We've already received ConnCAN's 2010 Success Story Middle School Award.

ConnCANN is a CT based, pro-charter school organization which bills itself as an 'educational advocacy group' - in other words, they get big players to help them suck money from public schools to fund charters.

I thought it might be a good idea to email their CEO, Alex Johnston and give him a head's up that we were an elementary school. I didn't want him to show up for the big ceremony expecting 7th graders and seeing 600 six to ten year-olds.

He probably didn't read my email - the award still states we're a middle school. There were big cameras, the district superintendent, the assistant superintendent, along with other assorted biggies. Our principal shed a few tears.

We were played ~

ConnCAN’ proposes to replace that funding system with a new one. It would work like this: When a child leaves a public school district to attend a charter school, the district would pay the charter school to educate the child. The state would deduct the money from the town’s Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant and send it directly to the charter school. The shift would be gradual: the state would cover the entire cost in year one, 60 percent of the cost in year two, and 40 percent in year three. In year four, cities would pay the full whack.



I don't know what we received - maybe a plaque or something.

Which is probably how we attracted the attention of CNN's Dr. Steve Perry.

Our school is a small formerly 'failing/priority' elementary school located in an urban Connecticut city. We had a bump in our test scores last year and are temporarily on 'safe haven' - a short and welcome reprieve from the microscope.

Everything went well until the end of the day. I was not present, but heard about it immediately after the fact.

CNN cornered our students and demanded to know if they thought they were learning anything. How did they know? How can they prove it?

The teacher was given the same in-her-face treatment and questioned along the same lines. She was informed that, "Some teachers need to be fired here."

She came out of that room shaking, extremely upset - and knowing her reaction to Steve's rudeness will be seen coast to coast.

Wonderful.

Steve Perry's motivational speakers biography ad:

Dr. Steve Perry is a strong advocate of personal responsibility in all aspects of life. As a motivational speaker he emphasizes the social issues in the community with messages that aim at building up both the individual and the community so that our children can be better contributing members of society. His calls to action, personal responsibility and solutions. Man up Nobody is Coming to Save Us

Dr. Perry is a social worker with no administrative certification or teaching background. I suggest he 'man up' and obtain the same certification and experience as the public school teachers he assails in order to promote both himself and CNN.

Until then, he's just an attack journalist - with no cred.

