Huffman Will Reduce Teacher Pay. Tomorrow.

Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman says that he values teachers and the work that they do.  Commissioner Huffman wants to "re-structure" compensation systems so that the "best" teachers make the "most" money.  We "of course" want to "attract" and "retain" the best teachers.

According to the Commercial Appeal, the Tennessee Board of Education is poised to, TOMORROW, adopt the recommendation of Commissioner Huffman to reduce teacher salaries across the board.  The Memphis Daily News also covers the story (no paywall).  Here's a link to the old salary schedule - from the choices on the right, select 2012-13 for the most recent salary listings.  Here's a link to the salary schedule that will go into effect on July 1, if the state Board of Ed approves it tomorrow.  Under the proposal, the top step, which maxes out in Year 11 and an "advanced degree," is $40,310.  The current schedule differentiates among the advanced degrees, and maxes out at Year 20 and a doctorate with $54,105.

Thankfully, the Commercial Appeal has done the math (or asked other people to do the math) for us:  "The Tennessee Education Association estimated that over a 30-year career (the minimum required for full retirement benefits in Tennessee), the aggregate missed earnings is $69,025 for teachers with master’s degrees, $145,960 for those with master’s plus 30 years, $200,705 for those with education specialist degrees and $319,855 for those with doctorates."  The article also explains that "Clay, Hancock and Pickett counties pay at the minimum; 20 districts pay within 2 percent of the minimum and about half pay within 10 percent."  By my math, that means that more than 30 of the 135 districts in the state pay more than ten percent above the pay schedule - Memphis and Shelby County were both in that group of comparatively high compensation districts.

Commissioner Huffman will be the first to tell you that this change to the salary schedule does not require that local school boards adopt this minimum level of compensation.  It only sets the floor, and it cannot affect anyone who is already employed by the system.  My guess is also that Huffman would tell us that he encourages local school systems to exceed the minimum standards in order to "attract" and "retain" the "best" teachers.  He could encourage them to do that by not lowering the minimum levels of compensation, but he would rather just verbally and philosophically (and hypothetically) encourage them to do something in the future

But we all know what happens when the floor is lowered, right?  We're seeing it right now as plans for the merger progress and are implemented.  On the Transition Planning Commission's recommendation, many aspects of educational services, from class size limits to assistant principals, are being adjusted to the state's minimum requirements.  And the community is accepting and supportive of these reductions, no?

The basics of this is that the current talking points of the reform movement say that when teachers get their master's degrees or other advanced degrees, that the degrees do not lead to increased student achievement, and that years of experience in the classroom also do not lead to increased student achievement.  Therefore, teacher pay should not reward getting older and going to school.  In this discussion, we also usually hear from someone in the "private sector" who says "I don't get a raise every year" and "I don't get paid unless I do my job".  This is easily refuted by even simple television sitcoms like The Office, and of course, the unfortunate statistics regarding US productivity and consumer spending and debt levels.  But whatever.  Experienced, highly educated teachers just simply are not worth their weight in gold according to Governor Haslam's Education Department.

But let's say that what I call "talking points", you call "facts".  Perhaps my "evidence" regarding fictional television shows isn't "compelling".  Commissioner Huffman is still being sneaky.

Also according the Commercial Appeal's Richard Locker, "the governor two years ago proposed a bill to eliminate the state minimum salary schedule and leave pay fully up to local school boards. [Then] Haslam pulled the bill after lawmakers, including leaders of the Republican majority, opposed the idea.  Huffman submitted the new plan as a rule change to the appointed State Board of Education in April as the legislature was adjourning for the year. The Board approved it on the first of two required readings on April 19. The second and final vote is set for Friday."  It is worth noting that even with a Republican Super-Majority, this proposal was not a legislative priority of the Education Department.  Either that, or the Commissioner couldn't get anyone to carry the bill. 

There are at least a couple of levels of sneakiness here.  Not only is there the avoidance of the (Republican super-majority) legislature that would likely (okay, possibly) decline to adopt such a dramatic reduction in teacher pay, but there's the fundamental change in philosophy behind the unfortunate salary schedule being pushed through merely as a "rule change" by an unelected state board.  Commissioner Huffman, along with those who tell him that he's right, often believe that elected officials just won't make the hard education policy decisions because they might lose the next election.  That's not really a view that supports a democratic system of government, but that is the approach being taken here:  couldn't do it in the legislature, so let's still make it happen even though it couldn't happen in the legislature because Tennesseans don't want it. 

This is also a state board that apparently is not considering whether to adopt minutes from the last meeting, so there's no draft of the minutes to review in order for the public to understand who was present, and who voted which way.  Following the minimum rules of Tennessee transparency, and providing the public with as little information as possible . . .

If you'd like to know more about the Tennessee Board of Ed, here's the link.  Our representative from Memphis (the 9th Congressional district, anyway) is Teresa Sloyan, the Executive Director of the Hyde Family Foundations. 

If you'd like to email them your views, you can just cut and paste this list:

frolston@ecu.org, medwards@knoxvillechamber.com, lroberts@trh.com, cpearre@comcast.net,  jarogersod@bellsouth.net, ayers.janet@gmail.com, wrightmelvindds@bellsouth.net,  teresa.sloyan@gmail.com, richard.rhoda@tn.gov

The Third District representative does not have an email address listed, and there is no information about the student member of the Board.

Please take a moment to send a note to these appointees to let them know that you support teachers, and that you oppose the reduction in pay for Tennessee's teachers.

If you can't get past the Commercial Appeal paywall, try these links to the story in other publications:
Chattanooga Times Free Press
The Leaf Chronicle
KnoxNews

Here's the TEA's notice about the salary reduction.

Commissioner Pickler Did the Right Thing

Commissioner David Pickler has found himself under an ethics cloud since mid-December.  His colleague, Commissioner Martavius Jones brought the allegations at a Board meeting in a surprise resolution.  I've done some thinking, and in the end, was not all that surprised that the Ethics Committee called off its investigation of the allegations.  Not exonerated, not investigated, and still handling funds on behalf of MCS and SCS, Commissioner Pickler was not quite out from under that ethics cloud.

I'm relieved that Commissioner Pickler has now taken affirmative steps to remove even the appearance of impropriety.  Elected officials that do business with the bodies on which they sit should always face increased scrutiny and abide by high standards of disclosure and transparency. 

Without checking the budget myself, I believe Commissioner Pickler and SCS General Counsel Valerie Speakman when they say that the nature of the $12 million investment and its inclusion in the budget approved in June 2012 did not have enough information attached to it to indicate to Commissioner Pickler that his firm or employees would benefit from the investment.  All of that said, I believe that as an elected public offical, at the point that Commissioner Pickler understood from his position as the head of a wealth management firm, that the firm was managing a large investment initiated by a government body of which he as a Board member, he had a duty to investigate his involvement in the investment.  Specifically, he should have investigated how the investment originated, and then reviewed whether or not he voted in favor of the investment.  Had he done that kind of investigation, he would have discovered that, in fact, he had voted in favor of the investment.  Commissioner Pickler's next action should have been to satisfy his to duty to disclose the conflict of interest, and advise the Shelby County School Board of the situation.  I hold public officials to a high standard, and regardless of what the written rules are, there are just minimum standards of conduct by which public and elected officials should abide.  Pie in the sky, no?

Commissioner Pickler has now corrected the situation as best he can, give the timeline of events.  Michael Kelley reports that Commissioner Pickler will no longer manage Tennessee School Board Association investments associated with MCS or SCS:  "Pickler, who owns Pickler Wealth Advisers, has been the broker for the TSBA fund for several years, but he said he turned the account over to an employee whose commissions were not shared with him.
     The TSBA last Tuesday accepted Pickler’s offer to withdraw his firm completely from any involvement with funds contributed by either MCS or Shelby County Schools."

The buffering from the live online broadcast of the Board meeting last night was abysmal, but I gathered that Commissioner Pickler stated that he also offered to resign from his position at the Tennessee School Board Association, and that the offer was rejected.

Commissioner Pickler's withdrawal of his firm as an investment manager for any MCS and SCS funds is appropriate, and will erase any appearance of impropriety going forward related to Commissioner Pickler's ability to vote in favor of local district investments in TSBA's trusts.  That the TSBA has determined that it has no problem regarding doing business with one of its members and officers is not my concern.

