0 Fact-Check John Connolly: Boston's Not for Sale! Or Is It?

The past two days of more political spin has left me wondering if people really buy it. I don't, because I realize that Mr. Connolly has been accepting outside money for several years thanks to the Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) - both the national group as well as the Massachusetts group recently. Also, I wonder if the spokes-Mom in NECN's story has asked Mr. Connolly "who are they" regarding the donors as well as what DFER, Stand for Children and all their contributors who helped pay for quite a bit of Mr. Connolly's campaign expect in return from him as she asked during the news segment of the groups backing Mr. Walsh's campaign? I also wonder if the Connolly supporters even realize that Mr. Connolly has actually been getting funding for his campaigns from outside Boston since 2011? 

At any rate, my fact-checking shows pretty clearly that despite how Mr. Connolly would like to spin the latest news regarding the new "One Boston" political committee that has bought media time for Mr. Walsh, the reality is that he is doing the same thing. 

So, if Boston IS indeed for sale, now you need to ask yourself: which groups are more likely to care about what actual Bostonians care about? Those funded by a group whose purpose is to help give voice to the average working American regarding issues important to them such as good jobs, affordable health care, education, retirement security, corporate accountability and real democracy as Working America does, or those being funded by the investment groups and foundations like Stand for Children (see the article about SFC's dramatic change in focus) who are very similar to those who helped lead our country into the financial crisis of 2008? 

You get to voice your choice tomorrow - make sure to get out and VOTE! 

John Connolly via bounce.myngp.com	3:21 PM (12 minutes ago)
to me

Dear Friends, Just last week, an anonymous SuperPAC bought a half million dollars worth of television ads on behalf of my opponent. We don’t know who’s behind this shadowy special interest group. We don’t know what they expect in exchange for all that money. We just know that this is wrong. And moms, dads and kids from across Boston aren’t standing for it.See what they had to say at our rally yesterday: They’re right. Boston is not for sale.  Please stand up against these special interests by voting tomorrow, November 5. Use your vote to send the message that outside anonymous money has no place in our election. Sincerely, John R. Connolly Boston City Councilor At-Large ConnollyForBoston.com P.S. Please click here and sign up to volunteer on Election Day.

Paid for and Authorized by The Connolly Committee

The Connolly Committee
P.O. Box 320550
Boston, MA 02132

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Contribute Now to January 2011: Boston City Councilor John Connolly

by DFER Reformer of the Month

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DFER's mission is to encourage a more productive dialogue within the Democratic Party on the need to fundamentally reform American public education. Each month, we identify one candidate who is standing up for meaningful reform and innovation, and we help demonstrate the broad base of support for his or her efforts. Please give as generously as you can.

January 2011: City Councilor John Connolly

It’s exciting to see dramatic changes in Boston. In the 90’s, the Hub was an original incubator for ed reform ideas. But charter schools eventually hit their cap and statewide complacency set in, and the wheels fell off the reform truck.

In the last few weeks, though, Mayor Tom Menino has been talking tough about a new teachers contract that would extend the school day, give principals more hiring leeway, and tie teacher pay to student performance. It’s spurred a debate Boston really hasn’t seen before.

These changes are on the table today because of the work of a Boston City Councilor, John Connolly. John, who chairs the city’s education committee, orchestrated an eight-hour hearing on the 255 page union contract. He called parents, students, community organizers, and education experts to testify about the importance of a longer school day. In the process, he completely reset the agenda.

John is a dyed-in-the-wool ed reformer. He grew up in Boston and went to Harvard, where he wrote his thesis on charter schools. He even taught at a charter school before running for a seat on the council.

Here’s the rub: Connolly is up for reelection this year. Don’t think for a second that the deep-rooted special interests in Boston will just let this happen. What John needs right now is money. Contribution limits are low in Boston, so every dollar goes an especially long way.

