NJDOE Commissioner Chris Cerf Knows How To Pick 'Em!

Chris Cerf, New Jersey's Commissioner of Education, promoted Barbara Morgan to NJDOE's Director of the Office of Public Information back in 2012. Morgan - who apparently never moved to New Jersey, unlike the many public workers forced to move even under the most onerous conditions - only lasted in the job six months: you see, something big came up...

MAY 23, 2013

Veteran official departs after 34 years; public info officer moves on after one year to join Weiner’s campaign in NYC

Two of the state Department of Education’s top staffers are leaving this week, one a longtime official who has played a prominent role behind the scenes and another a newer, public voice of the agency.

[...]

Barbara Morgan, the public information officer and state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf’s press secretary, also left the department this week after a year on the job. She is going on to be the communications director for former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner’s fledgling campaign for New York City mayor, which was announced yesterday.

Cerf yesterday said both women made important contributions, in their own ways.

“Barbara Gantwerk had an extraordinary career as a public servant in New Jersey, and she left her mark on many, many positive initiatives,” Cerf said in an interview.

“Barbara Morgan’s move speaks for itself,” he said. “She had a very interesting opportunity arise, and we wish her the very best.” [emphasis mine]

Oh, it arose all right...

So, Barbara - how's the new job going?

[Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, this is a family blog. While the occasional PG-rated, mild vulgarity may grace your screen as you peruse this web-based tome, it is nonetheless my policy to keep the more malodorous profanities at bay. In the interests of good taste, therefore, I present a somewhat edited version of the following report. I would still suggest you read this away from children.]

Tuesday was an angry day in Weinerland.

The campaign staff awoke to see their former intern, Olivia Nuzzi, on the front cover of the Daily News. Inside the paper was an article bylined by Nuzzi in which she told a rather unflattering tale of her experience working on Anthony Weiner’s mayoral bid.

Now, Team Weiner is firing back. TPM called Weiner’s communications director Barbara Morgan to discuss an unrelated story Tuesday and she went off on a curse-filled rant about Nuzzi, describing her as a fame hungry “b****” who “sucked” at her job. Morgan also called Nuzzi a “slutbag,” [Is this one worth bleeping? 'Cause the next two sure are! - JJ] “t***,” and “c***” while threatening to sue her. [See? - JJ]

On Monday, Nuzzi, a college student and writer, published a story on the blog NSFWCORP that claimed multiple sources on the campaign told her there had been “six departures” from Weiner’s team, more than had been previously disclosed. She also claimed that staffers had been underpaid and that the former campaign manager, Danny Kedem, left over the weekend because Weiner “lied to him about the timing of his sexting scandal.”

Nuzzi’s post on NSFWCORP was followed up by Tuesday’s Daily News cover story in which she claimed Weiner incorrectly called multiple interns “Monica” and said people only joined Weiner’s campaign to curry favor with his wife, Huma Abedin, a close aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Along with these allegations, Nuzzi wrote in the Daily News that “a lot” of Weiner’s staff had “short résumés,” including Morgan, who Nuzzi derisively noted “last worked as the press secretary for the New Jersey state education commissioner.”

“I’m dealing with like stupid f***ing interns who make it on to the cover of the Daily News even though they signed NDAs and/or they proceeded to trash me,” Morgan told TPM, referring to a non-disclosure agreement. “And by the way, I tried to fire her, but she begged to come back and I gave her a second chance.”

Morgan went on to suggest Nuzzi would be unable to get a job in New York City’s political scene as a result of her actions.

“F***ing slutbag. Nice f***ing glamour shot on the cover of the Daily News. Man, see if you ever get a job in this town again,” said Morgan.

Whew! I don't know about you, but I have to sit for a minute...

Heavens!

OK, let's continue:

According to Morgan, Nuzzi stopped interning for the campaign “like four weeks ago.” Nuzzi’s story on NSFWCORP described her as having spent “four weeks” as a Weiner intern. When asked whether the claims in Nuzzi’s stories were true, Morgan suggested many of them were “bulls***.”

“It’s all bulls***,” she said. “I mean, it’s such bulls***. She could f***ing — f***ing t***.”

It's just terrible to see Barbara's Morgan's career ruined by this f***ing t***! Why, after reading Nuzzi's account, people might get the idea Morgan doesn't know how control herself in front of the press!

Morgan also expressed disbelief that Nuzzi criticized her credentials.

