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Betsy DeVos and school choice
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17742
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 10:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Matty doubles down on ignorance--and makes up a position. I wrote nothing about teachers unions. But I know teachers--many of them. Some are great, some aren't, but your characterization is utter nonsense. You, with NW, go quickly by the sad fact that Betsy and her buddies fought off oversight, their "choice" schools are terrible, and they are in it for the money.

All in for corruption.
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real-human



Joined: 02 Jul 2011
Posts: 14834
Location: on earth

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mat-ty wrote:
mac wrote:
nw30 wrote:
Choice is bad.


Congratulations NW. You have graduated from a situation where you didn't understand your own education (border vs, boarder) to one where you don't understand educational policy. But even better, you have boiled your ignorance down to a 2-word sound bite, "school choice." You have no idea about how that has worked where it has been tried, and you are willing to overlook DeVos' incompetence and conflicts of interest to repeat your slogan. It may be the most ignorant utterance of your tenure here. You really have outdone yourself!


Mac the child still talking about a spelling error from three days ago....grow up old fool..

Mac would rather defend the teachers union and their shocking level of incompetence. And talk about conflicts of interest, how about protecting an awful teachers job at the expense of a child's future.


talking conflict of interest, a trust fund kid to another trust fund kid. DeLoss never made a school work in her trust fund life. Her conflict of interest is giving her business more business. You do realize the hypocrisy of your stupid noit thought out uneducated post was. trust fund kid...

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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17742
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2017 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Boy, does this sound like Trump University. No wonder these thieves hate science and peer review--it gets in the way of stealing money with fraudulent products:

Quote:
A group of brain performance centers backed by Betsy DeVos, the nominee for education secretary, promotes results that are nothing short of stunning: improvements reported by 91 percent of patients with depression, 90 percent with attention deficit disorder, 90 percent with anxiety.

The treatment offered by Neurocore, a business in which Ms. DeVos and her husband, Dick, are the chief investors, consists of showing movies to patients and interrupting them when the viewers become distracted, in an effort to retrain their brains. With eight centers in Michigan and Florida and plans to expand, Neurocore says it has assessed about 10,000 people for health problems that often require medication.

“Is it time for a mind makeover?” the company asks in its advertising. “All it takes is science.”

But a review of Neurocore’s claims and interviews with medical experts suggest its conclusions are unproven and its methods questionable.

Neurocore has not published its results in peer-reviewed medical literature. Its techniques — including mapping brain waves to diagnose problems and using neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback, to treat them — are not considered standards of care for the majority of the disorders it treats, including autism. Social workers, not doctors, perform assessments, and low-paid technicians with little training apply the methods to patients, including children with complex problems.

In interviews, nearly a dozen child psychiatrists and psychologists with expertise in autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D., expressed caution regarding some of Neurocore’s assertions, advertising and methods.

“This causes real harm to children because it diverts attention, hope and resources,” said Dr. Matthew Siegel, a child psychiatrist at Maine Behavioral Healthcare and associate professor at Tufts School of Medicine, who co-wrote autism practice standards for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. “If there were something out there that was uniquely powerful and wonderful, we’d all be using it.”

Neurocore rejects any suggestion that its treatments do not work as advertised. Dr. Majid Fotuhi, Neurocore chief medical officer, said, “There is significant research to support the efficacy of neurofeedback for a variety of mental and behavioral health issues.”

Ms. DeVos, whose appointment as education secretary is expected to be voted on Tuesday morning by a Senate committee, had said she would leave Neurocore’s board, but would retain her investment in the company, which she valued at $5 million to $25 million, according to documents filed this month with the Office of Government Ethics.

Last Friday, a group of Democratic senators sent Ms. DeVos a letter saying that her financial disclosure raised questions about potential conflicts. The senators were skeptical of the DeVos family trusts, and also raised questions about Neurocore, which called itself educational in a trademark dispute. The lawmakers asked Ms. DeVos if she would commit that she and her family members would not “benefit financially from actions” she could take in her new role.

