Gov. Bobby Jindal was adamant during his campaign for governor about stemming the outflow of Louisiana’s brightest college graduates from the state.
To show his commitment to keeping Louisiana talent at home, he promptly brought in several out-of-staters to fill key roles. Most prominent among those was Paul Vallas of Chicago by way of Philadelphia to head up the Recovery School District (RSD) and then as Vallas’s successor, John White of New York.
Jindal subsequently shoved Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek aside in order to promote White to head up the Department of Education (DOE).
So much for that rosy bit of political rhetoric from Jindal.
Now White himself has brought in a host of non-residents whose job it is to decide how nearly 700,000 public school students in Louisiana will be taught, what they will be taught, where they will be taught, when they will be taught and even who will teach them.
And LouisianaVoice has learned that five of those, including his Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, a Deputy Superintendent, and one who, alternately, has been called “Deputy Superintendent,” “Director,” and “Director of the Office of Portfolio,” are not even registered to vote in Louisiana.
A fifth, Hua T. Liang of New Orleans, is an administrator with the Pride College Preparatory Academy in New Orleans, a former charter taken over by RSD. His salary is $110,000 a year.
Chief of Staff Kunjan Narechania, https://louisianavoice.com/2013/02/20/doe-emails-reveal-secretive-programs-ties-to-gates-rupert-murdoch-and-fox-news-network-agency-in-general-disarray/ she of the email to White informing him that Charlotte Danielson of the Danielson Group of Princeton, N.J., was “being a pain again” over DOE’s decision to use only five of 22 components of Danielson’s teacher evaluation system, came to DOE from Chicago but has neither registered to vote here nor has she registered her vehicle, which still carries Illinois plates, in Louisiana, thus depriving the state of vehicle registration fees.
Her qualifications for serving as Chief of Staff to the Louisiana Superintendent of Education at a salary of $145,000 include a stint as Vice President of Design, Teacher Support and Development for Teach for America (TFA), the billion-dollar organization bent on taking over public education nationwide and staffing the nation’s schools with teachers with only five weeks’ summer training.
But, hey! That’s a strong recommendation; John White, after all, came from TFA.
Likewise, Deputy Chief of Staff Nicholas Bolt ($104,000), http://www.educationpioneers.org/what-we-do/alumnus-bio?cid=0034000000U6gC4AAJ an alumnus of Education Pioneers, came from the New York City Department of Education and resides here now, helping to determine the fate of the state’s education system but, like Narechania, has neither registered to vote nor removed his out-of-state tags in favor of a Louisiana plate.
Then there is Michael Rounds, the Deputy Superintendent who is being paid a cool $170,000 a year. https://louisianavoice.com/2012/11/06/nothing-but-the-best-for-doe-john-white-hires-170000-deputy-central-to-kansas-city-32-million-bid-controversy/ Like his boss John White, Rounds is a 2010 alumnus of the Eli Broad Superintendents Academy which critics say turns out superintendents who use corporate-management techniques to consolidate power, weaken teachers’ job protections, cut parents out of the decision-making process and introduce unproven reform measures.
The academy, founded by billionaire businessman Eli Broad, offers a six-weekend (not week, weekend) course spread over 10 months. There are no qualifications that students have any experience in education—just that they have a bachelor’s degree.
Rounds resigned his Kansas City position a year ago following an investigation by a local television station into bid irregularities involving a $32 million renovation project for Kansas City schools—only to turn up as one of the top officials charged with day-to-day decisions impacting our school children. And he doesn’t even vote here.
But Rounds’ prior employment record pales in comparison to the career track our old friend David “Lefty” Lefkowith of Los Angeles. https://louisianavoice.com/2012/10/10/dave-lefty-lefkowith-more-than-a-motivational-speaker-hes-a-political-operative-looking-for-privatization-dollars/
No one knows precisely what Lefkowith’s actual title is, but he is paid well for whatever it is he does. He is listed as a Director, but also has been identified as a self-proclaimed Deputy Superintendent and Director of the Office of Portfolio. One of his primary responsibilities is to push DOE’s Course Choice program but he has cut a wide swath through the upper tier of political power in the state of Florida.