Some further assessment of the accounts that were opened last summer will be necessary, in order to determine that the MCS investment is not assessed two separate annual fees due to the transfer of accounts to another wealth management group.  Either the receiving wealth managers should waive the initial fees or first set of annual fees to which they may be entitled, or Pickler Wealth Management should refund the fees that it collected.  Under no circumstances should the change in the investment managers result in any duplicative fees or debits to the initial MCS investment.  Given the scrutiny on these accounts, we can expect that Board Chair Billy Orgel and the MCS finance folks will be double-checking to make sure that the MCS investment proceeds in a fair and orderly manner.

Last Minute School Closings Coming. Thanks, ASD.

School closings are controversial and contribute to instability in already vulnerable communities.  I view school takeovers with the same critical view, with particular concern about the often patronizing - we know better - attitude of transplanted charter operators. 

Before Thanksgiving, we knew that a high number of school closings were coming.  Really, we'd known that since the spring of 2012 between the ASD's stated intentions and the Transition Planning Commission recommendations.  But as of November, we still had no details about which schools and neighborhoods would be most affected.  The announcements soon came hard and fast.  I recently wrote about the seeming decline in the ASD's expansion.

If my readers don't know, there's a weekly WKNO program hosted by Eric Barnes, the publisher of the Memphis Daily News.  He and other local journalists interview local newsmakers, usually with a political focus.  I've added a "page" on the right-hand side of the blog for easy access.  Anyway, last Friday (Feb. 22, 2013), ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic was interviewed by Barnes, his journo Bill Dries, and Eleanor Boudreau of WKNO Radio.  The video isn't up yet, I'll post it when I see it.  A transcript of the interview is available here.

Lots of background to tell you that there is no decline in the ASD's expansion.  During the interview, ASD Supt. Chris Barbic stated that the ASD will open ten schools in Memphis for the 2013-14 school year.  This would not be news, except for the fact that the ASD has only announced that it will open six schools in the fall.

The ASD announced that it will close and takeover six schools:  Whitney, Georgian Hills, Hanley, Klondike, and Shannon Elementary Schools, and Corry Middle School.  Cornerstone Prep announced that it will take over Lester Middle next year.  So it is unclear whether the ASD would say that it has announced that it will take over six or seven schools for takeover, depending on whether they consider Cornerstone's announcement as a new announcement or not.

Here's the exchange from the Behind the Headlines interview: 

Barnes:  Now I’m going to come back to Humes and Gordon in a second.  But just a quick, you’ll add how many schools in next year?

Barbic:  Next year we plan to add ten schools.  Two that we’ll run ourselves, so two more in Frayser.  And then we will have eight charter schools operating, uh, next year.  And all ten of those schools will be in Memphis.

 

So depending on how you count Lester Middle School, the ASD still has some school closures to announce - three or four to come.  At the outset of this process, explained that it would select ten schools from a published list of fourteen schools.  So far, eight schools on the list have NOT been selected.  What ASD Supt. Barbic's statement on Friday night means is that the parents at:

Graves Elementary
Norris Elementary
Alcy Ball Elementary
Cherokee Elementary
Treadwell Elementary
Caldwell-Guthrie Elementary
Cypress Middle
Denver Elementary

should all still be very worried about who will be teaching their children next year.  And teachers, of course, should be worried about whether they should be looking for other employment.  The Norris parents and teachers are already nervous, since it's on MCS's school closure list.  But ASD Supt. Barbic's statement is important because it means that either three or four of the schools on that list will be closed and reopened with charter organizations next school year.  Well, kind of.  Lester Middle was not on the list, but is being taken over next year.  Maybe ASD Supt. Barbic is willing to take over schools that aren't on that list, but we have to think that there would be considerable pushback, as there has been in Binghampton, should the ASD continue to take over schools that are not on the published list of schools that might be taken over.

What are our stakeholder pain points here?  I phrase it that way only because the consultants won't understand what we're talking about if I leave it in plain English.  So there's the neighborhood instability that comes along with any school takeover, along with the loss of long-standing respected and well-loved employees that contribute to the sense of stability and well-being for the children that attend the school.  There's the loss of tradition and neighborhood pride in the schools - like when the name, colors, or mascot of the school is changed.  What if the ASD told Houston that it was no longer the Mustangs?  Or that White Station was no longer the Spartans?  Oh, that's just whining.  There's the unpredictable nature, for the parents, of what kind of teachers will be brought in to educate the children - often newly-named, not-quite-fully-credentialed teachers, alt-cert teachers with mixed student teaching experience, and let's not forget the five-week-trained Teach for America recent college grads - all with little classroom management experience or knowledge of school discipline principles.  Oh, but they're eager and well-meaning (we must not forget that part).  For the students, it's the sea change in the school that they attended last year - the loss of familiar faces and patterns, and the pressure of learning from a brand new teacher who is still on the front end of their own learning curve.

And then there's the teachers.  Based on last year's transfer process, the process for teachers to voluntarily transfer to another school should already be underway.  According to the current information on the "Teach Memphis" website, managed by TNTP (formerly, The New Teacher Project), the contractor hired by MCS and SCS to conduct teacher hiring, the transfer period is scheduled for spring 2013.  But depending on the timing of the ASD's delayed announcement, teachers at schools that are being closed by the ASD may miss their opportunity to transfer to another position.  The second round of hiring for the ASD finishes up in the next few days.  Nothing like putting teachers at a disadvantage in the hiring process.

If the ASD continues its trend of rejecting the full-school turnaround model, then not all of the teachers at the schools subject to the ASD's delayed announcement would lose their jobs all at once - but it will depend on how the ASD chooses to implement its plan.

We're still very much in the weeds of the budget for next year, but we know that both the School Board and the County Commission are considering significant teacher lay-offs next year, both in SCS and MCS.  There has been no talk of an external hiring freeze, so with the expiration of the contract with MEA this summer, we should expect that experienced teachers will be competing for scarce positions with both new education school graduates, the alt-cert pipeline (individuals that become teachers through non-university programs) loved by reformers, and however many Teach for America folks that the district has contracted to hire.  There will likely be no more "bumping".

At this point, we have to assume that ASD Supt. Barbic understands that he is contributing to the grave uncertainty associated with putting together the merged district, and the School Board's ability to reach an agreement on appropriate school staffing levels.  Should we be grateful that the ASD planners weren't wasting their time and our state tax dollars in coming up with their expansion plan?  Maybe.  But I don't think we should appreciate the continued, unexplained delay in ASD Supt. Barbic's announcement regarding the remaining MCS schools that he expects to close at the end of this school year, and the resulting spinning of wheels by the Board and district staff with local tax dollars.

Ethics Investigation Called Off

The ethics committee investigation into allegations against Shelby County School Board Commissioner David Pickler made by Martavius Jones has completed its work.  Here's an article, but the headline doesn't exactly match the contents of the article.

Commissioner Pickler has taken the opportunity to claim that he has been "exonerated", and to carefully not comment on any action he might pursue against Commissioner Jones.  Commissioner Pickler believes that his business and his family have been affected by the allegations.  This information might match the headline "Panel in Memphis Clears School Board Member of Ethics Charge."

In fact, the committee declined to investigate the allegations against Commissioner Pickler because "it has neither the evidence nor the power to investigate the accusations."  It sounds like the committee needed some more information about the allegations but did not have the power (or ability) to get that information.  No ability to subpoena records or take sworn testimony likely posed a problem.  The chair of the committee explained that the committee's recommendation is to revise the policy - ostensibly, so that a future committee could complete an investigation.

This is a good news/bad news situation for Commissioner Pickler.  "Committee member David Reaves and school board attorney Valerie Speakman noted that Pickler had carefully disclosed his brokerage connections in business with Shelby County Schools. Speakman also noted that Pickler could not have been expected to disclose in this case because there wasn't a way for him to know what the expense was when the budget was presented to the board last June."  This is good for Commissioner Pickler:  in the past, he "carefully disclosed" the conflict of interest.  The SCS General Counsel squarely supports Commissioner Pickler when she says that the investment as itemized in the budget approved in June would not have reasonably indicated to Commissioner Pickler that the investment would end up with his firm, or that he should disclose his conflict of interest.  All fair, and it resolves some of the concerns that I've raised in previous posts.

