(2005-04-18) Ravitch Attacks Nyc School Mgmt

Education historian Diane Ravitch leveled a blistering attack on Mayor Mike Bloomberg's stewardship of Public Schools on March 10, accusing him of politicizing the school system, driving out veteran teachers and principals, and providing no meaningful channels for public engagement... Ravitch vigorously supported the mayor's campaign to take control of the city schools, but she quickly grew disenchanted with the secrecy of the new regime, its exclusion of the public from decision-making, and its embrace of unproven teaching methods that she argues hurt the least advantaged children the most... Since the mayor took control, Ravitch noted, the number of no-bid contracts has mushroomed. In 2001, the final year of the old board, there were eight no-bid contracts totaling $1.3 million; in 2003, there were 69 no-bid contracts totaling $56 million... Meanwhile, Ravitch said, objective information about the true condition of the schools has dried up. Secrecy is the new modus operandi. She noted that reporters must file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to pry information about the schools that used to be available to the public as a matter of course... Ravitch reserved some of her sharpest criticism for the new privately funded Leadership Academy that Joel Klein has touted as a national model for training principals. She argued that the academy was inordinately expensive (at the current rate, she said, the city spends $300,000 per graduate), while producing enough graduates to fill only half the new principal vacancies at the current rate of retirement. (Educating Kids In Nyc)