John Connolly

https://secure.actblue.com/page/dferjanuary11

http://ocpf.cloudapp.net/Filers?q=connolly&cat=C

0 Email Response from John Connolly to BPS Students' Email

As you may recall, on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, one week after Rhianwen had sent John Connolly, mayoral candidate, an email with her concerns about his positions regarding education in Boston, I posted that email as part of an article on the Patch. I did so because Rhianwen had not received even a courtesy response to her email from the man who claims he will be the "education mayor" and that he "will bring students in so their voices can be heard" if he is elected.

Roughly 12 hours after posting the Patch article, Mr. Connolly did finally respond to Rhianwen, which she received when she got on the computer Thursday night. I did text Mr. Connolly on Friday to ask that I be allowed to post his response here, as I am a fair person. To date I have received no response to that request, but again, because I like to be fair, I am posting it now for all to read:

Dear Rhianwen,

Thank you so much for reaching out to me.  I apologize for the delay in getting back to you, but the campaign keeps me very busy plus I try to spend some time with my three kids, including my new baby Mary Kate, so sometimes I fall behind on emails.  Thanks for your understanding.

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your school year at the Irving and that you are doing well.  I am running for mayor because I believe that every student deserves a great education and I will work incredibly hard to ensure that students with an IEP, ELL students, all of your friends at the Irving, and children all across the city have access to a great school.  The ELT and other great programs at the Irving seem to be working well for you and your classmates and I want to make sure that every young person in Boston loves school as much as you do.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Best Regards,
John

I will leave it up to each of you to decide whether Mr. Connolly's response answered Rhianwen's concerns or not.

I can be reached via email at bpsnightmare@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter: @bpsnightmare.

0 A Boston Public School Student's Email to John Connolly, Mayoral Candidate

During Tuesday night's mayoral debate on WGBH, John Connolly made the statement: "I will bring students in so their voices can be heard." This reminded me to ask my daughter Rhianwen if she had received a response to her email sent to Mr. Connolly a week ago. She has not.  

Background: Rhianwen is 12, an extremely smart, loving, giving and thoughtful child who has known Mr. Connolly through my volunteer work in Boston Public Schools, especially the Roslindale Pathway, since 2009. Rhianwen has also attended the majority of school SPC/SSC and pathway meetings as well as the school committee, school choice community and EAC meetings for the past two years. Hence, my 7th grader knows far more about education policies and issues than most adults do. Over the past 7 months, Rhianwen became very involved with the mayoral race, working on a mayoral campaign herself. Rhianwen is not shy and has always spoken up about issues that concern her or to defend something or someone when necessary as she is fiercely protective and loyal. 

All of the above said, Rhianwen is also a child with special needs, who struggled for years to pass from one grade to the next and constantly would tell us that she was "dumb" and "stupid" no matter what we tried to tell her and what other successes she experienced. Since 1st grade Rhianwen has been receiving at least 45 minutes per day of services, every single day of school. Toward the end of 4th grade things started to change and she was able to really start showing, via her work, how smart she is (which everyone knew, but it was not evident via tests or classwork consistently.) This came about because Rhianwen has always worked hard and tried to do her best, but also thanks to help from the fabulous teachers and specialists at both the Mozart and Irving public schools. Over the past year Rhianwen has finally begun to experience more consistent success in school with her academics, yet even now she struggles with organization and writing, so she does not really like writing all that much.

Given the above, you can imagine my surprise last Wednesday night when she stated that she had written an email to John Connolly. I asked her to share it with me, so I am now sharing it with all of you:

From: rhianwen

Date: Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 9:33 PM

Subject: MY VOICE HEARD

To: info@connollyforboston.com

Hello Im hopeing this goes straight to John Connolly him self. Im a 12 year old kid in Public schools and I want to be  heard Now Mr. Connolly please do not make my schools go into the dump for one I love my school how it is and I know you want to raise the charter cap thingy but please I want to tell you how important Public schools are to me. They are where I have my friends my help because I am on an IEP and I don’t want no charter schools to take away my love of my schools now. Please Don’t take away my education because I want a successful future and with no public schools no city year and stuff like that it will be harder for me to work. I got to the Washington Irving Middle School. Please don’t take the one thing I care about so much away from me.   To contact me email me at <removed to avoid spam>

I am very proud of Rhianwen, for many reasons, not the least of which includes showing more civic engagement than many voters in Boston have so far, for even thinking to send an email to Mr. Connolly, for taking the time out of fun endeavors like Webkinz, Minecraft and Skyping with her cousins to look up his website, get the email address and then putting herself out there: that she has an IEP, her thoughts and feelings about her school, her education, her future and charter schools and his stance regarding them and her understanding that more of them will impact her school and education. Sometimes my daughter literally takes my breathe away, this is one of those times. 

