Louisiana Voice

Five months.

If you want to train to be a school superintendent in the Eli Broad Superintendent’s Academy, one would be required to complete six weekends of training spread over 10 months.

Five months.

If one wishes to become a teacher without going to the trouble of obtaining an education degree, he or she would be required to attend a five-week summertime crash course. No certification necessary.

Five months.

One month after Michael Rounds resigned in March of 2012 as Chief Operating Officer for Kansas City Public Schools over the awarding of a $32 million renovation contract, that contract was cancelled by School Superintendent Stephen Green. Rounds had been in charge of selecting a company to manage the project and he ultimately awarded the contract to a man named Dayton “Buddy” Hahs who reviewed bids, formulated questions for bidders and sat in on interviews.

When the bids were all rejected and re-advertised, Hahs, apparently more of a “buddy” than anyone knew, suddenly formed his own company, bid on the project and was awarded the contract even though its bid was $2 million higher than the low bid.

Five months.

That’s less time than the seven months it took Rounds to show up in Baton Rouge after his resignation in Kansas City.

Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White brought Rounds into the fold at $170,000 a year as Deputy Superintendent for District Support.

Rounds and White were 2010 graduates of the Eli Broad Superintendent’s Academy of Los Angeles which critics say turns out superintendents who employ 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 was founded by billionaire businessman Eli Broad. It offers a six-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.

In Oakland, California, one teacher said she saw principals and teachers whom she described as “high-quality, dedicated people,” forced out by Broad superintendents trained to aim for “maximum disruption” when they came to a district, with little regard for parent or teacher concerns.

In case you missed it, the above paragraph contained a plural reference to Broad superintendents in Oakland.

That’s because there apparently was a revolving door there for Broad alumni. The teacher said she became alarmed when she witnessed her school district go through three Broad-trained superintendents in quick succession.

Five months.

John White would have been wise to check with that teacher before hiring Rounds.

Five Months.

There are, to paraphrase a current TV commercial, celebrity marriages of longer duration.

Five months into his job in Baton Rouge and he’s gone. Gone quietly, but gone.

Gone. As in arrivederci, adios, adieu, sayonara and ta-ta.

The Louisiana Department of Civil Service on Friday confirmed that Rounds resigned on March 30, 2013. We didn’t know they worked on Saturday at DOE, but nevertheless, he is gone.

Five months.

That’s hardly enough time for DOE carpetbagger appointees to bother getting Louisiana license plates.