THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: J.B.'s charter schools fostering equity? Not so much.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

J.B.'s charter schools fostering equity? Not so much.

This is an update on the tons of extra money that Jerry Brown gets for his two charter schools in Oakland. The San Francisco Chronicle previously reported about this phenomenon in July 2009. Contributions are tracked by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). A spreadsheet of contributions to Jerry Brown for 2012 is posted online (updated 8/3/2012) at www.fppc.ca.gov/cosponsor/2012-state.xls

The vast majority of contributions directed to Brown are for Oakland Military Institute (OMI) and Oakland School for the Arts (OSA).

OMI is located at 3877 Lusk Street on the campus previously occupied by Longfellow Elementary School (closed in 2004). OMI has leased this site from the Oakland Unified School District since 2007 and the lease expires June 30, 2013. A self-funded expansion on 39th Street next to OMI has recently been completed, and the school's board members have expressed that they would like to make a "direct purchase" of the Longfellow campus from OUSD. They've even figured out the angle of extra pressure to apply (“ ...recognizing that the 39th Street facility has been funded by OMI.”).*

Local news is keeping this all hush-hush. Also not widely publicized last winter was the annual fundraiser for OMI which was headlined by Clint Eastwood and George Shultz and held on February 16, 2012, at Scott’s Restaurant in Oakland per OMI board meeting minutes of February 13, 2012 (disclaimer: I love Scott's seafood restauraunt). Eastwood then gave $50,000 to OMI, but OMI only got $5,000 out of Shultz (boo hoo > Shultz's national status keeps dropping, so who cares? > :-( ...).

Here’s something active Oakland public school parents can think about as they work together to scrape up a few extra dollars for their schools this year.

From December 28, 2011, to June 26, 2012, Oakland Military Institute received an extra $1,559,661 in contributions made indirectly to Jerry Brown. OMI enrolled 623 students in 2011-2012, making it out to about an extra $2,503 per OMI student for that year.

And from December 5, 2011, to June 26, 2012, Oakland School for the Arts received an extra $1,361,282 in contributions made indirectly to Jerry Brown. OSA enrolled 619 students in 2011-2012, so this comes out to an extra $2,199 per student for that year.

In just the first six months of 2012, the total of contributions to Jerry Brown for the 1,242 students attending his charter schools was $2,920,943 – more than one-tenth of what is spread among all 46,377 OUSD students in Measure G funds generated by Oakland taxpayers.

Incidentally, OMI gets more favors from the world. OUSD, its authorizer, permits the school to screen prospective students by requiring applicant interviews, along with the submission of his/her attendance and disciplinary history, plus a signed permission slip allowing OMI to access the students' grades, test scores and other records -- all before formal acceptance into the school.

Ahhhhhhh... corporate education reform, generating *change* in the typical divisive fashion.

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PAYMENTS FOR LEGISLATIVE, GOVERNMENTAL, OR CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES FOR EDMUND G. BROWN, JR.

