Gregory Thronton was picked as the next superintendent of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Who cares that he has filed for bankruptcy, that he currently leads a school system of 7800 students which is a far cry from the 90,000 or so students in MPS, a liar, and had ethical money problems in other school districts he previously worked at.http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/82468722.html
From Wikipedia: In 1994, Chester Upland was named by the state as the worst-performing school district in Pennsylvania. The district had a multimillion dollar deficit and its decision-making ability was taken over by the state. A for-profit company, Edison Schools, was hired to try to improve the struggling district's test scores. After a number of years it was determined that Edison was not successful in turning the district around. A number of incidents, including an allegation of sexual misconduct on the part of an Edison employee, and policies such as not allowing students to bring home books, led to the state's decision to break its contract with Edison. The district has regained local public control, but remains one of the lowest performing in Pennsylvania. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Upland_School_District
But hey, who cares, it is MPS, after all. The students of MPS don't deserve a quality superintendent, do they?
As a former MPS teacher and a person who grew up in the Milwaukee area, I am shocked that Thornton was even considered for the job. But he is black, so that must have been the primary requirement for the job.
It also sucks that a little old blogger in Las Vegas has to point these things out, while other bloggers out there, conservative or liberal (including a MPS teacher, who says they care about education and MPS) from the Milwukee area say little or in most cases, nothing. Just pathetic.
Eric Hovde: The Ultimate Carpetbagger
24 minutes ago
A couple of observations from someone who's dealt with hiring issues:
ReplyDelete1) The brouhaha over 'who's going to run MPS' obviously scared off any really decent candidates. You want a job that will last maybe 6 months? Maybe 1 year?
2) The condition of MPS as a whole also scared off really decent candidates. The Board's composition goes 'red'-to-'blue- every other year or so, meaning that NO superintendent can design and implement a long-term solution (and the only solutions will be long-term.)
3) Don't be surprised if a lot of other large urban districts have similar problems in the next 5 years. Reforming "the schools" will require that a lot of stars align, almost magically. (Not all that different from the Massachusetts election.)
They will be sorry. Thorton does very little of his own work and will bring a host of yes-people and concubines with him who giggle at everything he says. He couldn't fix Philly or Chester....what makes the MPS think that he is the answer????
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