The Latest Billionaire Thought Disorder Aimed at Ridding Schools of Teachers

About that School Trump Referred to in the State of the Union Address... - nancyebailey.com/2026/03/01/a...

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— James Horn (@schools-matter24.bsky.social) March 2, 2026 at 8:07 AM

Omidyar, The Intercept & Impact Investing

from Wrench in the Gears
September 29, 2017

I wouldn’t expect an expose on ed-tech to come out of The Intercept any time soon, despite the solid work they have done on Google and their deep knowledge of online surveillance and ties between Silicon Valley and government officials. Read on to find out why.

I’m always looking for opportunities to raise awareness around ed-tech and digital curriculum. So when the Free Library of Philadelphia announced an author event with The Intercept founding editor Jeremy Scahill interviewing Edward Snowden via remote link, I bought a ticket right away. If there were an audience who would be concerned about cloud-based education, digital curriculum and surveillance, this would be it. See Tim Scott’s piece for detailed background on ed-tech and surveillance. So I made up a flyer, printed a hundred copies and arrived early to hand them out to attendees on the way into the event. Other than the board chair, who expressed concern about my presence, everyone was quite receptive.

 I wouldn’t expect an expose on ed-tech to come out of The Intercept any time soon, despite the solid work they have done on Google and their deep knowledge of online surveillance and ties between Silicon Valley and government officials. Read on to find out why.

I’m always looking for opportunities to raise awareness around ed-tech and digital curriculum. So when the Free Library of Philadelphia announced an author event with The Intercept founding editor Jeremy Scahill interviewing Edward Snowden via remote link, I bought a ticket right away. If there were an audience who would be concerned about cloud-based education, digital curriculum and surveillance, this would be it. See Tim Scott’s piece for detailed background on ed-tech and surveillance. So I made up a flyer, printed a hundred copies and arrived early to hand them out to attendees on the way into the event. Other than the board chair, who expressed concern about my presence, everyone was quite receptive.

On a related note, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has been inserting itself into Philadelphia School District policy for quite a few years. Their donations of computers to select schools gives them access through grants to push for adoption of reform-minded initiatives like school report cards and universal enrollment systems. It wasn’t until a few years later while watching Oliver Stone’s Snowden, that I made a connection. In one scene Snowden was asked to prove his legitimacy and did so by throwing numerous credentials onto the hotel mattress. One of them was his Dell identification. As I wrote about here, Snowden obtained many National Security Agency documents while working as a Dell contractor. At the time I was fighting Dell’s influence in Philadelphia, I thought it was simply about selling more computers. Until that moment, I had not realized that Dell’s business extended far beyond the sale of laptops. In fact, the NSA is one of Dell’s most important clients. Maybe it was less about computers than it was about access to all the data generated by data-driven education systems. Watch this short video about Dell’s push for online “personalized” learning pathways. Knowing their ties to the NSA, you may see it as somewhat less than benign despite the peppy soundtrack.

 

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Doug Martin's Letter to the Anderson Herald Bulletin

(The following is Doug Martin's letter to the editors of the Anderson, Indiana, Herald Bulletin, sent at 7:56 pm, May 30, 2014. If you would like to contact that newspaper, you can at letters@heraldbulletin.com) 

DOUG MARTIN'S NOTE TO THE EDITORS: "My letter is endorsed by ONLY myself.  It does NOT reflect the views toward your paper of any of the panelists that appeared with me on the Rise Above the Mark event panel, and it does NOT reflect the views toward your paper of any of the makers of the film or the organizers of the event.  In fact, the panelists, makers of the movie, and organizers of the event have NOT seen the letter I submit to your paper.  And I do NOT endorse candidates for political office, since I have problems with both parties, so the views in my letter are solely my own.  Thanks.  Doug Martin)

222 Words

I find it highly depressing and even insulting that your newspaper did not cover May 28’s Rise Above the Mark movie event at Anderson High School in support of public education. 

After the screening, I was a member of the panel which consisted of Dr. Rocky Killion, the supt. of West Lafayette Community Schools, state representative Terri Austin, Daleville teacher Melanie Wright, and educator and radio host Justin Oakley.  

Since the audience included two newspapers from Muncie and one from Indianapolis, the Herald Bulletin’s refusal to cover the event tells me it must not care that Anderson public schools are taking a financial beating because so-called school reform, as I point out in my book HoosierSchool Heist, is a hoax funded by out-of-state billionaires that is meant to wipe out public education entirely and funnel taxpayer money to religious schools and Republican campaign donors and acquaintances who profit from charter schools.  

The Herald Bulletin’s editors should also know that I told those in the audience that night that people must boycott every paper in this state that uses the talking points of the billionaires, is too lazy or clueless to do investigative reporting, and refuses to aggressively support public education. Being a no-show, the Herald Bulletin is guilty of treason against the public.  Therefore, teachers and parents should find their news elsewhere.  

Dr. Doug Martin, Author of Hoosier School Heist

 

Now Posted Online: Doug Martin on Douglas Storm's WFHB Radio Show: Muckraking Education Politics

In case you missed it last night, here is the link to listen to Doug Martin and Douglas Storm discussing the corporate takeover of public schools last night on WFHB radio in Bloomington, Indiana:

http://wfhb.org/news/interchange/interchange-doug-martin-muckraking-education-politcs/
 
This is from Storm's write-up on last night's show:

Martin is a native Hoosier who has been investigating Indiana’s “for profit” Education Politics for several years and will soon publish a book detailing these investigations called “Hoosier School Heist.”

Martin’s articles at Schools Matter get over 1,000 views on a regular basis. He offers readers facts rather just more opinions from one particular “side of the aisle,” he follows the money, and he names names: from the Indy Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, to politicians like Mitch Daniels and Tony Bennett, to the out in the open oligarchs at the Walton and Gates Foundations, to the lower level soldiers these groups plant on school boards and grant funding organizations and who write op-eds in local newspapers under the banner of independent “Policy Reviews.”  That is, Martin relentlessly exposes every evil practice and every evil act whether performed by politician or business person.

Here is the link to the show again:

http://wfhb.org/news/interchange/interchange-doug-martin-muckraking-education-politcs/