Taxpayers fund controversial meetings for District 150 administrator

PEORIA – Do you wonder what’s happening in Peoria School District 150, with all the school closings, staff shuffles and layoffs? 

Is it a lack of money?  Or could it be something more sinister – a plan to create chaos to destabilize community opposition to school closings, privatization, charter schools, and subvert the traditional checks and balances system on finances?

It’s all beginning to fit together like a weird puzzle. 

Start with the travel of school administrators over the past school year, as released, under a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents show that while the district claims to be short on money, as it lays off teachers and other school personnel, taxpayers in the district have paid almost $9,400 for two administrators, Supt Grenita Lathan and chief curriculum officer LaToy Kennedy, to attend conferences this year.

The meetings include a 3-part event hosted by the controversial Broad Foundation, a right wing group accused of manipulating school officials and others to push charter schools and create uproar in school districts by closing schools and shifting personnel – the situation in Peoria District 150.

Here’s the careful analysis of the Broad Foundation, done by a parent advocacy group but based on hard facts. 

http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2011/04/a-guide-to-the-broad-foundations-training-programs-and-policies/

In Peoria, LaToy Kennedy was the main meeting-goer. She spent at least 22 days away from the district at conferences, which cost over $6,300.

The documents do not reflect another 2 days away from the district on Oct. 27-28 in Greensboro, N.C., her home town.

I heard about this and asked  FOIA officer Kanika Hendricks about it.  She replied, it was a “training hosted by the Guilford County Schools,” and added,  “this travel was done on her own time as an in-service day and was at no cost to the district.”

This is a slick way to visit home without taking a vacation day. Some insiders say she was out of town for other events also not included in the documents.  

But there’s more.  Three of those conferences for Kennedy were the Superintendent’s Preparatory Academy in Chicago, run by the Broad Foundation, all paid with tax money.

Two of those Chicago conferences were financed with the district’s federal Title II funds, documents show.  Title II funds supposedly are earmarked for professional development for teachers, not administrators, insiders say.

But what if the Broad (rhymes with ‘road’) Foundation is a good group, pushing business-like procedures and other reforms?  Think again.

The report on the Broad Foundation states: “Three prominent school district superintendents resigned or were fired, after allegations of mismanagement, autocratic leadership styles, and/or the pursuit of unpopular policies. All three were trained by the Broad Superintendents Academy….. (They include)  Jean-Claude Brizard (class of 2008) of the Rochester New York school district. Brizard resigned to take the job as CEO of Chicago schools, but his superintendency in Rochester had been mired in controversy.

The Broad Foundation believes schools should be run using a “top-down, corporate-style business model imposed on public schools.”  With no accountability, it has spent nearly $400 million to ‘reform’ public education.  

Here is its guiding philosophy: “Broad and his foundation believe that public schools should be run like a business. One of the tenets of his philosophy is to produce system change by “investing in a disruptive force.” Continual reorganizations, firings of staff, and experimentation to create chaos or “churn” is believed to be productive and beneficial, as it weakens the ability of communities to resist change.”

Sound familiar to Peoria?

“A hallmark of the Broad-style leadership is closing existing schools rather than attempting to improve them, increasing class size, opening charter schools, imposing high-stakes test-based accountability systems on teachers and students, and implementing of pay for performance schemes. The brusque and often punitive management style of Broad-trained leaders has frequently alienated parents and teachers and sparked protests.”

That’s what Peoria taxpayers were paying a top administrator to learn in Chicago.

There’s more:  “Eli Broad is a wealthy individual, accountable to no one but himself, who wields vast power over our public schools. Parents and community members should be aware of the extent to which the he and his foundation influence educational policies in districts throughout the country, through Broad-funded advocacy groups, Broad-sponsored experiments and reports, and the placement of Broad-trained school leaders, administrators and superintendents.”

Like LaToy Kennedy.

Supt. Grenita Lathan told the League of Women Voters on May 19 that she supports a “well rounded curriculum,” adding “you can’t just teach to the test.”  That’s good.

But she also could not point to any evidence that shifting administrators, teachers and other staff members around improves student learning.  See story below for her comments on this, as she avoided the question like politicians are trained to do.

So – will District 150 continue to follow the Broad Foundation’s playbook?  Stay tuned.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

5/25/11:  Here's a link to another story on the Broad Foundation.

 And another link.

Emailed comment:  Several years ago, I sent a message to then Congressman LaHood with 13 reason why private/parochial schools should not be subsidized.  I did not get an answer.  Pretty clear to me why many wealthy people are supporting these ideas, both Gopers and Dems - it is to direct as much of the cost as possible to educate their kids in either private facilities or facilities that are, in effect,  private facilities at the expense of the public.
Regards,
Ed Dentino

Comments

[Susan]

The Superintendent that Rockford School District just got rid of,Lavonne Sheffield is a graduate of the Broad Foundation. She closed schools, moved/fired principals and staff too, which caused her to fall out of favor with the Rockford Community, who literally asked for her head on a platter after only two years of her 4 year contract. She claimed she was leaving because the focus had turned to her instead of the children... She walked away with a sweet deal....over 100K. She commented that head hunters from all over the country had jobs for her.....we'll see!BTW, her MENTOR was from the Broad Insitute!