Now, given his schedule, maybe Mr. Connolly has yet to see this email himself. Maybe someone, whether it was Mr. Connolly or a staffer, saw the last name and dismissed the email thinking it was from me (as I have questioned Mr. Connolly quite frequently about his education policies.) Maybe Mr. Connolly did see it and thinks I put my daughter up to it, though clearly he should know better. However, given the "voices heard" similarity to Rhianwen's email subject line in Mr. Connolly's answers last night, I suspect he has in fact read her email. So, why no response?

No matter what the endless possibilities are that Mr. Connolly or one of his staff may have contemplated, I think that his lack of response to a BPS student who reached out to him about her concerns regarding his mayoral education goals and platform speaks volumes about the reality behind the campaign rhetoric Mr. Connolly has been stumping on. 

Semantically, he may have "heard" my daughters voice when she wrote the email to him, but what does it say that she has received absolutely no response from Mr. Connolly or even a courtesy email from the campaign? 

Does this seem like the action of a person who claims he "has fought to give parents and students a voice in the Boston Public Schools" as his website claims?

Actions speak louder than words, campaign ads or stump speeches Mr. Connolly. Shame on you for not responding to Rhianwen. 

0 It's JUST a Preliminary....But Seriously Folks, Every Vote Counts - Don't Be Silent Now

Even more than the November 5th election date, today's preliminary election for Boston Mayor and city council is when everyone should get out and vote. It is really the only time when we as voters have the strongest ability to truly voice our choice for whom we want to represent us. No matter who you are voting for, I say this: GET OUT TO VOTE! After tomorrow, the outcome could effectively eliminate your real choice as an option, but at least you will know that you did get to vote your true choice of candidates first - and that is something you can be proud of.

For the first time in 20 years, the Mayor's race is a wide-open field with no incumbent to defeat, and the same is true for many of our city council seats. In January we will not only have a new Mayor, but almost a completely new city council in Boston, which quite frankly is a bit unnerving. These factors, and the important issues that have been at the forefront of all of the candidate forums, house parties, meet and greets, at dinner tables, school yards, spontaneous gatherings, on the phones and at the doors, show that our city is truly at a critical turning point in history. The results of this preliminary election could potentially change Boston in so many ways. 

There are any number of issues which people care about: public safety, transportation, casinos, city services, of course - education and many more. Whatever your main area of concern is, the issue that motivates you, please make sure to make it to the polls to vote. 

Despite what the mainstream media and campaign machines are saying via articles and polls, my experience watching elections and especially as someone who has actually personally talked to thousands of Bostonians through my own volunteer work before this election madness and since, as a volunteer and adviser for several of the candidates, is that the predictions are not reflecting the candidates Boston voters are really planning on voting for and actually supporting. 

The polls that have been done during this latest election blitz have been designed to get the results the pundits want. Of course, this is all done for a purpose: to rig the election in favor of those chosen by many of the same groups and companies that led us to where we are in America today: the 1% who reap the most profit while our citizens struggle daily, entire public school districts are closing down, and families are homeless. 

These same "king makers" count on the fact that if the polling reflects a poor prediction for a particular candidate, then that candidate's regular support base will either stay home or instead vote for one of the other candidates who seemingly have a better chance of winning the election. After all, if the polls say that the one vote you cast won't matter, why cast it? Guess what? The backers, the interpreters of the poll data, the pundits and especially the candidates' who are the darlings of these aforementioned folks, count on that as it has been an effective tool in the past. 

