Betty Burney works for the CRSS which is financed by the Broad Foundation
From the Examiner.com by Andrew Reed
One of the most repeated accusations made against RCSD Superintedent Jean-Claude Brizard is that he is pushing to privatize many if not all city schools. Brizard does not hide his affinity for charter schools and how they, in his view, elevate the overall competitive aspect of public education. The district's recently-announced partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - who are unabashed supporters of the charter school system - is perceived as a means for privatization proponents to increase their leverage in a failing urban district like the RCSD.
What the general public may not realize is that a few years ago, Bill Gates introduced a compact with fellow billionaires Warren Buffett and Eli Broad to have all wealthy Americans allocate at least half of their fortunes to various philanthropic efforts. Broad, a Michigan native, amassed his fortune over many years, beginning with his home development business in Southern California. He later initiated the former financial powerhouse SunAmerica, which eventually was acquired by the American International Group. When AIG merged SunAmerica, Broad stayed on as a company director for a few years, in addition to becoming a major shareholder in the firm. He has frequently alleged that what led to AIG's much-publicized and devastating financial losses were due in large part to how the ratings agencies - Moody's, Fitch - graded assorted investments and certain government prosecutorial - Eliot Spitzer, in particular - efforts.
Broad, like Bill Gates,is an ardent supporter of charter schools and has been a major benefactor of numerous K-12 public school system reform efforts, His largesse includes enormous contributions to organizations such as Strong American Schools and the eponymous Broad Superintendents Academy (www.broadacademy.org), a school district superintendent training ground. The academy's overarching goal is to mold promising business, military and education executives into leaders of struggling urban school districts. The 10-month training program is designed to imbue these future district leaders with the necessary tools to overhaul inadequate urban school district practices, align oneself both philosophically and strategically with school boards and local business interests, in addition to garnering community-wide backing of your reform agenda.
A graduate of this particular program is none other than Jean-Claude Brizard, who was encouraged to apply to the academy on the advice and encouragement of New York City Schools colleagues, where he was employed before arriving in Rochester. Another graduate, though lesser known to most Rochesterians, is RCSD Deputy Superintendent John Scanlan. I should also mention that, according to the academy website, RTA President Dr. Adam Urbanski is one of the program's guest speakers.
Perusing the academy website, I also came across curricular requirements, or the program overview. Under 'Stakeholder engagement,' participants are, upon completion of the program, to be well-versed and ready to strategically partner with a school board to advance or enhance district objectives, maintain labor-management practices - yes, I said 'maintain' - and to raise funds that are parallel to one's objectives. Brizard, for instance, is also tasked with forming healthy relationships with parents and the community, as well as effectually communicating to the media 'good news' about the district and constucting a comprehensive understanding of the arduous work involved in reshaping the district.
I give Brizard an 'A+' in regards to his manipulation of - er, I mean - ability to effectively communicate to the media, local business elite and elected officials the good work the district has done to turn things around. His claims of continually reaching out to and meaningfully engaging labor, and his more recent efforts to interact with parents and the community notwithstanding, he has not met these specific stakeholder engagement benchmarks. However, he has performed admirably when it comes to fundraising, securing a staggering sum from the Gates Foundation, with the expectation that a whole bunch of currently traditional public schools will not be conventional for much longer.
Further examination of the program's overview lists a host of the usual management course objectives, including elevating one's ability to provide support and guidance to employees, rallying both internal and external support of initiatives and inspiring confidence and hope in others. Unfortunately for Brizard, he has been unsuccessful in winning over the hearts and minds of the general public, least of all the city teachers. His - and others' - attempts to paint all teachers as automatons who blindly follow union leaders' selfish wishes has not had the desired impact. Nor has swelling rhetoric by his biggest local media cheerleader, the Democrat & Chronicle, been able to sway the general public in his favor. The incessant propoganda only serves to galvanize grassroots efforts, which are growing in both numbers and influence, whose central goal is to ultimately serve the children and not the well-financed, omnipotent masters.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Broad Superintendents Academy and Jean-Claude Brizard - Rochester Urban Education | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/urban-education-in-rochester/the-people-behind-the-curtain#ixzz1rQTHNPwl
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