The bad news for Commissioner Pickler is that the Committee was not able to get to the actual allegations and issue an opinion one way or the other.  Two of the three members of the committee pretty clearly thought there was some smoke, but didn't get to investigate whether there was fire.

But let's take Commissioner Pickler's word for it.  He's an honest guy.  He previously disclosed his business relationship with the TSBA accounts.  And he didn't know that when he voted on the budget, he was voting in favor of a $12 million investment with his firm.

This should be a major lesson for the school district and for the staff (or highly-paid consultants) who put together the budget.  The line items for expenditures, contracts, investments, whatever should be detailed enough that Board members who do business with the district, or business near the district, can reasonably determine whether their business will be affected by the budget.  This would allow Board members to appropriately disclose their conflicts of interest, and recuse themselves from any votes if necessary.

This is a different problem than Commissioners not reading the budget or the supporting information that they are provided.  It should not be up to district staff to flag conflicts for Board commissioners - each Board commissioner should be on top of their business relationships with the district (or near the district) and review the budget for any possible conflicts of interest.

Recently, Commissioner Joe Clayton raised the issue that several Board commissioners are retirees of either MCS or SCS, and therefore have a very personal financial interest in some of the TPC recommendations related to district benefits, mainly health insurance, for retirees.  He asked if recusal would be necessary.  SCS General Counsel explained that if MCS and SCS retirees were required to recuse themselves, that it is unlikely that the Board would even be able to achieve a quorum to vote on any proposals.  That's a tough situation, but at least the conflict has been publicly discussed.  We should hope that as these matters come up for votes that each Board member with a personal financial interest will explicitly disclose the conflict.

Given all of that, Commissioner Pickler still might have a problem.  Obviously, best case scenario is that you disclose your conflict of interest on the front end - prior to the vote.  But what if you didn't know you were voting in favor of your financial interest?  Does your duty to disclose expire?  Or do you have a duty to disclose the conflict of interest at the point that you become aware of the conflict of interest?  I don't know anything about wealth management, but just the name of the profession seems to imply that you're dealing with large amounts of money.  When you're in that profession, is it fair to assume that as the owner of a wealth management firm, you would be aware of a new $12 million investment?  My sense is that in this area of the country, a $12 million investment would be notable.

Certainly, in a monthly or quarterly review of the accounts, a new $12 million investment seems like it would cross the purview of the owner of the business.  It would be up to the owner to make sure that commissions and account fees are distributed appropriately to his or her employees, at the very least.  We could suppose that it would be possible that the first that Commissioner Pickler heard about the $12 million investment was in Commissioner Jones' resolution, but we should probably consider how likely that is.  It probably still matters what Commissioner Pickler knew, and when he knew it.

In an editorial, the Commercial Appeal argues for a ethics policy that would empower an ethics committee to investigate and gather information in order to investigate ethics allegations.  Well, now that we know that the current policy did not allow either to take place in this case, we can hope that the attorneys or the policy people are working on a re-write.  Now that we know, we should respond appropriately.  Because when you find out about a potential problem, you should seek to remedy it.

School Board Commissioners Gone Wild, Ignore Sunshine Laws

Shelby County School Board Chairman Billy Orgel is having trouble herding his cats, I mean, colleagues.  I've mentioned the poor behavior of some Commissioners directed to their peers, and we apparently will have no end to surprise resolutions and ethical questions.

A little over a week ago, on a Sunday afternoon, three School Board commissioners hosted a community forum at Houston High School to hear comments and concerns from parents and community members on the piecemeal budget information that was to be considered at last week's special call meeting.  Here's the write-up.  Former (old) Shelby County School Board Chair David Pickler, along with longtime colleague Commissioner Joe Clayton, and new colleague Mary Anne Gibson listened avidly to budget concerns and apparently some "outright hostility".  No harm, no foul, right?

I was interested to read about this forum because I had not heard about it.  I didn't see it on the School Board calendar, nobody mentioned it to me.  And we all know that if two or more public officials plan to be in the same room to discuss, well, anything, notice of the meeting must be published 48 hours ahead of time.

Guess I wasn't the only one with some questions.  Turns out that they didn't just not tell me, they didn't tell the rest of the School Board.  Commissioner Pickler justified the lack of public notice and notice to the Board by explaining that there was no official agenda, no official business conducted, and that the meeting had been officially announced on facebook and through word-of-mouth.  Some Commissioners are annoyed by the lack of invitation, some think it's fine and want their own separate meetings.

At the very least, we're seeing some very fundamental breakdowns in procedures and communication among Board members.  Commissioner Gibson might be able to credibly claim ignorance of state law - state law with which she is obligated to comply, and for which ignorance is no excuse.  But Commissioners Pickler and Clayton have been around for a long time.  They know better.

So what can we do?  Anybody want to file a lawsuit?

Cornerstone Situation Continues to Devolve

In the 2010-11 school year, Cornerstone opened a private, religious kindergarten intended to serve the Binghampton neighborhood.  Originally located near Binghampton, Cornerstone failed to secure a neighborhood location, and at the last minute, was able to use borrowed space at Christ Methodist for the 2011-12 school year for its kindergarteners and first graders.  Now in its third location in three years, Cornerstone finds it embroiled in controversy.  I've written about it here, here, here, here, and here.

The absolute last thing that the Achievement School District and Cornerstone's East Memphis backers could have wanted is what is actually happening:  allegations of mistreatment of students, community protests and meetings, and now, the involvement of state legislators and former Mayor W.W. Herenton.

I don't believe that most of the allegations against Cornerstone teachers and administrators rise to the level of child abuse.  Confiscating shoes for playing with the laces, or tying them at inappropriate times - excessive but not abusive.  Strict policies on bathroom breaks for K-3 students - again, perhaps excessive, but not abusive.  Nonsense, but not abuse.  Grabbing children by their arms to change their direction or get their attention - well, it will depend, but that gets closer to "abuse".  It will depend on the language in the statute, but it is unlikely that the Department of Children's Services will find that outright abuse has occurred.  If it does, that will be an entirely different problem.

I don't believe that child abuse is the central issue of this discussion about Cornerstone's place in Binghampton.  The central issues of this discussion are how Cornerstone came to take over the Lester School, and Cornerstone's approach to the children and the community that it serves.  Cornerstone administrators believe that they are uniquely situated to serve God by educating the children of Binghampton.  They will tell you that those who are criticizing the charter school are wrongly focused on issues that are not related to the education of the children - issues like the school colors and the name of the school.

The truth is that in trying to solve the problem of the "soft bigotry of low expectations," the pendulum has swung too far in favor of "no excuses," constant test prep, and bootcamp discipline.  Add in a stable of inexperienced teachers, a proud but poverty-stricken part of town, and state-level decisions made without community input.  Should anyone be surprised that there is some tension in the neighborhood?

What they're missing is that part of the education of children is how we treat them. For those children that succeed and go on to college from humble beginnings - like those in Binghampton - eventually, they will understand that their own experience was very different from the kids in the "better" parts of town.  That silent hallways and silent lunches don't fly in East Memphis.  That in other parts of town, classroom management and school discipline just don't look the same.  These children from Binghampton, these kindergarteners through third graders, somehow, because of their geography and socioeconomic status, are treated more harshly than they should be.  And more harshly than East Memphis parents would allow their children to be treated.

Cornerstone will tell you that they are doing everything they can to work with parents, and to understand where there are problems.  We are now seeing some backlash to the backlash - parents of Cornerstone students professing that their children are benefitting from Cornerstone, and are doing better academically than they did before. These parents now feel that their voices are being drowned out by the complaining parents and community members who (they claim) weren't concerned about the failing school in years past.

