Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Four Minutes Of Families For Excellent Schools Attitude

So a spokesman for the hedge fundie-backed Families For Excellent Schools met with reporters today to talk about the pro-charter rally up in Albany and things got, well, a little strained:



That wasn't the only misstep from the FES spokesman:

He said some 160 organizations took part, and claimed the rally attracted 13,000 participants — an estimate that strained the credulity of many of the reporters on hand, mainly because they had viewed the event with their own eyes. (Also, the group’s permit was for 7,500 participants, which seemed far closer to the visible number of people on hand.)

I'm not sure why Eva Moskowitz and these charter operators and supporters would go to such trouble to put on a PR performance piece like today's rally, then screw all that lovely PR up by claiming a ridiculous attendee count and then getting into a verbal skirmish with reporters.

But that's what they did.

Unforced errors on their end.

7 comments:

  1. Although I do not know this guy, he seems like a very sketchy snake oil salesman kind of dude. He was looking side to side like he was coked out of his mind. The saddest thing is that he outright admitted, "I AM NOT AN EDUCATOR". This fact goes to show you that the charter movement is all based on making big bucks with talking heads like him to to pave the way. I am stoked that he did not fool the vast amount of reporters that were there. Lastly, he did not even seem to believe half of the stuff that he was saying.

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  2. He definitely looked coked out...or on meth.

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  3. This guy in the video has a repeated problem with numbers... and what statements can be legitimately made regarding certain statistical numbers. (About the only astute thing he said in the above video was, "I don't know. I'm not an educator.")

    Below is a piece I wrote about Jeremiah Kittredge---again, the guy in the video above---and his unique application of the statistical concept of "average" in defending the fact regarding Success Academy's (and other charter's) end up serving a smaller percentage of Special Ed and ELL students. He says public schools have the same or worse percentages:

    KITTREDGE: "More than 50% of public schools serve a less-than-average number of the district's Special Ed. and ELL students."

    Think about that statement... it may initially sound convincing, but it's actually kind of idiotic.

    (Remember how Garrison Keillor used to say that all the kids tested in the Lake Wobegon School District were determined to be "above average"?)

    The Kittredge quote is from an WCNY radio interview included on a video, "UNKNOWABLE", produced the the NYC BAT's group.

    First, here's the piece I wrote:

    http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2015/03/guest-post-cj-on-kittredge-and.html

    The video referenced in the piece also includes an incisive analysis of Eva Moskowitz' answers to questions on this topic. She even gives the video its title:

    "UNKNOWABLE."

    It's at:

    https://vimeo.com/120305258

    When asked if the students at her schools come from an easier-to-educate subset of more involved families, and whether her charter school system's lottery weeds out the most "at risk" students, Ms. Moskowitz (at 00:33 )claimed that there was no way to determine that, and that's such information is "unknowable."

    FULL QUOTE: "I mean... I... This is sort of an unknowable question."

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  4. What an embarrassment. Goes to to show you how screwed up the main stream media currently is with its silence on this charter/privatization swindle.

    Maybe Brian Williams can invite this guy to his next Education Nation Summit.

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  5. Look into Joe Herrera. I am sure you'd find some dirt there.

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  6. Thanks for the shout out Mindy. Unfortunately, If your looking for dirt, you're going to have to check your own backyard. I am always transparent about who I am and what I do.

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