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Reports surface that DOE Superintendent John White is out the door for Washington to further validate Peter Principle

May 22, 2013 by tomaswell

In the late ‘60s psychologist Dr. Laurence J. Peter advanced what became known as the Peter Principle which said, in effect, that “In a hierarchically-structured administration, people tend to be promoted up to their level of incompetence.”

Put another way: “The cream rises until it sours.”

A good case in point, of course, would be Michael Brown, the notoriously inept head of FEMA, as evidence by his botched effort at coordinating recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Brown had previously served admirably as commissioner of judges for the International Arabian Horse Association but that job hardly prepared him for handling a job of the magnitude of major hurricane recovery efforts.

The same may be said of John White, who despite his abysmal record as Louisiana Superintendent of Education, may soon be promoted to yet a new level of incompetence.

Rumors have persisted for several days now that White would be leaving his post at the end of the current legislative session, which must adjourn by June 6.

Those rumors reached a new pitch on Wednesday with word that White would be headed “for Duncanland” in June.

For those unfamiliar with the Obama cabinet, “Duncanland” would be Washington where Arne Duncan serves as Secretary of Education.

Before joining the Obama administration, Duncan served as chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools whence controversial former Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas came.

White succeeded Vallas as RSD superintendent before being elevated to his current post by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) at the behest of Gov. Bobby Jindal in January of 2012.

BESE President Chas Roemer, contacted about the report that White was headed for Washington, said he had not heard any such report.

In White’s case, the Peter Principle could be traced from White’s minimal classroom experience as a Teach for America alumnus as well as his having attended an academy to train school superintendents whose credentials are questionable at best. That academy, the Eli Broad Academy consists of all of six weekends of classes spread over 10 months.

In recent weeks, White’s tenure has been marred by repeated courtroom setbacks over the funding formula for school vouchers, public records litigation, rejection by the legislature of BESE’s Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) formula for funding public education, and most recently, word of apparent efforts by course providers to fraudulently enroll more than 1100 students in Course Choice online classes that were to be paid for by the state from MFP funds.

It was the use of the MFP funds for that purpose that was ruled unconstitutional by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

BESE member Lottie Beebe of Breaux Bridge, a vocal opponent of both White and Roemer, said she had not heard the latest report though she acknowledged previous rumors of White’s departure.

“He is building a home in Baton Rouge,” she said by email. “If this proves true, he is acknowledging defeat. He will bail before he is fired!”

An email to White went unanswered.

Increasingly, it would appear that the cream may have risen and has now soured.

Posted in BESE, Education, Governor's Office, Recovery School District, RSD, Vouchers | 41 Comments »

Pylant bill would only guarantee constant revenue stream for shady Course Choice providers already circling like vultures

May 22, 2013 by tomaswell

There have been ridiculous bills filed in the Louisiana Legislature. In fact, you can just about count on at least two or three each year.

But HB 648 by freshman Rep. Steve Pylant (R-Winnsboro) is the most asinine monument to waste and corruption in decades of wasteful and corrupt legislatures.

Even as LouisianaVoice reveals case after case of more than 1100 bogus registrations for Course Choice courses in three north Louisiana parishes, HB 648 would actually require the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to “adopt rules and regulations that require all public high school students, beginning with those entering ninth grade in the fall of 2014, to successfully complete at least one course offered by a BESE-authorized online or virtual course provider as a prerequisite to graduation.”

In the wake of what has been taking place in Caddo, Bossier and Webster parishes (and more recently in Calcasieu where it has been learned that one student not enrolled in the school listed by the student attempted to sign up for five courses and another signed up for two courses considered inappropriate for the grade level), Pylant ought to do the decent thing and withdraw his bill in the interest of saving himself further embarrassment.

His bill would accomplish precisely one thing: it would encourage even more fraud than has already taken place with course choice providers signing students to courses in those parishes without the knowledge or consent of the students or their parents.

In one case a severe and profound child was signed up for a class and in Bossier Parish, about 40 students did not attend a school in that parish as their applications indicated.

First grade students were signed up for high school Latin and high school English classes and many of the students ostensibly signed up in Bossier were registered for highly technical advanced mathematics classes.

Pylant, the retired sheriff of Franklin Parish, was elected in 2011 to the seat formerly held by Noble Ellington, who retired and was hired at a six-figure salary by the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

Ellington, the former national president of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in fact, contributed $500 of his campaign funds to Pylant in 2011.