But even with all of Cornerstone's efforts, they've overlooked critical outreach opportunities.  In this supportive-of-Cornerstone story on ABC24.com, we learn that parents, just Monday, formed a PTA.  This means that the ASD does not have a policy requiring a parent organization at every ASD school, and that Cornerstone did not see fit that one should be formed.  Communication has been on Cornerstone's terms, only as it has seen fit.  It has taken this unfortunate situation to galvanize parents to form this organization themselves, well into the second semester of this school year.  They seem to be supportive of the Cornerstone administration, and hey, they're entitled to their understandings of what is happening inside the walls at the former Lester School.  But let's acknowledge that this newly-formed parent group is evidence of the ASD's and Cornerstone's failure to invite parents to engage in an official capacity.  One-on-one meetings?  Yes.  Grade-level meetings?  Yes.  PTA?  No.  There should have been a PTA at every ASD school from Day 1.

That's the first step - having an official parents' organization sanctioned by the school, and welcomed into the school.  The second step should be a much more public board for Cornerstone - the Board really should meet in public (since they are spending public money and performing a government function), but at the very least they should provide a way for concerned parents, or even just involved parents, to interact with the Board.  There is always somewhat of a disconnect between administrations of schools and the families they serve.  It is a benefit to parents to have public officials to whom they can raise issues of perceived unfairness or problems at the school or to pass along kudos for work well done.  There should be a way for parents to go over the principal's head to the governing body of decision-makers - parents must be given the opportunity to be heard by officials other than those directly involved in the situation.

This is the issue that underlies most of the unhappiness in Binghampton over Cornerstone's school takeover.  Parents don't feel heard by the people who should be listening in the school administration, and the community feels that it has no recourse for what appear to be the school administration's arbitrary decisions that affect not just the school, but the community writ large.  The Shelby County School Board couldn't help them.  The Cornerstone Board does not have announced, public meetings.  The ASD also does not have public meetings, and in any event, they outsourced this particular school to a charter school.  The Cornerstone Board selected the principal and the Executive Director.  The Cornerstone Board is the only entity that can explain the policies and practices undertaken by the Cornerstone adminstrators, and that the Board has not taken any action to affirmatively engage with parents or the community in what should be public Board meetings is unfortunate.  Complaining to the principal is one thing, complaining to the decision makers is something else entirely.

I have two takeaways from this debacle.  One is that Cornerstone supporters are correct that a few isolated incidents should not brand all of the educators at Cornerstone as inexperienced taskmasters that can't tell the difference between a whiny child trying to get out of class and a bathroom emergency.  I would also offer that Cornerstone's hypothetical success, which we won't actually be able to confirm or deny until next summer's release of this year's TCAP scores, should not be viewed without taking into account the full picture of how Cornerstone treats ALL of its student body and the community from which these young children emerge.  If sacrifices have to be made on the altar of raising test scores, we should understand as a community exactly what those sacrifices are and whether we are actually willing to make them. 

The second has to do with Dr. Herenton.  Dr. Herenton has decided that retirement does not suit.  Dr. Herenton's applications to open nine charter schools were denied last year.  On appeal, the state approved all nine, and among the schools he will operate as part of the W.E.B. DuBois Consortium is a school for students incarcerated by Juvenile Court.  But Dr. Herenton has not rested on his charter school laurels, or on what must be an intense schedule to open so many schools in time for the 2013-14 school year.  At this week's School Board Business Meeting, General Counsel (now Interim MCS Superintendent) Dorsey Hopson announced that Dr. Herenton submitted a letter with petitions from the parents at two MCS schools requesting that the schools be taken over by Dr. Herenton's charter management organization.  More on this later, but I have to wonder if the ASD schools are subject to the current parent trigger law in Tennessee.  All it requires is the signatures of 60% of the parents, and approval from the school district.  Can a charter even takeover a charter?  Not that the ASD would approve it, but there's not exactly an exception to the rule written into the ASD's enabling legislation.  It can't be a good sign for Cornerstone that Dr. Herenton has taken an interest in the former Lester School campus.

Thinking More About Jones' Resolution for Pickler's Resignation

I've written on this subject twice - first, when I thought the resolution should have been publicly available, and second, when I'd had a chance to read it and form some thoughts.  I now find myself in the unusual position of writing on the subject - again - when there hasn't been any public progress on the story, but needing to clarify a few things.  A few suggestions have been made to me (in bold, below) about what is important and what is not, and it seems appropriate to tease those out.

The resolution acknowledges that Commissioner David Pickler has disclaimed any financial benefit related to the TSBA trust for which he may have otherwise been eligible.  Here's the resolution and accompanying documents.  In fact, a close reading shows that in the eighth paragraph of the resolution, Commissioner Pickler acknowledged being the "broker of record" but "disclaimed any financial interest or benefit from this arrangement."  We should take Commissioner Pickler's statement at face value.  His statement about not personally gaining any financial benefit, is different from the question about whether the company that bears his name, or any of his employees (whether in W-2 or 1099 status) directly financially benefitted from the trust being housed by Pickler Wealth Advisors.  There is also a distinction between a direct financial benefit like fees related to an account, and an indirect benefit such as those related to financial advisor's position with a particular mutual fund company (more money in more accounts can result in a preferred status).  So we still need to know what exactly Commissioner Pickler means when he says that he has not gained any financial benefit related to the $12 million investment.

The important part is that Commissioner David Pickler did not disclose his business relationship with the TSBA trust immediately prior to the June 26, 2012 vote.  The way that this argument goes is that even if Commissioner Pickler has gained no benefit, financial or otherwise, from holding the TSBA trust account, he had an affirmative obligation to disclose the business relationship prior to the vote.  I happen to strongly agree with this argument.  I suspect that we'll continue to hear the argument that Commissioner Pickler made the appropriate disclosure to the old iteration of the Shelby County School Board (as made by Commissioner Mike Wissman at the December meeting where the resolution was presented).  It will be important to understand when the disclosure was made, if, in fact, it was made.  But I would also argue that whenever a vote related to a TSBA trust that either is or could be managed by Pickler Wealth Advisors, Commissioner Pickler should make the disclosure in advance of every vote.  He should also take the extra step of recusing himself from the vote itself.  Business relationships, when they are engaged in by elected officials, cannot remain confidential (or undisclosed) when the elected office can benefit or in any way affect - positively or negatively - the business relationship.  Even if Commissioner Pickler disclosed this relationship to the old Board prior to the constitution of the current Board, or to a Committee in the near past, Commissioner Pickler should have made the disclosure again when the possibility of another trust with school money that could be managed by his firm arose.  He should make the disclosure every time, and recuse himself from the vote.  We'll have to wait for the Ethics Committee to make its findings about when Commissioner Pickler's previous disclosures were made, and whether the current Board would have had any reason to know of the business relationship in light of any previous disclosures.  Here in Memphis and Shelby County, we are used to opaque, undisclosed business relationships - but we shouldn't be.

The business relationship between Commissioner Pickler's firm's employee, Teresa Bailey, and the TSBA trust should be disclosed.  Commissioner Pickler does not appear to be running a law firm.  In a law firm, if Commissioner Pickler was "conflicted out" of a case, everyone in his firm would be "conflicted out" and the firm would be unable to work on the case.  Clearly, the rules must be different for financial advisors.  All of that said, Commissioner Pickler is an attorney and an elected public official.  Even if he makes no money and receives no benefit from his firm's management of the TSBA trust, Commissioner Pickler should have disclosed that his firm's employee would have a business relationship related to the $12 million investment.  Now that he has not made the disclosure - at least immediately prior to the June 26 vote by the full Board - in order to straighten this out, he should disclose all accounts with public school money that are under Ms. Bailey's purview, along with any fees or other financial arrangements that may have been made.  If Ms. Bailey receives any compensation, salary or commission, related to any TSBA trust accounts - directly from the funds, or indirectly through the firm - this compensation should be disclosed.  Though it should go without being said, if Commissioner Pickler receives any compensation, commission or otherwise, related to these trust accounts, this should also be disclosed.