“And then like she had the f***ing b***s to like trash me in the paper. And be like, ‘His communications director was last the press secretary of the Department of Education in New Jersey,” Morgan said. “You know what? F*** you, you little c***. I’m not joking, I am going to sue her.”

So I guess the career lesson here is that when you're on a sinking ship, the best thing to do is run to the press as fast as you can and start talking like a f***ing trucker. Right, Barbara?

We emailed Morgan to see if she intended her comments to be seen.

Her response: "NO NO NO NO NO."

Here is Morgan's full statement:

"In a moment of frustration, I used inappropriate language in what I thought was an off the record conversation. It was wrong and I am very sorry, which is what I said tonight when I called and emailed Olivia to apologize."

Josh Marshall, the editor and publisher of TPM, said, however, that the conversation "definitely" came on the record. He said it came during an interview for an unrelated story about Weiner's fundraising numbers.

"During that discussion, Morgan launched into a very animated series of comments about Nuzzi, which we quote in the piece," Marshall said in an email. [emphasis mine]

Nice job, Commissioner Cerf: not only did you hire a communications director who doesn't know the most basic rules of the game, you undoubtedly turned the coffee room at the NJDOE into a sailors bar.

Barbara, I like your style - you're f***ing hired!

ADDING: According to my man Norm Scott, Chris Cerf doesn't deserve all the credit for bringing a truly unique talent like Morgan into public service:

Poor Weiner press spokesperson Barbara Morgan who I met on one of her first days at the job flacking for Joel Klein at the DOE. I always had fun with her. Boy does she make poor choices but these people will defend serial killers if it pays.

Remember: Joel Klein was the guy who recommended Michelle Rhee for her job in Washington, D.C. The man should run a talent agency...

Barbara, sweetheart, tone it down a little, OK?

A Reformy Rumble in Montclair

Most folks who know Montclair, NJ wouldn't think of it as a hotbed of dissent. This integrated, bedroom community strives to be known as a hip outpost full of ex-New Yorkers turned suburbanites.

But it looks like Montclair is becoming the latest front in the war to bring reformyness to the Jersey 'burbs: [all emphases mine]

An animated exchange between two Board of Education members and the leader of Montclair's teacher union has prompted a formal complaint from at least one of the parents who witnessed the incident Monday night. 

According to witnesses, board members Tanya Coke and David Deutsch approached Montclair Education Association President Gayl Shepard during the Board of Education's marathon public meeting in the Montclair High School auditorium and began a conversation that bystanders said soon became loud and heated. 

"It was ugly," said David Herron, who was one of several people nearby who watched the incident unfold. 

"They were standing over her [Gayl Shepard]," said Herron. "She couldn't even get up. 

"I think it was reprehensible that a board member would be callous enough to approach a citizen in the community who happens to be a union president and lambast her in a public arena." 

The incident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. during a break in the nearly four-hour-long board meeting, during which the seven-member panel approved a strategic plan for the Montclair School District. The move came over the objections of dozens of parents and students who oppose additional testing and assessments.

Hmm... so what's this all about? It turns out that Montclair is one of the few suburban districts in New Jersey whose superintendent is fully embracing the new reformyness coming out of Trenton these days:

Montclair Schools Superintendent Dr. Penny MacCormack tried in vain to convince the critics that her two-year educational Strategic Plan would be effective in improving Montclair schools.  Parents and students delivered petitions urging the Board not to adopt it so quickly, with more than 400 signatures from parents and 568 signatures from students.  After an interminable and contentious meeting, the Board voted unanimously to adopt it anyway, much to the chagrin of opponents who stayed for the final vote. 

During the meeting Dr. MacCormack presented yet another slide presentation on the plan [they do so love their Powerpoints, don't they? - JJ], which included an emphasis on improving the transitions from middle school to high school, improving freshman-to-sophomore transitions in at Montclair High School itself, getting teachers up to 80 percent effectiveness on the Marshall Evaulation Rubric adopted earlier in the year, and—the main bone of contention at the night’s meeting—four common assessments on five basic subjects throughout the school year.  Dr. MacCormack, responding to concerns that the assessments would standardize teaching to a test and discourage teachers from creative instruction, insisted that the assessments would reflect what students learn, not how they are taught.  She stressed the public input into the plan over the course of several public meetings, and she also noted the importance of meeting the Common Core State Standards.

Aha! And so the moment has finally come: the Common Core has reared its ugly head in the Jersey 'burbs. The parents of high achieving children, already wary of the testing regime that is being imposed on college-bound students, are starting to question why the schools are going to ratchet the pressure up even higher on kids who, even now, are showing signs of burn out.