Pylant also received more than $13,000 from the Republican Party of Louisiana, the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, and the Republican Legislative Delegation Campaign.

He also received $2500 each from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s campaign fund and House Speaker Chuck Kleckley’s political action committee, so it’s fairly easy to see where his allegiance lies.

But that is little reason to pass legislation that will only encourage an already serious problem of fly-by-night companies signing up students only for the purpose of qualifying the course provider to receive one-half of its tuition up front—whether or not the student ever turns on his or her computer.

The State of Idaho has already been there, done that, and decided it was a bad idea. Voters in that state easily repealed Idaho’s version of Course Choice—they called it Online Learning—by a whopping 2-1 margin in a statewide referendum last November.

Course Choice easily falls under the heading of “What’s going on here?”

And what’s going on, simply put, is the continued raping of the state treasury—sanctioned by the Jindal administration.

But Pylant’s bill qualifies for “What the heck is he thinking?”

The answer to that question is anyone’s guess.

We only know one thing for certain: it’s a win-win for shady operators and a lose-lose for Louisiana taxpayers.

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, BESE, Education, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians | 15 Comments »

In the aftermath of killer tornadoes, perhaps it’s time for another reminder to Jindal that teachers are true heroes

May 21, 2013 by tomaswell

Gov. Jindal, I hope you were able to pull your attention away from your next scheme to demean state employees and teachers long enough to look at the front page of Monday’s Baton Rouge Advocate.

I hope you saw the photos.

In case you didn’t, let me clue you in.

They were teachers. What’s more, they were heroes—something about which you know precious little.

One, at the top left of Page 1, was a teacher hugging an elementary student after a killer tornado destroyed their school in Moore, Oklahoma. It mattered little that the teacher was white and the student black. What mattered was the child was alive and the relief—and concern—on that teacher’s face is enough to melt anyone’s heart, Governor. Perhaps even yours, though I somehow doubt it.

Even more graphic was the five-column photo below that one which dominated the entire front page. Two teachers, a male and a female, both bloodied, are shown leaving Briarwood Elementary after it was flattened. The man is carrying a little girl in his arms as blood trickles down his face. The woman is trailing behind, her entire face and throat covered in blood as she leads a crying little girl away from the carnage that had been her school only minutes before. Neither teacher was concerned with anything but getting those children out of the wreckage safely.

These are teachers, Governor, the very people you choose to disparage and belittle for the sake of your precious agenda of funneling education dollars to fly-by-night operators who are somehow managing to sign students up for course choice courses without their knowledge or consent.

Apparently your role models are those who can throw a few campaign dollars your way in exchange for a much bigger chunk of course content dollars.

You would never understand the emotions that flowed as Briarwood P.E. teacher Mike Murphy comforted seven-year-old Alden Stuck as he waited for his mother at the school following the tornado.

You couldn’t possibly comprehend how someone like teacher Rhonda Crosswhite could, with no thought given to her own safety, drape her own body across six students inside a Plaza Towers Elementary School bathroom stall. The significance of her heroism in a moment of raw terror is completely lost on people like you.

You prefer to seclude yourself in your fourth-floor office even as scandal envelopes the two largest state agencies—the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Education.

I tried to remind you of the folly of attacking teachers following the Sandy Hook shootings. You do remember, don’t you, Governor? School Principal Dawn Hochsprung and first-grade teacher Vicki Soto died trying to defend their students, remember?

As Crosswhite was reunited with one of the children and his mother following the tornado, the boy’s mother, Brandi Kline embraced the teacher. “Thank you so much. Thank you all the teachers that were out there,” she said.

“Just doing our job,” Crosswhite replied.

There you have it, Governor. Just doing their job. You see, the job of a teacher encompasses so much more than teaching a standardized test in order to bump scores up to please some half-baked political agenda—and to maybe save the teacher’s job from some clueless state superintendent’s ever-changing Value Added Model of teacher evaluation.

And unlike you, Governor, teachers aren’t missing days from work looking for their next gig. They’re far too dedicated to doing the job for which they were hired.

Dedication. That’s something you could never understand.

Posted in Education, Governor's Office | 27 Comments »

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

May 20, 2013 by tomaswell

“We have received 52 enrollment requests since the inception of Course Choice. Of the 52 requests, 42 have been from the Bossier Technical Center.”

