Three of the eight panel members are Joel Klein cronies.
I blogged yesterday that loading 37.5% of the panel with Klein cronies shows just what a sham this waiver panel is.
Today the Daily News reports that Panel for Educational Policy member Patrick Sullivan criticized the selections as well:
"I don't think it's appropriate to appoint three individuals who previously worked for the Bloomberg administration," said Panel for Educational Policy member Patrick Sullivan. "We need more independence than that."
The NY Times reports that at least half of the members of the panel have close ties to Bloomberg:
New York State’s top education official on Friday named an advisory panel of eight experts, at least half of them with strong connections to the Bloomberg administration, to help him decide whether to approve Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s controversial choice to run the city’s school system.
Three panelists selected by David M. Steiner, the state education commissioner, worked as senior officials at the city’s Department of Education.
One of those three now works at a foundation that was, for many years, the vehicle for Mr. Bloomberg’s personal charitable donations.
A fourth panelist is the head of a museum that has received almost half a million dollars from Mr. Bloomberg in donations since he took office.
Given who Steiner placed on the panel, I think we can assume he is on the Bloomberg payroll and the waiver is pretty much a done deal.
But I also don't think that was ever in doubt.
Steiner didn't get to be NYSED commissioner by not being responsive to the pols in NY State.
He got to be NYSED commissioner because he is a wholly owned and operated figurehead and shill for the corporate interests that have been driving "education reform" in this state.
And you can bet the mortgage of your house that Steiner will be receiving a payoff from Bloomberg in the near future in the form of some position or job from either one of Bloomberg's "charities" or from one of Bloomberg's corporate cronies.
That's how these people operate.
As I noted yesterday, in The Godfather this kind of stuff is a felony.
But in the world of David Steiner, Michael Bloomberg and the hedge fundies who are backing the reform movement, it's just business as usual.
If it weren't for Patrick Sullivan I think I would just give up. He's always such a beacon of hope in this crazy, mixed-up, and often disgusting world of NYC education politics. Thank you Patrick!
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. One of the few people in official ed circles to speak truth to power.
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