the in-school influences, the Coleman Report  identified teacher quality (defined by teacher characteristics such as  their educational attainment and experience) to be most important.

In the context of post-earthquake Haiti, understanding that we cannot rely on teachers alone to make up for the crushing poverty, multiple traumas, and lack of infrastructure, is critical. While we certainly want all children in Haiti to have access to education, the idea that we can ignore the rest of the issues they're facing reeks of colonialism and callousness.

I think this is totally doable, in short-order, in a magnificent way that could set the foundation for a well-educated generation of Haitians who could lead the country out of poverty, to self-sustainability, self-governance and openness.

Never mind that Haitian poverty is a result of U.S. transnational corporations depressing wages (cf Secretary Clinton's intervention in Haiti's attempt to raise minimum wage discussed supra). Pay no attention to the blatantly racist and colonialist notion that but for U.S. intervention, there would never be a "well-educated generation of Haitians". Ignore the fact that every attempt by Haitians to create self-sustainability and self-governance has been thwarted by U.S. interventions. Corporate education reform will correct all these things in "short-order" under the new Clinton Education Corps plan.

There were four goals listed for the Clinton Colonial Education Corps plan. Domenici enumerates them as:

• Goal 1: Human Capital
• Goal 2: Build a robust curriculum and teacher instruction program
• Goal 3: Build high quality, durable schools that entice families, children into education
• Goal 4: Create family, community impetus for all school age children to be in school

Goal 1: Human Capital:

Create Haiti Teacher Corps. Model loosely off of Peace Corps/Teach for America, CityYear Teacher corps (US): Recruit, train, and place 500-1000 teachers from US this spring and summer. We can do this.

* * *

o Language/culture training: TDB — find the best folks out there to train in French/Creole, and Haitian culture, current socio-political situation — 50% of the training program.

o Academic training: We'll work w/ TFA and others and develop 8 week intensive teacher training program for other 50% of program.

Being a business-finance type, Domenici is quite at home writing about how to make other people do work. This is the longest section of his piece, so only small portion will be addressed here. The most frightening thing is that he pushes the Teach for America (TFA) model, which at best is a paternalistic, colonial model. Clinton's advisor then outlines his program for "training" that is eight weeks long. At first blush, this is a vast improvement over TFA's woefully deficient standard five week model. That is until we take into account that they want these recruits "to train in French/Creole, and Haitian culture" simultaneously. While the self-congratulatory reformsters all consider themselves "elite", it's somewhat absurd that eight weeks is all that's allotted for all this content. To contextualize, at its shortest point, clown college was eight weeks. In essence, Clinton's cabal feel that the best Haitian students deserve is people with no more training than clowns.

Haiti-based: Less clear what the teacher-leader pipeline is like...but we can figure out and get whoever we can.

Clinton's advisor Domenici consistently speaks of the Haitian people as somewhat of an afterthought. They are someone you do "for" or "to", but never "with". That this wealthy, white male consistently leaves the agency of Haitians out of the equation is completely in line with the white supremacist lens that both he and Hillary Clinton see the world through.

Much of the rest of this section deals with how cheaply they'd like to see all the labor paid. Interestingly, this is in line with how Clinton's State Department kept Haitian wages low in order to sate corporate capital. Domenici asserts that there's plenty of young charter school types that are willing to make the sacrifices that neither he, nor any of his peers would ever make. The finance capitalist then turns his attentions to the next goal.

I am not a curriculum expert, but I think this is really doable, as well, so long as we get the right team […]

Clinton's fellow corporate reformer is refreshingly honest here. Not only is he not a "curriculum expert", he's not even a novice. When we look at his notions of "Backwards Mapping" and "clusters and in modules that can be swapped in and out", it's clear that Domenici is pushing what Paulo Freire termed "the banking model of pedagogy", that is, that students are vessels into which corporate reformers pour knowlege into. This model works well for maintaining oppression, and would serve to perpetuate the United States' existing historical relationship with Haiti.

Reading this section reminds one of just how profoundly ignorant neoliberal corporate eduction reform types are. This may be the one individual less knowledgeable than Arne Duncan or John King on education issues, which would likely mean a potential Clinton administration would tap him to head the Education Department. If Domenici is one thing, he's buzzword compliant. Every phrase and term for the reformy canon is on display in his missive to the Wall Street funded Presidential candidate who spent many years on Walmart's board of directors.

Consider technology and technology infrastructure as a part of the initial construction plan so it's not add-on later.

Hillary Clinton and Cheryl Mills' education "expert" would be remiss if he wasn't providing profit vectors for Reed Hastings, Bill Gates, and Pearson, PLC. The rest of his section for goal three is quite reminiscent of the Naomi Klein quote supra, where she discusses destroyed infrastructure being ignored in favor of school privatization happening with "speed and precision". Domenici does disaster capitalism with the best of them.

The corporatist's final section suggests wrap-around services, something that those of us in the social justice camp are certainly in favor of. However, Clinton's confidant can't seem to keep his paternalism in check. He asserts that if his plan is followed, that it will "be a catalyst for socio-political change". We discussed above how Haiti's problems are due to U.S. economic imperialism, and seemingly endless interventionism in the country's affairs. To suggest that their problems stem from a lack of education is that special kind of victim blaming that corporate reformers are so adept at. It also smacks of how neoliberal Democrats, as Thomas Frank so succinctly puts it, "see every economic problem as an educational problem".

Domenici is an elitist from the finance capital sector, and had been asked by a Secretary of State whose Wall Street ties are like no other to advise her on educational policy for Haiti. So it's no small wonder that he ends his email with:

Gotta run. See you shortly.

xo,

dd

It's no surprise that the woman who refers to children of color as "super-predators", insisting that "we have to bring them to heel", would search out such a racist education plan to inflict on a Haitian population decimated as much by the Clintons' free-trade deals as by natural disasters. Like the distinguished Professor Michelle Alexander says, Hillary Clinton uses "racially coded rhetoric to cast black children as animals." While Haiti was spared this horrific, colonial charter school plan hatched by Clinton and her corporate advisors, we can expect more of the same if she somehow comes to power again. We need to organize and prepare to fight against her racist penchant for neoliberal corporate education reform.