PAYEE: OAKLAND MILITARY INSTITUTE

DATES: December 28, 2011, to June 26, 2012

Brown Family Foundation for Education & the Arts	100,000
Occidental Petroleum Corporation	100,000
Roberts Foundation	100,000
San Pablo Lytton Casino	100,000
Brooks-Mathews Foundation	50,000
E&J Gallo Winery	50,000
Mr. and Mrs. Clint Eastwood	50,000
Robert A. Day	50,000
Apollo Group, Inc.	25,000
AT&T	25,000
Bank of America	25,000
Blue Shield of California	25,000
Cisco Systems	25,000
Govenor's Cup Foundation Inc. (6/15/2012)	25,000
Governor's Cup Foundation, Inc. (6/26/2012)	25,000
Intel	25,000
Koret Foundation	25,000
Pacific Gas and Electric Company	25,000
The George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation	25,000
The Kanbar Charitable Trust	25,000
The Safeway Foundation	25,000
UPS	25,000
Verizon	25,000
Walmart	25,000
Kaiser Permanente	20,000
Phoebe Snow Foundation	20,000
Scott's Seafood Restaurant	17,161
T. Gary and Kathleen Rogers Supporting Family Foundation	12,500
AB&I Foundry	10,000
AECOM Technology Corporation	10,000
Anheuser Busch	10,000
Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc.	10,000
Applied Materials	10,000
Blum Family Foundation	10,000
California Pipe Trades Council	10,000
Chevron	10,000
Clean Energy	10,000
Clint Reilly	10,000
Comcast	10,000
Commerce Casino	10,000
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP	10,000
Dean Isaacson	10,000
Doris Fisher	10,000
FedEx	10,000
Hanson Bridgett LLP	10,000
Hewlett Packard	10,000
Macy's	10,000
Morongo Band of Mission Indians	10,000
PhRMA	10,000
Platinum Advisors	10,000
Robert A. Naify	10,000
Rudd Family Foundation	10,000
Shaw Environmental	10,000
Sierra Pacific Industries	10,000
Stephen A. Matich	10,000
The Rock Foundation	10,000
Walgreens	10,000
Western Union	10,000
Zenith Insurance Company	10,000
California Apartment Association	5,000
California Association of Health Facillities	5,000
California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems	5,000
California Chamber of Commerce	5,000
California Fire Foundation	5,000
California State Council of Laborers	5,000
Caruso Family Foundation	5,000
Conaway Preservation Group LLC	5,000
Deloitte	5,000
Enviroplex	5,000
F& Family Foundation	5,000
Farmers	5,000
Frank and Kathy Baxter	5,000
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories	5,000
Georgiou Enterprises	5,000
Google	5,000
Gtech	5,000
H.F. Gerry Lenfest	5,000
Margarat Naraghi Quattrin	5,000
Milken Family Foundation	5,000
Ozzie Silna	5,000
Peace Officer Research Association of California	5,000
Pfizer	5,000
Rancho Mission Viejo	5,000
Rogers Family Foundation	5,000
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians	5,000
SSA Terminals	5,000
State Building and Construction Trades Council of CA	5,000
Stephen Bechtel Fund	5,000
The Bicycle Casino	5,000
The Charles and Ann Johnson Foundation	5,000
The Shultz Family Fund	5,000
Ueberoth Family Foundation	5,000
Valutech Outsourcing, LLC	5,000
Waste Management	5,000
Wells Fargo	5,000
TOTAL	$1,559,661

============================================================

PAYEE: OAKLAND SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS

DATES: December 5, 2011, to June 26, 2012

Chuck Feeney	500,000
San Pablo Lytton Casino	100,000
The Annenberg Foundation	100,000
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation	100,000
Ogerson and Barbara Bakar	50,000
John & Marcia Goldman Foundation	30,000
AT&T	25,000
Bank of America	25,000
Pacific Gas and Electric Company	25,000
Ann and Gordon Getty	21,282
The Clorox Company	20,000
BeachBody	15,000
Global Tel Link	15,000
Resnick Family Foundation. Inc	15,000
The Larry L. Hillblom Foundation	15,000
Another Planet Entertainment	10,000
Arthur Rock Foundation	10,000
Bikram's Yoga College of India	10,000
Charles Schwab	10,000
Clean Energy	10,000
Comcast	10,000
Fed Ex	10,000
George Gund III	10,000
Libitzky Family Foundation	10,000
MP Biomedicals	10,000
Rebecca and James Elsen	10,000
The Bicycle Casino	10,000
Walmart	10,000
William R. Hearst III	10,000
Ambassador Frank and Kathy Baxter	5,000
Bank of the West	5,000
Barona Band of Mission Indians	5,000
Blue Shield of California	5,000
California Commerce Club	5,000
California Fire Foundation	5,000
Chevron	5,000
Colt Family Foundation	5,000
Dwight Manley Inc.	5,000
East Bay Community Foundation	5,000
Flynt Management Group LLC	5,000
Forest City Enterprises	5,000
Fred Taugher and Paula Higashi	5,000
Google	5,000
Hanson Bridgett LLP	5,000
Jacobson & Associates	5,000
Koret Foundation	5,000
L and S Milken Foundation	5,000
Milken Family Foundation	5,000
Moss Foundation	5,000
Nion T. McEvoy	5,000
NRG Energy Inc.	5,000
Richard J. Meyer	5,000
Stephanie and Mory Ejabat	5,000
Steven L. Craig	5,000
Stupski Family Fund	5,000
The David Geffen Foundation	5,000
The Home Depot	5,000
Townsend Public Affairs	5,000
Turner Construction Co.	5,000
Visa	5,000
W. Dean Henry	5,000
William Witte	5,000
TOTAL	$1,361,282

