Wendy Lecker: Bridgeport takeover try a cautionary tale - Connecticut Post: "The behind-the-scenes dealings resulting in the takeover of Bridgeport's Board of Education were revealed in a chain of emails circulated over the weekend. These emails tell a chilling tale of exploiting close relationships with those in power to trample the will of the people.
In January 2011, Alex Johnston, then executive director of the charter lobby, ConnCAN, wrote an email to Meghan Lowney, a consultant for an organization called Bridgeport Partnership for Student Success and to Allan Taylor, the chair of Connecticut's State Board of Education. Ms. Lowney's organization was funded by a financier named Steve Mandel, a founder of Lone Pine Capital in Greenwich and a trustee of and large donor to Teach for America."
'via Blog this'
Wow.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to being state BOE chair, Mr. Taylor is also on the advisory board of ConnCAN. ConnCAN was established by the same people who funded and started the charter chain Achievement First. Over the past few years, ConnCAN has engaged in an aggressive campaign to send public school money to privately run charters and to vastly expand charter schools in Connecticut (and now throughout the nation). Similarly, Teach for America's focus on expansion has turned it into multimillion-dollar enterprise. It does not take much imagination to see why ConnCAN and TFA might have an interest in wresting control of Bridgeport's schools away from its democratically elected board.
Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/Wendy-Lecker-Bridgeport-takeover-try-a-3389358.php#ixzz1ocWFLAtf