Of course, there is also the misleading campaign literature and advertisements by candidates, which when people compare them with their actual professional experience and record of achievements, amounts to nothing more than the proverbial house of cards. Add in the campaign workers who have been imported not just from the suburbs, but from all over the country, who tout certain candidate's misrepresentations with a smile, and instead of a true picture of some candidates, you can almost see the actual players behind them - those who they will be beholden to once in office - those who will try to make our city their newest source of profit one way or another.

Well, I am here to tell you a secret the alleged political experts are terrified will get out: YOUR ONE vote counts MORE than any poll conducted by those who would steal your voice and choice from you. Each one of us who decide to get out and vote for OUR chosen candidate, despite what the polls might say about their chances, disproves the predictions and add to the likelihood that the results of our election will more closely resemble the collective voice of BOSTON residents - not those paid to influence them or those who will tear our city apart without a second thought. 

So, please, don't let the polls, misrepresented records and supposed achievements spouted via campaign literature and ads, the endorsements by mainstream media, corporate backed groups, or the outright lies of certain ordained "front-runners" fool you. Don't allow the people and groups behind the polls decide for you: instead, go with what YOU know from your own research and those of us who are living here in Boston with you. Let it be OUR voices that are heard at the end of the night. 

As Big Papi recently said, unfortunately due to a horrendous and cowardly act that has already changed our beautiful city: "This is OUR city. And nobody going to dictate our freedom." 

Don't let others dictate what our city will become. Show those who would profit off our city while bankrupting our future that Boston voters understand their rights and what true freedom really is.

Have questions or just want to see what I am working on? Feel free to email me at karen.kastmcbride@gmail.com or follow me via Twitter: @RebelInBoston.

0 The Facts About Charter Schools That No One Tells You

There is a lot of talk about charter schools and raising the cap to allow more of them to open in Massachusetts. Boston is ground zero for the charter school "education reform" conglomerates, individuals and organizations, like the newly formed "Boston Forward" group, which are greedily counting the millions of dollars to be made off of our students if this is allowed to happen. This situation has led to a lot of questionable push-poll results being passed off by our larger media news sources as charter school "facts" which are further confusing the argument for the public even after those "facts" have been proven incorrect or unsubstantiated. 

Add in a Mayoral race filled with many candidates, most of whom are willing to sell out our students for campaign funds by spouting the "raise the cap" chant (only three are against raising the charter school cap), and you may understand one of the reasons why education has become a major focus of the elections in Boston. If you think the Mayoral and City Council races aren't a big deal right now, you may really want to start paying attention, because they are!   

Other than knowing that charter schools are an "alternative" to "regular public schools" most people do not fully understand: how they are funded, the student populations served, their actual graduation rates and the differences between them except for their separate "lottery" admissions procedures. This became more obvious to me through a number of conversations in several venues so my inner-educator-activist kicked in to write this article that I hope will help families and the broader community understand why so many people, education advocates and organizations that care about educating all of our students are saying "don't lift the cap" on something that, in theory, sounds good.

Funding:
Many people think charter schools are privately funded, which is false. The money that pays for students to attend a charter school comes out of the sending district's budget. Here in Boston, for each student that attends a charter school instead of one of the BPS schools, the charter school receives $15,527.00+ per pupil from the BPS budget, which is $4,000.00 more than the base per pupil funds allocated for BPS' own students. 

Then there is the transportation of charter school students per Massachusetts state laws which dictate that charter school students can be transported city-wide on BPS buses or vehicles paid for out of the BPS budget. Meanwhile "regular" BPS students are restricted to transportation only within their zone in elementary and middle school. In high school our BPS students are given MBTA passes and expected to get to and from school on their own. Exceptions to the zone-based and T-pass transportation for BPS students is generally for students with special needs when their IEP indicates the need. There will clearly always be busing in Boston even with a new "Home Based" assignment model as we must transport students with disabilities (SWD), charter school and private school students. The larger cost to BPS will be for transporting our own students with special needs according to my discussions with John McDonough, then CFO of BPS who is now our Interim Superintendent, but there is clearly an amount of funding which will be in our budget to pay for transporting charter school and private school students across the city. The only way to change this practice regarding charter and private school transportation is to lobby our state legislators to change it via the law.