---

While not Hillary Clinton specific, Jesse Hagopian has an excellent piece entitled: Shock-Doctrine Schooling in Haiti: Neoliberalism Off the Richter Scale

The schools Steve Barr made: Green Dot Charters post NINE of lowest fifty SAT scores

"The lowest-performing, based on test scores, is the large Green Dot chain." — Los Angeles Times

Beleaguered Green Dot schools have dealt with charges of racism, embezzlement, poor performance, and even cheating. Green Dot Founder Steve Barr created a mythology about his corporate charters that persists even today. Barr photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Corporate profiteer Steve Barr is in the news again. Now he is mulling a run at Los Angeles Mayor. Barr calls himself an "educational innovator" despite having no background in either education or pedagogy. While his attempts to "turn around schools" have been epic failures in New Orleans and Los Angeles, his Green Dot Corporate Charter Chain is frequently held up as a measure of his so-called success. Except they're anything but successful.

Green Dot Corporate Charter Schools hold the dubious record of NINE of the lowest fifty average SAT scores in Los Angeles County for 2015. The billionaire backed charter chain, founded by corporate executive Barr and run by hedge fund manager Marco Petruzzi, group of SAT bottom dwellers leads all other charter chains in comprising 18% of the fifty worst. These schools were (lower numbers are worst performing):

• 4. Animo Locke Charter High School #1 (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1033
• 12. Animo Watts Charter High (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1092
• 14. Animo Locke Charter High School #2 (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1104
• 16. Alain Leroy Locke High (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1107
• 19. Animo Ralph Bunche High (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1117
• 25. Animo Locke Technology High (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1129
• 26. Animo Oscar De La Hoya Charter High (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1129
• 34. Animo Jackie Robinson High (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1150
• 50. Animo South Los Angeles Charter (Los Angeles): SAT Composite 1180

The privately managed charter chain's marketing slogan is "…all students graduate prepared for college, leadership and life." These dismal SAT scores would seem to indicate otherwise. For context 1500 is considered the minimum threshold for college readiness, while 2052 was the composite average for Freshmen accepted into UCLA in 2013.

Barr has never been able to get his own house together at his lucrative charter chain. Why would we trust him meddling with our public schools?

---

(Source: LATimes accessed 20160210)

Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home school

Press release – Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home school.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Monday, August 17, 2015, the first day of school, from 7:30-8:30AM, the Stoner Elementary School Community and local Del Rey neighborhood will be holding a protest against the co-location of ICEF Vista Charter School on the Stoner ES campus. Stoners parents are upset that the co-location has taken resource rooms including: music, special education, and language therapy among others. Local residents are upset because the co-location will bring traffic and safety issues to their neighborhood.

WHAT: Stoner Elementary Community is holding a:
      RALLY TO SUPPORT STONER ELEMENTARY AND OPPOSE THE CO-LOCATION
WHEN: Monday, August 17, 2015 at 7:30 – 8:30 AM
WHERE: on the corner of Stoner Avenue and Lindblade Street, 90230.
[map]

Media is invited to attend.

There will be speakers. There will be signs. There will be chanting and drums.

Most importantly, there will be calls for better schools, a safer neighborhood, and unity in the community.

---

ICEF Vista Elementary, a neighboring school that is located two blocks from Stoner on the campus of the defunct St. Gerard Majella Elementary School, has taken classroom space at Stoner.  To many people in the neighborhood, ICEF is seen as ‘the school at the church’ and many ICEF families take pride that their school provides benefit to the local parish.  However, ICEF wants to expand and that means leaving the church grounds. Part of ICEF’s expansion plan includes co-locating at another campus to open up space at the St. Gerard campus.

ICEF is “stealing from Peter to Give to Paul”

Stoner ES parents are outraged that ICEF Vista’s will be co-locating this year and has taken set aside rooms that are used for music, art, parents center, and computer lab at Stoner so that ICEF can open up space on the St. Gerard campus to have room for an art room, parents center and computer lab.  ICEF is literally taking away resources from Stoner ES to give those same resources to the ‘school at the church.’

The Stoner parents and local residents are mad about the colocation and are fighting back

In February 2014 when the proposed co-location was announced, Stoner community leaders addressed the ICEF board and asked them to reconsider their co-location plans.    In March 2014, Stoner families and local residents sent over a hundred letters and emails to ICEF and LAUSD Boards urging them to not have the co-location at Stoner.  In April 2014, when a final offer was made for the co-location, the Stoner and local community held a protest in front of the ICEF Vista campus urging them to not co-locate.

The Stoner and local community will be holding a protest on the morning of the first day of school Monday August 17 to let ICEF families know about our concerns with the co-location. More protests are planned for later in this school year.

---

WHAT DO WE WANT:

We want to let the ICEF community know the damage this co-location is causing and the harm it is bring to our community children. The Stoner parents are asking family of ICEF Vista to not support the co-location by selecting another educational option. We are encouraging the families of the 20 ICEF students who pertain to Stoner to consider sending their children to their local community school. We are asking parents from outside the area to consider their local schools or choose a non-colocated charter.

Adam C. Benitez
President, Friends of Stoner Avenue Elementary School
www.friendsofstoner.org

Citizen Jack's compendium of teacher reviews of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Empire

"They don't tolerate what we tolerate," she said several times. What is it HSA doesn't tolerate? According to my co-worker: disruptive children and parents who don't play an active role in their child's education. — Brian Jones

"Jack," a frequent commenter on Professor Diane Ravitch's site, sent me the following compendium of reviews from a website that allows employees to rate their workplace. The workplace in question is reactionary Eva Moskowitz's corporate Harlem Success Academies (HSA). Ravitch did mention the site, and also referenced an article discussing the staggering turnover rates of teachers, with HSA being the most egregious offender.