* Board meeting minutes for February 13 and March 12, 2012 HERE.

More on Jerry Brown and his Oakland charter schools @ http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/search/label/Jerry%20Brown

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Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. LISTEN to my interview with At The Chalk Face , slide marker to 32:00 min. (5/19/2013)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

WE CAN DO IT!

Jim Hightower on populism:

"... what populism is at its essence is just a determined focus on helping people be able to get out of the iron grip of the corporate power that is overwhelming our economy, our environment, energy, the media, government."

Jim Hightower on plutocracy:

"Plutocracy and democracy don't mix."

More Jim Hightower HERE.
Read his Lowdown newsletter HERE.

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low.

On Bill Gates' ed reform

Joel Shatzky's comment on Huffington Post:

The inferior "test-prep" agenda which bases the pedagogically fraudulent "data" standardized test scores serves as a way of diverting the concerns of working parents who hope that better test scores will lead to better job opportunities for their children. If they realized that they were being given a con job, they might consider other, more "active" forms of political and social protest than simply lobbying for more money for charter and public schools.

New wealth gap report

Research and Policy Brief from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University, May 2010:

"New evidence reveals that the wealth gap between white and African-American families has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation."

You absolutely must click on this link to view the graph.

Now compare that graph to the one you'll see here.

Now read this entry.

And if you are a person who blames the schools, or believes they are responsible for fixing these problems, you can stop that type of thinking right now.

A Keeper

Posted on the Oakland Public School Parents listserv by a member:*

As a public health nurse, I am working with a generation of young parents who were drug-exposed, who are now having children who are drug-exposed, and it's a whole new ballgame. Many who were premature and will carry some deficits for life.

There are also many other families who have several generations of all kinds of abuse, not enough to eat, violence in and out of their homes, as well as chronic exposure to pollution and nutritional deficits. And there are regular people in the same neighborhoods who are just trying to live, but are poor and can't get ahead.

And there is major grief, and continuous LOSS. So many folks have lost so many folks, people around them dying, of one thing or another, every month almost. Young people (cousins, brothers, friends) dying from violent means, the elders dying too young of chronic disease and disparities in health care, among other things.

What we know about learning and development is that stressed nervous systems CANNOT learn, and that's what we have. Children with many major stressors. Abandonment, attachment disorders, fear, post traumatic stress, sadness, inability to trust or sleep. Many children. Many.

Resulting in: Lack of impulse control, lack of executive function, difficulty in expressing and controlling emotions, difficulty in sleeping, holding still, and paying attention, not to mention following directions and prioritizing tasks.

Our teachers will (perhaps already do) need more training, support, and smaller class sizes. They need major support and help with mental health issues. We really need some kind of expanded vocational track for those who can't perform even at the community college level.

We can't expect teachers to undo years and years of living. The availability of universal preschool would help. Sometimes a classroom is the first kindly, safe, structured, stimulating environment a child encounters.

Wise insights such as these are never uttered by people like Eli Broad, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, Joe Williams, or any others who are of this type of school reform ilk. And this is why I know for certain that they just don't "get it." Maybe they don’t want to, OR maybe they don’t care.

* Thank you, B.R.

What Children Need

From Playing to Learn by Susan Engel (New York Times, 2/1/2010):

"Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.

…Simply put, what children need to do in elementary school is not to cram for high school or college, but to develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on."

And to tag onto that, check out this video about the wood shop at one of Oakland's middle schools.

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Thursday, August 16, 2012

J.B.'s charter schools fostering equity? Not so much.

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