Cuomo Hires TFA/Charter Shill As Education Deputy

Just in case you missed this bit of news this week:

D.C. Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright is leaving his post for a new job in New York state, Mayor Vincent Gray announced in a statement Thursday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) appointed Wright as deputy secretary for education, a top state education post. Wright’s chief of staff, Jennifer Leonard, will begin serving as the interim deputy mayor for education in November.

Wright’s new job is something of a homecoming. He began his career in the late 1990s as a Teach for America corps member in New York City and later worked for the New York City Department of Education.

The departure comes at a critical moment for education in the city, as officials and community members struggle to envision how to plan for the future of both neighborhood schools and fast-growing charter schools.

Wright was charged with leading that planning effort. In January, his office released a controversial study that recommended turning around or closing dozens of D.C. Public Schools and for opening more high-performing charters.

The fix is in here in New York.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, like his fellow education reformer David Coleman, does not give a shit what you think or feel about education policy.

So every time his "reform commission" meets and makes believe that they're listening to stakeholders other than David Coleman and the College Board, Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation, Merryl Tisch and K12 Inc., Pearson, and a bunch of hedge fund managers/education reformers, remember who he is hiring for education policy:

A guy who has recommended closing dozens of schools and turning them into "high performing charters" - even though most charter schools are no better than the public schools they replace and many are, in fact, worse.

The fix is in, folks, and Cuomo will be putting a similar plan into place statewide that many cities like Detroit, D.C. and Philadelphia are seeing - mass closures and mass privatization.

Just follow the money (as in who is paying Cuomo off) and follow the people he's hiring to run things.

You don't hire a TFA cult member with a policy track record of preferring massive closing of public schools and opening of privatized charter schools unless that's exactly the kind of policy you want for New York State.