---

Hey, why don’t we hear from the current and former instructors at Eva Moskowitz' SUCCESS ACADEMY Network? Thankfully,  we can actually do that, and hear the unvarnished truth that they have anonymously shared, thanks to the "Glass Door" website that provides employees an opportunity to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about the people for whom they work, and the workplace culture that they've experienced.

(Get it?  The "glass door" gives transparency.) 

Finally... FINALLY (!!!) in post-Michael-Winerip era, there is a free and independent entity that is beyond the control and clutches of Eva and her ruthless multi-million dollar PR leviathan.  Indeed, Glass Door's posted motto or promise is:

"Your trust is our top concern, so companies can't alter or remove reviews."

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Success-Academy-Charter-Schools-Reviews-E381408_P2.htm?sort.sortType=OR&sort.ascending=true

I just cut’-n-pasted the first 24 teacher reviews from the site above (settle in, it’s a long read if you care to read it all.)

Often I found myself asking the question, “Did I just read what I THOUGHT I read?"

For example, “FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 11” said that Eva banned any administrators or even teachers from writing letters of reference for SUCCESS teachers---current or former---who wished to teach elsewhere.  As this teacher put it put it:

“They will not give you reference letter; its against company policy."

What is this?  The Hotel California?  “You can check out any time you like but you’ll never be able to work again as a teacher…. that is, if I, Eva Moskowitz, have anything to say about it.”  It’s like… “If I can’t control you---i..e. you leave or I push you out---I won't help you with continuing your teaching career elsewhere.”

In my two decades of teaching in the traditional public schools, I’ve never heard of a administrator acting like this.

Some of them are even "LEAD TEACHERS"---NO. 17 is both a "CURRENT TEACHER" and a "LEAD TEACHER."

A common refrain is that the 60-80 hour weeks make it utterly impossible to have any kind of personal life or "work-life balance", and how they "work you until you are sick" and don't care about your well-being.  

Oh, and the workload and lifestyle make it impossible to have a family or children.  But hey, wait a sec.  Eva was allowed enough time that have and raise her three kids.  As Orwell put it in ANIMAL FARM... "All of us are equal, but some are more equal than others."  And she makes over $ 480,000 / year.

Perhaps my favorite comment came from a teacher comparing Eva’s personality and behavior to that of a Meryl Streep movie villain (from a few years back).  "FORMER TEACHER NO. 14 compared working at SUCCESS ACADEMY to...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" 'THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA' --- except not funny and you actually can damage hundreds of kids lives in the process.

"Any advice will fall on deaf ears because hers is a method that works well. Google 'sick system' and you will find SUCCESS, in its shiny, primary colored glory."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To jar your memory, here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zicgut4gpwU

And the sad thing is… Eva would be flattered by this comparison, taking it as a compliment… "You’re damn right I’m like that, and if any o’ you teachers, parents, or kids got a problem with that, you can all go SUCK IT!" (not an actual quote... just a little humor)

The reviews have three criteria:  PRO’s, CON’s, and ADVICE TO MANAGEMENT.  I omitted the PRO’s as they were so trivial (i.e. healthy snacks and the printers work”)

I can just picture Eva in her posh Upper East Side digs reading this, and thinking, "What a bunch o' lazy wimps and whiners!  I don't want them teaching at my schools, anyway.  I wish there was a way to find out who those "CURRENT" teachers posting are, so I could fire all of 'em!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 1:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“The most miserable experience I've ever had. ”

CON's:

"One personal day, horrible work-life balance,
--- micromanagement of employees,
--- no chance for professional or personal growth,
--- dictator-like school."

ADVICE to Management:

"I think it's too far gone."

Does NOT Recommend --- Negative Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 2:

“Do your research before accepting a job here.”

1 * STAR (out of 5)

CON's:

"Unethical treatment of students and teachers,

 --- competition at all costs,
 --- little support for students with disability,
 --- retains an average of less than 50% of students,
 --- retains an average of 30% of staff,
 --- leadership and staff are replaced with no communication or explanation,
 --- humiliation used as main motivational tool for both students and staff,
 --- students struggle with anxiety,
 --- very little emotional or social support
 --- students stay silent 80% of the day, silent hallways in upper grades,
 --- young students told to stop crying when dealing with personal trauma,
 --- no work-life balance,
 --- CEO is in constant conflict with city government which causes ongoing location uncertainty,
 --- network is rapidly opening new schools while neglecting to fix all of the other dysfunctional sites first."


Does NOT Recommend --- Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 3:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Toxic Enviorment, Developmentally Inappropriate Abusive Culture of Fear ”

CON's: "Worked for one of the highest performing schools in the network in the Bronx.

"--- Entire school focused on remaining at top of network schools assessment wise while pushing students in completely developmentally inappropriate and emotionally ABUSIVE ways.

" --- When I brought up that Eva and the network and research disagrees with practices at my location, I was told the network didn't know what they were talking about, haven't I seen our top assessment scores, and that my primary responsibility was to make sure my classroom assessment data was up.

" --- Teachers openly MOCKED 6 year olds with learning disabilities telling them they would see them in the same grade again next year because they were neither smart nor hard working and hopefully would not be in their student again- in front of the entire classroom.

" --- Left work every day feeling angry at the school until I left permanently."


ADVICE to Management:

"Teacher culture needs to be totally reformed-
 --- experienced total lack of professionalism by newer teachers in front of children we were meant to be models for."

Does NOT Recommend --- Negative Outlook - No Opinion of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 4:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“The mission provides so much potential, but falls short in practice ”

CON's:

"Employees are seen as dispensable and the environment is toxic.
 --- Leaders rule through fear and intimidation.
 --- At the network office, pay is low for the hours worked.
 --- Turnover is extremely high.
 --- The organization has grown too fast.
 --- There are other rewarding education organizations that treat their employees better."