At Neurocore’s clinics, children and adults with A.D.H.D., anxiety, depression, autism and other psychological and neurological diagnoses sit before monitors watching movies or television shows ranging from “Frozen” to “Mad Men,” with sensors attached to their scalps and earlobes.
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17742
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

By Angela Ruggiero in today's Bay Area News. The world according to thieves like Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump. Call it school choice--and then steal the money.
Quote:

LIVERMORE — An audit released Thursday suggests Livermore’s two charter schools misappropriated public funds, including a tax-exempt bond totaling $67 million, and mainly pointed the finger at former CEO Bill Batchelor.

The audit was ordered by the Alameda County Office of Education in November and conducted by the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).

Analysis shows that the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, which oversees the charter schools: Failed to disclose numerous conflict-of-interest relationships; diverted, commingled and/or misappropriated public funds, including tax-exempt public bonds totaling over $67 million with various private entities; and contributed to an environment of significantly deficient internal controls, according to a county statement.

The lack of internal controls coupled with financing schemes designed to divert millions of dollars by Batchelor and others through relationships fostered between board members, close associates and other professionals with his nonprofit public and private companies created an environment that made it possible for the essential elements of fraud to occur,” the report states.


The audit states that internal controls were “so weak” that Batchelor was able to divert $2.7 million of public charter school funds without any supporting documents, covering a span of five years.
Nathan Ballard, Batchelor’s spokesman, maintained Batchelor’s innocence.

“Mr. Batchelor is innocent of any wrongdoing, and this audit doesn’t change that fact. He is just seeing the audit for the first time, but one thing is clear: Its conclusions are vague and are based a series of inaccurate assumptions,” Ballard said.

The audit revealed that Batchelor controlled to some degree eight different entities at once during the time that a 2015 bond was issued for TVLC.

TVLC and California Preparatory Academy went before the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to seek approval for a $30 million municipal bond to finance the purchase of a new high school building at 3090 Independence Drive in May 2015.


The bond was approved and the Livermore Valley Charter Prep high school and the private school now share the same space.

At the time of the bond, Batchelor, was the manager of Goldstone United Investments — the seller of the buildings and owner of the land purchased with public bonds. Batchelor was also the owner of California Preparatory Academy and San Francisco Bay Preparatory Academy, which were the co-tenants to the property at 3090 Independence Drive in Livermore.

FCMAT points out conflicts of interests that Batchelor did not report. The paperworks reveals “a significant lack of disclosure of numerous entities in which Batchelor represented both sides of contracts and lease agreements, which benefited him personally.”

Officials with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said they have received the audit and are reviewing it.

This week, TVLC announced it plans to shutter the charter schools early — before the end of the school year — after an expected $2.4 million loan bailout fell through. The Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District said it would help cover the costs of payroll until the end of the week so students could finish out their school year.

The loan was to come from Batchelor himself. Batchelor has not been CEO of TVLC since September 2015 but since then he remained linked to controversies plaguing the charters, including financial mismanagement, decreased enrollment and criminal charges.

In an email to Alameda County education officials in November, Michael Fine of FCMAT wrote that some documents showed school bond proceeds were paid to Batchelor “at the same time that he purchases a very expensive home and sports car.”

Though not mentioned in the report released Thursday, the email helped trigger the official audit by FCMAT, ordered by the county superintendent of schools.


That's exactly why she successfully resisted legislation to require oversight in Michigan. Now we know that the Don is a mafia don.
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17742
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Charter schools in Washington D. C. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-dc-schools-scandal-analyisis-20180201-story.html
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17742
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another alligator feeding in the swamp.

https://www.bustle.com/p/betsy-devos-is-ending-for-profit-college-investigations-heres-why-thats-so-huge-9071280

Devry University settled a lawsuit under the Obama administration for $100 million for fraudulent advertising, but was still under investigation. The Trump administration ended the investigation—and then Devos put their top administrator in charge of the chicken coop.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/30/julian-schmoke-jr-trump-education-department-college-enforcement-242176

All of the chaos is intended to divert attention from all of the theft. The death of democracy, brought to you disguised as another episode of reality TV.
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17742
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Every day there is a new outrage by a Trump toadie.


Quote:
Alsup Slams Dept. Of Education's Student Loan Relief Deal

U.S. District Judge William Alsup rejected a class settlement between the U.S. Department of Education and student borrowers seeking forgiveness from "predatory" for-profit college loans, after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sent perfunctory denial letters he said undermine the proposed settlement and "hang borrowers out to dry."
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