Know Your Charter Reviewers

I always find it funny when reformy types insist that charters are public schools. If they were, you'd think the people who review charter applications would have lots of experience in public education and running public schools.

In New Jersey, you'd be wrong. From NJ Parents Against Gov. Christie's School Budget Cuts [all emphases mine]:

The reviewers' "range of experiences" seems to include very little in the way of education experience, very much in the way of charter advocacy, charter founders, education consultancy, business, administration, etc. In fact, the only teaching experience I found was one student teacher.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS NOT FACT-CHECKED. I have not independently ascertained that the individuals found in these citations are in fact the same as those listed as external reviewers for the NJ DoE. It would have been really nice if the DoE had offered some actual information about these people, but they didn't.

So here's what I found in an hour of searching: 

 Sulafa Bashir: Program Manager for School Support, New York City Charter School Center, which describes itself this way: “We help new charter schools get started, support existing schools and build community support so that highly effective schools can flourish.”

http://www.nyccharterschools.org/for-charter-schools

Natasha Campbell: Founding executive director of Summit Academy Charter School in Brooklyn: “Summit Academy will open with a class of 100 6th-graders in Red Hook where the school's founding executive director, Natasha Campbell, was director of a youth center run by the Police Athletic League.”

http://insideschools.org/browse/school/1613

Elena Day: From LinkedIn:

Current: Chief Operating Officer at Friends of ROADS Charter Schools

Past: Director of School Support at New York City Charter School Center

Director of School Operations at NYC Charter School Center

Founder at Consulting Services

Vice President, IIG at Morgan Stanley

Vice President, Equity Strategy at Credit Suisse First Boston

Management Consultant at Freeman Associates

Analyst at Barra

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/elena-day/8/643/2b2

Barbara Greene: From LinkedIn:

Operations and Education Management Professional, Greater New York City Area Education Management

Past:

Executive Director at AllCare Provider Services, Inc

Senior Director of Educational Initiatives at AllCare Provider Services, Inc

Senior Director of Operations at TheraCare of New York, Inc.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarasgreene

Radhika Parithivel: Not much found, but listed as a special guest at the Bates Area Civic Association in DC: “Accomplished Charter School –  Radhika Parithivel and Camille Morgan. Proposed charter school to open in Ward 5 in August of 2012 to serve grades pre-k through fourth grade.”

http://batesareacivicassociation.org/2011/02/02/rats-rats-rats-baca-meeting/

Amy Pozmantier: From Citizen Schools, an organization that "partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for children in low-income communities across the country.": “Amy Pozmantier is a second-year Teaching Fellow at the Ivy Hill School in Newark, New Jersey. She grew up in Texas and earned her BA from New York University. Eventually Amy plans to become a teacher, so her work leading a team of 10-15 middle school students gets her lots of hands-on experience. Amy is also the Civic Engagement Lead at Ivy Hill where she recruits and manages volunteers, plans events and engages the larger Newark community in Citizen Schools' work.”

http://blog.citizenschools.org/secondshift/2010/11/19/three-days-of-apprenticeships-cmon-ms-pozmantier/

And from LinkedIn:

Current: Student Teacher at Blankenburg Elementary

Past: Teaching Fellow at Citizen Schools

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-pozmantier/39/27a/a60

Ray Regimbal: Listed as co-applicant for Accomplish Public Charter School on meeting agenda of Government of the District of Columbia, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C. 

http://www.anc5c.biz/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/anc5c_agendafeb15_2011.pdf

There is a person of the same name listed at LinkedIn:

Current: Assistant Director of Undergraduate Affairs, Internships, and Service-Learning at University of Maryland Baltimore County

Past: Undergraduate Student Administration at University of Maryland Baltimore County

-- Tamar Wyschogrod, moderator

Lots of NYC connections; gosh, I forget - where did ACTING Commissioner Cerf work before he came to NJ? Oh, yeah...

You have to wonder just how "independent" this group is. But there's no mistaking they are light on qualifications: no superintendents, no curricular specialists, no school business administrators, no teachers, no professors of education.

Tamar is right to point out the NJDOE should have listed the CVs of these folks as part of the press release, but maybe they decided not to because the "qualifications" of this panel are not particularly impressive. Should a student teacher really be making decisions about charter school approvals?

And should any town or city be forced to take charters approved by these people, whether they want them or not? It's what they're doing right now down in New Orleans, and it's not working out so well.

Local control is a necessary part of ensuring high-quality charters. Because the state - particularly this state at this time - can't be trusted to do the job correctly.

Nice work on this, NJPAGCSBC.