Tangentially, I'll comment on one of the side stories of the Shelby County School Board's consideration of this matter.  Shortly after the resolution was mentioned at the December meeting, Commissioner Chris Caldwell stated that he "would not do this to his worst enemy."  My read on Commissioner Caldwell is that he views himself as above the petty political in-fighting and a voice of reason in these petty squabbles.  I've complained before about his problem-solving skills.  He must view Commissioner Jones' resolution as either ill-timed, or perhaps not the appropriate vehicle to address the allegations.  I might (depending on my mood) argue about a resolution asking for an immediate resignation, versus something like a resolution requesting an investigation.  Perhaps Commissioner Caldwell found distasteful the "splash" that occurred when the bomb of a resolution landed.  However, I'm sure that Commissioner Caldwell would agree that if any generic school board commissioner became aware of another commissioner's alleged undisclosed conflict of interest related to any amount of money, much less $12 million, that generic school board commissioner would have an affirmative obligation to address the allegations.  The failure to affirmatively address the allegation would be an ethical violation in and of itself.  Commissioner Caldwell might quibble with the method, but I don't think he should dispute the necessity of Commissioner Jones having raised the issue once it came to his attention.

And so we sit, waiting for word from the hastily composed Ethics Committee.  Perhaps they will meet this month . . .

Cornerstone Shocked at Backlash in Binghampton

Cornerstone Prep's worst week ever was the week before Christmas. 

There was the unfortunate group protest in front of the Shelby County School Board by parents and concerned community members.  This was followed, the next night, by a disastrous meeting at the Lester Community Center that ASD Supt. Chris Barbic acknowledged "was the worst meeting we've had."  The initial unhappiness at the School Board was not covered in the media - likely because of the other events at that particular meeting.  But the Lester Community Center meeting resulted in two articles in the Commercial Appeal:  here and here.

The titles themselves show that the times they may be a-changin' in terms of how Memphis community members feel about the coming ASD tide:  "Memphis parents lash out against Achievement School District leaders" and "State-appointed charter school getting heat in Binghamton".

Cornerstone has been feeling the heat.  Both locally and nationally - Diane Ravitch and EduShyster, among other national bloggers, have been following Cornerstone's controversy.

Since then, I've seen a couple of references to Cornerstone, though its name was not explicitly mentioned.  In this article about a young Memphis chess star, Zack McMillin explained that "the state's move to turn over Lester to an evangelical Christian charter school organization pushed Bulington's program to Frederick Douglass Elementary School, and Emmanuel and his fifth-grade sister, Shimera, were among the many promising chess players who put in for school transfers to follow him."  In another article on the same day, Mr. McMillin notes other departures from Lester to Douglass:  "Several kids followed Bulington from Lester specifically to continue their pursuit of the chess. Others from Lester's English as a Second Language program, many of them African immigrants, also left Lester when the state handed the school over to an evangelical Christian charter schools organization."

Cornerstone is facing criticism from at least two fronts:  one is the rising criticism of the ASD and its methods of selecting schools and then "turning" them "around", the other is Cornerstone's methods and policies within the school and its interactions with the state.

For me, the question is why the ASD chose Lester School last year, when its focus was on Frayser's feeder patterns, and why it selected Cornerstone, a private religious school with only two years of teaching students (less when it was selected) that had never administered a TCAP and had only ever admitted kindergarteners and first graders.  This year, the question is why the ASD selected Lester Middle, a school not on its published list of possible takeover schools, and then announced it several days after the big press conference.  All of that smacks of sneakiness - though the ASD is correct that this is all within the powers delegated to it by the state legislature when it enabled the Race to the Top application and accepted the First to the Top designation.  The ASD is doing what it was designed to do.

In terms of Cornerstone, my question is whether the supporters of Cornerstone would stand for their own children to be treated in the highly regimented way that students at Cornerstone are treated.  Parents and children who are experiencing it describe it as "bootcamp."  I do not agree that children living in poverty and attending underperforming schools must be treated more roughly (or even more strictly) than children in the suburbs in order to get them to learn.  I also question whether the supporters of Cornerstone fully understand the behind-the-scenes lobbying that is taking place in order for Cornerstone to be in the position it has attained.  Supporters of Cornerstone clearly do not understand that by signing on with the ASD, they have aligned themselves with a politically controversial plan and method.  My sense is that they find themselves shocked that the Binghampton community has not welcomed them with open arms, and stunned that their motivations and methods are being questioned.  Changing the name of a well-loved school has turned out to be viewed as insulting. That there is a cross in the logo of Cornerstone has not instilled confidence in Cornerstone's proclamations that it is not trying to provide religious education. 

I think that most (if not all) supporters of Cornerstone are good people who are interested in trying to do the right thing by the children attending the former Lester School.  But the fact is that successful programs at Lester have had to be relocated to other schools because Cornerstone either won't support them, or because not enough children in the non-Cornerstone grades participate (because there are no longer enough of them).  There is also a distinction between supporters of Cornerstone and the leaders of Cornerstone - leaders who really should know better.  These leaders, Drew Sippel & Tom Marino among others, have done the reading and have picked a side in a highly contentious and highly political discussion.  That Cornerstone is getting some push back should be no surprise to them, given the heavy-handed way that Cornerstone has moved into Lester, and especially given the heavy-handed approach they have adopted toward classroom management and community relations.

All of that said, Commercial Appeal writer Mr. McMillin walks a fine line when he calls Cornerstone an "evangelical Christan charter school organization."  Methodists are not exactly evangelicals (usually) - at least not in comparison to other main line denominations, and are certainly not comparable in evangelical-ness (evangelical-icity?) to the number of non-denominational churches that exist in Memphis.  "Evangelical" means something other than just being Christian.  While Cornerstone was founded by proud Christians who wanted a private, religious school for underprivileged kids, under the law, Cornerstone is no longer permitted to provide any religious instruction because it is now a secular, public school.  If Cornerstone is operating in an evangelical way - limiting employment to Christians or making Christianity a condition of employment, encouraging Bible study (even before or after school), or proselytizing in any way to its captive audience of public school students - then those are serious allegations and must be addressed in short order by the ASD.  For the record, I would argue that any officially sanctioned prayer at staff meetings would be crossing the line in a publicly funded, secular institution, whether they occur off-site or on-site.  I am not aware of any such allegations.  But that's the implication when a charter school that is not permitted engage in religious activity at a public school is referred to as an "evangelical Christian charter school organization."  Then there's the overtly religious language that remains on the Cornerstone website does not serve Cornerstone in its efforts to quell concerns that it is taking an evangelical approach to educating its public school students.  (They'll scrub it eventually, but at the link, newly-minted Principal Lisa Settle is quoted as saying:  "I do not take this job of being principal of Cornerstone Preparatory School lightly. Moreover, it’s not just a job, this was truly orchestrated by God and I am where He wants me to be. I am doing what He wants me to do and I am humbled by the opportunity.  Why am I doing this? I am doing this because I must. I am an educator and I am a leader. I am doing this because my prayer is and always has been 'Use me Lord …'")

For the sake of all of the students attending school within the walls of the former Lester School, I hope - as much as the next person - that they are receiving an education that will position them for success in life.  Given the staggering amount of public resources being devoted to Cornerstone (and other ASD schools), along with the significant private philanthropic support that the charters raise on their own, on top of the normal state and local public funding per student, we have every right to expect great things - and no less than adequately educated students.  My preference would be that Cornerstone had remained a tuition-based private religious school where parents understood what they were signing up for (because they had to sign up) - an arena where its leaders and supporters are considerably more comfortable, but here's hoping they sort out their community relations problem, their classroom management issues, and begin to understand what obligations they have to the public when they accept public money.  But let's not pretend that it's a fair comparison to what traditional public schools are required to do with the limited resources reluctantly bestowed by the state and the County Commission, or that Cornerstone is the underdog.

Jones vs. Pickler, Part 56, or Part Bajillion, or Whatever

School Board Commissioners David Pickler and Martavius Jones are surely shocked to find that their names will be forever linked in the histories that people will write about what has happened in the school systems in Memphis and Shelby County.  We've watched their relationship play out in public over the course of the last two two or so years.  It's hard to say how well they knew each other before this merger mania overtook all civil discussion regarding education in this region, but they've spent a lot of time together since late 2010.  Poor guys.

They've debated each other.  They've negotiated with each other in Judge Mays' chambers.  They've served on the TPC together, jointly chairing the Administrative Organization Committee, and sat next to each other as one of the school board's "odd couples."  My read is that they mostly don't like each other, but that they are both professionals who manage to tolerate each other in public.

