Half the Times Union article talking about the record setting war chest she has amassed was about her benefactor and mentor Gary Chartrand. I don’t know if Gary Chartrand is a true believer or just trying to make a buck off education but either way he is dangerous to public education.
He is for firing teachers at low performing schools, he doesn’t believe in teacher seniority or that teaching experience matters. He is for parent choice (charter schools and vouchers) which sounds good but here in Florida parent choice is actually code for public school privatization. Not only do charter schools and private schools not have the same accountability that public schools have but they siphon resources away from already resource starved public schools.
He is dangerous to public education and for all of public educations warts and for all the self-inflicted wounds that the current school board and superintendent have done to it, public education is still by far the best thing going.
Despite the fact he employs her and his family and friends make up many of her donors, Smith-Juarez said Chartrand and no other donor will have undue influence. (undue, how about bought and paid for?)
"Certainly I have a lot of tremendous supporters and people who are very interested in seeing us build a first-tier education system," Smith Juarez said. "But this is my candidacy. This is me running as a concerned citizen and community member."
She says she is running as a concerned community member. The truth is we should all she be concerned, this super and board have done tremendous damage but let me suggest her volunteering in our schools as an alternative. You see our board has been made up of “concerned community members” for a while now and I don’t think we can take much more.
Gary Chartrand is for policies that hurt public education, how do we know we can expect less from his protégée.
To read the Times Union article, paste below into your browser: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-04-12/story/duval-school-board-candidate-raises-nearly-twice-amount-others?cid=hp-mostcommented#ixzz1rvgW3mG0
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