Local Connecticut blogger, Jon Pelto has been all over the the deficits of Bridgeport 'superstar' school superintendent Paul Vallas, so he sure deserves to be the first to post this
Despite the best efforts of Governor Malloy, Commissioner Pryor, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, Bridgeport Board of Education Chairman Kenneth Moales and Paul Vallas himself, the issue they simply couldn’t overcome was the fact that under Connecticut law (even after it was changed to try and accommodate Vallas), Vallas was unwilling or unable to do the things necessary to meet Connecticut law.
Perhaps the most telling moment came when Paul Vallas whined that asking him to be certified to serve as superintendent of schools was like asking Michael Jordan to become certified to coach basketball. What Vallas refused to understand was that if Michael Jordan wanted to coach basketball at a Connecticut public school he would have needed to become certified for the job.
Yes, the man really did say that.
For some background, the Bridgeport Board of Education rubber stamped and extended Vallas's job for three years, which prompted retired judge and educational advocateCarmen Lopez to file a lawsuit. Not only didn't he hold the appropriate certification, Vallas didn't even have the necessary 15 credits to enter UConn's program.
The Connecticut Mirror has some more on this:
In April, the state board approved an independent study created for Vallas by the University of Connecticut as a valid program. But the judge said Friday that the short, independent study he completed in May at UConn was merely a simulation.
"There is no doubt that Vallas received preferential treatment," the judge wrote in her 27-page decision.
Vallas is in his 17th month of leading the 21,000-student school system.
The judge also noted that Vallas lacked the required prerequisites to enroll in the regular UConn program in the first place, and that such an independent study hadn't been approved for anyone else in the last decade. Additionally, the university's governing board had never approved an independent study program.
"Ultimately, the course standards were reduced," the judge wrote. "The court accepts Vallas' testimony that the work, although done over the course of 10 weeks while fulfilling his employment as acting superintendent, could have been completed in a week.
One of my faves, Susan Ohanian files this under Outrages of the Day
Ohanian Comment: I find the blatant, arrogant disregard for rules fascinating. This whole case rests on whether one independent course constitutes a program. You've got the Dean of the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut testifying for the plaintiff and the Director, Executive Leadership Program, Department of Educational Leadership at the same university on Paul Vallas's side. The latter did not exactly make a case for his own leadership acumen.
To sum it up in a word: Pathetic.
This comes only a little more than a month after Hunter College president Jennifer Raab called Vallas "arguably the most experienced superintendent in the country." [CUNY Institute for Education Policy at Roosevelt House The Institute has landed: Coleman, King, Robinson, Steiner, and Vallas discuss the future of education at CIEP launch event] This event was May 9 in New York City--when Vallas was busy writing the six papers described below. Writing the papers, speaking in New York . . . Who was minding the store in Bridgeport?
Maybe Vallas should have invited his Hunter College fan to go to Bridgeport Superior Court to speak for him.
The real victims of this sad saga are really the children of Bridgeport, who can ill afford the thousands the BBOE intends to spend on overturning this, and the estimated $100,000 needed to find a new
leader.
WaPo's Valerie Strauss also has some thoughts on why he got the boot ~
You can put this in the laws-only-matter-for-other-people category