One of the arguments for mayoral control of the school system was that it would enable City Hall to cut out the corruption which flourished within the Board of Education. What wasn't said then was that control would also enable City Hall to let the corrupters it favored into the school system to replace those it didn't.--- comment on the NYCEdNews Listserve.
This was posted by Patrick Sullivan, Manhattan PEP non-puppet rep:
Joe Chan has resigned from the Panel for Educational Policy. Chan was a former Bloomberg administration official and recently head of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership where he was the subject of a NY State Attorney General's Investigation.People have been suggesting for years that people opposed to Bloomberg ed deform turn their focus on these appointees individually to make things hot for these puppets. Maybe Occupy DOE will take on this project.
In her September Report Card column for the Brooklyn Rail, journalist Liza Featherstone noted Chan's questionable credentials for his school board role:
He has been investigated by the state attorney general for misuse of city funding for using city money to lobby city officials, which is, under state law, not allowed. As the New York Times reported in 2009, Chan spent $200,000 on lobbying for the Atlantic Yards construction. Neither the DBP nor the attorney general’s office will say whether this investigation is still ongoing, but “Report Card” assumes that if it had been cheerfully resolved, either body would be happy to tell us so. (Of course, since the DBP was created by Bloomberg to advance Bloomberg’s agenda, it matters only slightly whether or not the DBP “lobbied” anyone.) Given this historically casual relationship to public funds, it’s particularly rich that as head of the PEP committee that oversees DOE contracts, Chan decided it no longer needed to meet.The original NY Times article concerning the investigation can be found here.
Chan has been replaced by Judy Bergtraum. No biographical information has been provided by the Bloomberg Administration.
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Very interesting..another crook who was misusing funds....more hypocrisy for the Bloomberg administration on 'accountability'.
ReplyDeleteYou know I am one of those who believe you need to turn your attention on the other 4 borough presidents since they approve their appointee's votes. I was shocked that Marty's appointee voted with Eva when members of his borough were truly outraged. But that outraged wasn't directed at him.
ReplyDeleteWith Liu out of the picture, public schools and teachers are doomed. The new mayor and governor will be on a mission to destroy collective bargaining, pensions, due process. The Federal government will drag their heels on the Liu investigation because he is not a Duncan fan. And if he were to be found innocent of all charges it would be too late. Stringer does not have the $$$ or organization to run for mayor. Thanks to your reporting, we now know that Thompson is an ally of Bloomberg as is Quinn.
The next big step and I mean BIG, BIG step is for all teachers to write a letter to the union telling them they no longer want to contribute to COPE and will not rejoin unless they see significant action to protect teachers and public schools, get ATRs back to their jobs, and stop the coziness our leaders have with the so-called Reformers. If our once Democratic allies can easily be bought by Wall Street to go against teachers, and Cuomo relies on his corporate backing rather than Labor, the real motivator must be the money. Maybe it's time for the rank and file to pull the money that's supposed to be helping us but instead paid the way for mayoral control and school closings?????
Did you see Randi on Morning Joe?? She was creamed and part of that was due to her inability to stand up and say exactly what's wrong with charters. Instead she stuck to her talking points. Very sad indeed!!
Find video of Randi on Charlie Rose from a couple of years back...she is so awful and weak. That's what happens when she doesn't have her Unity DA puppets around her. You have to admit there is a lot that is similar between UFT DAs and the PEP meetings.
ReplyDeleteCOPE, is that still around??? As one person suggested, if teachers are at all concerned about their current or future situation, they MUST NOT CONTRIBUTE TO COPE. otherwise, they deserve what they get.
ReplyDelete