When you listen to the parents and teachers, it's clear that the standards aren't the issue nearly as much as the testing:

Although the school board recently voted unanimously to move forward with this plan, many parents rallied against it. Reva Jaffe-Walter, a parent, former teacher and current Post-Doctoral fellow in Educational Policy explained, “There is a deep history in Montclair of teaching that’s focused on hands-on, inquiry-based teaching, where students are engaged in the production of new knowledge.  We have phenomenal teachers in our schools.  This system seems like such a radical departure from that.” One teacher, who wished to speak anonymously, also pointed out, “A common curriculum has the potential to constrain classroom dialogue.”

Opposition specific to the common assessments has been the loudest. John Wodnick, father to three young boys, said, “I moved to Montclair specifically for the schools.  I moved here because of the magnet system, the schools’ commitment to arts education, and the imaginative, innovative approaches that I’d heard so many good things about. This is why I’m extremely concerned about the data-driven approach that Dr. MacCormack is promoting — it seems not to match up with the values that I expected from the school system when I moved here.  I believe that teachers work best when they’re trusted to use their intelligence and their imaginations to motivate kids and to promote a love of learning.  Uniform quarterly assessments across the district seem to me to be antithetical to those values.”  A petition that requested the approval of the assessments be delayed was created by the Facebook group Montclair Cares About Schools. And last Monday’s Board of Education meeting turned into a parade of parent concerns about over-testing and taking time away from instruction for test prep.

These assessments are not considered ‘high stakes tests’ by administration, but this teacher pointed out, “They can be ‘high stakes’ for the teachers.”  The state has called for new teacher assessments across schools this year and for 30 – 50 percent of these evaluations to be based on student achievement.  Hannah Walter, a high school student, is concerned about her teachers ‘teaching to the test.’”

Smart kid - she should be concerned. Despite the (deliberate?) misreading of research by the likes of Michelle Rhee, there's no doubt tying teacher evaluations to test scores creates a powerful incentive to move classroom instruction toward test prep.

But the mistrust that's grown in Montclair is not limited to the Common Core assessments; parents are beginning to question the woman who has implemented these changes herself:

A newly formed parents' group maintains that Schools Superintendent Penny MacCormack's employment contract contains a bonus guarantee and other provisions that should have been made public at the time she was hired. According to the group, Montclair Cares About Schools, MacCormack is eligible for bonus payments atop her $177,500 salary. 

Under the term of the contract awarded to her in August 2012 by the Montclair Board of Education, MacCormack has until January 2014 to obtain a state-mandated certification required of all schools superintendents. Right now, MacCormack does not have the certification. 

Montclair Cares About Schools member Michelle Fine said the contract acknowledges that MacCormack possesses a certificate of eligibility and has applied for, but has not yet received, a provisional administrative certificate and school administrator endorsement from the state Department of Education. 

"If this is the case, why was she offered top-level salary with substantial room for merit pay on the basis of unspecified criteria?" asked Fine. 

Good question; what makes Penny MacCormack so special? Well, for starters, she is only one of two district superintendents in New Jersey who graduated from the Broad Superintendents Academy Book Club - the same academy book club that counts state education commissioner Chris Cerf as one of its alumni (Jersey City's Marcia Lyles is also a graduate). And when you're Cerf's friend, life is good:

In documents provided to the OLS in its budget review, the department disclosed consultants on the Cerf’s school funding proposal made as much as $1,000 or even $2,500 a day.

“That’s certainly an interesting amount,” said state Sen. Nellie Pou (D-Passaic) of the latter figure. “Imagine if that went a full year, that would break all records.”

One assistant commissioner, Penny MacCormack, was hired last fall for three months at $1,000 a day until she could be confirmed by the state Board of Education as a permanent hire in January. She is now earning a salary of $135,000 a year, officials said.

Cerf defended the extra pay, saying MacCormack was a critical hire and the consultants on the funding report – including some notable national names in the school funding debates – were invaluable.

“This level of talent and expertise comes with a price tag,” he said.

Nonetheless, Sarlo asked Cerf for a full list of the per diem and consultants hired. The chairman said afterward it remained a curious stretch for an administration quick to criticize the pay of teachers and other school employees, including caps on superintendents, that is well below what it is paying consultants.

“A little hypocritical, isn’t it?” Sarlo said in an interview.

More than a little, Senator - but that's how they roll at your NJDOE...