Whatever personal detente they managed to forge as other parties duke it out in federal court to figure out what the school district will look like in 2013-14 and future years, it will be interesting to see how they interact going forward in light of the bomb that Commissioner Jones dropped at the most recent school board meeting.  As I wrote previously, Commissioner Jones basically claims that Commissioner Pickler voted in a favor of a resolution that personally financially benefitted Commissioner Pickler, without any disclosure of what Commissioner Jones calls a conflict of interest.  Here, again, is a full copy of the resolution.

Commissioner Jones clearly believes that he's got something on Commissioner Pickler, and I was surprised to read that this little maneuver almost didn't happen.  Commissioner Jones is a smart, talented guy (whatever else you've heard), and he's politically minded enough that he would not take the drastic step of calling out Commissioner Pickler (also smart and talented) in this way unless he believed there was some "there" there.  So the allegations deserve a look.

The allegations are that Commissioner Pickler voted in favor of a resolution that invested $12 million in a Tennessee School Board Association trust - a trust managed by Commissioner's wealth management company, in an account that generates fees that financially benefit Commissioner Pickler's company (and Commissioner Pickler).  The crux of the alleged wrongdoing is that Commissioner Pickler failed to disclose, as he is obligated to do, that he would benefit financially if the resolution passed.  [January 6, 2013 update:  I didn't do a great job of explaining this issue in this post, but tried to better explain it here.]

Hmmm.

As I said in my previous post, it comes down to whether or not Commissioner Jones is right about whether Commissioner Pickler is making any money on this $12 million investment.  It may very well be that Commissioner Pickler waived any fees (or other financial benefits) from managing this particular trust, and that his wealth management company manages the trust gratis.  The supporting documentation provided with the resolution only shows the opening of the accounts, and do not reflect any fees or payments collected by Commissioner Pickler or his company.  The supporting documentation only shows that Pickler Wealth Advisors, specifically Teresa Bailey (Executive Vice President and Senior Planning Partner) manage the accounts that make up the TSBA trust.

That's one possibility - and the only possibility where Commissioner Pickler comes out clean as a whistle.  Any other possibility - even the entirely legal ones - will likely cause Commissioner Pickler some grief.

Commissioner Pickler is an attorney, as well as the owner of a wealth management company.  The rules for attorneys and financial advisors are different, though there is some overlap.  In addition to abiding by those rules, and figuring out which of those rules to abide by at any given moment, Commissioner Pickler also has to abide by the ethical rules and obligations related to his public service.  Not making excuses, but it's important that we understand that even though something might be problematic for an attorney, it may be less problematic for a financial advisor.  And there may or may not be a relationship to the rules that govern Commissioner Pickler's public service.

The best practice is to disclose any fact that may indicate even the appearance of impropriety, and to recuse oneself from voting on matters that would provide a direct benefit.  That's not the exact rule for attorneys, financial advisor, or public servants - but that's what we should expect of all of them.

Among the other possibilities of what happened are:

• Commissioner Pickler previously disclosed the relationship between his company and the trust to the old Shelby County School Board, but did not make the disclosure anew in front of the newly constituted Shelby County School Board.  At the time of the resolution, Commissioner Mike Wissman suggested that "everyone" knew about this relationship except Commissioner Jones.
• Commissioner Pickler waived all fees that the wealth management company could collect, but did not waive the fees specifically due to Ms. Bailey as the manager of the account.  This would mean that an individual at Commissioner Pickler's company did benefit from the management of the trust.  This would also mean that while Commissioner Pickler would not have financially benefitted (directly) from holding the trust, he may have benefitted professionally from the prestige of managing a TSBA trust.  That probably would not run afoul of the rules for lawyers, financial advisors, or public officials - but would, nonetheless, be a benefit that I would argue that Commissioner Pickler should have disclosed.  Particularly, if the amount of assets that Commisisoner Pickler's company managed would impact his standing among or arrangements with the financial services companies with which Pickler Wealth Management is involved.

There are likely other permutations of the arrangement between Commissioner Pickler, the TSBA, the trust, his company and its employees, and the various disclosures Commissioner Pickler may have previously made.

I'm reassured that Vice-Chair Teresa Jones is on the Ethics Committee that will investigate the allegations - she's an attorney and will recognize the various sets of rules at play.  Commissioner Pickler should be relieved that his long-time colleague and political ally Commissioner David Reaves is also on the committee.  Commissioner Reggie Love is somewhat of an unknown, but we have no reason to doubt his ability to be fair in this matter.

Anything less than a complete refutation of Commissioner Pickler and his company making any money off of this arrangement - even if acceptable under the rules - will cause some problems for Commissioner Pickler.  In that scenario, even if he's not facing any discipline from any of the bodies that could discipline him, it could make it more difficult for him to operate politically in this very important next legislative session in Nashville.  So far, all of the parties involved have managed to avoid any taint of impropriety (beyond fundamental policy and factual disagreements).  Even the appearance of actual, financial impropriety will be unfortunate, even if it's legal.  Commissioner Pickler is also the president-elect of the National School Board Association - he's got a lot riding on this coming out in his favor.  And perhaps Commissioner M. Jones doesn't much care if Commissioner Pickler is officially cleared as long as the political connections to Nashville suffer.

I guess we'll find out . . .

Martavius Jones Declares War on David Pickler

Tuesday night's Shelby County School Board meeting was crazy.  ONE of the reasons that the Board did not begin working on its agenda for over two hours after its start time was due to a surprise resolution from Martavius Jones.

The resolution was to ask for the immediate resignation of School Board Commissioner, and former Chair/President David Pickler.  The result was the constitution of a long-dormant ethics committee, to be made up of Vice-Chair Teresa Jones, Commissioner David Reaves, and newly-named Commissioner Reggie Love.

Commissioner M. Jones basically claims that Commissioner Pickler voted in a favor of a resolution that personally financially benefitted Commissioner Pickler, without any disclosure of what Commissioner M. Jones calls a conflict of interest.  [January 6, 2013 update:  here's a better explanation of the issue.]

My full commentary on this resolution will follow, but since I haven't seen it posted in the media, please feel free to read it here.  My first thought is that it depends on whether Commissioner M. Jones has his facts correct.  Commissioner Pickler told the Board (while commenting much later during the meeting) that he would provide a full report on the allegations in the resolution in the near future.

I guess we'll find out.

I've been discouraged that even though this resolution was read into "the record" at Tuesday night's meeting, the document does not appear to be publicly available.  It is, without a doubt, a public document.  None of the media has published it, and it is not available on the website of either Memphis City Schools or Shelby County Schools.  Whether the resolution passes or not, and particularly because it is the subject of a committee's formation and what will be the committee's investigation, the public should have had immediate access to the full document and its supporting documentation.

Sorry Gordon Parents, the Decision Was Made Last Spring

The Achievement School District's public relations staff has been working hard to make you think that they are involved in a community engagement process that will inform the ASD's decision making process on which 10 of the 14 schools to takeover and turnaround, and which charter groups will take which schools.  That's their "community matching" process. 

The song and dance got off to a disastrous start with parents declining to engage in "break-out sessions" and peppering ASD officials with hostile questions.  Since the initial roll-out of community meetings on November 8 and the week of November 12, the ASD has been on radio silence.  We should take them at their word that their Achievement Advisory Commission has been meeting in private to decide on their recommendations for which schools to take over.  But that process has not been public.  We've been told to expect the AAC's recommendations the week of December 10, with the state's actual decision to come the week of December 17.

Should we be surprised to find out that at least some of the decisions have already been made?  That there's been a shadow process running parallel to the public process?  That the decisions were not public at the time that they were made?  That the ASD and MCS cut a deal?

The first thing to understand is that the ASD is not only a turnaround model.  Five of its six schools in this, its first year, are pretty strict turnarounds.  The ASD has taken over, or partially taken over, five school buildings with the students in it.  But one of those schools, the Gordon Science and Arts Academy, run by Gestalt, did not take over an existing school.  GSAA is a middle school that serves only children that were previously attending bottom 5% schools, and pulls from several middle schools - instead of simply taking over an existing middle school.  GSAA is housed within an under-enrolled elementary school - Gordon Elementary School.

