Charter school boss Geoffrey Canada is part of the group raising $50 million to wage war on teacher unions and the parents who support them.
Did you see the article in the New York Times about StudentsFirstNY?
What a bunch.
StudentsFirst is the corporate education mouthpiece that the disgraced, former Chancellor of DC Schools, Michelle Rhee, founded.
On the board are some of the most well-known and polarizing figures in public education, including Ms. Rhee; Mr. Klein, now a News Corporation executive; and Eva S. Moskowitz, the former councilwoman who now runs a chain of charter schools. Also on the board are former Mayor Edward I. Koch; Geoffrey Canada, the founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone organization, a network of charter schools; and a number of venture capitalists and hedge fund managers, who have served as the movement’s financial backers.
The New York chapter has a goal of raising $50 million over the next few years.
Why?
The Times is reporting that there is concern that the next mayor of New York will not be as hateful towards teachers and teacher unions as the current one.
Parents are not willing to blame teachers for the education failures of Mayor Bloomberg.
Throughout the coming negotiations, Ms. Rhee expected that her organization would push for change, however uncomfortable it might be for the city’s mayor.
Ms. Rhee and Mr. Klein have a confrontational history with teachers’ unions. But some charter school leaders and other advocates have spoken of the need to lower the temperature of the debate and have turned their focus inward on improving their own schools.
“Folks are genuinely looking for opportunities to make peace and not war,” Mr. Canada said. “And I think that’s terrific.
But someone has to make war.”
Fred Klonsky 