Thanks to the excellent reporting of Linda Conner Lambeck of the CT Post, this was blasted all over the front page ~
Outside interests were working behind the scenes to reconstitute school board
A consultant for a Greenwich billionaire interested in education reform was advocating behind the scenes for charter changes that would give the mayor control of the Bridgeport school board at the same time that local and city officials were also looking to reconstitute the board, email correspondence released to Hearst Connecticut Newspapers revealed.
From the Post:
Meghan Lowney, the consultant, was introduced to CT State Board of Education Chairman Allan Taylor by Alex Johnston Director of ConnCan, and lover of charter schools and teacher evaluations based on high stakes tests.
She and Board Chairman Taylor have an many email exchanges, all of which she requests he keep quiet about.
Via the CT Post:
In emails to Taylor, Lowney tells him that Mandel, founder of Lone Pine Capital in Greenwich, along with his wife, was interested in making meaningful school change in Bridgeport. They did not think accelerated change could take place under the current school board, which by most counts was deemed dysfunctional.
"In the last few months I've talked with Mayor (Bill) Finch and others about the possibilities for private support for the Bridgeport public schools," she said. "Just as in other challenged urban districts ... private-public partnerships can fuel innovations and system transformations."
And provide big bucks for billionaires!
Bridgeport's education system has had it's share problems; turnover of superintendents, low test scores and now a state takeover of the Board of Ed, thus leaving it open territory for carrion seeking vultures ~
Meghan Lowney, who works for hedge fund philanthropist Steve Mandel, tried first to find a way to create a mayor-controlled school board through a charter change and then to get the board reconstituted.
Meghan and State Ed Chairman Taylor have an extensive email dialogue -
Here's one sample:
June 17, 2011
From Lowney to Taylor:
Hello Allan - I hope you are well. Bridgeport's BOE has shown it's extreme dysfunction over the last weeks. They didn't pass a budget in a timely way at all and there's been a multitude of examples of their inability to adequately fulfill their duties....
...in the meantime we are still working on requesting a state intervention. All the plans are the same, but the timeline shifted b/c of the legislative session and so on.
We are running out of time....We are very hopeful that the State Board would agree to intervene and appoint a Special Master. (my bold) I'd like to talk with you and George Coleman about the possibilities and share some insights about the support we've organized in the private sector for this breakthrough work. As always, I appreciate your discretion and advice.
PEACE, MEGHAN
Read Lambeck's article in the CT Post it sheds some light on how these things happen.