Working with the now defunct Enron Corp. several years ago, he attempted, along with an associate of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, to corner the water marketing rights in the state. Following that, he became a motivational speaker through his company, The Canyon Group.
He went straight from a $35,000 contract with DOE to his new status as employee.
But Lefkowith is not only a non-voter in Louisiana; he doesn’t even choose to live here.
Unlike Deirdre Finn, https://louisianavoice.com/2012/09/25/education-loading-up-with-badly-needed-pr-types-at-six-figures-meanwhile-charter-school-vultures-are-circling/ a former deputy chief of staff for Jeb Bush, who works as public relations hack for the department—but from her home in Tallahassee, Florida—at $12,000 per month, Lefkowith does work in Baton Rouge but resides in Los Angeles and commutes back and forth, making some wonder how he affords to do that because, even at his $146,000 salary, commuting each weekend to and from Los Angeles by air is a far cry from the short interstate drive from Gonzales or Denham Springs or U.S. 61 from St. Francisville.
But except for Lefkowith, one still might expect the others to at least register to vote here.
That doesn’t seem to be asking too much considering the fact that these people have waltzed into Baton Rouge to take over one of the two largest state agencies (DHH being the other) so they can dictate the educational fate of our children—and teachers, many of whom have more years of classroom teaching than these carpetbaggers have been living.
The very fact that they have chosen to ignore this very foundation of democracy reveals their character and their motives. This isn’t about the children or education, never has been; it’s about fortunes to be made from public educaton. Rupert Murdoch said it all when he said public educaton was a $500 billion market waiting to be exploited. http://www.nationofchange.org/rupert-murdoch-us-education-system-1318783996
Still, one would expect that members of an oligarchy would have the decency to at least pretend to be sufficiently civic minded to register to vote in the state they care nothing for but which they’ve taken over by decree.
Yes, one would expect that.
But one would be wrong.
Backtrack the roots from which these people spring. Got back beyond Eli Broad. Go beyond Jeb Bush too. They are fronts for the real drivers.
Follow the money…into the pockets of Jindal and the Corporatists.
The “Louisiana Believes” website doesn’t even list employees anymore. Guess he didn’t like all the questions we were asking……
No one should be surprised. It is those of the extreme right to destroy public education and privatize all. The aforemention individuals have come to Louisiana to provide a path to privatization by way of Gov Jindal. They have found a home, in Louisiana, guaranteed (by Jindal) no intrusion, interference from the citizens of Louisiana. It is corporate take-over of tax dollars to devoid the public school system. Apparently, the job descriptions do not require residency in the state. Have the citizens of Louisiana had enough of Gov Jindal and his cronies? What cost to the tax payers?
And our Parish Superintendents of Schools, hired by our duly-elected local school board members, have to report to these clowns? I hope every single legislator that has sold his/her soul to Jindal will recognize the folly of that decision and set about to rectify that horrible wrong.
Dig a little deeper, like the various Chiefs of Staff of the offices and you’ll likely find additional persons not registered to vote in LA or who travel weekly from a home in another state (sometimes working elsewhere for a week at a time). I’ve also been told (by an employee there) that a few of the higher ups work from home while rank & file employees aren’t given that luxury.
What utter contempt for the state and the citizens they have. New era carpetbaggers.
Did you know that currently Social Studies teachers are mandated to teach American History up to the Civil War in 7th grade & the Progressive Era to Present in 11th grade. No coverage of Reconstruction period. They don’t want our kids to know what a carpetbagger is!
I just wish we could count on the legislature to do its job. A huge cut in the budget of the Executive Branch (probably half) which specifically targets the salaries of employees making over $100,000 per year and eliminates out-of-state travel for the governor would do wonders for the budget. Then it needs another piece, that all employees of the State Department, including BESE, must maintain any children over whom they have custody in the public schools of Louisiana—not charter, not parochial, public. But the legislators will have to forget about whether or not they will be re-elected and do what we elected them to do.