Does NOT Recommend --- Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 5:

“Will not shape you into the the teacher that you want to be. ”

1 * STAR (out of 5)

CON's:

"Lack of support.
 --- Militaristic style of teaching to the test.
 --- Students did not learn content.
 --- Teachers had no work-life balance."

Does NOT Recommend --- No Opinion of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 6:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Great mission, terrible culture ”

CON's:

"The leadership team is more interested in making political statements than about choosing the right growth strategy for the organization."

Does NOT Recommend --- Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 7:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“I was an Associate Teacher ”

CON's:

"Everything.
 --- Extremely high turnover due to many reasons, just a few of which are listed here.
 --- Hours are insane,
 --- management doesn't care about the employees,
 --- the style of teaching and discipline is horrifying,
 --- I didn't like who I became after working here,
 --- there are unrealistic expectations of teachers (like I need to log every phone call I make to a parent!?),
 --- and the feedback is ALWAYS negative without any sense of "you can do it" or "we can do this together",
 --- it's "Get your f*cking sh*t together!"

ADVICE to Management:

"You'll have a much happier staff if you recognize that employees are PEOPLE who want to have lives outside of work, don't want to be micromanaged, and will see better results if you approach criticism in a more constructive way rather than beating up your teachers."

Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 8:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Overworked and unreasonable expectations on staff, micromanaging”

CON's:

" --- 1. Micromanaging by leadership

"--- 2. No autonomy in your classroom, it's like they're making all their teachers into replicas of the one model they're looking for

"--- 3. Overworked school day - I would arrive by 6:45 am and I felt like I was running behind already.

 --- I would work till 5:00 pm at school, then bolt out the door to get home to my family.
 --- I would tirelessly grade papers while on the subway, try to respond to the absurd amount of emails and constantly changing meetings, expectations, etc.
 --- I would work on school work for extra hours at night and it was never enough.

 --- If this had been my first teaching job out of college, I would have hated teaching.

 --- Luckily I had 6 years experience in a great school district in a different state.

"The stories I had to tell about this job made everyone in my life tell me to quit. There was so much stress and anxiety going into each week of the job."


Does NOT Recommend --- No Opinion of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 9:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Very low morale”

CON's:

"All teachers are extremely overworked.
 --- 12-hour work days are the norm.
 --- Very, very little prep time during the day, as meetings are held during "prep" periods.  --- Management encourages bizarre competition between teachers, and as a result, morale is low.

" --- Students are pushed out of the school if they exhibit any negative behaviors or if their data is low.
 --- In either case, management will meet with the family to tell them that this school is 'just not the right fit for them'.
 --- If that doesn't work, they will suspend the child ad nauseum or even push them down into a lower grade, so that their exhausted parents give in.
 --- It's absurd that this school is publicly funded when it does not serve the population it purports to serve.
 --- It is honestly more a school for gifted students than a school working to close the achievement gap.
 --- I include this in my review because it contributes to the low morale of the school - your students who you love are constantly being kicked out."

Does NOT Recommend --- Negative Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 10:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

CON's:

"

ADVICE to Management:

"Value your teachers more by making their workday more manageable.
 --- This will lead to teacher retention.
 --- 6:30am - 6:30pm is not sustainable, as the teacher turnover rate clearly attests.

" --- Also, value the children who are told they don't belong at our school.

"If we can't help them, what are we doing in the education business?"

Does NOT Recommend --- Negative Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 11:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Not fulfilling, will not help you with career. ”

CON's:

"I worked exceptionally hard and efficient, and they rewarded me by not hiring me after the internship ended saying "There was not enough work to be done". There was not enough work to be done because I completed all the tasks. 1 month later surprisingly they found enough work again to open up the position.

" --- They will not give you reference letter, its against company policy.

" --- You spend days working on projects that they themselves do not want to work on. Some of which include creating thousands of addition and subtraction problems.

" --- You're supposed to work with the Math team however they are never in the office, and you are left alone to do meaningless tasks.

" --- You get paid terribly, and not treated as part of the company or team.

" --- They exclude interns from meetings, both company and team.

" --- Terrible pay despite working you to the bone."

ADVICE to Management:

"Recognize talent and hard work.
 --- Be honest about work performance instead of hiding behind HR."

Does NOT Recommend --- Positive Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 12:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“High Turnover, Poor Work Life Balance, Unprofessional Managers ”

CON's:

"Unprofessional Directors and poor work-life balance. Focus on test scores and nothing else.
" --- Staff usually stay less than one year.
" --- There are so many HR/Recruiting positions available because the staff turnover is so high,
" --- they are constantly searching for other candidates."

ADVICE to Management:

"Look at the Enrollment and Talent/HR Team and Teacher Dept turnover. Why do certain directors have extremely high turnover and are not being held accountable?"

Does NOT Recommend --- Negative Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 13:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“High Turnover, Poor Management ”

CON's:

" --- 1. Poor Management: Management tends to fire those who voice opposition. Look at the turnover data for the Network office...team Ops, team Enrollment...etc.

" --- 2. Mostly young, inexperienced staff. The poor management is directly reflective of inexperienced staff.

" --- 3. Unrealistic work expectations with no additional compensation or concern for staff well being. In a "no excuses" environment, even being ill with cancer is no excuse for taking a day off.

" --- 4. I cannot stress enough how poor the management of department directors and other senior staff is. My manager was the most unprofessional, unqualified person I had worked with in my career.


ADVICE to Management:

"Examine the high turnover rate and be honest about it. There are several directors whose turnover rates for their departments should be analyzed."

Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 14:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Abusive, panic-driven environment justified with high reward potential ”

CON's:

"--- Erosion of any work/life balance - actually highly, HIGHLY discouraged in culture
 --- Constant environment of panic maintained to encourage high effort and self-doubt
 --- Eva is abusive and no one is willing to admit it
 --- Recommended to young individuals who believe in giving 115% for "the cause," and have not yet developed concept of "self-boundaries" or "self-care"
--- Upon school visitations, their very strict classroom rules for students also border on abusive
 --- While building critical reading and writing skills in kids, also severely stamps down on self-expression or autonomy (punishments are plentiful, harsh, and unexplained)
 --- Absolute silence in hallways, even teachers are discouraged from speaking
 --- Teachers are kept in constant fear of surprise visits and sample collections for evaluation."

ADVICE to Management:

"To management? Why bother? The network team waited weeks to "introduce me" to the Director, waiting for the right moment. WEEKS. I began to wonder if I should chew on a leaf in an office corner until she became accustomed to my scent. This is how afraid her staff members are, or at the least, this was the culture they tried to project.

"Her direct inferiors are constantly insulted, sent to run on impossible tasks, validated for their submission to her, or ridiculed/fired if not. I had extreme difficulty maintaining any hard boundaries -- much less soft ones -- during my time there. The literacy team is stressed out beyond belief; they put so much work into what they do but it is never good enough. It was incredible to watch.

'THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA' --- except not funny and you actually can damage hundreds of kids lives in the process.

Any advice will fall on deaf ears because hers is a method that works well. Google "sick system" and you will find Success, in its shiny, primary colored glory."

----------

"My advice goes out to the staff.

" --- The high turnover occurs because those able to identify the system for what it is and recognize that when faced with self-respect/self-care vs. 'the cause,' they should choose to protect what's left and move on.

" --- In addition, once you step quietly back from the whole thing, you will learn that 'the cause' has gotten lost in politics, panic and upkeep. 'The cause' is potentially damaging to the students that attend the school.

" --- If 'the cause' is yourself -- meaning, you are a young, vibrant, 20-something year old who wants to feel that you've single-handedly changed the world -- this is probably a better place for you than the ACTUAL NYC education system, which can be disheartening, without guidance or such ripe upward mobility. Here you've got micromanaging overhead, and if you 'survive' long enough, you can really take your experience everywhere.

"Dear prospective employee: In many aspects, teaching is like social work. Social Work institutions highly, highly encourage you to maintain self-boundaries and self-care. Otherwise you will burn out in a ruthless, demanding, draining career of unrequited love.

"The same way many social-work industries can take advantage of the big hearts and self-validating determination, so can 'well-intended' charter schools. Once you find yourself in a position where you have to negotiate your 'non-negotiable' (I highly recommend you walk in with one) on a consistent basis, consider stepping back for a long, long moment. Breathe. You will probably ride a cycle similar to breaking up from an unhealthy relationship, but I promise you your quality of life is not worth it.

"In any case, they can replace you so quickly. I think that is what scares everyone the most."

Does NOT Recommend --- Positive Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 15:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

CON's:

"---Culture - the tone of the organization is driven top-down. Eva and her direct reports are unafraid to bully others and do not show appreciation for those working for them. That trickles down through the organization in a very significant way.


" --- Highly-political / not-business minded - Though the organization is a non-profit there is ZERO business sense in making decisions which is sorely needed. Decisions are almost always motivated by political motives.

" --- Physical work environment - the actual office is pretty terrible. They signed a 10 year lease on a space that they outgrew in about a year and a half. Some of us were in the former storage spaces with no actual desk phones or any natural light. Some people are in satellite offices with significantly longer commutes.

" --- Extremely high turnover with no institutional memory - because people leave so often and the organization does not do a good job of standardizing procedures or capturing information there is a lot of reinventing the wheel that happens when someone comes into a job."

ADVICE to Management:

"Listen to what your employees are telling you - both current and former - and actually try to take some steps to make a change!"

Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 16:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“The worst---I repeat---The WORST teaching job I have ever had in my life! ”

CON's:

" --- Long hours (minimum 60 hours a week...if your lucky). They have no regard for work-life balance.
--- Awful management-Management (Principals, Vice Principals, etc) are trained to run schools like factories and they do.
--- Employees are treated like they are just another number not like human beings.
--- They have no intrest in teacher retention.
--- If you don't believe me, Google the turnover rate for thier schools.
--- Some are at 60%! Lastly, at time the expectations are unrealistic."

ADVICE to Management:

"Learn how to manage people in a way that makes them want to work for your company for the rest of their lives. I have seen some of the most passionate teachers quit this job.

Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 17:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Too miserable to stay, no matter how much you are there "for the kids" ”

CON's:

"--- Arrogant young management
--- ZERO personal AND ZERO sick days
--- little prep time when accounting for extra meetings
--- leadership talks to teachers like they are students


ADVICE to Management:

"I LOVE the mission of Success Charter Network. I love the kids there.
--- But I simply cannot stay on board with the unprofessional tone of leadership and the unrealistic demands on us as teachers.
--- Working 80 hour weeks and still not completing my 'assignments' at a high level tells me there is something wrong with the model. \
--- I actually wish the work environment was better so I could stick around for the kids and their families. I am a well educated professional and a highly effective teacher that should not be talked down to by a 26 year old supervisor.

"Until major changes are made, I will look for another charter network... "


Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 18:

1 * STAR (out of 5)

“Bad Work Environment”

CON's:

"Working longer school years, longer school days (7 AM - 5 PM is mandated... and that includes a flexible prep time... some days you have all of your prep, other days you have none), with less pay.

"Couple this with no tenure, no unionized safety, no days off.
--- There are no substitute teachers; if a teacher is absent, you lose your prep time to cover a class.
--- And there is no compensation (of time or money) for this. As a result, the average worker sticks around till 8 PM. 7 AM-8 PM = a schedule that is not conducive to most people's lifestyles.

--- Clubs are practically mandated for certain teachers. No choice in this privatized industry.