Additionally, there are other funds which a sending school district may end up allocating to charter schools (at least the *"in-district" ones) such as: additional equivalent per-pupil cost of a service if the charter school chooses not to purchase a discretionary central support service from the sending district. A sending district may also end up agreeing to provide non-discretionary services as BPS often does (including but not limited to: transportation, employee benefits, facilities, payroll, safety, food service, and other central office services) as *"in-kind" support for the charter school. *Though "in-kind" means that no money is given directly to the charter school, instead the sending district provides personnel/services/benefits, the costs for those in-kind services are paid for out of the budget of the sending district. This also means that certain district personnel or services are at least partially, if not totally, unavailable to do their job for the district itself.

In addition to all that I outline above, in the recent agreement with Unlocking Potential (aka UP a self-described "school turnaround organization" which is taking over the Marshall) that the Boston School Committee members voted to approve on November 7, 2012, BPS will provide the following:

• BPS agrees to identify which centrally-funded supports would typically be provided by the Office of Special Education and Student Supports (OSESS) to a BPS school with UP’s projected enrollment, including but not limited to any allocation of staff and service providers. The full value of these supports will be added as non-restricted funds to UP’s budget annually. Non-restricted funds mean that UP may use those funds for anything, not necessarily special education services. 


• UP shall establish and maintain a separate bank account under its exclusive control which BPS agrees to transfer any funds not allocated or budgeted for salaries or stipends into at least two times a year. The transfer will be based upon the difference between the total Lump Sum Budget provided by BPS to UP Academy and an estimate of the amount of funds UP Academy anticipates spending on stipends and salaries.


• UP has the sole discretion to select the staff for any and all positions at the school. UP may select staff without regard to seniority within the particular union or past practices between the Boston School Committee and any bargaining unit. 


• UP, through its board of trustees, shall manage its staff independent of the school committee. Except as outlined in the Application and Charter, UP is exempt from the provisions set forth in the applicable collective bargaining agreements.  Staff shall execute an election to work agreement containing the working conditions every year. UP may develop its own staff evaluation guidelines and evaluation instrument(s) in accordance with all current laws and regulations. 


• UP may involuntarily excess members of the BTU, Guild, and BASAS bargaining units as well as any other staff members and the provisions in any relevant collective bargaining agreements regarding excessing, seniority and transfer shall not apply to UP except that members of the collective bargaining units shall continue to accrue seniority.


• UP shall be operated and managed by its Board independent of the Boston School Committee. As written in the agreement: "The parties expressly acknowledge that UP is an entity independent of the Boston Public School Department and that Boston Public School Department shall not be liable for the acts or omissions of UP, the Board, its officers, agents or employees except to the extent consistent with the law, including the provisions of M.G.L. c. 71, §89 and regulations promulgated in connection therewith."

In addition to all of the above, charter schools also get millions in venture philanthropy dollars each year. So, as you can see, charter school funding has a huge impact on our BPS budget that goes well beyond just the base per-pupil and transportation funds.

Also, through the above information, you can clearly see that though many people believe that "In-district charter schools" are controlled and overseen by the public school district in which they are operating, this is false. According to the agreement with UP, even if the BPS Superintendent or School Committee believes that UP is not serving the best interest of BPS students, they must go through a complaint procedure first with the Board of Trustees of UP, and if dissatisfied with the Trustees' findings, then initiate a complaint to the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education. It does not sound like BPS has any more control over the "in-district" charter schools than they do over the Commonwealth charter schools to me!