But why? Is the question I have heard when trying to explain this attempt to completely privatize education in Louisiana and across the nation. The DeVos family, ALEC are well on their way to making education a private enterprise. But why? Number 1 is the profit motive…at first the dollars will come from the fed & state governments, but as the schools slowly morph into true private schools, more and more money will come from the consumer, ie the parents who wish to enroll their little darlings in the “best” private school. But why? Because the De Vos family, along with other wealthy people, have an ideology that the best education belongs to the children of the elite of this country, not the middle & lower class children. The children of the elite (rich, religious, white) are the ones to lead this country in the future, of course. Public education was the “Great Equalizer” where any child, no matter his/her color, religion, socio-economic class could rise to be a leader of industry, of government. The rich conservative elite of this country do not like this concept at all. With a totally private education system, where how much money you have determines the quality of the education you receive, and where these private schools can pick and choose who to educate….which children will be superbly educated, and which children will not be…and therefore will not be able to lead this country? I may sound a little paranoid, here, but I’ve read enough to know that keeping the country in the “right hands” with children who have received the best education available…is their ultimate goal.
Sounds like Germany’s ideology during Hitler’s reign (as a analogy). Take out the fact that this blog statement by “bernie” is about education, substitute instead “Germany” and it sounds eerily familiar! Only the “best” and “wealthiest” will survive! As a teacher of 32 years, my heart aches for future children and educators. I pray that SOMEONE higher up WAKES UP and fixes this abusive situation.
Bernie, you get it. It’s all about separation of the wealthy from “others”, who they feel do not deserve a quality education, i.e. ethnicity, physically/mentally challenged, middle/low income families. Privatization is not the answer. The American dream is quickly being destroyed along with middle income class on whose backs the taxes are directly being collected to further corporate America, tax loopholes and all.
Reblogged this on #BattleOfOurTimes.Com.
By eliminating State income taxes, which those living out of state will no longer pay and adding sales taxes to everything else Jindal has proposed (Per WBRZ, 10:00 pm news on 3/14/13 will be the highest in the nation), who will be paying these taxes, not those living out of state, but those of us who remain. Many will suffer, i.e., fire districts, local police departments, public schools, upper education, hospitals, shopping centers, etc. Will growth of our State continue or will it stop? Has the Jindal administration made any provisions or delegations to give any back to the districts, parishes/communities, etc., any part of the sales taxes? Will it go the same way as did the lottery money for schools? Follow the money where will it go?
Many people do not remember the lottery money for schools that you mentioned. Could you expound?
When the lottery was first introduced to the people of the State of Louisiana, it was first introduce as, “using the money to help funding for schools ONLY”. I cannot remember if it was for public and/OR private schools, but it was introduce as “funding for schools”. There was a phase and/or wording in the propostion on the ballot, that the voters voted for, that allowed the money to be placed in general funds. Back then, some of the voters, including myself, didnot understand nor/and/or read the wording of the proposition at that time. We just took the advertised of the propostion as it was when we walk into the booth to voted. The media did not, at that time, explain the wording/phases of the propostion to the public. NOW, some of the media stations, have started to explain, or leave it up for discussion to the voters, what the propostions mean. Sorry, I do not have supporting evidence from “actual ballots” to document this, but it does exist in the achives of the newspapers, somewhere.
Carpetbaggers? New word in da Louisiana dictionary, Jindalbearers. Bearing false gifts, and promises to the taxpayers of Louisiana. While those living, working in the state, maintain residences, pay, and receive no cost of living raises. I thought J Ray was bad. These folks migrate to your state, using your state, city services, and pay no property tax. I wonder if they fill out a form exempting them from state taxes, if their primary residence is out of state? I know when I moved from LA to TX, (no state tax) I had to fill out a form to stop LA from taking state tax out of my salary. Has anyone checked into that distinction?
[…] Kunjan Narechania apparently manages LDOE employees in backwards fashion: Namely, White gives a crony a high salary, then Narechania reminds White that he must decide “what to do with” the person. Such is true of (now he has a title) Deputy Superintendent David “Lefty” Lefkowith. In an email obtained by Louisiana Voice as part of a records request, Narechania writes the following to White on July 18, 2012. Louisiana Voice’s Tom Aswell comments: […]
[…] Reposted with permission from LouisianaVoice.com. […]