WJCT’s guilt by association

Let me start by saying I think education reporter Rhema Thompson has really elevated their game. I also like Mellissa Ross of First Coast Connect too, though sometimes the toughest question she asks is, how is your day?

Now with that out of the way, let me present their guilt by association.

First, Trey Csar of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund is on the community board with fellow Teach for America alumni and school board candidate Darryl Willie.

I was wondering why we haven’t heard much about TFA and who he’s going to support in district 4 too.

Then on the leadership board we have Ashley Smith-Juarez, school board member, Rachel Vitti, the super’s wife, Delores Barr-Weaver whose husband has been increasingly involved in local education and who has donated to numerous school board candidates and Kristen Majdanics the wife of KIPPs Tom Majdanics. Maybe that’s why we haven’t heard about the Chartrand Rule which has protected their school grade or anything about KIPP for that matter.

Furthermore Rick Mullaney who has a monthly policy show, also has a daughter in Teach for America, gee I wonder how he feels about that policy. He recently had Gary Chartrand on his show and he was like a coat, you know as in let off the hook repeatedly.

Speaking of Chartand until just recently, I mean in the last few days, the WJCT web-site carried a banner saying sponsored by the Chartrand foundation. Gary Chartrand who went from grocer to running our schools is one of the biggest drivers of the school privatization movement in Jacksonville and he and his families have donated to several school board candidates with a privatization bent including the aforementioned Smith-Juarez and Willie.

Couple this with the Waltons yes those Waltons K-12 initiative who are also big donors to public radio and who are part of the national privatization movement, then what stories are we missing?

No really, what stories are we missing?

I know I didn’t miss the pro-common core story that ran the other day as I am sure the Gates foundation, another big donor with a privatization bent who have spent hundreds of millions promoting common core didn’t.

To read more, click the link: http://pando.com/2014/06/05/revealed-gates-foundation-financed-pbs-education-programming-which-promoted-microsofts-interests/