—Spokesperson for Bossier Parish School Board, commenting on 52 attempted registrations for Course Choice courses by providers FastPath and Smart Start. He said there are no students at Bossier Technical Center.

Posted in BESE, Education, Ethics, Notable Quotables, Public Records, Transparency | 6 Comments »

More sordid details emerging in apparent fraudulent Course Choice registrations in three northwest Louisiana parishes

May 20, 2013 by tomaswell

It’s not always writer’s block when you have trouble putting your thoughts into something resembling comprehensible form.

In the case of the Louisiana Department of Education’s (DOE) Course Choice program, the players are so intertwined as to be considered downright incestuous.

It’s not enough that the State Supreme Court has ruled that Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funds cannot be used to pay the tuition for Course Choice. Superintendent of Education John White has given every indication that he fully intends to plunge ahead with Course Choice and vouchers.

The depth of the apparent fraud is already emerging, even before Course Choice is really up and running, at a staggering rate sufficient to alert every investigative agency in Baton Rouge, from the local district attorney to state Attorney General and Legislative Auditor’s office to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

So where are they?

No, it’s not writer’s block. This convoluted mess called Course Choice can best be described as a cluster fart (okay, we cleaned that up a bit).

We just posted a story last week about FastPath, that Austin, Texas, firm headed by Rod Paige, former Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush. FastPath, it has been learned, signed up 1100 students from Caddo and Webster parishes for Course Choice courses without the knowledge or consent of the students or their parents.

One of those registering for courses in Webster Parish was a parent and “at least one was a Severe Profound child,” said a spokesperson for the Webster School Board. “The recruiters went down the street knocking on doors,” he said.

Some of the courses for students allegedly signed up for in Webster included math courses entitled Single Variable Equations, Two Variable Equations, Number Line Inequalities, Applied Linear Equations 1 and 2, Quadratic Formula, Quadratic X-Intercepts, Trinomial Factoring and Graphs to Linear Inequalities.

Now, LouisianaVoice has learned that another 64 were signed up for course choice courses in Bossier Parish. Fifty-two of those were signed up by FastPath and Smart Start but a few others were signed up by other providers approved by DOE, namely K-12, Inc., Advanced Academics, APEX Learning and Education Solutions.

Smart Start is the company that we reported last week was running ads in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Central Louisiana for sales reps to earn up to $75,000 within six months by signing up students for course choice courses.

The ads have since been taken down but we subsequently learned that FastPath was running a similar ad for sales reps for the Monroe area.

All 64 applications were rejected by Bossier Parish. Of the 34 signed by Smart Start, all attempted to register for Precision Math and Reading Acceleration courses. One student who was not even enrolled in a Bossier Parish school attempted to register for two courses. The student identified his/her school as the Life Skills Center as the school he/she is presently attending. The Life Skills Center is closed.

Two students, a brother and sister from another parish attempted to register for four courses through Haughton High School.

One first grade student had someone attempt to register her in two courses—high school Latin and high school English. Her legal guardian did not enroll her through Course Choice and has no consistent computer access.

Another student attempted to register for two courses considered “academically inappropriate,” according to a Bossier Parish spokesperson.

Following our initial story last week, David Callaway, chief compliance officer for FastPath sent us an email that said everything was on the up and up with his company.

But judging from the track record of its CEO, Rod Paige, no one should be surprised if things aren’t completely on the level. While he was serving as Secretary of Education under the younger Bush, a major scandal erupted when it was learned that while he headed up the Houston Independent School District, the fifth largest district in the nation, the district falsified its dropout statistics.

In his response, Callaway said, “We have a strict protocol that all of our representatives follow, and they are paid a flat hourly rate for their work ($16 per hour, according to FastPath’s ad). As part of this protocol, parents are ALWAYS present during enrollment. All or our representatives wear identifying badges and we take immediate action to address all legitimate concerns. Parents enroll in significant numbers because our program works. Over 95 percent of parents report an increase in their child’s grades in multiple subjects.”

We fired off a second email asking him to quantify his 95 percent claim via a written document. We have not heard back from him.

“Before a student’s enrollment is completed,” he said, “it is approved by a guidance counselor to ensure it is academically appropriate.”

