I started this blog on December 16th, 2008 hoping to shed some light on Gloucester's charter school debate. 10 plus months later, I have gone from opposing a specific charter that would greatly affect my schools and my city, to wondering how anyone can have faith in the Massachusetts charter application process.
If this is your first time visiting this site, I encourage you to read some key posts to help you get up to speed with the current debacle that is Secretary Reville's February 5th e-mail. Do not be fooled by the Secretary's insistence that this e-mail was taken out of context. From where I sit in Gloucester with two children attending public school and one soon to be attending, the context is very clear--it is the city of Gloucester that the Secretary intended to throw under the bus.
1. Why the People of Gloucester Should Ask the State to Reject the GCA Charter Proposal
2. Open Letter to the People of Gloucester
3. Office Urged Nixing Charter
4. Oversight Hearing--June 8, 2009, Gloucester, MA
5. Reville's Bitter Pill E-mail
If you are reading this and have become incensed by this particular chain of events and how the process affects children in Massachusetts, take a minute to send a letter to your local newspaper, to the Globe, to Commissioner Chester, to Governor Patrick and to Secretary Reville himself.
The Boston Globe
Letters to the Editor
Boston Globe
P.O. Box 55819
Boston, MA
02205-5819
or
Boston Globe
Commissioner Mitchell Chester
Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148
or
Commissioner Chester's E-mail Address
Governor Deval Patrick
Office of the Governor
Office of the Lt. Governor
Room 280
Boston, MA 02133
Governor Patrick's E-mail Address
Secretary Reville's E-mail Address
Letters matter. Our voices matter. Change matters.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Jane Cunningham
Friday, October 2, 2009
Kathy Clancy's Letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe
Gloucester feels prod of political agenda
October 2, 2009
YOUR SEPT. 24 editorial (“A mistake, but nothing more - education chief should stay’’) confirms that Education Secretary Paul Reville was placating what he called “moderate allies’’ like “the Globe and the Boston Foundation’’ in pushing for a charter school in Gloucester. And it seems that action paid off with an editorial that lacks any attention to the long history of events and irregularities in the approval of the school. The Globe seems to subscribe to the same theory as Reville: The end justifies the means.
Furthermore, you praise Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s independence and credibility, yet the only documentation on this matter is a “do not recommend’’ report from the Department of Education’s own charter school office experts and Reville’s clear e-mail to Chester on Feb. 5th. The unfavorable recommendation said, “The founding group is not recommended to be chartered because overall they did not meet the criteria for the final charter application.’’ The report listed numerous weaknesses in the application and doubts about the school’s chances for success.
Chester claims that he had numerous discussions with his staff after the report, yet none are documented. It appears that the political agenda as stated in the Reville e-mail is the only motivation for approval, not the best interest of educating Gloucester’s children.
Our state and the city of Gloucester deserve much better.
Kathleen Clancy
Gloucester
Link to Kathy's Letter
And another letter:
Reville seems to have lost sense of the mission
October 2, 2009
YOUR SEPT. 24 editorial (“A mistake, but nothing more - education chief should stay’’) confirms that Education Secretary Paul Reville was placating what he called “moderate allies’’ like “the Globe and the Boston Foundation’’ in pushing for a charter school in Gloucester. And it seems that action paid off with an editorial that lacks any attention to the long history of events and irregularities in the approval of the school. The Globe seems to subscribe to the same theory as Reville: The end justifies the means.
Furthermore, you praise Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s independence and credibility, yet the only documentation on this matter is a “do not recommend’’ report from the Department of Education’s own charter school office experts and Reville’s clear e-mail to Chester on Feb. 5th. The unfavorable recommendation said, “The founding group is not recommended to be chartered because overall they did not meet the criteria for the final charter application.’’ The report listed numerous weaknesses in the application and doubts about the school’s chances for success.
Chester claims that he had numerous discussions with his staff after the report, yet none are documented. It appears that the political agenda as stated in the Reville e-mail is the only motivation for approval, not the best interest of educating Gloucester’s children.
Our state and the city of Gloucester deserve much better.
Kathleen Clancy
Gloucester
Link to Kathy's Letter
And another letter:
Reville seems to have lost sense of the mission
Charter School Tornado
A political swirl on charter schools
E-mail points to Patrick’s agenda in Gloucester pick
By James Vaznis
Globe Staff / September 22, 2009
The Patrick administration urged approval of a controversial Gloucester charter school earlier this year, over the fierce objections of city residents and the advice of state specialists, based not on its merits but because it would further the governor’s political agenda, according to a recently published e-mail.
In the e-mail, Education Secretary Paul Reville told the commissioner of elementary and secondary education that rejection of the Gloucester charter school proposal, along with the probable rejection of two other pending charter proposals, would send the wrong signal.
“Our reality is that we have to show some sympathy in this group of charters or we’ll get permanently labeled as hostile and that will cripple us with a number of key, moderate allies,’’ Reville wrote on Feb. 5. “It really is a matter of positioning ourselves so that we can be viable to implement the rest of our agenda. It’s a tough but necessary pill to swallow.’’
Finish reading story by clicking here.
E-mail points to Patrick’s agenda in Gloucester pick
By James Vaznis
Globe Staff / September 22, 2009
The Patrick administration urged approval of a controversial Gloucester charter school earlier this year, over the fierce objections of city residents and the advice of state specialists, based not on its merits but because it would further the governor’s political agenda, according to a recently published e-mail.
In the e-mail, Education Secretary Paul Reville told the commissioner of elementary and secondary education that rejection of the Gloucester charter school proposal, along with the probable rejection of two other pending charter proposals, would send the wrong signal.
“Our reality is that we have to show some sympathy in this group of charters or we’ll get permanently labeled as hostile and that will cripple us with a number of key, moderate allies,’’ Reville wrote on Feb. 5. “It really is a matter of positioning ourselves so that we can be viable to implement the rest of our agenda. It’s a tough but necessary pill to swallow.’’
Finish reading story by clicking here.
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