What we found at last Thursday's Special Call meeting on the school closures is that the ASD wanted to takeover Humes Middle School.  The ASD does not need cooperation from the school district in deciding what schools to take over, but in this case, it seems that the ASD granted Superintendent Kriner Cash's request not to take Humes.  It's on the closure list now with less than 20% enrollment, but Dr. Cash does not intend that the building be shuttered.  Humes, attended by Elvis Presley, is the subject of a new proposal to turn it into a music and arts optional school.  Seems that MCS just didn't want to let go of that storied building.  So they cut a deal.  The ASD wanted middle school kids, but agreed not to take Humes.  This resulted in the special situation at Gordon Elementary.

According to parent and teacher speakers at last week's Special Call meeting, teachers and families were assured that this unusual situation would not affect Gordon Elementary students going forward - that it was just a matter of cohabitation.  Gordon Elementary is not in the bottom 5%, so imagine parents' and teachers' surprise to find out that Gordon Elementary Could be closed, and that the Gordon Elementary School building would be given over to the ASD - to be used by the expanding Gordon Science and Arts Academy. 

This. Counts.  This counts as a school closed so that it can used by the ASD.  It's not a takeover of an existing school because of poor performance.  This is MCS cutting a deal to save the Humes building, that involves giving over a non-bottom-5% school building to a "school district" that's supposed to be turning around only bottom-5% schools.  Sorry, Gordon Elementary, you're the sacrificial lamb - without the courtesy of an ASD community engagement process (non-courteous though that process may be).

As if all of that weren't bad enough.  MCS cut this deal last school year.  And they told a lot of people.  Not the teachers and parents affected by the deal, but a lot of other people.  Including The Boston Consulting Group.

Yes, Gordon Elementary School parents and teachers, MCS told BCG (and the TPC) before giving any indication to you of their intentions.  How do we know?  Attached to last week's Special Call meeting agenda was a previously unreleased document generated by BCG.  (It's available on the Shelby County School Board website, but I've downloaded it and reposted it just to keep it publicly available.)  The document is the mystery list of possible school closures that make up BCG's TPC Recommendation #113.  It's dated June 20, 2012. 

On Page Eight of the June BCG presentation, Gordon Elementary is listed as under-enrolled with the designation "becoming an ASD charter".

We know that the Page Eight listing is not exactly correct because it also lists Cypress Middle School as "becoming an ASD charter".  This is, apparently, no longer the case.  But it was disclosed to someone at BCG either by someone at the ASD or by someone at MCS.  It is currently unclear why Cypress Middle was spared by the ASD.  But we now know why Gordon Elementary is not being spared.

It's possible that the Shelby County School Board could still save Gordon Elementary - the vote on whether to include Gordon on the list was closer than on the other schools.  Gordon is still under-enrolled - at around 50% capacity when we don't count the GSAA kids.  Gordon Elementary may or may not be an appropriate school closure on its own merits.  But taking into account this "deal" that has only now been made public, Memphis City Schools, Dr. Cash, and the ASD all suffer hits to their credibility in the important discussions about what schools should be closed and which schools will be taken over by the ASD.

It's easy to be paranoid about conspiracies in the current environment.  But, sorry to say, Gordon Elementary:  it's not paranoia if they're actually after you.

Jan. 20, 2013 UPDATE:  Gordon Elementary Got Its Pardon

Is BCG Back in Memphis?

A friend of mine who attended the School Board meeting last night swears up and down that she saw one of the Boston Consulting Group's consultants at the School Board meeting last night.

At the September School Board meeting, the Board briefly discussed whether to issue an RFP in order to hire a management consultant.  As I recall, no decision was made.  At that meeting, Dr. Tim Setterlund stated that even though a management consultant would cost millions of dollars (at least five million dollars), he was certain that the funds could be raised from local philanthropists.

No RFP was issued.  But BCG is here?  How?  Are they working for the district?  In what capacity?  And who's bankrolling it?  And with no public discussion?

Big Day for TPC Recommendations Tomorrow

At the last school board meeting (Oct. 30 Business Meeting), a "Special Call" meeting was announced for tomorrow, November 15, 2012.  Here's the agenda.  There's a committee to be appointed.  But the big news is that there's going to be a big update (and hopefully, discussion) of the TPC recommendations.

Here is the useless, uninformative document that is attached to the TPC agenda item.  The agenda item itself states only that "It is recommended that the Shelby County Board of Education approve the recommendations from the Transition Steering Committee (TSC)."

We're clearly still having some transparency issues.  The document lists the recommendations and has a "progress tracker" next to each recommendation.  The progress tracker is color-coded.  There is no explanation of what the color code is - just the actual colors.  For example, it's unclear if "red" means that the TSC is recommending that the recommendation not be pursued, if there's been no progress, or if the Board decision has been made.

Several of the recommendations that have already been passed have the designation of "addressed," others have "yellow" or "green".

I am convinced that the TSC will, tomorrow, as part of its presentation, explain what all of this means.  The problem is that the agenda and the document still do not indicate to the public what will actually be discussed at the meeting tomorrow - whether they should show up, whether they should speak, or even whether they agree with the School Board or district staff on the particular issues that are most important to them.

There is plenty that is good in the TPC recommendations. There is also plenty that is controversial - items that would be properly classified as part of the privatized, corporatized education reform movement. Somehow, the TPC managed to adopt these recommendations without having the real discussion about where these "reforms" originate, what the unintended consequences may be, what the actual impacts have been, and whether these recommendations are the right route to take. The TPC's shortcut was to look at the current state information carefully assembled by BCG, and then jump to a discussion of BCG's recommendations. The TPC's review of BCG's recommendations seems to have consisted of "wow, that sounds like a really good idea!" instead of any sort of critical analysis. Some of the committees were divided in what they submitted to the full TPC, but the TPC unanimously adopted its plan.

The TPC lost its first critical fight for its plan when it became clear that the School Board would not take an up or down vote on the plan. The TPC's best shot at getting some of the more painful, locally controversial recommendations adopted (for instance, the recommendation to close 21 schools, or the outsourcing recommendations - both currently classified as "green" in the document for tomorrow's school board meeting) was to avoid consideration of the recommendations one by one. SCSB Commissioner Kenneth Whalum proposed early on that the recommendations be considered one by one. He withdrew the related resolution, but the writing was on the wall. By the time the district staff submitted its proposed process for how it would work through the recommendations, it had been decided that the School Board would consider the recommendations piece by piece.

I think that's the right way to go, but it's the harder way to go.  And so far, the Shelby County School Board is missing its mark in trying to unwrap these recommendations in an open, transparent process.

 

Taxpayer Money Funding ASD PR Machine

I wouldn't normally encourage anyone to spend any time in the comments sections of our esteemed local periodicals.  It's of course hilarious that some of Memphis' most talented attorneys are chomping at the bit to get in up to their eyeballs with these commenters, but we'll have to see how Judge Mays comes out on that open question.

But something interesting is happening in the comments section of the Commercial Appeal.  Here's the first article (Oct. 22) where I noticed commenters engaged with a commenter named "AchievementCommunications".  The Commercial Appeal keeps a "user profile" on commenters that lets readers see all of the comments that a particular commenter makes on any article they commented on.  So I took a look at "AchievementCommunications"'s user profile, and sure enough, it looks like they are the real deal and actually employed by the Achievement School District.  This ASD employee actually gives a surprising amount of personal identifying information.  For instance:

On March 5, 2012 at 9:16 a.m.:  "I personally worked with Chris in Houston and my 6th grade class had 35 students in it, and yet, was still expected to perform with my students."  Hmmm.

Looks like AchievementCommunications doesn't post much, and many of the posts contain the boilerplate charter language.  You know, the usual.

Here's an example from March 5, 2012 at 9:23 a.m.:  "At the Achievement Schools, we are going to build a world-class organization for teachers. In fact, one of our goals is to become an employer of choice in education and be validated as one of Tennessee's best places to work. We accomplished this with our work in Houston and hope to bring some of those same lessons here. At the Achievement Schools, our teachers will be working on big challenges and will be surrounded by great colleagues. They will have managers that invest in their developments and they will have a lot of fun serving our students. We are excited to recruit the top performers in Memphis and from around the country to focus on what we feel like is the most compelling job in education: creating a system of schools in Tennessee that perform in the top 25%."