The Bossier Parish spokesperson, however, said the only way the local school board becomes aware of enrollees is by logging onto the DOE dashboard through the Course Choice website. For all intents and purposes, the local guidance counselors are out of the loop on Course Choice registrations until well after the fact.

Callaway said FastPath does not receive full tuition from the state for students “unless our program results in significant gains on the LEAP/iLEAP.”

The actual agreement between FastPath and DOE, however, is not quite that strict. FastPath, as with all course choice providers, charges $700 to $1250 in tuition and like all providers, receives 50 percent of that ($350 to $625) up front. Only 10 percent of the final 50 percent (or 5 percent of the overall tuition) is contingent upon students’ showing only an increase, not a “significant” increase. Thus, if a FastPath student failed to show gains, FastPath would lose only $62.50 of a total tuition of $1250 or $35 of a $700 tuition.

Some penalty.

Now here’s where it begins to get a bit muddled and we’re probably going to have to develop an organizational, or flow chart to illustrate just how tight this little cadre really is.

First, we should point out that FastPath has two sister companies, Tutors with Computers and Read and Succeed, both of which have numerous complaints registered against them for deceptive practices.

That, however, has not deterred one Eric Nadelstern, Ed.D., from offering ringing endorsements of both companies. Nadelstern has been called “The great apologist for everything Joel Klein did for a decade.”

Nadelstern was Klein’s Deputy Chancellor for Academics in New York and was John White’s boss there.

Oddly enough, he appears on the web pages of both Tutors with Computers and Read and Succeed with identical blurbs with only the company’s name changed: “(Name of company) delivers outstanding products and services that effectively raise reading and math proficiency,” his endorsements say.

The DOE official responsible for coordinating all the course choice programs is one David “Lefty” Lefkowith, the frequent flyer who commutes to and from his home in Los Angeles for a $146,000 per year salary.

Travel records released to LouisianaVoice as part of the settlement terms of our recent public records lawsuit against DOE reveal that Lefty was reimbursed $860 for traveling to Austin, Texas, on Feb. 17-18 to meet with officers of Agilix Labs regarding Course Choice registration.

So just who is Agilix Labs? It’s a company that thus far has managed to fly under our radar but which we now know has a contract with DOE to help develop its Course Choice platform. We’ve not been able to determine the amount of that contract but we have made a public records request for the document.

Agilix announced in a Feb. 27 news release that it had created “one of the first educational applications to tap into the emerging InBloom data standard (IBDS).”

The news released continued by saying, IBDS was designed by its creators at Shared Learning Cooperative (SLC) to standardize access to myriad disparate forms of student, school, course and other educational data across platforms. Supported with $100 million from the Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and others, InBloom supports data needs of states, districts, nonprofits and corporations promoting personalized learning.”

What?

“We had to look at the issue of how to interface with all these systems to provide the broadest possible access to our customers,” said Agilix CEO Curt Allen. “After much analysis, we settled on adopting the rapidly emerging InBloom standard. That choice means that any school district or state that supports IBDS can leverage Agilix Honeycomb technology.

“John White, Superintendent of Louisiana schools, says, ‘By connecting to IBDS, Agilix opens a lot of doors for our Course Choice product not only for registration but also for detailed analysis of student performance. We expect this will assist greatly in tracking and reporting results of Course Choice adoption to state authorities,’” the news release said.

So there you have it. The circle is complete. After all the guarantees that data provided to InBloom would not be shared, we have Agilix, contracted by the state, saying otherwise.

We have White’s former boss endorsing two shady companies affiliated with a course choice provider (FastPath) from the same city as Agilix (Austin) that is signing up students in three northwest Louisiana parishes without the knowledge or consent of the students or parents.

And Agilix is joined at the hip with InBloom to whom White was going to provide sensitive personal data on some 700,000 Louisiana school students to “park” the information in its “data garage.” White has since said he cancelled the agreement with InBloom but in response to our public records request has denied the existence of any document verifying any such cancellation. Nor has he ever produced a contract or memorandum of understanding with InBloom to provide the data in the first place.

And coordinating the entire Course Choice racket is a nomad who jets in from Los Angeles for a four-day work week before heading back to the West Coast every Thursday—a nomad with his own questionable past of working with the now defunct Enron and the Jeb Bush administration in Florida in an unsuccessful effort to corner the market on drinking water there.

What could possibly go wrong here?

Posted in BESE, Education, Ethics, Public Records, Transparency | 28 Comments »

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