"This job is not good for anybody who wants to do anything outside of Success. This includes having a family."

ADVICE to Management:

"Consider changing your mentality towards teachers. Yes, students come first, but so do our personal lives. Make it more family friendly, and maybe there will be less of a teacher turnover in future years."

Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 19:

2 ** STARS (out of 5)

“Great Company...if you prefer ambiguity and lack of work/life balance ”

CON's:

"Few standard operating procedures
--- Unclear organizational structure
--- Poor work/life balance
--- Zero opportunities for mentorship and coaching due to youthful management, which leads to
--- Young managerial staff with limited experience

ADVICE to Management:

"Stop reinventing the wheel.
--- Develop basic policies and procedures.
--- Hire competent, experienced staff."

Does NOT Recommend --- Negative Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 20:

2 ** STARS (out of 5)

“Good schools, terrible work environment (unless you are a teacher). ”

CON's:

"Toxic work environment
--- culture of fear
--- you could lost your job at anytime, work harder.

Does NOT Recommend --- Disapproves of CEO

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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 21:

2 ** STARS (out of 5)

“Mission driven, but a cult of personality ”

CON's:

"High turnover,
--- low employee satisfaction,
--- incredibly top-down,
--- poor upper and middle management,
--- over-promotion,
--- young workforce that exudes professional immaturity,
--- heavy test prep that no one speaks of outside of the organization,
--- layers of mismanagement and heavily politicized environment,
--- doesn't care about teacher turnover.

"Teachers are not trusted to do their jobs,
--- staff on all levels are micromanaged,
--- scaling and expanding too quickly without an adequate strategy or plan in place.

"The CEO, while an incredibly dynamic and intelligent woman, is too heavily involved with the day-to-day instead of focusing on higher level strategy and management of the organization. The organization runs on a cult of personality that revolves around pleasing her, which makes me skeptical that they can truly scale this model of education."


ADVICE to Management:

"Change your policies towards teachers:
--- Try to retain them,
--- give more flexible time-off/sick day policies,
--- place more trust in their abilities and truly develop them.
--- Improve internal communication skills,
--- treat employees like they are human,
--- stop micromanaging and empower employees to do their jobs well.

"When you are leader and you constantly complain about the incompetencies beneath you - well, the apple never falls far from the tree. The culture starts at the top."


Does NOT Recommend --- Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 22:

2 ** STARS (out of 5)

“Great benefits and salary, good mission, poor execution ”

CON's:

"Not a lot of autonomy;
--- conflicting feedback and management styles;
--- too many managers;
--- poor work/life balance;
--- poor employee culture (encouraged to backbite and compete rather than collaborate)

ADVICE to Management:

"Streamline management of lower level employees:
--- teachers do not need and suffer under 4 different managers, particularly when they have varying styles of management and conflicting advice;
--- too frequent observations actually contributes more to stress than to accountability."

Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Approves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 1:

2 ** STARS (out of 5)

“Very Low Morale.”

CON's:

"Depressing environment.
--- Unreasonable workload.
--- Teachers have low morale and are stressed.
--- No work/life balance.
--- Uncertain how much school cares about kids (it's more about the numbers).

ADVICE to Management:

"The turnover rate is high.

"There are people who want to quit, but can't because they
---  1) care about the kids,
--- 2) need the money,
--- 3) signed a 2 year commitment contract,
or
--- 4) can't get a day off to go on another interview.

"Management should be worried about the long-term viability of this organization.
--- No one can work at this pace for 10 years.

"Management should invest in retaining their employees instead of hiring new ones constantly.
--- Intellectual capital cannot be replicated.
--- The hours are terrible. 6:30 am- 7pm stresses everyone out, including the kids.
--- One has to wake up four or five am depending on commute and try to get to sleep early for the next day.

"However, the work never ends so there is never enough time to get everything done. You never feel as if you're doing your job well enough. Ever."

Does NOT Recommend --- Negative Outlook - No Opinion of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 23:

2 ** STARS (out of 5)

“Well-funded, high expectations, don't value their employees ”

CON's:

"I felt completely taken advantage of as a teacher.
 --- Way overworked (even relative to a prior career that was extremely demanding),
 --- felt very little respect from network.
 --- Didn't care about my work-life balance, personal health, emotional well-being.
 --- Was assigned way more tasks than what I believe a teacher should be asked to do (which resulted in lower quality work in the classroom).
 --- Extremely micromanaged, which was forced upon me in my work, and forced upon students as well.
 --- Little creativity encouraged in learning."


ADVICE to Management:

"It's been noted that the network doesn't care about employee turn over--but this school turned me off from teaching.
 --- Literally worked me until I was sick.
 --- Actually care about your employees well-being and sanity--work smarter, not harder.  --- Allow kids to be kids, and let the teachers teach.


Does NOT Recommend --- Neutral Outlook - Disapproves of CEO
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 CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 24:

2 ** STARS (out of 5)

“The Reality is Nothing Like the Image ”

CON's:

"Employee happiness is on the bottom of the priority list.
 --- The model seems to be based on bringing in young, idealistic men and women ready to put up with anything and asking them to work around the clock and devote their lives to the job.
 --- Few last longer than a year, which weakens the culture...some people don't bother learning colleagues' names since turnover is so high.

"Vast majority of senior staff are not good managers.
 --- Just so many terrible management practices that make no sense.
 --- Management seems to have no respect for employees.
 --- We are kept in the dark about major issues affecting us,
 --- management does not solicit employee opinions,
 --- huge discrepancies in salary between the top tier and the rest.

"Huge focus on testing and test scores.
 --- The image of multi-disciplinary 'whole-child' curriculum just isn't true in Grades 3 and up, when the students spend months on end preparing for the state tests."

ADVICE to Management:

"Employee happiness might not seem like a pressing problem, but a model based on constant turnover undermines the organization.
 --- Some respect toward the employees goes a long way (and I don't mean casual Friday or free snacks).