But in the Oct. 22 article about the low MAP scores (linked above), AchievementCommunications made clear that his/her role is at least partly one of containment.  Commenters apparently objected to a government official being paid to monitor and respond to comments on a media website - like this one:  "I like your spin, Mr. State-Funded ASD PR Machine. Thrilled to know that our tax dollars (taken directly from MCS) are being spent so that a PR person can monitor and respond to posts on media sites. If you're working after your usual hours, they really should pay you overtime." 

After a second attack by the same commenter on another article, the ASD eventually responded here with this:  "[T]hese are interesting thoughts. Our approach is to be a part of the conversation happening online. We find this kind of conversation rich and important. It helps us learn and it helps us clarify misunderstandings and misconceptions. In fact, we are cost evangelists. Our support team is light and flexible and 100% of the money gets sent to our schools first. Our principals decide which services benefit their students most and then pay back into those services. Does that help clarify? If not, you can email me at [email address] I can help explain that model. We feel like keeping open and honest lines of communication with the community is incredibly important."

Hmmmm.

Let's not take our eyes off of the ball here.

What the ASD is posting is not as important as the fact that they ARE posting.  Everyone knows that the commenters hide behind their handles for a reason.  Best case, they are provocateurs (even better - with some inside knowledge).  Worst case, they are trolls.  I've only seen a few people post under their real names - Ken Hoover (Germantown schools guy) and Kenya Bradshaw (TN Executive Director of Stand for Children) come to mind.  So I guess I admire the ASD's honesty and willingness to own their comments.  Have to give them that.

But I have to agree with the commenter that wrote:  "I understand having a PR department. We don't want teachers and principals losing instruction time responding to media requests. I'm not even opposed to a true PR professional working with media to try to place positive stories. However, this is something else entirely. Every dollar that this individual is paid is a dollar not being expended on student achievement. And that is a conscious decision made by the ASD. And that is a big difference between the approaches of public education and the charter mindset. The charter mindset is as much about positive PR and directing public discussion in a "purposeful" way as it is about what actually happens in the classroom. And they are willing to spend the money to do it, and are allowed to do it because they do not have the same level of public oversight and scrutiny to which traditional public education (and their budgets) are subjected. Disgraceful."

So AchievementCommunications is not a trained PR or marketing lackey - by his or her own admission, s/he was a classroom teacher in Houston for at least some period of time.  So maybe the ASD is just making up their PR plan as they go along.

But this Houston transplant is not bad at propaganda.  Just from the excerpts I've posted, the talking points are clear.  They're also not bad at deflection.  They'll reply to part of a comment or part of a question, without getting to the meat of the disagreement.  But what they really want to do is take dissent offline.  They offer their email address along with the opportunity to fully flesh out the important discussions taking place.  For those commenters that take them up on it, it just might keep their complaints off of the comments section (where they can't egg on other troublemakers) and it definitely keeps the ASD's more detailed response from having to be publicly aired.

But maybe the ASD PR department doesn't like being called out by the commenters.  AchievementCommunications hasn't commented on an article since October 25.  And the heat is up since the ASD announced that it was taking over 10 more schools.  Those articles, with some very unfavorable comments, are still pending a response from AchievementCommunications.  But maybe the ASD has changed its policy on worktime internet usage and/or governmental supervision of online comments.

So that leaves the ASD with just its usual PR plan. 

What do you mean that you haven't friended the ASD on Facebook yet?

ASD Tripling in Size for 2013-14. You're Welcome, Memphis.

Yesterday, Jane Roberts covered the ASD's takeover of 10 more MCS schools.  This year, MCS transferred five schools to the Achievement School District, and Nashville transferred one.  The ASD plans for 18 schools next year, but I haven't yet seen it reported where the remaining two schools are located in Tennessee.  Despite the ASD's ability to employ a variety of PR professionals, there is nothing about this expansion on their website as of this writing, a full day after the article appeared online at the Commercial Appeal.

Unlike last year, where the ASD unilaterally announced which schools it was taking, this year, a "panel of citizens serving on the Achievement Advisory Council will recommend which schools should be taken over and which charter operators might best serve the community. ASD leaders will make the final decision and announce the matches Dec. 17.  Officials are hosting a series of meetings Thursday to explain the matching process and gather public comment about what Memphians want the schools to be."  The Achievement Advisory Council will be choosing 10 schools from a list of 14.

Last year the shadiness of the ASD's selection centered around its stated plan to want to affect feeder patterns.  It took five schools in one feeder pattern in Frayser.  But it also took one school not anywhere close to that feeder pattern.  The one NOT in the feeder pattern claims to have been founded in 2009, but did not serve any students until the 2010-11 school year when it operated as a private, religious school.  It operated for two years, serving kindergarteners in its first year, and kindergarterners and first graders in its second year.  Having taken over the lower grades of Lester Elementary in its third year of existence (and without ever administering a TCAP), Cornerstone Prep now serves K-3.  Associated very closely with prominent East Memphis church, Christ United Methodist Church and with Staley Cates' Poplar Foundation, Cornerstone Prep has some useful political connections.  Just to connect the dots:  Staley Cates was Governor Haslam's appointee to the TPC.

So is there hope this year for a more transparent, less political process?  Perhaps.  Sounds like the meetings are hosted by the ASD, but it is not clear that anyone on the Achievement Advisory Council would attend, or whether they are interested in actual public input on which schools should be selected.  "[G]ather[ing] public comment about what Memphis want the schools to be" is very different from being at all interested in whether Memphians want the ASD in their neighborhoods, and is an overt acknowledgment that neighborhoods will not have the choice to keep their schools - even where they are experiencing significant improvment - in the same form that they currently exist.

And lest we not forget, MCS is considering what to do with the TPC's recommendation to close 21 schools in the NW and SW quadrants of Memphis.  Superintendent Kriner Cash has openly scoffed at the recommendation, and seems to be compiling his own list in the 6-8 school range - independently, of course, from the joint Transition Steering Committee which one might have guessed would lead that decision-making process.  So why wouldn't the ASD want to go ahead and decide - independently of any actions ongoing in the district - what it wants to do, and force the district staff to adjust?

I suspect that the ASD would want you to know about its five meetings in five days in neighborhoods throughout Memphis.  Sounds like a good community engagement plan, right?  Except that two of the meetings were earlier tonight, both at the same time, and the next three are on Monday all at the same time.  That's a little divide-and-conquer for you.  Any troublemakers will get a comparatively small audience, there might be a slightly different message at each, and any organized effort to populate the meetings (hello, MEA) will be thwarted - all while the ASD proclaims its efforts to get to know the neighborhoods.  I'm already getting rumblings that the meeting at Pursuit of God Church did not go well, and that the crowd was unfriendly.  Wish I could have gone, but let's hope that a reporter was there to tell us what happened - since even if I'd gone to one meeting, I wouldn't have known what happened at the other . . .

Not having attended a meeting (YET) - I'm very interested in how the ASD will attempt to control the conversation.  Will they require identifying information before taking the comments?  Will they want questions written out on index cards?  Will they offer brainstorming opportunities in small groups to keep anyone from addressing the larger group?

So this is not the post where I air my [litany of] grievances against the ASD - Festivus is still over a month away, after all.  But it must be mentioned that the ASD has very real consequences on the schools that it takes over.  The article mentions that staff were notified of the possible change "out of respect" and that teachers were encouraged to apply to work for the ASD.  So let's be clear what this is about:  ten MCS schools are closing, and the building staff (mainly made up of teachers) is being told that they likely will not have jobs at those schools next year.  Since MCS is not currently considering an external hiring freeze, the teaching staff at 10 schools will be competing for jobs in the newly merged school district against the next cohort of Teach for America Memphis and new grads.  The MEA contract expires next summer, so as of next fall, it is unclear whether seniority will still be a thing.  This means layoffs, and at least some layoffs of effective teachers who are unable to find jobs in the merged district. 

So while Memphis is still trying to decide whether it should be grateful for the ASD or not, the ASD is giving us a hearty "You're Welcome."  Nothing to see here, keep moving, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.