Admissions:
Charter schools state that they have a "lottery" system regarding admissions. When applying to schools for my oldest daughter we did apply to a couple of charter schools because they had sent us literature. During my discussions with the admissions personnel I revealed that my daughter had special needs and would be going through the normal evaluation process. Why did I do that? I wanted to be sure they could handle her needs as I was fairly certain she would need some minimal special education services and supports. I was then politely but firmly "discouraged" from completing the application process by the admissions personnel. Though my inner advocate wanted to respond a totally different way, in the end I chose to refrain from submitting the applications, which those who know me may find shocking. For me it came down to this: if they don't want my daughter because she might have special education needs, then they don't deserve to have her as their student at all. (FYI - she tests as post-graduate grade level in everything except math which is her disability area and her IQ is 148 - only 2% of world population has an IQ of above 140).

I soon found out from several other parents that the experience I had was not an anomaly as they had similar experiences. As I had also started asking questions about the lottery process, I learned that the "lottery" consists of charter school personnel reviewing student data and records to select those students who, though they may not have high MCAS scores, are children with high-average to superior intelligence according to other measurements including IQ scores when available. Those students then emerge as the "winners" of the "lottery" and are invited to attend the charter school. Additionally, through record reviews personnel are able to determine which children with special needs have high or *low-incidence disabilities or language needs which also determines which of our ELL and special needs students "win" the "lottery".

In the world of special education, "High-incidence" are the most common special needs which are primarily able to be addressed in a general education classroom with possibly a second staff member assisting the student in the classroom or some pull-out services; "low-incidence" are the more significant disabilities with more educationally intensive and costly needs and can mean they need more pull-out services, substantially separate classes, though if done right a true full-inclusion program can educate both types of students together.  

Which leads to the next difference between charter schools and our "regular" public schools: populations.

School Populations: 
It has become clear through several sources, such as the 2012 Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities Preliminary Analysis of the Legal Issues and Areas of Concern prepared by The Center for Law and Education (CLE) with the Council of Parent Advocates and Attorneys (COPAA), our own BPS district numbers and Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MADESE), that despite claims to the contrary charter schools are not educating the same population of students as the Boston Public School District does. 

As noted above, charter schools are able to select which students they will educate and multiple sources of information including utilizing the raw data from school profiles on the MADESE site without any interpretation, have and continue to prove that the charter schools claims of serving the same students as BPS does is false. Utilizing the raw data from the MADESE site which has profiles of every "public" school in the state, my friend and I put together a snapshot of the top 5 (who has highest #s) and bottom 5 (who has lowest #s) for each type of school in Boston (BPS, In-District Charter, and Commonwealth Charter schools) based strictly on MADESE data not "selective choice" as some may suggest. There is no interpretation of this data at all, we are just showing the actual numbers themselves for comparison. There is more to come very soon and every school WILL be included!

Our major news media outlets are constantly hyping that charter schools are much better at educating students than the "regular BPS schools", but now you can clearly see that the information they have been stating as "fact" are actually "spin". Hopefully, if you hung in this far, by now you can clearly see for yourself that the pro-charter groups and reporters are spreading misinformation, as there are drastic differences between the types of students who are being served in charter schools versus regular BPS schools which makes a huge difference in comparing who does a better job.

Here are a few other little known facts about charter schools which should be extremely concerning to us all: 

• Charter schools have a worse graduation/retention rate than our BPS schools do! As it has already been laid out quite well in an article by another blogger in March, until the school by school comparison my friend and I are preparing is finalized, I will direct you to that article: Charter School Attrition.


• Charter schools have a higher rate of suspension that our BPS schools do, see the article here: Raise the Cap on Traditional Public Schools.


• Charter schools' "teach to the MCAS" method of educating students does not set the students up well for SATs as proven through MADESE data again: Charter School Achievement Gap. 

Recently, Boston students organized a press conference and rally at the state house which I will write a bit more about in another article, but if you would like to see a brief synopsis of the press conference and rally despite the lack of credit given to those awesome students, please check out this article. This was a student initiated movement, contrary to the title and focus on what the adults had to say. The students of the Youth On Board, Boston Student Advisory Council, and other groups give me great hope for the future, and should not be ignored as they are the true experts on all of this right now because their education depends on them.

