Amid grading controversy, Florida education chief Tony Bennett to resign

[kpete]

Source: Miami Herald

Amid grading controversy, Florida education chief Tony Bennett to resign


Tony Bennett, who came to Florida from the Hoosier State last January, has faced mounting calls for his resignation in the wake of revelations, first reported by The Associated Press, that he interceded on behalf of an Indiana charter school run by a prominent Republican Party donor.


BY STEVE BOUSQUET, KATHLEEN MCGRORY AND JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
Bennett has faced mounting calls for his resignation after revelations, first reported by The Associated Press, that he interceded on behalf of an Indiana charter school run by a prominent Republican donor.

Tony Bennett is expected to resign Thursday as Florida education commissioner following two days of controversy over school grades in his home state of Indiana.

He is expected to hold a news conference in Tallahassee late Thursday morning to make the announcement.

Bennett, who came to Florida from the Hoosier state last January, has faced mounting calls for his resignation in the wake of revelations, first reported by The Associated Press, that he interceded on behalf of an Indiana charter school run by a prominent Republican Party donor.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/01/3535902/amid-grading-controversy-florida.html

[onehandle]

1. The party of corruption strikes again. nt

[alp227]

2. He looks young for an old singer.

Oh wait...

Single page story http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/01/v-fullstory/3535902/amid-grading-controversy-florida.html

[KamaAina]

3. "I left my brain..."

in Indiana...

[Mojorabbit]

8. LOL nt

[Chellee]

13. That is not true.

He never had a brain while he was in Indiana. Or a heart. Nerve, he had plenty of.

[AngryOldDem]

4. Here's what this guy did in Indiana:

There are two schools in the Indianapolis Public School (IPS) system at issue here. They have middle and high schools in the same building that are run by different administrators and held to their respective state standards for performance.

A few years ago, the high schools and middle schools were in danger of state takeover due to poor performance. But while both high schools improved to meet standards, the middle schools did not. The fact that the separately run high schools improved made no difference to Bennett: He ignored petitions by IPS to remove those schools from the takeover list, in order to prevent **both** buildings from being taken out of local control. This, while fudging the grade of the Republican-led charter school, to keep its performance record clean even though it had the same issues as the IPS schools.

Local news just had an interview with the president of the IPS board, who said this is just one more piece of evidence that Bennett was hell bent on building up the charter school system over public schools as the "cure-all" to "bad" schools. The state, I believe, would like nothing more than to see IPS chartered clean out of existence. There is some rumor of IPS looking into legal recourses, but it's not clear what those might be.

This guy didn't give a fuck about IPS, its teachers, or its students. All that mattered to him was building up the charter system. I am SO glad he got caught. Kudos to the AP for finding these e-mails...THIS is what the media should be doing.

And, as I said in the locked thread, this is just one more black eye for Mitch Daniels and his administration as well. Mitch absolutely LOVED Bennett and Bennett's scorched-earth policies regarding public schools.

[d_r]

5. GOOD

The e-mails from Indiana should result in criminal charges! There needs to be more exposure of this!

[marble falls]

6. He left his heart in San Francisco but he left his job in Tallahassee.

[cosmicone]

9. He left his brain at a pawn shop in Indianapolis. n/t

[marble falls]

11. and got enough to catch a bus to Fla with a bag of PBJs.

[Myrina]

7. ... and had he done the same 'favor' for the public schools here, at least 2 of them would

have passed scrutiny & not been taken over by the 'state' oversight corporation.


Rat Bastard.
This state is so rotten it's hard to stand living here anymore.

[benld74]

10. Article states he only fixed a 'statistical anamoly',,

strange but I dont think he even knows what a statistical anamoly is let alone HOW to fix one.

[AngryOldDem]

12. The "anamoly" is this:

A charter school was not performing up to standards -- a GOP-backed charter school, at that. In Tony's world, that can't happen, because charter schools are the best thing to happen to education -- EVER!

[Ka hrnt]

14. That's what drives me nuts...

These "reformers", when faced with the reality that their ideas don't work (or are at the very best marginally/insignificantly better), double down rather than seem to even contemplate the possibility that maybe, just maybe...their ideas don't work.

[Ka hrnt]

15. Good riddance.

Now we just have to pray that we get a replacement that is somewhat less terrible than Bennett. As for the reformers and their ilk, well..."It is important to remember that to 'reform' does not necessarily mean improve, just to reshape."--Dr. Gerald Bracey