In any case, MacCormack only stayed in Trenton for a year before she moved on to Montclair; I'm sure the pay bump was appreciated:

Kulwin said that the board conducted a nationwide search and that MacCormack was certified in Connecticut, where she served as chief academic officer for the Hartford School District before joining the state Department of Education prior to accepting the superintendent position in Montclair. 

"MacCormack is in the process of obtaining her certification here in New Jersey," said Kulwin. 

Fine, a longtime Montclair resident and a professor at City University of New York, participated on the Montclair School District search committee that led to the hiring of previous superintendents, including Frank Alvarez, Michael Osnato and William Librera.
Fine and other members of Montclair Cares About Schools said they are troubled by the district's lack of transparency on the contract and the exclusion of the public from the search process that led to MacCormack's hiring. 

"Given Montclair's longstanding tradition of broad community involvement in educational matters and hiring, I was quite surprised to learn after the fact that parents were not invited to participate in interviews with the final pool of prospective candidates," Fine said.

Golly, a superintendent with ties to the Broad Academy and Chris Cerf got a job in a local school district without community and parental involvement? I'm just shocked...

I really don't know what's going on at Eli Broad's little academy book club, but it's becoming increasingly clear that they need to add a few classes in transparency and community engagement. It's astonishing that a new superintendent can come into a district and generate so much distrust so quickly - but it's not like this hasn't happened under Cerf's reign before:

• Steve Engravalle in Fort Lee.
• Cami Anderson in Newark.
• Janine Caffrey in Perth Amboy.

All were aligned closely with Cerf and Governor Chris Christie; all wound up alienating teachers, parents, and board members. MacCormack just seems to be the latest in a line of school leaders who could stand to give themselves more distance from Trenton and less distance from their communities' wishes.

"School superintendent" is one of the toughest jobs imaginable; try as you might, you can never make everyone happy. But a look at the Montclair Cares About Schools Facebook page makes clear that parents in this state are very well informed about the reformy changes that are coming to their schools, and they are deeply concerned. Unlike school leaders who work in districts under state or mayoral control*, superintendents like Penny MacCormack don't have the luxury of simply imposing their will: they have to make a case that what they are doing is best for their districts' kids.

I think a lot of these districts will wind up fractured like Montclair, because many people are simply not buying what the reformy types are selling.

Doesn't look like a very reformy town to me...

* UPDATE: Well, it turns out that Montclair actually has a school board appointed by the mayor. More to come...

New Mexico's Reformy Education Chief Gets Her Hearing

There are several surprising parallels between New Mexico's education chief, Hanna Skandera, and New Jersey's head education honcho, Chris Cerf:

- Skandera has been the ACTING Secretary of Education in New Mexico for two years, and is finally getting a hearing; Cerf was the ACTING Commissioner of Education for 18 months before his confirmation.

- Cerf and Skandera are both members of Chiefs for Change, Jeb Bush's reformy group of state-level education leaders.

- Like Cerf, Skandera has been embarrassed by recently released emails tying her to Bush's reformy Foundation for Educational Excellence (FEE):

New Mexico

• FEE provides its donors — including for-profit digital education companies — access to the chiefs. A draft agenda for the Excellence in Action 2011 Summit blocked off two hours for “Chiefs for Change donor meetings.” Another draft agenda for the meeting allocated nearly three hours to “Chiefs for Change donor meetings.” The donors for the summit were the Walton Family Foundation, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the Carnegie Corp., Susan and Bill Oberndorf, GlobalScholar, Target, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Microsoft, State Farm, IQity, McGraw-Hill Education, Doris and Donald Fisher Fund, Intel, Pearson Foundation, Apex Learning, ETS, Electronic Arts, Koret Foundation, SMART Technologies, K12, Morgridge Family Foundation, Charter Schools USA and Connections Academy. Demand for donor time was so high that Patricia Levesque wrote that she had to turn down opportunities for the chiefs to meet other representatives from companies.

• FEE staff served as advisers to acting education commissioner Hanna Skandera. FEE, and, by extension, its donors, had great influence over New Mexico legislation. In a Jan., 2011, e-mail, Skandera directs a staffer from the legislature to forward all education bills to FEE’s Christy Hovanetz for edits: “Can you send all Governor’s office ed bill language to Christy, including social promotion?” Another FEE staffer, Mary Laura Bragg, wrote to Skandera, “I’m at your beck and call.”