I will be writing much more on this topic as the battle, and yes, it is a battle, to save our public schools is heating up. In the meantime, if you would like to read more about the truth behind education "reform", check out some of my favorite bloggers:

Edushyster: Keeping an eye on the corporate education agenda, in Massachusetts and beyond. "Ed" combines facts and wit throughout the articles.

Mommy On the Floor: has just started writing about charter school issues, but has many great articles beyond charter schools!

I would love to connect with those of you who are as concerned as I and others are about the charter school cap being raised, so please contact me via email bpsnightmare@gmail.com or Twitter @bpsnightmare.

1 Data Comparison of BPS vs. Charter Schools SWD, ELL Populations

This is a snapshot of top 5 (who has highest #s) and bottom 5 (who has lowest #s) for each type of school in Boston based on MADESE data not "selective choice", there is no interpretation of the data at all, just showing the actual numbers. There is more to come very soon and every school WILL be included!

Comparison of BPS public schools vs. Boston Charter Schools
Student Populations of Students with Disabilities (SWD) & 
English Language Learners (ELL)

ALL data for these charts came directly from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (MADESE) - raw numbers used! http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/

5 Highest schools per each population and school type:

5 Lowest schools per each population and school type:

0 Say No to Outside Influencing of Our Children's Education through Boston Political Races

Our elections in Boston right now have the potential to lead our city into the same fate as that of Chicago where 49 public schools are closing, if the wrong person is elected Mayor, or those elected as City-Councilor, Senator, etc for that matter. Big corporations, "education reform" organizations and individuals from OUTSIDE our city and state are trying to buy candidates by investing in their campaigns, indirectly funding workers for campaigns, ads, literature and events. Certain candidates are, and have for years, taken what they could from these groups and ignored their own constituents while assuring them they were actually going to work for their best interests. Yes, this happens often, I am far from naive, but it needs to stop.

My dear readers and friends - I am calling on ALL of you to help me help our great city (and our awesome state) by working with me to ensure that our children, ALL of them, do not end up with the same fate as the children of Chicago and other cities! I am asking YOU to take a stand and insist that if a candidate will not sign on to the "People's Pledge for Boston", introduced by Rob Consalvo, which would be a promise by the candidate to keep undisclosed outside special interest money out of the 2013 Boston mayoral (and city council et al) race, that you will not vote for them. 

If you know me, are a friend on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or drive by my house even, you know who I will be voting for in September! His call to keep outside interest money outside of the election is yet one more reason why I am in Rob's corner along with his promise to ensure all of our children a quality education no matter what their needs are along with the many accomplishments, not just for his district, but across the city. 

The quote below, from the Washington Post, "The Rev. John Thomas: No Act of God Caused Chicago Schools Closings", sums it up for me: 

"They are gone because of decades of very deliberate decisions by public officials, corporate interests and ordinary citizens that have eviscerated the neighborhoods of Chicago, displacing people with the demolition of public housing, gutting communities with foreclosures and the elimination of jobs. The schools are gone because they have been replaced by charter schools, the darlings of politically well-connected school reformers making a profit on tax money while public officials eliminate the inconvenience of teachers unions."

My fear, a valid one given the lurking special interest groups looking to invest big money into the campaign(s) of those who endorse raising the charter school cap, is that Boston IS the next Chicago. My question to YOU is: do you REALLY want to be one of those "ordinary citizens" who sat back and didn't even do something as simple as phone, email, social-media pressuring of candidates - or do you want to live up to your Boston roots (whether born or transplant) of resistance to outside influences dictating our children's future?

Want to know who got paid by whom and what the issue is regarding lifting the charter school cap here in Massachusetts? 

Resources:

Education "Reformers" and the issues:

EduShyster: The Liftin O' the Cap - a great resource on charter schools, reformers et al with a witty writing style, so check out "Ed"'s other articles!

ReThinking Schools: For or Against Children? 

WBUR: Charter School Advocates Eye Investment In Mayor's Race
Be sure to read the comments!

Who got paid:

Save Money. Live Better. Open a Charter and Break the Unions Part I

Save Money. Live Better. Open a Charter and Break the Unions Part 2

I can be contacted at bpsnightmare@gmail.com and please consider following me on Twitter: @bpsnightmare.