Does NOT Recommend --- Approves of CEO
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Open letter to Ellie Herman, or how Green Dot's Marco Petruzzi's special education policies hurt everyone including their own administrators

"It is not legally or morally acceptable that these so-called "schools of choice" that are concentrated in urban communities and supported with public funds, should be permitted to operate as segregated learning environments where students are more isolated by race, socioeconomic class, disability, and language than the public school district from which they were drawn." — COPAA

Wall Street privatization darling Marco Petruzzi (above) led a beleaguered Green Dot through charges of racism, embezzlement, poor performance, and even cheating. He has claimed that his lucrative charter chain doesn't receive money from rich guys, meanwhile foundations give them millions. He has gone beyond denying that Green Dot discriminates against special needs students, he takes pride in it.

July 11, 2014

Ms. Herman:

I occasionally read your posts with skepticism. Typically, even when you seem to almost reach the correct conclusion about an education topic, you find a way to ignore your own evidence. In the end nearly all your pieces cheerlead for the lucrative charter industry, and provide cover for the biggest enemies of public education.

My interest was piqued today with a piece you wrote on a Green Dot Corporate Charter principal stepping down from one of the schools they seized from the public system. Here is the passage that caught my eye:

Nat was taken aback to find that 18% of the students were in Special Ed. "We thought they were overidentified. Turns out they were underidentified." When I ask why there were so many kids with special needs, he's not sure. Part of it, he thinks, is that the number of kids in foster care may be a factor, because foster kids are often moved from school to school, not staying long enough for their issues to be identified. "It's just conjecture, but kids in foster care, they're often in foster care because their parents were on drugs or couldn't take care of them, well, are you more likely to be unable to take care of a kid with special needs and behavior problems?"

For years those of us engaged in social justice activism have criticized the corporate charter chains—Green Dot Corporation has always been a particularly egregious example—for under-identifying special needs children. I've spent years advocating for families struggling for Special Education (SPED) equity, working closely with the former chairperson of the LAUSD SPED Community Advisory Committee. Marco Petruzzi, the erstwhile hedge fund manager running Green Dot Corporation, has gone as far as to attack those of us that have brought up this issue. He has called us liars (among other things), and gone on to say that Green Dot's SPED percentage are low because LAUSD somehow over-identifies SPED. The mendacious corporate executive stated that the entities' outside of Green Dot "over identifying" SPED children is—this will be hard to comprehend for any reasonable person—is a "civil rights" issue. That's right, the wealthy CEO of Green Dot is on record saying just that. Here's one instance of Petruzzi's convoluted corporate thoughts on the matter [1]:

our track record serving kids speaks for itself for those who want to look at the real numbers, but is a very technical issue and this is not the forum for it. For example, the special Ed issue is fraught with misunderstanding and manipulation of data. LAUSD has high numbers because it over identifies African American and Latino boys relative to many other urban Districts, a civil rights issue, not something to be proud. It also has high numbers because it doesn't serve kids well and thus exits them from special Ed in the typologies of special Ed that can be addressed. It serves special Ed kids in over restrictive environments. Anyway, I realize we will never agree with certain folks, particularly those employed by the current system and that view us as a job threat.

Ms. Herman, I appreciate your post as it bears testament to what many of us have always said about Green Dot and other corporate charter chains. Public schools also under-identify SPED as well, but unlike the well heeled executive quoted above, nobody boasts about underserving them. Petruzzi seemingly makes it a point of pride that Green Dot SPED IEPs are significantly lower than that of public schools. Green Dot has a long record of avoiding obligations to SPED students [2]. Moreover Petruzzi has a long record making outrageous statements, like when he told the families of Animo Justice that Green Dot Corporation doesn't get any money from "rich guy[s]". [3] Must have been all those years he worked for Mitt Romney's sister company, Bain & Company, Inc.

I agree with you and Mr. Pickering on the SPED issue. Since Green Dot Corporation, like all corporate charters, is about bottom lines rather than education, that will never change. Ironically Petruzzi is right to frame the issue in terms of students' civil rights, but he and his fellow six-figure profiteers are the ones violating them.

Advocating Public Education and Social Justice

Robert D. Skeels ****@ucla.edu

"Problem posing education does not and cannot serve the interests of the oppressor" — Paulo Freire

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[1] http://venice.patch.com/groups/schools/p/space-for-a-new-building-at-walgrove-elementary-likel839b5a4cd8
[2] http://www.scribd.com/doc/100558792/Green-Dot-SPED-Binder
[3] http://rdsathene.blogspot.com/2010/04/advocating-public-education-roundup.html the video in which Petruzzi claims Green Dot gets no outside funding is here: http://youtu.be/kbtUUBS3eO0 the transcribed quote is "We have no money. We're a nonprofit. We don't have a rich guy that gives us extra."

EPSLP: College Ready? Alliance Charter Corporation's big scam

First published on Echo Park Patch on September 20, 2013

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"If the American public understood that reformers want to privatize their public schools and divert their taxes to pay profits to investors, it would be hard to sell the corporate idea of reform." — Professor Diane Ravitch

"However, within this market, competition exists in several forms" — (Alliance CRPS Corporation's Business Plan, 2010 p.9)

Over a decade ago Republican venture capitalist Richard "Dick" Riordan joined forces with other profit-hungry businessmen and foundations funding several quasi-education outfits. The melding of two nonprofit industrial complex groups allowed Riordan and his cabal to blend two of their favorite things — lucrative real estate deals and school privatization. Hiring a widely despised Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) administrator named Judy Burton, who was known for instituting the Open Court (McGraw Hill) police and strict use pacing plans, the charter corporation known Alliance for College-Ready Public [sic] Schools was born. Unlike many charter corporations Alliance doesn't try to hide their penchant for big ticket real estate deals, and publishes business plans with the words "business plan" in their actual title. Rather than deny the damning exposure of financial motives revealed in the recent Forbes article entitled Charter School Gravy Train Runs Express To Fat City, the Alliance folks embrace the fact that they're in it for the money.

