"Hey Klein, It's Time to Resign" was the title of a column I wrote a few years ago. His time is coming.
See my post on Cerf's nap at Klein's press conference a few weeks ago when he announced the reorganization.
In a photo I took at the press conference, it appears as if Christopher Cerf, one of Klein’s newest appointees, might have been napping, or as the caption says on my blog, “Christopher Cerf dreams of ways to turn the NYC school system into a subsidiary of Edison.” Cerf was the CEO of Edison Schools, a fading for-profit corporation that looks to milk money out of public schools. Hey! The stock tanked and Cerf needed a job. Where else but in BloomKleindom?
Edison was once in the forefront of the ideological struggles as the right wing attempt to dismantle public education. Under Cerf’s leadership, Edison once made a run at NYC schools but was beaten back by the UFT and parent groups. Now they have the chief Edison wolf in the henhouse. So, it was not surprising to read in the Daily News a day after the press conference:
"The world's largest for-profit school operator yesterday expressed interest in being a part of the massive school reforms laid out this week. While Chancellor Joel Klein pitched his sweeping school overhaul to business leaders and educators yesterday, he said that he expected mainly universities and nonprofits to apply for the private contracts available under the reforms. He acknowledged, though, that legally he can't exclude for-profits, adding that, "I don't expect the for-profits will apply, but that's up to them. But Edison Schools - the controversial for-profit group that attempted to take over five failing city schools in 2001 - would "certainly be interested" in reviewing opportunities and seeing "whether it would be a good fit," company spokeswoman Laura Eshbaugh said yesterday."
Sure, after hiring Cerf, Klein never, ever thought of Edison applying for the PSO’s. Don’t we need to get Edison’s value up to prove the validation of the private model by having them feed at the public trough? You could actually see Klein’s nose grow as he spoke.
Also Cerf's letter to his staff.
Connection between Platform and Edison
ReplyDeletehttp://www.platformlearning.com/bios.html
Executive Management Team
Eugene V. Wade Jr., Chairman & CEO
Gene Wade is the Chairman, CEO & Co-founder of Platform Learning. Platform Learning is a leading provider of supplemental educational services to low-income students attending public schools that have been identified as being “In Need of Improvement” under the federal No Child Left Behind Law. As part of its after-school and weekend tutorial programs, Platform provides individual learning plans small group instruction to students (at average student-to-teacher ratio of approximately 6:1). Since March 2003, Platform has grown from a startup to a company tutoring approximately 50,000 students in over a dozen school districts.
Prior to co-founding Platform, Mr. Wade was Executive Vice President for Development at Edison Schools. ...
Before joining Edison, Mr. Wade was the Chairman and CEO of LearnNow, Inc, an education management company that managed charter schools and struggling public schools throughout the United States. Over a 22-month period, Mr. Wade grew LearnNow from a startup to a company serving more than 6,000 students attending 10 schools in four states. In July 2001, LearnNow was sold to Edison in a transaction valued at more than $36 million. At the time of the sale, LearnNow had more than $45 million in revenue and more than 250 corporate and school employees