Hallelujah Piece of Shit Astroturf Families For Excellent Schools Closing Down

Fuck FES and good riddance. Jeremiah Kittredge took FES down with him. Read this almost hilarious account of Kittredge's transgressions by a woman who said she could have broken him in half.

For Immediate Release:

Contact:
Julia Watson, Statewide Communications Coordinator, AQE
julia@aqeny.org  

PRESS STATEMENT

Families for Excellent Schools' Closure: The Defeat of Astroturf Education Advocacy 

NEW YORK, NY (February 5, 2018) — The corrupt charter school advocacy group Families for Excellent Schools is closing in part or full following a series of scandals. They were shut down in Massachusetts for corrupt election activities for which they were forced to pay the largest election law fine in Massachusetts state history. Today it has been reported that they are curtailing operations following the firing last week of the Executive Director as a result of an investigation into sexual harassment charges.

"FES is the latest of the astroturf charter school advocates to sputter into irrelevance in New York State, just another group that tried and failed to do any real grassroots parent organizing,” Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director, Alliance for Quality Education. “The only way these groups can generate a crowd of supporters in when large charter school chains shut down their schools and mandate parent participation in rallies. The lack of any real grassroots support is why their corrupt charter school ballot initiative in Massachusetts failed, even after spending $20 million on the campaign. 

"The one thing FES and others have been effective at is influence peddling with politicians, so keep your eyes open because it will not be shocking if the billionaire hedge fund crowd that backed FES moves their money into a new organization."

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** FEBRUARY 5, 2018

New York, NY – Statement from Bryan Lawrence, Board Chair of Families for Excellent Schools:

“This is a sad day for everyone at Families for Excellent Schools. We are very proud of the work we’ve done to help thousands of families stand up for educational opportunity in their communities, and believe our vision of a world where every child has access to an excellent school has never been more important.

Unfortunately, after a series of challenges over the past year and particularly given recent events, we have determined that the support necessary to keep the organization going is not there. We are beginning the process of winding down our work. I want to thank all those who have given their heart and soul to this organization since its inception; I know they will continue to advocate for the families and communities we serve.”

Astroturf Phony Parent Group Families for Excellent Schools CEO Jeremiah Kittredge fired

O, the joy!
DUHHHHH! Jeremiah Kittredge has been totally inappropriate in so many ways. Another loser pal of Eva Moskowitz, who had no comment. Et Tu Eva?

JEREMIAH KITTREDGE FIRED — POLITICO's Eliza Shapiro : Jeremiah Kittredge, the CEO of the pro-charter school group Families for Excellent Schools, has been fired following an "independent investigation" into "inappropriate behavior toward a non-employee," according to a statement from FES board chair Bryan Lawrence on Wednesday afternoon. A spokesman for the group declined to comment further. The group is one of the best-funded charter advocacy organizations in the country. It received more than $13 million from the Walton Family Foundation between 2014 and 2016 alone. It has become omnipresent in New York over the last several years, and has served as an unofficial lobbying arm for Success Academy, one of the nation's highest-performing and most influential charter school networks.

More links:

Pro-charter school group CEO booted for inappropriate behavior - NY ... www.nydailynews.com/.

Pro-charter school CEO fired over 'inappropriate behavior' accusations ...https://nypost.com/..

And for an analysis of Kittredge's disastrous venture into the Massachusettes charter debate - see (also below the break).

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/01/31/families-for-excellent-schools-ceo-jeremiah-kittredge-fired-after-investigation-into-inappropriate-behavior-229294

Panic in the Charter Lobby: Families for Excellent Schools (FES) Attack Public School High Scoresl Test Gains, Ignore Charter Phony Gains

Kittredge and FES will soon be calling for a ban on immigrants who might raise test scores in public schools.

Several charters had notable jumps but Families for Excellent Schools didn’t target them. They include Imagine Me Leadership Charter School in East New York, where 71% passed in math in spring, up from 41% the year before.... WSJ, Some Brooklyn Test Scores Jump, Sparking Call for State Investigation

Pro-charter group sees big gains as ‘suspiciously high’

Following on their loss at the NAACP (NAACP Sends a BIG FU to Charter Lobby), the charter lobby is increasingly in a state of panic.

Oooh, the poor boobies at the slimebag astroturf  FES led by the ultimate piece of shit, Jeremiah Kittredge, are scared that high test scores from public schools in neighborhoods with clusters of charters are becoming a threat to them.

As public schools begin to rise in test scores they present an inherent threat to the pro-charter narrative. So now FES is asking for schools with jumps in test scores to be investigated.

How funny considering charters mark their own tests, toss low-scoring kids back into public schools and in their closed environment can cheat like hell. A charter school teacher caught cheating probably gets an award. At most they will get rid of a teacher but cover it up. A public school teacher caught cheating not only can lose their job but go to jail - see Atlanta.

Some public schools threatened by charters have figured out ways to attract some of the parents who might go charter.

PS 147K, my former schools, is listed by FES. I had to laugh. I was in the school stuffing mailboxes during the UFT election on one of the testing days and the principal not only gave me a tour of the building to show me all the new stuff they had - hydroponics lab, state of the art library, a hot stuff computer lab - and then invited me into her office for a long chat about education policy. I remember my old principal in the 80s-90s being neurotic on test days and poring over the test papers to make sure everything was OK. No signs of that at all.

She took me in to see the Japanese dual language program which, as the only school in the city, has attracted Japanese parents. I'll leave it to readers to figure out if that has had an impact on test scores. And as we know that if you get a critical mass of kids who can function academically it raises all boats.

Kittredge and FES will soon be calling for a ban on immigrants who might raise test scores in public schools.

Yes Kittredge, let's open up Eva's schools for total scrutiny and watch you guys squawk. 

In some cases the opt-out movement might be having an effect. The assumption has been that the better scoring kids opt out - and in many areas that is true. But some of the low-scoring kids who have enormous struggles with the tests might also be opting out to avoid the trauma of tests that are so clearly unsuited for them. 


Lisa Rudley commented on the CTS listserve:

No surprise the charter schools are upset that they can't take over more schools to line their pockets and disrupt local communities. To call for full transparency is an insult when charters are the most secretive, non-transparency entities themselves with laws that protect them to be so.

The WSJ clearly is clearly not being balanced as charter school scores 'supposedly' went up even more.  Should they be investigated? In the end, these scores are not even comparable! 

Lastly, there were several charter schools across the state that had students opting out and did not meet the 95% threshold. .. Lisa Rudley, NYSAPE

Here is the WSJ article in full.