Johnston Leaving ConnCAN

He said he's leaving ConnCAN in search of a new type of advocacy.

He can work with her.

http://www.dianeravitch.com/

"We're at least 20 years into the national reform movement, and student achievement hasn't changed," he said.

Shocker.....

what was this guy making a year, anybody know?

CEOs don't come cheap (don't belong in schools either), I've been told low/mid 6 figures.

So far this does not sound like a significant change. The overall strategy remains, most likely, the backdoor privatisation of the Public Sector, handing Public Education over to
corporate power and greed.

We want the schools systems to look like Wall Street.

Johnson is probably just repositioning himself so he can be involved in electoral politics.

Allan, It's amazing that you can be completely wrong on every single statement you wrote but by gosh somehow you pulled it off!

In building ConnCAN into one of the premier school reform organizations in just a few brief years, Alex has become one of the most important voices for change on the NATIONAL school reform scene.

It was not easy to create an organization known for its uncompromising vision for child-centered public education AND at the same time enjoy the universal respect of people on all sides of the argument.

We look forward to Alex's continued involvement in this fight and are very grateful that he won't be going far away. Good luck, Alex.

$174,000/yr ....
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2009/201/612/2009-201612161-0690b59d-9.pdf
and the organization has the nerve to bash us teachers!

Best of luck, Alex. You should be proud of the trail you've blazed. As for us, we'll be eager to see what the next stop is!

How come teachers weren't invited to this event?

????? My crystal ball says a political campaign is on the horizon.... He has had very powerful backers who I suspect will continue to support his meteoric rise in power. Get ready, again!

Quality public Education is the right of every child, not the privilege of the 'selected' few.

posted by: Dorthula Green on March 29, 2011 7:05am
????? My crystal ball says a political campaign is on the horizon…. He has had very powerful backers who I suspect will continue to support his meteoric rise in power. Get ready, again!

Tea party?

@Somewhere,

The Yale SOM education conference, where Randi Weingarten and Dr.Mayo spoke, is attended by hundreds of educators and people interested in education. About half the attendees are from CT. and the rest are from the region and adross the country. This conference in only a few years is now the largest education reform gathering in the country, and something of which New Haven should be proud. Despite the importance of the conference, the local media has essentially ignored its existence. This is shocking given its relative importance in the education world.

It is not an "invitation" event. There is an open on-line registration months before the conference. Anyone can sign-up. For the first time this year, I saw a number of CT. SDE folks inj attendance. My question is why aren't more teachers aware of the conference? This year's conference and panels were particularly good. Sign-up early next year!

The solution to education reform is for government to get out of the education business:
http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/lp-chair-the-problem-in-wisconsin-is-not-unions-but-government

Mr. Brison--
You are correct and thanks for pointing out the issue. Only someone living under a rock couldn't see this charade. Now they have the gall to enrich themselves at the mercy of our children. It is really sick. The working class will rise up and change our country for the better. We work they prosper (and they dont even work) they play Ponzi schemes---Time to march on Wall St and have the crooks thrown in prison---why haven't any of them gone to prison--you see the game---I don't believe Alex Johnston has ever been in front of a classroom --yet he has a lot to say --as does Fix--who I believe has never been in front of a classroom either---You got big B-lls to speak on a subject you have no idea about---Maybe I should just take over a bank tomorrow(cause I have some thoughts) or maybe stroll into the emergency room at Yale and start operating on someone(cause I have some thoughts) You guys and your like have a lot of nerve----Please show me you know what real work is and apply for a teaching job for next year--Fix and Alex in front of a classroom (doing real work--God's work--for the first time in their lives) Ha! Please stop blogging about something you know nothing about---It really is embarrassing----Tom

ConnCAN and Johnston have been reasonable voices in a contentious arena. Hopefully their message and work will continue.

This entire charter school, and reform efforts are scams. Everyone is giving all kinds of ideas about how to run schools. Notice who they are and what their backgrounds are. They are so "sorry for the plight of the urban kids" that they want to help them. Really! It is a deceptive ploy to get monies from other sources, calling themselves non profit, to use urban children and their families as scapegoats or baits. These folks are in it for themselves, not for our children. It was interesting to see the few black heads among a sea of ivory league students from SOM, present and past, at the OMNI. Yale is turning out these young people with no experience majoring in management and policy for the purpose of taking over management in urban areas. I must give them credit for scanning the environment to notice that the jobs for their young graduates lie with the urban areas. Of course, they come as nights in shining armors to rescue the poor and trampled..the poor children whose vocabulary is limited, who are from broken homes, who need the handouts...give me a break! We do not need your pity nor your hand outs and we know you will not see blacks nor the poor as your equals...ever. Cut to the chase and reveal your real mission.
I have often wondered how the housing pattern is the way it is..entire areas are Black or Hispanic, middle class and Itallians. This seem to be social engineering at its highest. This is what contributes to poverty and blight...the separation of people. It is de facto segregation and the demographic location that in part are causes of children not having the best opportunities. Diversity brings a better promise for all students. It may seem like I am rambling, but I am tired of others pretending to have the answers as to why students are not learning. You can see through the rhetoric that they are not genuine--it is what they can get out of it--recognition, promotion, book sale etc. Inner city kids are smart, just not what the majority purport as smart--you speak the way we do..they call it articulate, you live the way we do--they call it middle class.
We need to try an experiment if we dare. Hooker is held high as a high performing school. Therefore, put Hooker's teachers to run Clemente and Clemente's teachers and principal to run Hooker.

I fully agree with Conspiracy that much of our education problems have been caused by de facto segregation. Ironically, our cities are more segregated today than before the Civil Rights Act. The Federal government is largely to blame. After WW II returning GIs (who were mostly white in the then-segregated army) were given mortgages with very low down payments. However, these mortgages only could be used for a new--not an existing--home. Thus began the massive "white flight" to the suburbs. (This mortgage program still exists, and the required housing standards are so high that it still essentially requires that it be applied to a new home.)At the same time, the Federal government began constructing the interstate highway system. It was intended for national defense, so that military personnel could be transported rapidly from one part of the country to another, in the event of a foreign invasion. (Such a highway system in Germany is how the Nazis defeated Poland almost instantly, initiating WW II.) Coupled with the sudden white-flight, our new "military transport system" instead became a commuter highway system, segregating our society and sucking the life out of cities. Not a "conspiracy", but incredibly short-sighted, incompetent planning. And unfortunately this has become the standard for most government-run programs--including public education.