Wanting to muscle in on Echo Parque

Already occupying part of the Belmont High School campus, Alliance now wants to to build their own campus on a lot that will cause major disruptions to parking and safety in the community. Taking advantage of the loopholes in SB740, Alliance Charter Corporation will stick the public with the bill for everything in the end. They will then extract a premium rent from the site to their LLC, while using little of the money allotted to them from the state to actually educate students. More importantly, they will be sapping resources from our already underfunded and resource starved public schools.

That last point is very important. Depending on how one counts there are already between 7 to 9 High Schools in our attendance area. Most of them are public schools, and there are a few privately managed charter schools as well. All of these schools are under-enrolled, a problem that will be further exacerbated if the Alliance Charter Corporation is allowed to add yet another campus to their burgeoning real estate portfolio. Diverting much needed resources from our public schools so that Alliance can further expand their coffers is something our community should be opposing strongly. Moreover, there's still some perplexing legal questions about who the property belongs to if and when the charter decides to stop operating. Purchasing prime 90026 real estate at the public's expense, but not offering the title to a public entity should be an issue of grave concern.

The truth about Alliance Charter Corporation

With access to a bevy of professional marketing and public relations experts, Alliance has been able to build an unearned reputation of being "high performing," and preparing all their students for college. Like all Miracle Schools, this reputation is pure fiction and propaganda. Using selective data criteria, Alliance and their allies in the corporate media make claims that their schools are in the top of the country. Scratch below the veneer, and a very different story is evident.

What's in a name? Alliance for College-Ready Public [sic] Schools name alone bears scrutiny. First off, like all charters the word public doesn't belong in their name. It's well established by the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals, The California Court of Appeals, The US Census Department, and The National Labor Relations Board that charter schools are private entities (eg. not public agencies). Now that that's out of the way, let's examine the College-Ready part. Despite claiming that their schools produce top college prospects, Alliance College "Ready" Schools boast 6 of the 80 lowest SAT performers in Los Angeles County, and 5 of the 75 lowest in LAUSD. (Source: "California Schools Guide." Lowest Average SAT Scores in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles Times, 01 Jan. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.).

Alliance's dismal SAT scores are in line with their astronomical remediation rates of the students they place into colleges and universities. Remediation means that students have to take remedial classes in order to become proficient enough to take 101 level college coursework. In other words, they need to take their high school classes over again. Since Alliance's Belmont colocation is too new to have statistics, let's look at their nearby Gertz-Ressler campus' figures for the past five years. The California State University (CSU) makes remediation data available for all schools sending them students.

• 2008 CSU Alliance proficiency 7% in math and 13% in English.
• 2009 CSU Alliance proficiency 29% in math and 29% in English.
• 2010 CSU Alliance proficiency 29% in math and 17% in English.
• 2011 CSU Alliance proficiency 50% in math and 33% in English.
• 2012 CSU Alliance proficiency 57% in math and 50% in English.

Their other campuses sport the same astonishingly high remediation rates. These figures put to lie their claim that they are "ensuring that less than 15% of students need remedial English or Math in college." To Alliance's credit their Gertz-Ressler is no longer in single digit proficiency, but even their best year still only sees half of their students ready to take college level courses.

Many education experts point out that when charter schools have "miracle" API numbers, but awful SAT scores and terrible college entrance exam scores like Alliance does, that it means they are most likely teaching to the test to boost their APIs. At the end of the day, Alliance's claims to college-readiness are smoke and mirrors. They do these students at diservice getting them matriculated in schools without being prepared. Many students are discouraged by having to take remedial courses, and frequently don't complete their degrees.

Not educating every child

The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates wrote in their watershed Charter Schools and Students With Disabilities Final report: "It is not legally or morally acceptable that these so-called 'schools of choice' that are concentrated in urban communities and supported with public funds, should be permitted to operate as segregated learning environments where students are more isolated by race, socioeconomic class, disability, and language than the public school district from which they were drawn." (p. 41). LAUSD's Office of Independent Monitor has consistently shown that students with disabilities (SWD) are disproportionately under-enrolled at charter schools.

When the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council's (GEPENC) executive committee questioned Alliance Charter Corporation on their percentage of students with special needs enrolled, they made the outrageous claim that they serve 15%. The 2009 OIM data tables (page 2) not only discredits this, but demonstrate that the SWD they do enroll are high functioning, not needing highly specialized Individual Education Plans (IEP). We are waiting to obtain more current figures from LAUSD, but experience has shown that charter corporations have not improved their special needs enrollments. What this means in practice is that while the neighboring public schools are obligated to educate every child (as all schools should be), charters like Alliance aren't. This creates a disparity in funding since the public schools are using more of their funds to implement things like special day classes, while the charters get the same amount of money per student without the associated costs.

Under-enrolling SWD, English Language Learners (ELL), and children with disciplinary issues is the hallmark of privately managed charters. Allowing Alliance to open in Echo Parque will further drain the local public school resources and further disadvantage the students enrolled there that Alliance would never accept.

Time for GEPENC to represent Echo Parque

In a calculated public relations move, Alliance Charter Corporation is asking GEPENC to approve their project to create yet another school in an area over-saturated with under-enrolled high schools. While GEPENC's role in the overall process is merely advisory, telling Alliance our community doesn't approve of them and their project would go a long way toward protecting the interests of our community and our students. The shady nature of Alliance's real estate dealings, their dismal SAT scores and CSU remediation rates, and their refusal to educate every child are all compelling reasons for our Neighborhood Council to say no. For me that last point is the most important. Allowing these private entities to cherry pick students and avoid educating the most vulnerable and needy students is immoral. Taking a strong stand as a community against that kind of discrimination sends a strong message to these corporate schools that we demand equity for all our students.