• The foundation sought to make connections between Skandera (as well as the other Chiefs for Change) and the Hume Foundation for funds for digital learning projects from  Hume  that “must flow through the Foundation for Excellence in Education as a project-restricted grant.” The Santa Fe New Mexican reported  Oct. 21 that Skandera had indeed applied for such a grant, which ultimately could lead to digital learning legislation favorable to FEE funders Connections Academy and K-12 Inc.

• The e-mails indicate that FEE paid for Skandera’s travel, reimbursing New Mexico $3382.91 for her expenses, including trip to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress.

- Both Cerf and Skandera both have some sketchy connections to educationally dubious "virtual" schools:

FEE’s affiliation with one donor is particularly relevant to New Mexico. Connections Academy, a Baltimore, Md.-based for-profit corporation that operates tuition-free, publicly funded virtual charter schools in 22 states, helped sponsor an October 2011 summit in California for which Skandera was listed as a speaker. Although the emails offer no direct evidence of Skandera’s meeting with Connections Academy officials, the summit designated certain time slots for Chiefs for Change participants (like Skandera) to meet with corporate sponsors (like Connections). Travel vouchers also show that “Foundation Funds” paid $1,107 to fly state Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Colfax, to the same summit. Three months later, Roch sponsored a bill allocating $1 million for PED to transition to a new teacher evaluation system.

To be sure, meeting with corporate education firms is neither uncommon nor illicit. Often, it can help public officials learn about new and beneficial education programs and products. 

But critics worry that establishing close ties between public officials and for-profit education firms can lead to decisions that put those companies’ interests over the needs of students.

Last summer, for instance, Connections sought to open a virtual charter school in New Mexico. The Public Education Commission, a nine-member board elected by New Mexico voters, turned it down. But this January, Skandera overturned the PEC’s decision. Now, commissioner Jeff Carr says the PEC may vote to challenge Skandera’s decision in court. [emphasis mine]

- Like Cerf, Skandera has never been a public school teacher or principal; this is in contradiction to what is required by New Mexico's constitution:

Friday’s hearing was mostly limited to testimony from the public, and did not allow time for the committee to question Skandera. Much of the testimony centered on whether Skandera meets the constitutional requirement that the secretary of education must be a “qualified, experienced educator.”

Peggy Stielow, president of the Rio Rancho School Employees Union, said Skandera does not understand the challenges of being a teacher.

“We need a department secretary who has spent time in the classroom, who truly has experienced the classroom,” Stielow said. “As our Constitution says, a qualified, experienced educator. It’s apparent that there is a lack of understanding of the art of teaching – the day-to-day challenges.”

Skandera supporters contended “educator” is a broad word that does not necessarily mean a classroom teacher.

Larry Langley, head of the New Mexico Business Roundtable, said it is old-fashioned to think all educators are in classrooms.

“Please understand that to be a highly qualified educator doesn’t require you to be in front of a classroom,” Langley said. “Every one of us in this room, I hope, are some kind of qualified educator. I’ve certainly learned things from the chair of this committee. I have learned things from the ranking member of this committee, and from many others. You have been my educators, and you have been qualified educators.” [emphasis mine]

I think we can all agree that is just about the dumbest thing anyone has ever said ever. Why would the New Mexico constitution specify that the SecEd needs to be a "qualified, experienced educator" if everyone is already one?

- Like Cerf, Skandera's agenda appears to consist almost entirely of reformy policies that have never been shown to work:

Ms. Skandera has repeatedly demonstrated that she is unable to discuss reform in education in any meaningful shape or form, other than the reform platitudes espoused by FEE and Students First; it is easy to say that "all children deserve outstanding teachers" because it sounds good, and everyone agrees with it. However, it is meaningless without delineating what makes an outstanding teacher, and what you will do to make sure New Mexico will have outstanding teachers. She has no meaningful experience in actual schools, having never spent a day in a classroom, and thus does not meet the constitutional requirement of being a "qualified, experienced educator." She has established that she will conduct relationships that, while perhaps not being illegal, are certainly questionable from an ethical standpoint, as evidenced by the Connections Academy fiasco. Finally, she has demonstrated no ability to understand and adapt her reform initiatives to the cultural and socioeconomic diversity that is New Mexico. [emphasis mine]

Last I checked, Skandera's hearing was scheduled to continue today. Let's see if she winds up having one more thing in common with Cerf: a hearing where she isn't fully vetted and winds up being confirmed despite many unanswered questions.

I hope the people of New Mexico demand better from their Legislature than the people of New Jersey got from theirs.

Please don't ask my girl Hanna any hard questions, OK?