0 Boston "School Quality Working Group" Members Announced

On Wednesday, May 1, 2013, the Boston Public Schools' (BPS) School Quality Working Group (SQWG) held their first meeting. This meeting was primarily to announce and introduce the members of the group. The SQWG was created out of the recommendations approved by the Boston School Committee (BSC) as part of the new student assignment plan (Home-Based A) in March 2013. The entire list of recommendations are available here.

According to the BPS bostonschoolquality.org website: 

Boston School Committee member Meg Campbell and Boston University School of Education Dean Dr. Hardin Coleman will co-chair the new School Quality Working Group, which is modeled on the External Advisory Committee on School Choice, which Dr. Coleman also co-chaired. The Working Group includes BPS parents, academic experts, and business and community leaders. It will continue to engage the community in the conversation on school quality that took place during our process to improve school choice. Their tasks include:

• Helping to develop a better way to measure school quality for the Home-Based school choice model, which takes effect for the fall of 2014. Currently the Home-Based model uses MCAS Tiers, which are based on a combination of overall performance and growth as measured by MCAS.

• Analyzing the implementation of the Home-Based school choice model, including measures of equity and school quality improvements

The members of the committee are:

Ron Ancrum- Executive Director, The Learning Center at Bromley Heath

Meg Campbell (co-chair) - BSC member, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Codman Academy *Charter Public School

Kathleen Colby -  BPS Ambassador, former BPS parent & EAC member

Hardin Coleman (co-chair) - see above

Michael Curry - President, NAACP Boston Chapter

Rahn Dorsey - Evaluation Director, the Barr Foundation & EAC member

Betty Francisco - EVP and General Counsel of Millenium Sports Club Management, wife of Paul Francisco (EAC member)

Denise Gonsalves - Director of Youth Leadership Development at Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) 

Dr. William (Bill) Henderson - Former BPS teacher, principal of O'Hearn (now the Henderson) inclusion school, author of The Blind Advantage

Carolyn Kain - Current Chair, BPS SpedPAC & EAC member

Craig Lankhorst - former BPS principal & EAC member

Daniel Linsky - no confirmable information found

Meredith Liu - Chief Financial Officer of Match Charter School

Elaine Ng - Executive Director, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center & BPS Parent

Myriam Ortiz - Executive Director, Boston Parent Organizing Network (BPON) & BPS parent

Marchelle Raynor - former Boston School Committee member and Program Director, Gertrude E. Townsend Learning Program

Marinell Rousmaniere -  Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at EdVestors & BPS Parent

Mariah Smith - no confirmable information found

Anh Vu - no confirmable information found

Rev. David Wright - Executive Director of the Black Ministerial Alliance of greater Boston

Josh Weiss - BPS parent who submitted a school assignment proposal to the EAC, took part in many of the EAC meetings as a community member, as well as blogging throughout the school assignment process at bpsworkshop.com

The above information regarding the members are not the official "bios" which BPS has requested from each of the members, but information obtained via prior BPS, EAC, BSC bios, through personal knowledge and relationships and with the help of others who know some of the members and was verified prior to writing this article. Once the official bios are available I will add a link to this post! 

In addition to the above tasks outlined on the new website, the group will most likely have some say in how to address quality issues in our Boston schools. The SQWG group, along with the BSC, holds the future of our students, the individual schools and the district as a whole, in their hands as they are charged with monitoring and assessing the new plan and the recommendations which may become district policies. 

As the families and advocates for our students and schools, we have an even more important role in this process: to monitor and assess the work of both the BSC and SQWG to ensure that all of our schools become quality schools and that access to those schools is equitable. I urge everyone, whether a current or potential BPS family, to follow this group and the work they do. When possible, attend the meetings (still TBA), ask questions, make suggestions and if concerned, let them know that too. 

"Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence." —Abigail Adams

I can be contacted at bpsnightmare@gmail.com and please consider following me on Twitter: @bpsnightmare.